Page 215 of The Secret of Secrets

Katherine glanced up, clearly eager to have something else to think about. “Absolutely. I barely saw anything the night of my lecture, and you said St. Vitus is not to be missed.”

“Perfect,” he said, reaching for his coat. “From here, it’s just a short walk up the hill.” His mind turned again to the task that lay ahead of him. He was still concerned about how Katherine would take the news.

Katherine glanced around for a waiter. “I’d pay the check, Robert, except I lost my bag.”

“Not to worry,” he replied with a smile. “I was informed our breakfast is compliments of the U.S. embassy.”

As they exited the hotel into the morning light, Katherine and Langdon looked toward the ambassador’s office window to wave their thanks, but the window was dark. With luck, everything had gone smoothly with Sasha’s departure, and Heide Nagel was headed for bed.

The ambassador had promised a package would be delivered to their hotel this morning containing travel cash, two first-class plane tickets, and a pair of diplomatic letters to ensure they both made it home with no complications. “It’s the least the embassy can do,” Nagel had told them, “considering the past twenty-four hours.”

Katherine followed Langdon into the quaint cobblestone alley called Tržiště, which ascended toward Prague Castle. As they began to walk, Langdon put his arm around her waist and kissed her on the cheek, pulling her close. They had gone only a dozen paces or so up the hill when suddenly Langdon paused, as if reconsidering the climb.

“Too steep for you in this bulky coat?” she ribbed, poking his prized crimson Patagonia “puffer” coat, which Katherine had repeatedly suggested he replace with something from this millennium.

“No…” He pulled back the sleeve of his coat, checked his Mickey Mouse watch, and frowned. “But it just occurred to me…we only have a few hours before we go to the airport, and there’s some paperwork I need to take care of before I can leave the country. How about I meet you up there?”

“Paperwork?” she asked.

“Sorry,” he said. “I haven’t really wanted to tell you everything that happened yesterday. It was chaotic, and there’s just one loose end that I need to tie up.”

Katherine was concerned about what it might be, especially when she considered that yesterday morning Robert had evacuated a luxury hotel and eluded the Czech police. “Is everything okay, Robert? Do we need to involve the ambassador?”

“It’s all going to be fine,” he reassured. “I promise.”

“Shall I come with you?”

“Thanks, but I don’t want you to miss this walk.” He motioned up the walkway. “It’s spectacular. I’ll jump into a cab, take care of this, and with luck we’ll arrive at the castle at about the same time.”

“As you like,” she said, still unsettled. “Where do we meet?”

Langdon thought a moment. “I’ll see you at the door with the seven locks.”

Katherine stared at him. “There’s a door…with seven locks?”

He nodded. “One of the most mysterious doors in all of Europe. Just ask when you get there.”

“Robert,” she protested, “why don’t we meet at the information booth like normal people?”

“Because…” He kissed her on the cheek. “Normal is profoundly overrated.”

Chapter 138

High above a dark expanse of ocean, Scott Kerble could feel a deep fatigue settling in. As the jet raced westward ahead of the rising sun, he walked to the rear of the plane to make one final check before he closed his eyes.

Sasha was sleeping soundly.

Kerble had already removed her handcuffs and substituted a single ankle restraint affixed to her chair. He had also let Harry and Sally out of their travel crate, and the two Siamese cats were now dozing on the seat beside her, intertwined with each other, a single ball of fur, purring as one.

Kerble returned to his seat and shed his jacket, feeling the encrypted hard drive in his pocket. He pulled it out and studied the device, curious what could possibly be on it that had given the ambassador such incontrovertible power. As he eyed the built-in keypad, he recalled what he was supposed to tell the director about the sixteen-character passkey.

The first letter of each word in your favorite Kissinger quote.

Kerble pondered it a moment and then pulled out his phone and asked ChatGPT if CIA Director Gregory Judd had ever quoted Henry Kissinger in any public speeches. As it turned out, Judd had done so many, many times—always the same quote—and usually accompanied by a preamble: “Only Kissinger could convey such a complex truth in only sixteen words.”

A country that demands moral perfection in its foreign policy will achieve neither perfection nor security.

ACTDMPIIFPWANPNS, Kerble thought, knowing he could easily unlock the disk and view whatever data was locked inside. He also knew he would never betray the ambassador’s trust. Without a second thought, he slid the disk deep into his duffel for delivery to the director.