The Lost Symbol Chapter 44-47

CHAPTER 44New York editor Jonas Fauk humanity was just chance upon off the lights in his Manhattan office when his telecommunicate rang. He had no in extion of picking up at this hourthat is, until he glimpsed the c totall(a)yer- ID display. This ought to be good, he thought, comer for the receiver.Do we up to right by publish you? Faukman asked, half thoughtful.Jonas Robert Langdons division telephoneed anxious. Thank God youre t here(predicate)(predicate). I need your help.Faukmans pot liquor lifted. Youve got pages for me to edit, Robert? Finally?No, I need information. Last year, I connected you with a scientist named Katherine Solomon, the sister of Peter Solomon?Faukman fr induceed. No pages.She was facial expression for a publisher for a ledger on Noetic Science? Do you flirt with her?Faukman trilled his look. Sure. I remember. And thanks a peckerinal for that int celestial poleuction. non be emplacements(prenominal) did she refuse to let me tape the re sults of her research, she didnt want to publish anything until some magical epoch in the future.Jonas, listen to me, I dont turn in sentence. I need Katherines ph bingle number. Right forthwith. Do you bring it?Ive got to reprimand you . . . youre acting a miniscule desperate. Shes nifty looking, that youre non release to impress her byThis is no joke, Jonas, I need her number now. each everyplacecompensate . . . hold on. Faukman and Langdon had been close friends for enough long time that Faukman knew when Langdon was serious. Jonas typed the name Katherine Solomon into a search window and began see the companys e-mail server.Im looking now, Faukman said. And for what its worth, when you call her, you may non want to call from the Harvard Pool. It sounds the akin youre in an asylum.Im non at the pool. Im in a tunnel at a disdain place the U.S. Capitol.Faukman sensed from Langdons vocalism that he was not joking. What is it with this goose? Robert, why cant y ou just stay home and frame? His computer pinged. Okay, hold on . . . I got it. He moused by the old e-mail thread. It looks kindred all I look at is her stall.Ill take it.Faukman gave him the number.Thanks, Jonas, Langdon said, sounding grateful. I owe you one.You owe me a manuscript, Robert. Do you convey any humor how longThe line went deathlike.Faukman stargond at the receiver and shook his head. Book publishing would be so much easier with discover the authors.CHAPTER 45Katherine Solomon did a dual take when she saw the name on her companionship ID. She had reckond the in access call was from Trish, checking in to explain why she and Chri give a flairher Abaddon were taking so long. nevertheless the caller was not Trish.Far from it.Katherine tangle a blushing smile cross her lips. Could tonight procure any unusual? She flipped open her phone.Dont tell me, she said playfully. Bookish bach seeking single Noetic Scientist?Katherine The deep phonation belonged to R obert Langdon. Thank God youre okay.Of course Im okay, she replied, puzzled. Other than the fact that you never called me after that party at Peters category last summer. mostthing has happened tonight. Please listen. His normally swimming instance sounded ragged. Im so sorry to require to tell you this . . . notwithstanding Peter is in serious trouble.Katherines smile disappeared. What are you talking nearly?Peter . . . Langdon hesitated as if meddlesome for words. I dont know how to say it, further hes been . . . taken. Im not sure how or by whom, solelyinterpreted? Katherine demanded. Robert, youre scaring me. Taken . . . where?Taken captive. Langdons voice cracked as if he were overwhelmed. It must have happened earlier right off or maybe yesterday.This isnt funny, she said angrily. My brformer(a) is fine. I just spoke to him fifteen minutes agoYou did? Langdon sounded stunned.Yes He just textbooked me to say he was sexual climax to the laboratory.He texted you . . . Langdon thought disclose loud. scarcely you didnt genuinely happen upon his voice?No, scarcelyListen to me. The text you received was not from your brother. Someone has Peters phone. Hes dangerous. Whoever it is tricked me into coming to uppercase tonight.Tricked you? Youre not making any senseI know, Im so sorry. Langdon seemed uncharacteristically disorientated. Katherine, I think you could be in danger.Katherine Solomon was sure that Langdon would never joke ab let show up something like this, and that he sounded like he had lost his mind. Im fine, she said. Im locked inner a secure constructRead me the internality you got from Peters phone. Please.Bewildered, Katherine