Robert Langdon, #2
The Da Vinci Code
by Dan Brown
Contents
CHAPTER 42
Overview
Langdon and Sophie successfully use Saunière’s gold key to enter the Depository Bank of Zurich, confirming that the clue has led them to a real anonymous vault account. Their progress stalls when they learn the key is only half the required identification and that they also need an unknown account number.
The bank’s security staff recognize the pair from police reports and alert Interpol, transforming the bank from a hoped-for refuge into a trap. Fache redirects Collet and the police toward Rue Haxo, tightening the pursuit just as Langdon and Sophie are locked inside the private viewing room.
Summary
Langdon and Sophie arrive by taxi at the Paris branch of the Depository Bank of Zurich, a heavily secured anonymous storage bank. Sophie uses Saunière’s gold, triangular-shafted key to open successive gates and access the underground garage, confirming that the key belongs to this institution.
Before entering, Sophie tells Langdon to leave the pistol in the taxi, and Langdon gladly hides it under the seat. Inside the steel-walled lobby, Sophie presents the key to an armed guard, who directs them to an elevator and explains that the key itself determines the correct floor.
After Langdon and Sophie descend in the elevator, the guard recognizes their faces from a television news report about fugitives wanted by the French police. The guard phones the bank’s night manager, who says he will contact Monsieur Vernet, and then the guard calls Interpol.
Belowground, an elderly host escorts Langdon and Sophie through metal corridors into a luxurious private viewing room. The host explains that the bank’s safe-deposit boxes are anonymous, often inherited, leased for at least fifty years, and retrieved automatically after the client inserts both the key and a personal account number.
Sophie realizes Saunière gave her the key but no account number. The host, alarmed by a phone call and by Sophie’s admission, calmly says someone will help them, leaves the room, and locks Langdon and Sophie inside.
Across Paris, Collet receives a call from Fache at the Gare du Nord. Fache reports the Interpol tip and orders Collet to abandon the train search and send officers immediately to the Depository Bank of Zurich at 24 Rue Haxo.
Who Appears
- Sophie NeveuUses Saunière’s key to enter the bank but lacks the account number.
- Robert LangdonAccompanies Sophie into the secure vault and realizes their refuge is precarious.
- Bank guardRecognizes Langdon and Sophie from television and alerts management and Interpol.
- Elderly bank hostExplains the anonymous vault procedure, then locks Langdon and Sophie inside.
- Lieutenant ColletReceives Fache’s order to redirect the police search to the bank.
- Captain FacheActs on the Interpol tip and sends Collet after Langdon and Sophie.