CHAPTER 33

Sophie speeds through the diplomatic quarter and back onto the Champs-Elysées while Langdon watches for police. Langdon regrets being drawn into flight, but Sophie’s earlier decision to throw away the GPS tracker has already made remaining with the authorities impossible.

Sophie gives Langdon the object she recovered from behind Madonna of the Rocks. Langdon identifies it as a laser-cut key with a cruciform shape, a fleur-de-lis, and the initials P.S., matching the seal of the Priory of Sion. Sophie says her grandfather once warned her never to mention the key and told her it opened a box containing many secrets.

Langdon explains that the key’s equal-armed cross is older than Christianity and symbolically compatible with Priory ideas of balance between male and female. However, Langdon cannot identify what the key opens, leaving both Langdon and Sophie with only the certainty that Saunière intended Sophie to have it.

Sophie decides they need a safe place to examine the key, but she rejects Langdon’s suggestions. Langdon’s university contacts are too obvious, Sophie’s own contacts are compromised, hotels require identification, and the U.S. Embassy would likely tell Langdon to surrender rather than retrieve him from French jurisdiction.

Realizing they cannot remain in the SmartCar, Sophie drives through the Arc de Triomphe rotary and heads north to Gare Saint-Lazare. There, she parks behind taxis, pays one driver a large amount of cash, and lets the taxi leave without them. Sophie then tells Langdon they are buying tickets on the next train out of Paris, escalating their escape from a short dash to a full evacuation.