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Langdon and Vittoria arrive near Piazza Barberini shortly before ten o’clock and watch the square from an alley. Rome is deserted outside because television reports about the Illuminati murders and Vatican crisis have captured public attention, underscoring how quickly the threat has become a global spectacle.

Vittoria notices two cloaked figures crossing the piazza and, fearing a possible connection to the next Illuminati murder, takes Langdon’s gun and silently moves to intercept them. Langdon follows uneasily as Vittoria closes in, ready to act before the figures can react.

When Vittoria calls out, the figures turn, and Langdon realizes they are only two elderly women wearing traditional widow’s mantles and holding rosaries. Vittoria hides the gun in time, then asks where Santa Maria della Vittoria is, and the women point toward the church.

The women explain that the church has closed early because an unknown foreign man forced everyone out, including the priest and janitor. The intruder laughed when told the police would be called and said the police should bring cameras, implying that he intended to stage a public spectacle.

After the women leave, Vittoria interprets their insult as a derogatory reference to an Arab man. Langdon turns toward Santa Maria della Vittoria and sees flames glowing through its stained-glass windows, revealing that the Fire site is already burning before they can intervene.