Robert Langdon, #2
The Da Vinci Code
by Dan Brown
Contents
CHAPTER 73
Overview
Fache traces Teabing's jet from Bourget toward London by intimidating the air traffic controller into revealing Teabing's likely destination: Biggin Hill Executive Airport. The revelation puts Langdon, Sophie, Teabing, Rémy, and Silas in immediate danger of interception as soon as they land.
Fache's decision to use local Kent police quietly, rather than British intelligence, shows his urgency and desire to control the arrest personally. The chase shifts from France to England, tightening the net around the fugitives.
Summary
At Bourget Airfield, Bezu Fache storms into the control tower and demands to know where Sir Leigh Teabing's jet has gone. The night-shift air traffic controller tries to protect the privacy of an important British client, but Fache immediately escalates the confrontation.
Fache threatens to arrest the controller for allowing a private plane to depart without a registered flight plan. Frightened by Fache's authority and the sight of handcuffs, the controller admits that Teabing often flies to London for medical treatments and keeps a hangar at Biggin Hill Executive Airport in Kent.
The controller cannot confirm whether Biggin Hill is the jet's destination or who is aboard, but the aircraft's route and last radar contact suggest the United Kingdom. The controller estimates that, if the plane is going to Biggin Hill, it will land in about fifteen minutes.
Fache decides to act on the likely destination. He orders transport for himself to London and instructs his men to contact local Kent police rather than MI5, wanting the matter handled quietly. Fache directs that Teabing's plane be allowed to land, then surrounded on the tarmac so no one can leave before Fache arrives.
Who Appears
- Bezu FacheFrench police captain; intimidates the controller and organizes a quiet interception in Kent.
- Bourget air traffic controllerNight-shift controller; reveals Teabing’s likely London destination under threat of arrest.
- Sir Leigh TeabingAbsent jet owner; his regular Biggin Hill trips give Fache the fugitives’ likely landing point.
- Fache’s officerAssists Fache by presenting handcuffs, increasing pressure on the frightened controller.