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The caller identifies himself as a messenger of the Illuminati and says he represents an ancient brotherhood of science wronged by the Church for centuries. Camerlegno Carlo Ventresca demands to know what he wants, but the caller insists there are no demands: Vatican City will be destroyed at midnight.

Commander Olivetti challenges the possibility that anyone could have planted explosives inside the Vatican, but the caller implies the Illuminati have infiltrated the city, possibly even through the Swiss Guard. He then reveals that the Vatican is missing four key "assets": Cardinals Lamassé, Guidera, Ebner, and Baggia. Olivetti admits to the camerlegno that the four cardinals have not reported to the Sistine Chapel, and the camerlegno realizes they are the preferiti, the leading candidates to become the next pope.

The caller says the cardinals are lost and that their deaths will be made public. Langdon recognizes the reference to la purga, the 1668 purge in which four Illuminati scientists were branded and murdered by the Church. The caller confirms his plan for symbolic revenge: one cardinal will be branded and killed every hour beginning at eight, with the murders staged in churches around Rome.

Olivetti suggests guarding every church, but the caller notes that Rome has hundreds of Catholic churches, making that impossible. The camerlegno argues that faith cannot be destroyed by demolishing Vatican City, but the caller counters that the Vatican’s wealth, art, records, and financial holdings are physically concentrated inside its walls. He claims the Church is already declining and that the blast will bankrupt it.

When the camerlegno pleads for the preferiti, the caller mocks them as sacrifices and then mentions killing Leonardo Vetra. Vittoria reveals that Vetra was her father and vows to find the killer before the night ends. The caller taunts and threatens Vittoria in return, then ends the call.