Chapter 14 Chapter Twelve

Robert Langdon felt top-heavy as he walked toward the end of the corridor.Sophie's phone message played over and over in his head.At the end of the corridor, illuminated signs bearing the internationally accepted stick figures for toilets led him through a series of maze-like dividers.While displaying Italian paintings, these dividers also hide the restrooms from view. Langdon found the door to the men's bathroom, went in and turned on the light.The bathroom was empty. He went to the basin and splashed cold water on his face, trying to wake himself up.Blinding lights glare off the glossy tiles, and the bathroom smells of ammonia.When he was wiping his hands, the door of the bathroom suddenly creaked open.He turned around in fright.Sophie Neveu came in, worry and fear in her green eyes. "Thank goodness you're here! We're running out of time."

Standing by the water basin, Langdon looked puzzled at Sophie Neveu, codebreaker for the Central Judiciary Police.Langdon had listened to her phone message a few minutes earlier and thought the new codebreaker must be out of his mind.However, the more he listened, the more sincere Sophie Neveu's tone became. "After hearing the message, don't react. Just listen calmly. You are in danger now. Please strictly follow my instructions." Although Langdon was dubious, he decided to strictly follow Sophie's suggestion.He told Fache the message was about a wounded friend back home.Later he asked to use the restroom at the end of the Grand Gallery.

Sophie was standing in front of him now, still gasping for breath as she turned back to the bathroom.Under the fluorescent light, Langdon was amazed to discover that her powerful breath was actually emanating from those extremely gentle lips and nostrils.It's just that her eyes are sharp, and the combination of these features reminds people of Renoir's multi-layered portraits...covered with gauze, yet faintly visible, bold and open yet retains a layer of mystery. "I just wanted to remind you, Mr. Langdon..." Sophie began to speak, but she was still out of breath, "You are under secret surveillance—under close surveillance." When she spoke, she had an accent English echoed off the tiled walls, muffled her voice.

"But...why?" Langdon pressed.Sophie had explained it to him in a message on the phone, but he still wanted to hear it from her. "Because," she said, taking a step forward, "Fache has you as the prime suspect in this murder." Langdon froze when he heard that, but it sounded ridiculous.Sophie said that Langdon had been called into the Louvre tonight not as a symbolist but as a suspect.This is the current favorite interrogation method used by the Central Judicial Police.The suspects were being watched without their knowledge.This covert surveillance is an ingenious deception.The police nonchalantly invited the suspect to the crime scene to interview him, hoping that the suspect would become nervous and inadvertently reveal his crime.

"Fill in the left pocket of your jacket and you'll find evidence they're spying on you," Sophie said. Langdon felt a sudden surge of fear rise in him.Digging out of my pockets?Sounds like some kind of shitty spell. "Take it out!" Langdon reached suspiciously into the left pocket of his plaid jacket—a pocket he never used.He touched inside, but found nothing.What the hell are you expecting?He began to wonder if Sophie was really crazy.But at this moment, his finger touched something he didn't expect—it was small and hard.Langdon squeezed the gizmo out between his fingers and stared at it in horror.It was a small metal button-shaped disc, about the size of a watch battery.He had never seen this thing before. "this is?……"

"The GPS tracker," Sophie said, "constantly transmits its location to the GPS which the Central Judicial Police can monitor. It's within two feet of error anywhere in the world. They Already tethered you to this electronic tether. The cop who picked you up from the hotel stuffed it in your coat pocket before you left your room." Langdon recalled his time in the hotel room—he had a quick shower and dressed, and the Central Judiciary politely handed him his tartan jacket on his way out.It's cold outside, Mr. Langdon.said the police.The spring in Paris is not at all as good as you praise in your songs.Langdon thanked him and put his coat back on.

Sophie's olive eyes were keen. "I didn't tell you about the tracker because I didn't want you to check your pockets in Fache's presence. There's no way Fache knew you'd found it by now." Langdon didn't know how to respond. "They're targeting you with GPS because they think you might run away," she added after a pause. "In fact, they want you to run away; that makes them feel more certain about the crime." "Why would I run?" Langdon asked. "I am innocent!" "Fache doesn't think so." Langdon angrily walked to the trash can to throw the tracker away.

"No!" Sophie grabbed his arm. "Leave it in your pocket. If you throw it away, the signal will stop moving and they'll know you've found the tracker. The only reason Fache has you here is so he can monitor your movements. If He found out that you already know what he's doing..." Sophie didn't finish, but snatched the little metal disc from Langdon's hand and stuffed it into the pocket of his tartan coat. "Put this tracker on you, at least for now." Langdon was puzzled. "How did Fache decide that I killed Jacques Saunière!" "He has very convincing reasons to doubt you." Sophie said seriously. "There is a piece of evidence you haven't seen. Fache has carefully hidden it from you."

Langdon could only keep his eyes wide open, speechless. "Do you still remember those three lines that Saunière wrote on the ground?" Langdon nodded.Those numbers and words have been deeply imprinted in his mind. Sophie's voice was a whisper now. "Unfortunately, what you see is not the whole message. There was a fourth line on Fache's photo, but it was completely removed before you came." Although Langdon knew that the watermark pen's soluble ink could be easily removed, he couldn't figure out why Fache would erase the evidence. "The last line of that last statement," Sophie said, "Fache didn't want you to know." Sophie added after a pause, "At least until he takes you down."

Sophie took a computer printout out of her sweater pocket and began to unfold it. "Fache sent a bunch of crime scene photos to the Cryptography Department earlier this evening, hoping we can decipher what Saunière's text was trying to say. This is a photo with a complete message." She handed the photos to Langdon. Langdon looked at the picture in bewilderment.This close-up photo shows the glowing text on the parquet floor.Seeing the last line, Langdon felt as if someone had kicked him in the stomach: 13-3-2-21-1-1-8-5 O cruel devil! O lame saint! PS: Find Robert Langdon. (Translator's Note: The English abbreviation for postscript is P.S.)