Page 152 of The Secret of Secrets

We’re deep underground. No lights. No windows. We could be in a massive cave, for all we know.

He felt his heart rate climbing as he inched out of the lift, taking an uncertain step into the darkness. Before his foot had even touched the floor, a bank of floodlights blazed to life overhead, momentarily blinding him. He covered his eyes, hoping the lights had been activated automatically by a motion sensor…and not by an interrogation team or a firing squad.

Slowly, he lowered his hand, squinting at the scene before him.

As the image came into focus, he stared in disbelief.

You’ve got to be kidding…

They had clearly departed Crucifix Bastion. All the ancient, organic touches were now gone. The new world into which Langdon had just stepped was sleek, futuristic, and pure tech.

“Unbelievable,” Katherine whispered, emerging behind him. “This looks expensive.”

Langdon guessed the facility was probably funded through In-Q-Tel investments, outside the black budget, with no congressional oversight.

Katherine walked onto the narrow metal platform outside the elevator, marveling at her surroundings. “It’s like…a tiny subway station.”

Some kind of futuristic monorail, Langdon thought, peering down into the concrete channel beneath them, where a single narrow-gauge rail extended away from the platform into a circular tunnel and disappeared into darkness. The tunnel opening looked very tight, not nearly wide enough to handle a normal subway car, and yet when Langdon saw the vehicle that ran on this track, he realized the opening was plenty large enough.

The car was a long, slender, open-air deck—more of a movable platform than a car—with two long benches that faced each other on either side. At the back, there was a section that looked like it was for transporting supplies, which currently included two wheelchairs strapped into place.

Langdon was reminded that there was a similar underground system connecting buildings on Capitol Hill. Unlike the quaint, boxy tram cars in D.C., however, this system looked minimalist, sleek, and efficient.

“I’m glad it’s at this end of the line,” Katherine said, moving toward the car. “That seems like a good omen.”

Langdon immediately grasped her meaning. If the transport was here, that meant that whoever had taken Brigita’s card must have already been to Threshold and come back this way to exit. “Excellent point,” he said, relaxing slightly. “Also, the motion-sensor lights were off, so it seems like we’re alone.”

Katherine stepped onto the deck, and Langdon joined her. As they boarded the transport, a low electric hum came to life beneath them, and the platform seemed to rise an inch or two.

Someone or something knows we’re here, Langdon thought, hoping this train was fully automated…and not that someone was watching them and had just powered up the system.

“Maglev,” Katherine said. “We’ve got one in California.”

Like anyone who had played with magnets as a kid, Langdon was familiar with the repulsive effect that the same magnetic poles had on each other—a force strong enough, in this case, to levitate a platform and make it “hover” essentially friction-free.

“I don’t see any controls,” Katherine said. “I guess we just sit down?”

It was as good a guess as any, and Langdon took a seat beside her, both of them facing the right-hand side of the car. Within seconds, three low chimes echoed through the station, and the platform began moving forward, picking up speed.

With the exception of the electric hum, the motion was silent.

The rapid acceleration was startlingly smooth, and within seconds they were plunging into the opening of the tunnel, hurtling through the darkness in perfect silence except for the sound of air rushing past them.

The tram’s headlight illuminated only a small portion of the single track directly in front of the car. In the darkness, it felt as if they had accelerated to an alarming speed, and it was hard to gauge how far they had traveled.

Suddenly, Katherine grabbed Langdon’s arm and gasped, pointing down the tunnel ahead of them.

Langdon had just spotted it too. Dead ahead, on the one-lane track, a headlight was approaching—another transport hurtling toward them on a collision course.

Clearly, Langdon and Katherine were not supposed to have taken this tram.

“There’s got to be an emergency brake!” Katherine shouted, turning in her seat and scanning their surroundings.

Langdon wheeled in desperation to either side, looking for anywhere they could leap off, but concrete walls enveloped them tightly on both sides.

The blinding headlight was racing toward them, now only seconds from a head-on collision. Langdon and Katherine grabbed hands and braced for impact, but suddenly their tram shifted smoothly to the left, while the oncoming tram shifted in the opposite direction, and the cars swooshed harmlessly past each other in a slightly wider section of tunnel. An instant later, their car shifted back to center, and the tunnel narrowed again to a single lane.

Langdon exhaled, his heart still crashing in his chest. “It’s a passing loop,” he said, voice shaky. “Computer-timed.”