Page 144 of The Secret of Secrets

As they exited the lift, Langdon pointed out another RFID reader on the wall, and Katherine nodded in acknowledgment. They began walking. She was not eager to see the macabre scene ahead—which Langdon had described to her in detail—but she was feeling increasingly confident that Langdon’s theory might be correct. If so, the plan was simple: as soon as they had Gessner’s access card, they would descend to Threshold.

They progressed down the hall, passing a small office suite for Gessner and Sasha, an MRI imaging lab, and a door with an icon of someone in VR goggles.

Her virtual reality lab, Katherine thought, recalling Gessner mentioning VR last night at dinner. At the time, Katherine had not given it much thought, but now, after the conversation about Sasha’s epilepsy and out-of-body experiences, she wondered if virtual reality might be relevant in a unique way. Like an artificial out-of-body experience…

“Brigita’s briefcase…” Langdon said, his voice halting. “Is in the room at the end of the hall. Along with…her body.”

Katherine glanced at Langdon, who looked suddenly pale. “Are you okay?”

He gave a grim nod. “Thanks. I’d just rather not see her corpse again. This morning, when I first saw it, I thought it was you.”

Katherine wrapped an arm around his waist as they walked, recalling her own harrowing fears earlier that Langdon had drowned. She had witnessed a lot of death in her research, but it was always peaceful, anticipated, and clinically detached. This was something different—violent and disturbing.

“I try to think of a body as an empty shell,” Katherine said. “Not a person anymore. A lifeless mannequin.”

“Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind,” he replied, looking no less apprehensive.

“If you think about it, as a species we tend to be entirely irrational about corpses. Even with no trace of our loved one left in the body, we embalm, dress, and entomb it, and then make regular visits! Many of us even purchase luxurious, cushioned caskets to ensure a body will be ‘comfortable.’ ”

Langdon managed a weak smile. “I would venture that the practice is more for the living than the dead.”

“Yes, but in reality, the documentation of near-death experiences clearly shows that humans who die are relieved to abandon their aged, injured, or sick bodies. According to all accounts, the deceased care as much about what happens to their corpses after death as they do about what happens to the old cars they used to drive. Not at all.”

I love a woman who can explain life and death with a used car analogy, Langdon thought as they reached the cluttered workroom where he had discovered Gessner’s body in the EPR pod earlier today.

“Maybe wait here?” he suggested, hoping to spare Katherine the blow of seeing the corpse. “I’ll be right back.”

Leaving Katherine in the doorway, Langdon hurried inside, intentionally averting his eyes from the pod and heading instead for the worktable at the far side of the room.

Gessner’s leather briefcase, as expected, was sitting exactly where he had seen it earlier. He had assumed the case was probably locked and would require force to open, but when he arrived and examined it, he found something totally unexpected.

The case’s latches were already pried open…its lock shattered.

Oh no…

Langdon seized the case and yanked open the lid, finding all the items from last night—documents, folders, phone, pens. The entire contents appeared to be intact…except for the one item they required. Gessner’s RFID key card was no longer in its protective sheath. Panicked, Langdon dug his finger into the sheath, hoping the card had slipped down, but there was nothing there. After dumping out the case and rummaging through the contents twice, he accepted the devastating truth.

Our access to Threshold is gone.

“It doesn’t matter,” Katherine said somberly, her voice closer than expected.

Langdon turned and saw that Katherine was no longer in the doorway. She had entered the room and was crouched beside the EPR pod, gazing down at Gessner’s body.

“Brigita’s key card wouldn’t have helped us,” Katherine whispered, raising her eyes to him. “It was biometric.”

“I’m sorry?” Langdon moved toward her.

“Her card doesn’t work unless it detects her fingerprint.”

“Why do you say that?”

Katherine pointed to an object lying on the floor near the pod—a pair of wire cutters whose blades were smeared with blood. “Because whoever took Brigita’s card…took her thumb too.”

Chapter 92

Alone in her office, the ambassador gazed down at the note that had been left on Michael Harris’s body.

TO: U.S. Ambassador Heide Nagel Private and Personal