Page 151 of The Secret of Secrets

Yes, Nagel thought, ashamed for having used their romance as leverage. “Thanks for alerting me. I have an urgent situation here that requires her skills.” I’m hoping she’ll be professional.

Sergeant Kerble departed, and Nagel returned to her desk. She took a long swallow from her drink. The letter from Harris’s killer was staring up at her.

Please help Sasha.

I can’t help her if I can’t find her, Nagel thought, slipping the letter into her desk drawer. Fortunately, Prague had an unparalleled surveillance system. The challenge was not going to be finding Sasha—it would be persuading Dana Daněk to help with the task.

The Golěm had traversed a cramped mechanical passageway that extended nearly a hundred meters, extending like an elongated spine beneath the core of Threshold. Having reached the end, he was now standing before an unusual portal.

The door was steel, oval in shape and windowless, with a heavy turn wheel for sealing and unsealing it. It resembled an airtight submarine hatch.

The sign read:

SMES

Authorized Personnel Only

Last night, Gessner had revealed to him the surprising technology that was housed inside this unique chamber. The Golěm’s web research this morning had provided the rest of the information he needed, including confirmation of the scientific reason the machine was located in this precise spot.

Directly beneath a popular feature in Folimanka Park.

The structure above them was one of the lone visible remnants of the 1950s bomb shelter, and tourists regularly photographed themselves standing in the park beside it. None suspected, of course, what The Golěm had recently learned—that the feature had been ingeniously repurposed to serve the needs of Threshold.

It is now a ventilation shaft for the sealed room behind this door.

The Golěm took a moment to catch his breath before attempting to turn the wheel. Without his wand, he needed to be prudent; another seizure down here could be dangerous, especially surrounded by so many hard surfaces and sharp edges.

Once he felt centered, The Golěm planted his feet, gripped the turn wheel, and heaved it counterclockwise. The wheel barely moved, rotating only a few centimeters.

He pictured Sasha’s face, and her innocence gave him strength.

I do this for all who have been abused here. For you…for me…and for all those to come.

Gritting his teeth, he heaved the wheel again.

Chapter 96

As the elevator continued to drop deeper into the ridge beneath Crucifix Bastion, Robert Langdon found himself fighting a wave of anxiety. He had been so focused on the task of gaining access to the facility that he had not fully imagined the route he would need to take to get there.

I’m enclosed in a narrow shaft, surrounded by thousands of tons of rock.

He also had no idea what to expect when the elevator doors opened. The ambassador had told them Threshold was not yet up and running, and as such, she doubted they would encounter any security personnel once inside. But there was no way to know for sure.

Langdon also found himself considering the dilemma that had arisen several minutes earlier. Someone took Gessner’s access card…and removed her thumb. Obviously, the grisly crime had been committed to gain access to Threshold, but the question was, when had this occurred? Had intruders come and gone hours earlier…or were they still in the facility? And if they were still here…how dangerous were they?

Katherine shifted her weight in the roomy elevator. “It’s a long way down,” she said in the silence, starting to look unnerved by the lengthy descent.

Langdon was trying hard not to think about it. “Phone is dead,” he said absently, noticing the screen was now black. Katherine took the device from him and dropped it into her shoulder bag.

Finally, the elevator began to slow. They pressed into the corner of the carriage, out of the sight line of the door, as the lift glided smoothly to a stop. Neither of them breathed.

The doors slid open.

Huddled in the corner, Langdon and Katherine waited for any sounds or signs of movement outside, but there were none. Langdon carefully leaned to one side and peered out.

The space outside was pitch-black.

Beyond the small fan of light spilling out of the elevator, Langdon could see nothing. He had never considered that because Threshold was not yet operational, there might not be power at the moment.