Page 33 of The Secret of Secrets

For noeticists, however, the picture was infinitely less confined. Noeticists believed that consciousness was not created by brain processes, but rather was a fundamental aspect of the universe—akin to space, time, or energy—and was not even located inside the body.

Langdon had been stunned to learn that the human brain represented only 2 percent of a person’s body weight, and yet it consumed an incredible 20 percent of the body’s energy and oxygen. The blatant mismatch, Katherine believed, was proof that the brain was doing something so incomprehensible that traditional biology had not yet been able to grasp it.

Her manuscript will likely unravel that mystery, Langdon thought, wondering if Jonas Faukman had begun reading yet. Knowing Jonas, he’s been wide awake all night and is halfway through the book already.

Janáček had just placed a second call, and his increasingly urgent tone was not helping Langdon’s frayed nerves. He glanced at his watch and hoped for the hasty arrival of Harris and the ambassador.

As Langdon waited on the couch, he found himself again scrutinizing the huge Paul Evans wall sculpture on the other end of the room. The expensive piece had frustrated Langdon the moment he first saw it.

He felt irritated by wealthy art enthusiasts who purchased world-class masterpieces, removed them from the safety of museums, and then displayed them privately in poor lighting or in unsafe conditions.

And on top of that, Gessner hung it improperly.

No doubt Paul Evans had intended this sculpture to be displayed like a painting—centered and mounted on the wall—but Gessner had lazily set the piece directly on the floor, propped vertically with only a stabilizing bar across the top to keep it from falling into the room.

That wall is solid stone, Langdon thought. It could easily have handled the weight.

As he studied the heavy horizontal bar, however, an unexpected thought struck him.

Unless…

He scrutinized the complete piece of art a moment longer. Then he stood up and began walking briskly toward it.

Without warning, Pavel leaped in front of him, pulling his weapon and aiming it directly at Langdon’s chest. “Nechte toho!”

Langdon’s arms shot skyward. For God’s sake!

Janáček ended his call and nodded calmly at his lieutenant, saying something to him in Czech.

Pavel lowered the gun and holstered it.

“What the hell is he doing?!” Langdon shouted at Janáček.

“His job,” the captain replied. “Are you trying to leave us?”

“Leave?!” he replied angrily. “No, I was…”

“You were what?”

Langdon hesitated a moment, reconsidering his words. “I was just going to the restroom,” he lied, returning to his seat. “On second thought, it can wait.”

The Golěm donned his sunglasses as he strode across the cobbles of Old Town Square toward the taxi stand. Despite his lack of sleep, he felt energized, his thoughts firmly focused on what would be required to carry out his liberating act of vengeance.

Last night, Gessner had confessed a dark truth, revealing that her colleagues had secretly constructed a sprawling, cavernous facility deep beneath the city of Prague. They call it Threshold. The scope of the project was astounding, and yet it was the facility’s precise location that had most amazed The Golěm.

Right in the heart of the city.

Hundreds of people walk over it every day…with no idea it’s there.

When The Golěm demanded Gessner tell him how to get inside, she tried to resist but, overwhelmed with pain, quickly revealed the answer: Threshold could be accessed only by someone who knew where the entrance was hidden…and also possessed a highly specialized RFID key card.

It took The Golěm only a few minutes of brutality to extract both. When he left Gessner to die, he possessed the information he required…and also her personal RFID key card.

Unfortunately, he later discovered that the neuroscientist had managed to withhold one critical piece of information from him: the key card alone was not sufficient to gain access.

Defeated and exhausted, The Golěm had trudged homeward through the darkness, the useless key card in his pocket. Partway home, however, he realized there might be a solution to his problem. The more he considered it, the more confident he became. By dawn, he was fully certain.

I require a second item.