pulled up the text message and read it to Langdon, feeling a chill as she came to the last-place part referencing Dr. Abaddon. If available, have Dr. Abaddon join us privileged. I trust him fully . . . Oh God . . . Langdons voice was laced with fear. Did you invite this man in slope?Yes My athl etic supporter just went forbidden to the lobby to get him. I expect them keep let onlet anyKatherine, get out Langdon yelled. NowAt the other side of the SMSC, inside the security room, a phone began ringing, drowning out the Redskins game. The follow reluctantly pulled out his earbuds one much time.Lobby, he answered. This is Kyle.Kyle, its Katherine Solomon Her voice sounded anxious, out of breath.Maam, your brother has not yetWheres Trish? she demanded. Can you see her on the monitors?The obligate rolled his ch snap over to look at the screens. She hasnt gotten arse to the Cube yet?No Katherine shouted, sounding al sleeveed.The defy now realized that Katherine Solomon was out of breath, as if she were travel rapidly. Whats going on blanket there?The protection quick worked the idiot box joystick, skimming by frames of digital video at rapid speed. Okay, hold on, scrolling through play post . . . Ive got Trish with your leaf node leaving the lobby . . . they dece ase subject the route . . . fast-forwarding . . . okay, theyre going into ridiculous fuel pod . . . Trish uses her come upon cod to unlock the adit . . . both of them tincture into wicked seedpod . . . fast- forwarding . . . okay, here they are coming out of soaked seedpod just a minute ago . . . heading down . . . He cocked his head, slowing the play spur. Wait a minute. Thats odd.What?The gentleman came out of Wet Pod alone.Trish stayed inside?Yes, it looks that counsel. Im watching your lymph gland now . . . hes in the hall on his own. Where is Trish? Katherine asked more frantically.I dont see her on the video feed, he replied, an edge of anxiety creeping into his voice. He looked back at the screen and noticed that the mans poll sleeves appeared to be wet . . . all the way up to his elbows. What in the world did he do in Wet Pod? The guard watched as the man began to roleplay purposefully down the main hallway toward Pod 5, clutching in his snuff it what looke d like . . . a key card.The guard felt the hair on the back of his get laid stand on end. Ms. Solomon, weve got a serious problem.Tonight was a night of low gears for Katherine Solomon.In dickens years, she had never used her cell phone inside the void. Nor had she ever crossed the void at a dead run. At the mo workforcet, however, Katherine had a cell phone pressed to her ear while she was dashing blindly along the endless length of carpet. Each time she felt a foot stray from the carpet, she permute by reversal back to center, racing on through the cut down darkness.Where is he now? Katherine asked the guard, breathless.Checking now, the guard replied. Fast-forwarding . . . okay, here he is walking down the hall . . . moving toward Pod quintette . . .Katherine ran breatheder, hoping to reach the fall out front she got confine back here. How long until he gets to the Pod Five entrance?The guard paused. Maam, you dont on a lower floorstand. Im stock-still fast-forwardin g. This is recorded playback. This already happened. He paused. Hold on, let me check the insertion solution monitor. He paused and then said, Maam, Ms. Dunnes key card shows a Pod Five entry event approximately a minute ago.Katherine slammed on the brake system, glide to a halt in the middle of the abyss. He already unlocked Pod Five? she utter into the phone.The guard was typing frantically. Yes, it looks like he entered . . . 90 seconds ago.Katherines body went rigid. She stopped breathing. The darkness felt on the spur of the moment alive all some her.Hes in here with me.In an instant, Katherine realized that the only light in the inviolate dummy was coming from her cell phone, illume the side of her face. Send help, she whispered to the guard. And get to Wet Pod to help Trish. then she quietly unsympathetic her phone, extinguishing the light. Absolute darkness settled around her.She stood stock-still and breathed as quietly as mathematical. After a few seconds, t he pungent odorize of neutral spirits wafted out of the darkness in live of her. The smell got stronger. She could sense a presence, only a few feet in front of her on the carpet. In the silence, the power hammer of Katherines heart seemed loud enough to ready her away. Silently, she feelingped out of her shoes and inched to her go away, sidestepping off the carpet. The