Robert Langdon, #1
Angels & Demons
by Dan Brown
Contents
40
Overview
Vittoria’s warning gains urgent credibility when a bomb threat caller specifically identifies antimatter hidden inside Vatican City. Olivetti’s skepticism collapses, and Camerlegno Ventresca asserts command over Vatican security by ordering a search and demanding direct contact with the caller.
The chapter shifts the threat from theoretical to confirmed, raising the stakes for the conclave and forcing the Vatican authorities to confront the possibility of imminent destruction.
Summary
Camerlegno Carlo Ventresca asks whether Vittoria Vetra’s warning is true. Commander Olivetti admits that a suspicious device is visible on Vatican security monitor camera #86, but he doubts Vittoria’s claim that the antimatter can destroy Vatican City.
Ventresca presses Olivetti on why the device has not been recovered. Olivetti explains that the wireless signal must be coming from inside Vatican City, but locating the missing camera would require an immense search. Vittoria angrily insists that the antimatter can level the Vatican and that Olivetti’s conventional explosives experience does not apply.
Olivetti continues to resist, arguing that his research found no mention of antimatter in a ballistics guide. Ventresca asserts his authority as acting head of Vatican City during the interregnum and orders Olivetti to organize a search, suggesting that refusal would endanger the conclave.
A Swiss Guard communications officer interrupts by radio to report a bomb threat. The caller mentioned antimatter, and the guard’s online research confirms that antimatter could be extraordinarily destructive. This evidence shakes Olivetti and confirms Vittoria’s warning in front of Ventresca.
The communications officer reports that the caller is still on the encrypted cellular line, cannot be traced, and refuses to hang up until speaking with the camerlegno. Against Olivetti’s objections, Ventresca orders the call patched through and answers on speakerphone, demanding to know who the caller is.
Who Appears
- Camerlegno Carlo VentrescaAsserts authority, orders a search, and insists on speaking directly with the bomb-threat caller.
- Commander OlivettiSkeptical Swiss Guard commander whose resistance weakens after the antimatter threat is independently confirmed.
- Vittoria VetraPhysicist who forcefully explains antimatter’s danger and challenges Olivetti’s outdated assumptions.
- Swiss Guard communications officerReports the bomb threat, confirms online antimatter research, and patches the caller through.
- Unknown callerUntraceable bomb-threat caller who claims antimatter is hidden in Vatican City and demands Ventresca.
- Robert LangdonPresent during the confrontation as Vatican leaders respond to the escalating Illuminati threat.