Page 75 of The Secret of Secrets

Robert Langdon was headed to Petřín Tower, and while Pavel could not imagine why, there could be no place better for Pavel to take the American. The area around Petřín Hill was isolated and vast. Most importantly, at this early hour on a winter morning, it would be nearly deserted.

It will be my pleasure to take Langdon down.

All I need is a weapon.

Pavel found Janáček’s handgun inside the glove box. As he slid the weapon into his empty side holster, Pavel fantasized about how fitting it would feel to fire his captain’s gun and kill the man who had murdered Janáček in cold blood.

An eye for an eye.

Chapter 47

In 1889, after Prague city officials visited the Exposition Universelle in Paris and saw Gustave Eiffel’s showstopping tower, they decided soon after to build their own “miniature” Eiffel Tower in Prague. Situated atop Petřín Hill and completed in 1891, the tower was hardly miniature, rising two hundred feet above a hilltop that was already more than a thousand feet tall.

Like its Parisian inspiration, Petřín Tower was built in an open-lattice construction of riveted steel beams and supports. Apart from their differing heights, the towers of Paris and Prague look markedly similar in silhouette, the only obvious exception being Eiffel Tower’s square base and Petřín Tower’s octagonal one.

When Langdon’s taxi finally reached the wooded parking lot at the base of Petřín Tower, he anxiously scanned the deserted area for signs of life.

I have Katherine. Come to Petřín Tower.

Langdon quickly paid the fare, including a generous tip, and asked the driver to wait for him. The cabbie muttered something in tense Czech and sped off as soon as Langdon had stepped out and closed the door, leaving him alone in the windy parking lot.

Thanks a lot.

Petřín Tower was considerably taller than Langdon recalled, and today it seemed to sway against the gray sky. The snow-dusted forest surrounding the tower looked quiet and majestic, with only a handful of groundskeepers and employees starting their day. Langdon saw no sign of Katherine, nor anyone suspicious. Trying to forget this hill’s history of human sacrifice, Langdon moved quickly toward the tower itself, hoping with a pang in his chest that Katherine would indeed be somewhere up here…and safe.

Beneath Petřín Tower stood the visitor’s center, a low octagonal building nestled perfectly within the tower’s eight massive supporting legs. The building had a gently sloping roof through which ascended a slender shaft that climbed all the way to the top of the tower. Tiny elevator, Langdon knew. Unfortunately, option number two was a tightly wound, open-air staircase that spiraled around the shaft all the way up. Neither mode of ascent looked particularly inviting.

As he neared the tower, Langdon heard the grinding of elevator gears and the scraping of metal on metal as the carriage moved upward into the shaft.

Someone is going to the top, he thought expectantly. Katherine?

He rushed into the visitor’s hall, an octagonal room decorated with historical photos of the tower’s construction. The hall was deserted except for a young female attendant who was unpacking boxes of Prague paraphernalia.

“Dobré ráno!” she said cheerily. “Good morning!”

“Good morning,” Langdon replied. “Is the tower open?”

“Just now,” she replied. “Only two people at the top. Would you like a ticket?”

Langdon felt his pulse quicken. Two people. He couldn’t help but wonder if it was Katherine and her captor. Am I supposed to go up? The note had not been specific, but Langdon was not about to take that chance. The thought of Katherine in the hands of some lunatic, hundreds of feet up on an open-air observation platform, filled him with dread.

Langdon bought a ticket and waited outside the elevator door. Somewhere above him, the carriage ground its way noisily back down from the top. When the doors finally rattled open, Langdon found himself peering into a tiny, awkwardly shaped cabin that looked like it hadn’t been refurbished since the 1800s.

Instinctively, he turned his gaze to the nearby spiral staircase, which was cordoned off with a swag and a placard: ZAVŘENO / CLOSED. Another sign warned that the 299 stairs were extremely steep.

“Are the stairs open?” Langdon asked, hoping the attendant was just now opening and had not yet removed the sign for the day.

“Closed for winter,” she said. “Too windy…and the snow and ice today!”

Terrific. He peered reluctantly into the lift’s tiny compartment, and three words echoed in his mind.

I have Katherine.

Taking a deep breath, Langdon stepped into the lift. He pressed the button, and the doors lurched shut. As the carriage rattled upward, he focused his attention on the metal engraving on the wall, where a series of red lights blinked on and off to indicate his progress.

As the lift climbed, Langdon began feeling increasingly unprepared for whomever or whatever he might find up here. He wondered if he had been a fool not to take the gun from Sasha. What if her captor is armed? The higher he went, the more the elevator walls began closing in around him. Langdon closed his eyes and hummed the country song “Wide Open Spaces.”

When the lift finally slowed to a stop, Langdon braced himself and opened his eyes. The elevator doors rumbled open, and Langdon felt an instantaneous surge of relief to see open air, but that emotion was immediately dampened by disappointment. The couple on top of the tower were both in their twenties, of Indian descent, and happily taking pictures of Prague.