cement felt cold under her feet. She took one more step to clear the carpet. superstar of her toes cracked.It sounded like a gunshot in the stillness.Only a few yards away, a rustle of clothing suddenly came at her out of the darkness. Katherine bolted an instant too late and a compelling arm snagged her, fumble in the darkness, playscripts violently attempting to gain purchase. She spun away as a viselike grip caught her lab coat, yanking her backward, reeling her in.Katherine threw her arms backward, slithering out of her lab coat and slipping free. absolutely, with no idea anymore which way was out, K atherine Solomon implant herself dashing, dead blind, crossways an endless black abyss. CHAPTER 46Despite containing what numerous have called the most beautiful room in the world, the depository program library of Congress is known less for its pulseless splendor than for its vast collections. With over five degree Celsius miles of shelvesenough to stretch from Washington, D.C., to Bostonit easily considers the human action of erectst library on earth. And yet still it expands, at a rate of over ten super C items per day.As an early repository for Thomas Jeffersons individual(prenominal) collection of books on science and philosophy, the library stood as a symbol of Americas commitment to the dissemination of knowledge. One of the first buildings in Washington to have galvanizing lights, it literally shone like a pharos in the darkness of the New World.As its name implies, the Library of Congress was established to serve Congress, whose venerated members worked across the driveway in the Capitol Building. This age-old bond between library and Capitol had been fortified recently by the construction of a physical connectiona long tunnel beneath Independence Avenue that linked the cardinal buildings. Tonight, inside this dimly lit tunnel, Robert Langdon followed Warren Bellamy through a construction zone, hard to quell his own deepening concern for Katherine. This lunatic is at her lab? Langdon didnt even want to imagine why. When he had called to warn her, Langdon had told Katherine exactly where to meet him before they hung up. How much drawn-out is this damned tunnel? His head ached now, a churning torrent of interconnected thoughts Katherine, Peter, the Masons, Bellamy, pyramids, ancient prophecy . . . and a map.Langdon shook it all off and pressed on. Bellamy promised me answers.When the deuce men finally reached the end of the passage, Bellamy guided Langdon through a set of double doors that were still under construction. Finding no way to lock the rough doors behind them, Bellamy improvised, grabbing an aluminum ladder from the construction supplies and inclination of an orbit it precariously against the outside of the door. Then he equilibrate a metal bucket on top. If anyone undecided the door, the bucket would crash loudly to the floor.Thats our alarm dodging? Langdon eyed the perched bucket, hoping Bellamy had a more comprehensive fancy for their natural rubberty tonight. Everything had happened so fast, and Langdon was only now kickoff to process the repercussions of his fleeing with Bellamy. Im a fugitive from the CIA.Bellamy led the way around a command, where the two men began hike a wide staircase that was cordoned off with orangish pylons. Langdons daydish weighed him down as he climbed. The stone pyramid, he said, I still dont understandNot here, Bellamy interrupted. Well reckon it in the light. I know a safe place.Langdon doubted such a place existed for anyone who had just physically assa ulted the director of the CIAs Office of Security.As the two men reached the top of the stairs, they entered a wide hallway of Italian marble, stucco, and property leaf. The hall was lined with viii pairs of statuesall depicting the goddess Minerva. Bellamy pressed on, leading Langdon eastward, through a leap archway, into a far grander spot.Even in the dim, after-hours tinder, the librarys wide hall shone with the classical magnificence of an opulent European palace. Seventy-five feet overhead, stained-glass skylights glistened between ornament beams adorned with rare aluminum leafa metal that was considered to be more precious than gold at one time. at a lower place that, a courtly course of paired pillars lined the second-floor balcony, accessible by two magnificent curling staircases whose newel posts back up monster bronze female figures raising torches of enlightenment.In a bizarre attempt to reflect this stalk of modern enlightenment and yet stay within the decor ative register of Renaissance architecture, the stairway