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Inside a smaller archival vault with limited air, Robert Langdon searches the Vatican assets ledgers for Gianlorenzo Bernini. The Belle Arti records are extensive and not alphabetized; after some confusion, Langdon realizes the ledgers are organized by the estimated value of each artist’s holdings and finds Bernini’s massive volume among the Renaissance masters.

Langdon opens the handwritten Italian ledger and discovers that its entries are chronological, making a search for a work connected to fire difficult. Because the first two Illuminati markers did not include their elements in their titles, Langdon worries that the third marker may not be obvious. Short of breath, he considers taking the book out of the vault to continue searching.

Before leaving, Langdon notices a note about Bernini’s The Ecstasy of St. Teresa. The sculpture was removed from the Vatican after Pope Urban VIII deemed it too sexually explicit, but the ledger says it was sent to one of the churches on Langdon’s list at Bernini’s suggestion. Langdon realizes Bernini may have deliberately made the work provocative so the Vatican would exile it to a remote church of Bernini’s choosing.

Langdon examines the entry and sees that the sculpture includes an angel with a spear and repeated references to fire, including St. Teresa’s own fiery description of her vision. The angel’s spear seems to point like a guiding beacon, and Langdon identifies the angel as a seraphim, a “fiery one.” These clues convince Langdon that The Ecstasy of St. Teresa marks the Fire altar.

The ledger names the sculpture’s current location as Santa Maria della Vittoria, which seems fitting to Langdon because of Vittoria’s name. Reenergized, Langdon leaves the book at the shelf and heads toward the vault exit, but the lights suddenly dim, the electronic exit button dies, and the entire archival complex goes black as someone cuts the power.