Page 141 of The Secret of Secrets

Using an irrefutable chain of logic, Langdon had convinced the ambassador that the “construction entrance” on the western tip of Folimanka Park, which would serve as the main entrance when the project was complete, was not the only way in.

Threshold had a second access point…ingeniously disguised.

More importantly, Langdon had determined exactly where it was located…as well as how to get in.

The Golěm stood alone in a chamber unlike any he had ever seen or imagined. Having followed the detailed directions he had forced Gessner to provide last night, his journey had finally delivered him to this surreal place.

Threshold.

Gessner had confessed all the details…and yet seeing it in person now left him disoriented, almost nauseous.

They built this room with Sasha’s blood.

Sasha had not been the project’s first victim…nor would she have been its last.

And for that reason, Threshold will end today.

The Golěm’s long road to this moment of retribution had taken a severe toll, and he could feel deep emotion welling up within him. He could also feel a faint but unmistakable tingling within his body—an advance warning.

A hazy fog began to settle in the room.

The Ether was gathering.

“Ne seychas,” he whispered. Not now.

Instinctively, The Golěm slid his hand into his cloak pocket to retrieve his metal wand.

Chapter 90

Jonas Faukman scowled at ChatGPT’s latest search results.

Despite using varied prompts and approaches, his efforts to find any link between Katherine’s work and In-Q-Tel’s investments had turned up nothing but far-flung offerings that felt more like a disjointed game of Mad Libs than anything intelligent—artificial or otherwise.

Frustrated, he abandoned his computer and walked to the window, gazing north up Broadway toward Central Park. In the dawn light, on the horizon line behind the “pencil towers” on Billionaires’ Row, storm clouds were gathering.

He stood a while, lost in thought, and finally returned to his computer to continue his search. As he took his seat, he noticed he had a new email.

The subject line startled and excited him.

A Message from Robert Langdon

Faukman had been waiting over an hour for a phone call and was feeling increasingly anxious that something had gone wrong at the ambassador’s residence. The relief he felt seeing the email, however, was short-lived. Despite the subject line, Faukman now saw that the sender’s address was that of U.S. Ambassador Heide Nagel…the former CIA general counsel.

She’s sending a message for him?

Faukman could think of nobody in Prague he trusted less at the moment. If Robert was truly safe, then the ambassador should simply have let him call.

Until I hear Robert’s voice, I won’t believe a word of this email.

He debated whether to open the message, envisioning a virus or yet another hack, but at this point he figured he had nothing left to lose. Warily, he clicked open the message, puzzled to see what appeared to be a meaningless string of letters.

ROT13EY&XFETHQ

It took him a moment to realize that the first five characters did indeed have meaning. ROT13 was the name of a rotational cipher in which every letter was substituted for the letter occurring thirteen places away from it in the alphabet. Faukman knew this only because several years ago, while editing a book on ancient encryption techniques, the book’s author had regularly sent him texts playfully encrypted with ROT13.

That author had been Robert Langdon.

With a swell of optimism, Faukman grabbed a pencil and applied the simple decryption scheme. Then he examined the result.