teaching her that beautiful things like rainbows and the rivers had many explanations. He told her about light, planets, stars, and all of nature through the eyes of both God and science. Vittoria’s innate intellect and curiosity made her a captivating student. Leonardo protected her like a daughter.
Vittoria was happy too. She had never known the joy of having a father. When every other adult answered her questions with a slap on the wrist, Leonardo spent hours showing her books. He even asked what
"I’m moving to Switzerland," Leonardo said. "I have a grant to study physics at the University of Geneva."
"Physics?" Vittoria cried. "I thought you loved
"I do, very much. Which is why I want to study his divine rules. The laws of physics are the canvas God laid down on which to paint his masterpiece."
Vittoria was devastated. But Father Leonardo had some other news. He told Vittoria he had spoken to his superiors, and they said it was okay if Father Leonardo adopted her.
"Would you
"What’s
Father Leonardo told her.
Vittoria hugged him for five minutes, crying tears of joy. "Oh yes! Yes!"
Leonardo told her he had to leave for a while and get their new home settled in Switzerland, but he promised to send for her in six months. It was the longest wait of Vittoria’s life, but Leonardo kept his word. Five days before her ninth birthday, Vittoria moved to Geneva. She attended Geneva International School during the day and learned from her father at night.
Three years later Leonardo Vetra was hired by CERN. Vittoria and Leonardo relocated to a wonderland the likes of which the young Vittoria had never imagined.
Vittoria Vetra’s body felt numb as she strode down the LHC tunnel. She saw her muted reflection in the LHC and sensed her father’s absence. Normally she existed in a state of deep calm, in harmony with the world around her. But now, very suddenly, nothing made sense. The last three hours had been a blur.
It had been 10 A.M. in the Balearic Islands when Kohler’s call came through.
Now she had returned home.
Kohler had said there was evidence that her father’s murder was related to the current project.
As she moved down the LHC tunnel toward her father’s lab, Vittoria realized she was about to unveil her father’s greatest achievement without him there. She had pictured this moment much differently. She had imagined her father calling CERN’s top scientists to his lab, showing them his discovery, watching their awestruck faces. Then he would beam with fatherly pride as he explained to them how it had been one of
Even as a child, Vittoria had disliked the man. Although she eventually came to respect his potent intellect, his icy demeanor always seemed inhuman, the exact antithesis of her father’s warmth. Kohler pursued science for its immaculate logic… her father for its spiritual wonder. And yet oddly there had always seemed to be an unspoken respect between the two men.
The entry to Leonardo Vetra’s lab was a long sterile hallway paved entirely in white tile. Langdon felt like he was entering some kind of underground insane asylum. Lining the corridor were dozens of framed, black-and- white images. Although Langdon had made a career of studying images, these were entirely alien to him. They looked like chaotic negatives of random streaks and spirals.
"Scatter plots," Vittoria said, apparently noting Langdon’s interest. "Computer representations of particle collisions. That’s the Z-particle," she said, pointing to a faint track that was almost invisible in the confusion. "My father discovered it five years ago. Pure energy—no mass at all. It may well be the smallest building block in nature. Matter is nothing but trapped energy."
"Vittoria," Kohler said, as they approached the lab’s imposing steel door, "I should mention that I came down here this morning looking for your father."
Vittoria flushed slightly. "You did?"
"Yes. And imagine my surprise when I discovered he had replaced CERN’s standard keypad security with something else." Kohler motioned to an intricate electronic device mounted beside the door.
"I apologize," she said. "You know how he was about privacy. He didn’t want anyone but the two of us to have access."
Kohler said, "Fine. Open the door."
Vittoria stood a long moment. Then, pulling a deep breath, she walked to the mechanism on the wall.
Langdon was in no way prepared for what happened next.
Vittoria stepped up to the device and carefully aligned her right eye with a protruding lens that looked like a telescope. Then she pressed a button. Inside the machine, something clicked. A shaft of light oscillated back and forth, scanning her eyeball like a copy machine.
"It’s a retina scan," she said. "Infallible security. Authorized for two retina patterns only. Mine and my father’s."
Robert Langdon stood in horrified revelation. The image of Leonardo Vetra came back in grisly detail—the bloody face, the solitary hazel eye staring back, and the empty eye socket. He tried to reject the obvious truth, but then he saw it… beneath the scanner on the white tile floor… faint droplets of crimson. Dried blood.
Vittoria, thankfully, did not notice.
The steel door slid open and she walked through.
Kohler fixed Langdon with an adamant stare. His message was clear:
18
The woman’s hands were tied, her wrists now purple and swollen from chafing. The mahogany- skinned Hassassin lay beside her, spent, admiring his naked prize. He wondered if her current slumber was just a deception, a pathetic attempt to avoid further service to him.
He did not care. He had reaped sufficient reward. Sated, he sat up in bed.
In
Now, despite the contentment in his loins, the Hassassin sensed another appetite growing within him. He had