Peter choked back tears, staring up at Mal’akh’s face as if seeing him for the very first time.
«All the warden wanted was money,» Mal’akh said, «but you refused. It never occurred to you, though, that
Peter’s tear-streaked face contorted now with anguish and disbelief. «Oh my God. . Zachary.»
«Not anymore. When Zachary walked out of prison, he was transformed.»
His adolescent physique and childlike face had drastically mutated when he flooded his young body with experimental growth hormones and steroids. Even his vocal cords had been ravaged, transforming his boyish voice into a permanent whisper.
At that moment in Kalorama Heights, Katherine Solomon stood over the open desk drawer and gazed down at what could be described only as a fetishist’s collection of old newspaper articles and photographs.
«i don’t understand,» she said, turning to bellamy. «this lunatic was obviously obsessed with my family, but — »
«Keep going. .» urged Bellamy, taking a seat and still looking deeply shaken.
Katherine dug deeper into the newspaper articles, every one of which related to the Solomon family — Peter’s many successes, Katherine’s research, their mother Isabel’s terrible murder, Zachary Solomon’s widely publicized drug use, incarceration, and brutal murder in a Turkish prison.
The fixation this man had on the Solomon family was beyond fanatical, and yet Katherine saw nothing yet to suggest
It was then that she saw the photographs. The first showed Zachary standing knee-deep in azure water on a beach dotted with whitewashed houses.
Puzzled, she checked the date stamp on the photo.
The date was almost a full year
Suddenly Katherine was flipping desperately through the stack. All of the photos were of Zachary Solomon. . gradually getting older. The collection appeared to be some kind of pictorial autobiography, chronicling a slow transformation. As the pictures progressed, Katherine saw a sudden and dramatic change. She looked on in horror as Zachary’s body began mutating, his muscles bulging, and his facial features morphing from the obvious heavy use of steroids. His frame seemed to double in mass, and a haunting fierceness crept into his eyes.
He looked nothing like Katherine’s memories of her young nephew.
When she reached a picture of him with a shaved head, she felt her knees begin to buckle. Then she saw a photo of his bare body. . adorned with the first traces of tattoos.
Her heart almost stopped. «Oh my God. .»
CHAPTER 120
«Right turn!» langdon shouted from the backseat of the commandeered lexus suv.
Simkins swerved onto S Street and gunned the vehicle through a tree-lined residential neighborhood. As they neared the corner of Sixteenth Street, the House of the Temple rose like a mountain on the right.
Simkins stared up at the massive structure. It looked like someone had built a pyramid on top of Rome’s Pantheon. He prepared to turn right on Sixteenth toward the front of the building.
«Don’t turn!» Langdon ordered. «Go straight! Stay on S!»
Simkins obeyed, driving alongside the east side of the building.
«At Fifteenth,» Langdon said, «turn right!»
Simkins followed his navigator, and moments later, Langdon had pointed out a nearly invisible, unpaved access road that bisected the gardens behind the House of the Temple. Simkins turned in to the drive and gunned the Lexus toward the rear of the building.
«Look!» Langdon said, pointing to the lone vehicle parked near the rear entrance. It was a large van. «They’re here.»
Simkins parked the SUV and killed the engine. Quietly, everyone got out and prepared to move in. Simkins stared up at the monolithic structure. «You say the Temple Room is at the
Langdon nodded, pointing all the way to the pinnacle of the building. «That flat area on top of the pyramid is actually a skylight.»
Simkins spun back to Langdon. «The Temple Room has a
Langdon gave him an odd look. «Of course. An oculus to heaven. . directly above the altar.»
The UH-60 sat idling at Dupont Circle.
In the passenger seat, Sato gnawed at her fingernails, awaiting news from her team.
Finally, Simkins’s voice crackled over the radio. «Director?»
«sato here,» she barked.
«We’re entering the building, but I have some additional recon for you.»
«Go ahead.»
«Mr. Langdon just informed me that the room in which the target is most likely located has a very large skylight.»
Sato considered the information for several seconds. «Understood. Thank you.»
Simkins signed off.
Sato spit out a fingernail and turned to the pilot. «Take her up.»
CHAPTER 121
Like any parent who had lost a child, peter solomon had often imagined how old his boy would be now. . what he would look like. . and what he would have become.
Peter Solomon now had his answers.
The massive tattooed creature before him had begun life as a tiny, precious infant. . baby Zach curled up in a wicker bassinette. . taking his first fumbling steps across Peter’s study. . learning to speak his first words. The fact that evil could spring from an innocent child in a loving family remained one of the paradoxes of the human soul. Peter had been forced to accept early on that although his own blood flowed in his son’s veins, the heart pumping that blood was his son’s own. Unique and singular. . as if randomly chosen from the universe.
An icy numbness flooded Peter’s heart as he searched his son’s eyes for any connection. . anything familiar. The man’s eyes, however, although gray like Peter’s, were those of a total stranger, filled with a hatred and a vengefulness that were almost otherworldly.
«Are you strong enough?» his son taunted, glancing at the Akedah knife gripped in Peter’s hand. «Can you finish what you started all those years ago?»
«Son. .» Solomon barely recognized his own voice. «I. . I loved. . you.»
«Twice you tried to kill me. You abandoned me in prison. You shot me on Zach’s bridge. Now
