Page 139 of The Secret of Secrets

“Well, then I have no idea what that is.”

“I might,” Katherine said, sounding suddenly more energized. Her eyes were alight. “It just occurred to me, and it’s something I wrote about in my manuscript.”

“What is it?”

“I know you’re deeply skeptical about remote viewing,” she said, turning fully toward him now, “but if Threshold has anything at all to do with remote viewing…then Sasha’s epilepsy makes her valuable.”

“How?”

“Think about it! The fundamental skill possessed by a remote viewer is the ability to conjure an out-of-body-experience. The challenge is that organic OBEs are exceedingly rare, and very few people can actually have them.”

Langdon suddenly realized where Katherine was headed with this. Epileptic seizures were described as a peaceful “untethering” from the physical body—in effect, a brief period of nonlocal consciousness.

“Out-of-body experiences,” Katherine continued, “are something epileptics experience quite naturally. The epileptic brain is already wired for OBEs…meaning an epileptic would be far more likely to be a skilled remote viewer.”

“You can’t really believe Sasha Vesna is a psychic spy for the CIA…”

“Why not?”

“Because I spent time with her. She has a Krazy Kitten key ring! She’s a lost, gentle soul.”

“Gentle?!” Katherine challenged. “You said she smashed a guy in the head with a fire extinguisher!”

“Technically that’s true…but it was to protect—”

“Robert, I’ll admit maybe Sasha is not a remote viewer herself, but Gessner could have been studying epileptic brains to find out what makes them so prone to out-of-body experiences. Tapping into detailed neurological information about an epileptic brain could be incredibly valuable for a program trying to detach mind and body.”

An interesting idea, Langdon thought, particularly in light of something Sasha had shared earlier today. “I forgot to mention that Gessner brought another epilepsy patient to Prague from that same institution—before Sasha—a Russian named Dmitri. He received the same surgery as Sasha and was also cured.”

“I would say that’s significant,” Katherine said. “It’s hard to believe that Brigita Gessner was plucking epileptics from mental hospitals and curing them at her own expense, purely out of goodwill.”

Langdon had to agree it seemed out of character. Moreover, he now realized that a test subject taken from Russia—probably with the help of the CIA—would be entirely off the radar in Europe. A ghost in Prague.

“Let’s assume for a moment,” Katherine said, “that Gessner recruited these epileptics as study subjects for Threshold. That would explain why she was keeping Sasha around.”

“To monitor her.”

“Yes. Give her a minor job, an apartment, some money. Easy.”

“I suppose…”

“And Dmitri?” Katherine asked as they neared Folimanka Park. “Where is he now—still in Prague?”

“Sasha said he went home to Russia after Gessner cured him.”

“I doubt it. Maybe that’s what Gessner told Sasha, but if the CIA pulled a test subject from an institution, invested in him, made him a research subject in a top secret program…would they really just let him go home? To Russia?”

Good point, Langdon thought, accelerating along the stretch of road before them. He craned his neck slightly to look farther down the street.

With luck we’ll have our answers soon.

The entrance to Threshold was just ahead.

Chapter 88

Outside the U.S. embassy, Sergeant Kerble stood on the sidewalk, freezing in his dress blues as he scanned the street for an approaching vehicle. When he finally spotted the ambassador, he was startled to see her only ten yards away.

She’s on foot?! Alone?!