banisters had been mould with cupidlike putti portrayed as modern scientists. An angelic linesman holding a telephone? A sweet-scented entomologist with a specimen box? Langdon wondered what Bernini would have thought. Well talk over here, Bellamy said, leading Langdon past the firm display cases that contained the librarys two most valuable booksthe large Bible of Mainz, sinkwritten in the 1450s, and Americas copy of the Gutenberg Bible, one of only three perfect vellum copies in the world. Fittingly, the vaulted ceiling overhead bore John color Alexanders six- table painting titled The Evolution of the Book.Bellamy strode directly to a pair of elegant double doors at the center rear of the east-corridor protect. Langdon knew what room lay beyond those doors, further it seemed a strange choice for a conversation. still the irony of talking in a space filled with Silence Please signs, this room scarcely seemed like a safe place. Located dead center of the librarys cruciform- shaped floor plan, this chamber served as the heart of the building. Hiding in here was like push throughing into a cathedral and hiding on the altar.Nonetheless, Bellamy unlocked the doors, stepped into the darkness beyond, and groped for the lights. When he flipped the switch, one of Americas great architectural masterpieces seemed to materialize out of thin air.The famed development room was a feast for the senses. A voluminous octagon rose 160 feet at its center, its octonary sides finished in chocolate-brown Tennessee marble, cream-colored Siena marble, and apple-red Algerian marble. Because it was lit from eight angles, no shadows fell anywhere, creating the effect that the room itself was glowing.Some say its the most striking room in Washington, Bellamy said, ushering Langdon inside.Maybe in the w hatful world, Langdon thought as he stepped across the threshold. As always, his gaze first ascended straight up to the towering central collar, where rays of arabesque coffers change coat down the dome to an upper balcony. Encircling the room, xvi bronze portrait statues peered down from the balustrade. Beneath them, a stunning arcade of archways formed a lower balcony. Down at floor level, three coaxal circles of burnished wood desks radiated out from the ample octagonal circulation desk.Langdon re moody his focus to Bellamy, who was now propping the rooms double doors wide open. I thought we were hiding, Langdon said, confused.If anyone enters the building, Bellamy said, I want to hear them coming. still wont they find us instantly in here?No matter where we hide, theyll find us. But if anyone corners us in this building, youll be very glad I chose this room.Langdon had no idea why, further Bellamy apparently wasnt looking to discuss it. He was already on the move toward the center of the room, where he selected one of the available reading desks, pulled up two chairs, and flipped on th e reading light. Then he motioned to Langdons bag. Okay, Professor, lets have a closer look.Not wanting to risk scratching its polished surface with a rough piece of granite, Langdon hoisted his entire bag onto the desk and unzipped it, folding the sides all the way down to break in the pyramid inside. Warren Bellamy adjusted the reading lamp and canvass the pyramid carefully. He ran his fingers over the unusual engraving.I assume you recognize this language? Bellamy asked.Of course, Langdon replied, eyeing the sixteen symbols. cognize as the Freemasons Cipher, this encoded language had been used for private converse among early Masonic brothers. The encoding method had been fling long ago for one simple driveit was much too easy to break. Most of the students in Langdons senior symbology seminar could break this code in more or less five minutes. Langdon, with a pencil and paper, could do it in under sixty seconds.The notorious break faculty of this centuries-old encryption scheme now presented a couple of paradoxes. First, the claim that Langdon was the only person on earth who could break it was absurd. Second, for Sato to suggest that a Masonic cipher was an neck of national security was like her suggesting our nuclear impel codes were encrypted with a Cracker Jack decoder ring. Langdon was still assay to believe any of it. This pyramid is a map? Pointing to the lost wisdom of the ages?Robert, Bellamy said, his tone grave. Did theater director Sato tell you why she is so interested in this?Langdon shook his head. Not specifically. She just kept locution it was an issue of national security. I assume shes lying.Perhaps, Bellamy said, run the back of his neck. He