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Langdon arrives at Piazza Navona and studies Bernini’s Fountain of the Four Rivers, convinced it is the Water marker and the fourth altar of science. He reflects that the Illuminati path has remained intact, but realizes the fountain must also point toward the final destination, the Church of Illumination. This worries him because he sees no angel in the pagan fountain to guide him onward.

At 10:46 P.M., a black van with no headlights circles the deserted piazza and stops beside the fountain. Langdon hides near the Church of St. Agnes in Agony and sees a naked man wrapped in heavy chains lying inside the van, with the Hassassin preparing him for execution. Realizing the killer has arrived early and that the expected confrontation has changed, Langdon leaves his jacket and Galileo’s Diagramma safely behind and enters the icy fountain with his gun.

Using the fountain’s central sculptures for cover, Langdon approaches through the water and confronts the Hassassin at gunpoint. The prisoner is motionless and near death, but Langdon hesitates to shoot because the Hassassin may know where Vittoria and the antimatter are. The Hassassin confirms that Vittoria is alive and being held somewhere safe, and also implies that the Church of Illumination still exists, but refuses to reveal its location.

The Hassassin recognizes Langdon’s hesitation and uses it against him. Grabbing a roll bar inside the van, the Hassassin kicks the chained cardinal into the fountain and swings out after him. Langdon fires and wounds the Hassassin’s foot, but the killer’s momentum carries him into Langdon, knocking Langdon backward and causing him to lose the gun in the water.

Submerged in the freezing, churning fountain, Langdon searches for the weapon but instead grabs the chains binding Cardinal Baggia. Langdon pulls Baggia to the surface long enough for the cardinal to gasp for air, but the chains drag Baggia under again. Langdon dives after him, sees a branded word burned into Baggia’s flesh, and then notices the Hassassin’s boots approaching through the water, one of them bleeding.