Robert Langdon, #1
Angels & Demons
by Dan Brown
Contents
59
Overview
Captain Elias Rocher briefs the Swiss Guard search teams on the stolen antimatter device and the emergency plan to locate it before midnight. The chapter shifts focus from Langdon and Vittoria at the Pantheon to the Vatican’s internal response, emphasizing the scale, urgency, and uncertainty of the threat.
Rookie Lieutenant Chartrand’s fear underscores how unprecedented the crisis is, even for highly trained guards. Rocher’s grim silence when asked about failure makes clear that the Vatican may have no fallback if the search fails.
Summary
In the Swiss Guard staging room beside the Corpo di Vigilanza barracks, Captain Elias Rocher briefs an assembled task force. The room, usually used to plan security for Vatican public events, has been repurposed for the urgent search for the stolen antimatter device.
Rocher, the Swiss Guard second-in-command, projects calm authority as he explains the operation. The guards have just learned about the crisis: an advanced weapon, an ancient cult, and kidnapped cardinals, details that strain belief until Rocher shows them a live video feed of the device.
Rookie Lieutenant Chartrand, the youngest guard and only three months into Vatican service, struggles to absorb the situation despite his elite training. Rocher orders selected power shutdowns to reduce magnetic interference, four-man search teams using infrared goggles, and recalibrated bug sweepers to detect sub-three-ohm flux fields.
When Chartrand asks what will happen if the device is not found in time, Rocher offers no reassurance. Rocher simply dismisses the men with a grave salute and sends them into the search with, “Godspeed, men.”
Who Appears
- Captain Elias RocherSwiss Guard second-in-command; briefs search teams on the antimatter operation.
- Lieutenant Chartrandyoung rookie guard; fears the unprecedented crisis and asks what happens if they fail.
- Commander OlivettiSwiss Guard commander; absent here but invoked as Rocher’s more serpentine superior.
- Swiss Guard task forceassembled guards assigned to search the Vatican for the hidden antimatter device.