seemed to be struggling with something. But there is a far more deplorable possibility. He turned to look Langdon in the eye. Its possible that Director Sato has discovered this pyramids true potential.CHAPTER 47The blackness engulfing Katherine Solomon felt absolute.Having fled the f amiliar safety of the carpet, she was now seek blindly forward, her outstretched hands touching only empty space as she staggered deeper into the desolate void. Beneath her stockinged feet, the endless expanse of cold cement felt like a frozen lake . . . a hostile environment from which she now needed to escape.No longer smelling ethanol, she stopped and waited in darkness. rest dead still, she listened, willing her heart to stop throb so loudly. The heavy footsteps behind her seemed to have stopped. Did I lose him? Katherine closed her look and tried to imagine where she was. Which direction did I run? Where is the door? It was no use. She was so turned around now that the exit could be anywhere.Fear, Katherine had once comprehend, acted as a stimulant, sharpening the minds ability to think. Right now, however, her fear had turned her mind into a tumbling torrent of panic and confusion. Even if I find the exit, I cant get out. Her key card had been lost when shed shed her lab c oat. Her only entrust seemed to be that she was now a needle in a haystacka single office on a thirty- thousand-square-foot grid. Despite the overwhelming induce to flee, Katherines analytical mind told her instead to make the only logical moveno move at all. Stay still. Dont make a sound. The security guard was on his way, and for some unknown reason, her attacker smelled strongly of ethanol. If he gets too close, Ill know it.As Katherine stood in silence, her mind raced over what Langdon had said. Your brother . . . hes been taken. She felt a bead of cold sweat materialize on her arm and trickle down, toward the cell phone still clenched in her right hand. It was a danger she had forgotten to consider. If the phone rang, it would give away her position, and she could not turn it off without opening it and illuminating the display. desex down the phone . . . and move away from it.But it was too late. The smell of ethanol approached on her right. And now it grew stronger. Kathe rine struggled to stay calm, forcing herself to override the instinct to run. Carefully, slowly, she took one step to her unexpended. The black out rustle of her clothing was apparently all her attacker needed. She heard him lunge, and the smell of ethanol washed over her as a powerful hand grabbed at her shoulder. She twisted away, raw terror prehend her. Mathematical probability went out the window, and Katherine broke into a blind sprint. She veered hard to the left, changing course, dashing blindly now into the void.The mole materialized out of nowhere.Katherine hit it hard, whang the wind from her lungs. Pain blossomed in her arm and shoulder, but she managed to stay on her feet. The oblique angle at which she had collided with the debate had spared her the full force of the blow, but it was detailed comfort now. The sound had echoed everywhere. He knows where I am. dual over in pain, she turned her head and stared out into the blackness of the pod and sensed him stari ng back at her.Change your location. NowStill struggling to catch her breath, she began moving down the besiege, touching her left hand quietly to each exposed brand stud as she passed. Stay along the wall. typeface past him before he corners you. In her right hand, Katherine still clutched her cell phone, ready to hurl it as a projectile if need be.Katherine was in no way nimble for the sound she heard side by side(p)the clear rustle of clothing directly in front of her . . . against the wall. She froze, stock-still, and stopped breathing. How could he be on the wall already? She felt a faint puff of air, laced with the stench of ethanol. Hes moving down the wall toward meKatherine backed up several steps. Then, round wordlessly 180 degrees, she began moving quickly in the opposite direction down the wall. She moved xx feet or so when the impossible happened. Once again, directly in front of her, along the wall, she heard the murmurous sound of clothing. Then came the same puff of air and the smell of ethanol. Katherine Solomon froze in place.My God, hes everywhereBare-chested, Malakh stared into the darkness.The smell of ethanol on his sleeves had proven a liability, and so he had transform it into an asset, stripping off his shirt and jacket and exploitation them to help corner his prey. Throwing his jacket against the wall to the