CHAPTER 57

At the roadblock outside the Depository Bank of Zurich, Lieutenant Collet waits impatiently for Captain Fache to obtain a search warrant. The bankers insist Robert Langdon and Sophie Neveu came earlier but were turned away for lacking proper account identification, a claim Collet doubts because the bank still refuses police entry.

Collet receives a call from the Louvre command post telling him to abandon the bank. An unnamed agent reports a tip giving the exact location where Langdon and Sophie are hiding, at an address near Versailles. Fache has not yet been informed because he is occupied on an important call.

Collet takes the address and leaves immediately, realizing only afterward that he forgot to ask who provided the tip. Seeing the lead as a chance to recover from earlier mistakes, he orders the five cars with him to approach silently, without sirens, so Langdon will not know they are coming.

Meanwhile, forty kilometers away, Silas parks a black Audi near a field outside a fenced château compound. Seeing the downstairs lights on, he concludes the Teacher’s information is accurate and vows not to leave without the keystone.

Silas checks his loaded Heckler Koch pistol, throws it through the fence, climbs over despite the pain from his cilice, retrieves the weapon, and starts up the grassy slope toward the illuminated château. The police and Silas are now converging on the same location.