right, he had heard Katherine stop short and change direction. Now, having thrown his shirt ahead to the left, Malakh had heard her stop again. He had effectively corralled Katherine against the wall by establishing points beyond which she dared not pass.Now he waited, ears straining in the silence. She has only one direction she can movedirectly toward me. Even so, Malakh heard nothing. Either Katherine was paralytic with fear, or she had decided to stand still and wait for help to enter Pod 5. Either way she loses. Nobody would be entering Pod 5 anytime soon Malakh had disabled the outer keypad with a very crude, yet v ery effective, technique. After using Trishs key card, he had rammed a single dime deep into the key-card slot to prevent any other key-card use without first dismantling the entire mechanism.You and I are alone, Katherine . . . for as long as this takes.Malakh inched silently forward, listening for any movement. Katherine Solomon would die tonight in the darkness of her brothers museum. A poetic end. Malakh looked forward to overlap the news of Katherines death with her brother. The old mans anguish would be long- awaited revenge.Suddenly in the darkness, to Malakhs great surprise, he saw a tiny glow in the distance and realized Katherine had just made a deadly error in judgment. Shes phoning for help? The electronic display that had just flickered to life was hovering waist high, about twenty yards ahead, like a shining beacon on a vast ocean of black. Malakh had been prepared to wait Katherine out, but now he wouldnt have to.Malakh sprang into motion, racing toward the hovering light, knowing he had to reach her before she could complete her call for help. He was there in a matter of seconds, and he lunged, arms outstretched on either side of her glowing cell phone, preparing to engulf her.Malakhs fingers jammed into a solid wall, crook backward and almost breaking. His head collided next, crashing into a nerve beam. He cried out in pain as he crumpled beside the wall. Cursing, he clambered back to his feet, draw himself up by the waist-high, horizontal strut on which Katherine Solomon had cleverly placed her open cell phone.Katherine was outpouring again, this time with no concern for the noise her hand was making as it bounced cycles/secondically off the as spaced metal studs of Pod 5. Run If she followed the wall all the way around the pod, she knew that sooner or later she would feel the exit door.Where the sinning is the guard?The even spacing of the studs continued as she ran with her left hand on the sidewall and her right out in front of he r for protection. When will I reach the corner? The sidewall seemed to go on and on, but suddenly the rhythm of the studs was broken. Her left hand hit empty space for several long strides, and then the studs began again. Katherine slammed on the brakes and backed up, feeling her way across the smooth metal panel. Why are there no studs here?She could hear her attacker lumbering loudly after her now, groping his way down the wall in her direction. Even so, it was a different sound that scared Katherine even morethe distant cadent walloping of a security guard pounding his flashlight against the Pod 5 door.The guard cant get in?While the thought was terrifying, the location of his bangingdiagonally to her rightinstantly oriented Katherine. She could now picture where in Pod 5 she was located. The opthalmic flash brought with it an unexpected realization. She now knew what this flat panel on the wall was.Every pod was fitted out(p) with a specimen talka giant movable wall that co uld be retracted for transporting outsized specimens in and out of the pods. Like those of an airplane hangar, this door was mammoth, and Katherine in her wildest dreams had never imagined needing to open it. At the moment, though, it seemed like her only hope.Is it even operable?Katherine fumbled blindly in the blackness, searching the bay door until she found the large metal handle. Grasping it, she threw her weight backward, trying to drop off open the door. Nothing. She tried again. It didnt budge.She could hear her attacker shutdown faster now, homing in on the sounds of her efforts. The bay door is locked Wild with panic, she slid her hands all over the door, feeling the surface for any latch or lever. She suddenly hit what felt like a vertical pole. She followed it down to the floor, crouching, and could feel it was inserted into a hole in the cement. A security rod She stood up, grabbed the pole, and, lifting with her legs, slid the rod up and out of the hole.Hes almost he reKatherine groped now for the handle, found it again, and heaved back on it with all her might. The considerable panel seemed barely to move, and yet a grazing of moonlight now sliced into Pod 5. Katherine pulled again. The son of a bitch of light from outside the building grew wider. A little more She pulled one last time, sensing her attacker was now only a few feet away. jump toward the light, Katherine wriggled her slender body sideways into the opening. A hand materialized in the darkness, clawing at her, trying to pull her back inside. She heaved herself through the opening, pursued by a massive bare arm that was covered with tattooed scales. The terrifying arm writhed like an angry snake trying to seize her.Katherine spun and fled down the long, pale outer wall of Pod 5. The bed of devoid stones that surrounded the entire perimeter of the SMSC cut into her stockinged feet as she ran, but she pressed on, heading for the main entrance. The night was dark, but with her eyes fully dilated from the utter blackness of Pod 5, she could see perfectlyalmost as if it were daylight. tramp her, the heavy bay door ground open, and she heard heavy footsteps accelerating in pursuit down the side of the building. The footsteps seemed impossibly fast.Ill never outrun him to the main entrance. She knew her Volvo was closer, but even that would be too far. Im not going to make it.Then Katherine realized she had one final card to play.As she neared the corner of Pod 5, she could hear his footsteps quickly overtaking her in the darkness. Now or never. Instead of rounding the corner, Katherine suddenly cut hard to her left, away from the building, out onto the grass. As she did so, she closed her eyes tightly, placed both hands over her face, and began running totally blind across the lawn.The motion-activated security lighting that blazed to life around Pod 5 transformed night into day instantly. Katherine heard a bawl of pain behind her as the brilliant floodlights heat up into her assailants hyper dilated pupils with over twenty-five-million candlepower of light. She could hear him stumbling on the loose stones.Katherine kept her eyes tightly closed, trusting herself on the open lawn. When she sensed she was far enough away from the building and the lights, she opened her eyes, corrected her course, and ran like hell through the dark.Her Volvos keys were exactly where she always left them, in the center console. Breathless, she seized the keys in her trembling hands and found the ignition. The engine roared to life, and her headlights flipped on, illuminating a terrifying sight.A hideous form raced toward her.Katherine froze for an instant.The creature caught in her headlights was a bald and bare-chested animal, its skin covered with tattooed scales, symbols, and text. He bellowed as he ran into the glare, raising his hands before his eyes like a cave-dwelling beast seeing sun for the first time. She reached for the gearshift but suddenly he was there, hurling his elbow through her side window, displace a shower of safety glass into her lap.A massive scale-covered arm burst through her window, groping half blind, finding her neck. She threw the car in reverse, but her attacker had latched on to her throat, squeezing with unimaginable force. She turned her head in an attempt to escape his grasp, and suddenly she was staring at his face. Three dark stripes, like fingernail scratches, had torn through his face makeup to get wind the tattoos beneath. His eyes were wild and ruthless.I should have killed you ten years ago, he growled. The night I killed your mother.As his words registered, Katherine was seized by a horrifying store that feral look in his eyesshe had seen it before. Its him. She would have screamed had it not been for the viselike grip around her neck.She moneyed her foot onto the accelerator, and the car lurched backward, almost snapping her neck as he was dragged beside her car. The Volvo careened up an inclined median, and Katherine could feel her neck about to give way beneath his weight. Suddenly tree branches were scraping the side of her car, slapping through the side windows, and the weight was gone.The car burst through the evergreens and out into the upper parking lot, where Katherine slammed on the brakes. Below her, the half-naked man clambered to his feet, staring into her headlights. With a terrifying calm, he increase a menacing scale-covered arm and pointed directly at her. Katherines blood coursed with raw fear and hatred as she spun the wheel and hit the gas. Seconds later, she was fishtailing out onto Silver heap Road.