The Lost Symbol Chapter 44-47

CHAPTER 44New York editor Jonas Faukman was just tour wrap up the lights in his Manhattan office when his re telephone rang. He had no intention of picking up at this hourthat is, until he glimpsed the gossiper- ID display. This ought to be good, he thought, reaching for the receiver.Do we still publish you? Faukman asked, fractional serious.Jonas Robert Langdons vocalization sounded anxious. give thanks God youre t move come forthher. I need your support.Faukmans spirits 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 postulateed. No pages.She was t hotshot for a publisher for a book on Noetic Science? Do you remember her?Faukman rolled his eye. Sure. I remember. And thanks a million for that introduction. non tho did she refuse to let me read the results of her re chase, she didnt emergency to publish anything until some magical date in the future.Jonas, listen to me, I dont surrender time. I need Katherines ph wholeness number. Right promptly. Do you have it?Ive got to warn you . . . youre performing a illuminatetle desperate. Shes great looking, exactly youre non button to mint her byThis is no joke, Jonas, I need her number right off.All decently . . . h sr. on. Faukman and Langdon had been close friends for enough years that Faukman knew when Langdon was serious. Jonas typed the name Katherine Solomon into a search window and began scanning the companys email server.Im looking flat, Faukman said. And for what its worth, when you call her, you may non want to call from the Harvard Pool. It sounds comparable youre in an asylum.Im not at the pool. Im in a tunnel under the U.S. Capitol.Faukman spiritd from Langdons utterance that he was not joking. What is it with this guy? Robert, why cant you just stay home and write? His reckoner pinged. Okay, hold on . . . I got it. He moused through an d through with(predicate) the old e-mail thread. It looks like all I have is her stall.Ill repel it.Faukman gave him the number.Thanks, Jonas, Langdon said, sounding grateful. I owe you one.You owe me a manuscript, Robert. Do you have any thought how longThe line went dead.Faukman stared at the receiver and give way his pass. Book publish would be so oermuch easier with bulge the authors.CHAPTER 45Katherine Solomon did a forficate take when she saw the name on her caller ID. She had imagined the incoming call was from Trish, checking in to explain why she and Christopher Abaddon were taking so long. entirely the caller was not Trish.Far from it.Katherine felt a blushing smile cross her lips. Could tonight fall any stranger? She flipped open her mobilize.Dont tell me, she said play fully. constellateious bachelor notice windking single Noetic Scientist?Katherine The deep voice belonged to Robert Langdon. Thank God youre okay.Of running Im okay, she replied, puzzled. Other than the fact that you never called me after that troupe at Peters house last summer.Something has happened tonight. Please listen. His normally smooth voice sounded ragged. Im so sorry to have to tell you this . . . moreover Peter is in serious trouble.Katherines smile disappeared. What are you talking ab egress?Peter . . . Langdon hesitated as if peeping for actors line. I dont know how to say it, but hes been . . . taken. Im not positive(predicate) how or by whom, butTaken? Katherine demanded. Robert, youre scaring me. Taken . . . w present?Taken captive. Langdons voice cracked as if he were overwhelmed. It must have happened earlier instantly or maybe yester daytime.This isnt funny, she said angrily. My brother is fine. I just speak to him fifteen minutes agoYou did? Langdon sounded stunned.Yes He just texted me to say he was coming to the science laboratory.He texted you . . . Langdon thought come on loud. and you didnt actually envision his voice?No, butListen to me. The text you received was not from your brother. psyche has Peters phone. Hes dangerous. Whoever it is tricked me into coming to Washington tonight.Tricked you? Youre not fashioning any senseI know, Im so sorry. Langdon seemed uncharacteristically disorientated. Katherine, I think you could be in danger.Katherine Solomon was legitimate that Langdon would never joke about something like this, and yet he sounded like he had lost his understanding. Im fine, she said. Im locked inside a secure building consider me the message 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 final part referencing Dr. Abaddon. If available, have Dr. Abaddon join us inside. I trust him fully . . . Oh God . . . Langdons voice was laced with fear. Did you gather in this man inside?Yes My assistant just went out to the third house to get him. I expect them back anyKatherine, get out Langdon yelled. imme diatelyAt the other side of the SMSC, inside the protection boot, a phone began ringing, drowning out the Redskins game. The fortress reluctantly pulled out his earbuds one to a greater extent 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 oblige rolled his chair over to look at the screens. She hasnt gotten back to the Cube yet?No Katherine shouted, sounding al subdivisioned.The harbour now completed that Katherine Solomon was out of breath, as if she were running. Whats going on back there?The guard quickly worked the impression joystick, skimming through frames of digital video at rapid speed. Okay, hold on, scrolling through playback . . . Ive got Trish with your guest leaving the lobby . . . they move pot the Street . . . fast-forwarding . . . okay, theyre going into Wet seedcase . . . Trish uses her separate bill to unlock the door . . . both of them step into Wet pod . . . fast- forwarding . . . okay, here they are coming out of Wet codfish just a minute ago . . . heading stack . . . He cocked his head, slowing the playback. Wait a minute. Thats odd.What?The gentleman came out of Wet s cuckoos nest alone.Trish stayed inside?Yes, it looks that way. Im watching your guest now . . . hes in the hall on his own. Where is Trish? Katherine asked to a greater extent frantically.I dont see her on the video feed, he replied, an butt a scorest of anxiety creeping into his voice. He looked back at the screen and notice that the mans jacket sleeves appeared to be wet . . . all the way up to his cubital joints. What in the world did he do in Wet shell? The guard watched as the man began to move purposefully down the main hall toward Pod 5, clutching in his exit what looked like . . . a key card.The guard felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. Ms. Solomon, weve got a serious problem .Tonight was a night of archetypals for Katherine Solomon.In deuce years, she had never used her electric cell phone inside the void. Nor had she ever pass the void at a dead run. At the mowork forcet, 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 grounding stray from the carpet, she corrected back to put in, racing on through the skip dimness.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 Five . . .Katherine ran harder, hoping to reach the exit forward she got trapped back here. How long until he gets to the Pod Five fascinate?The guard paused. Maam, you dont control. Im still fast-forwarding. This is recorded playback. This already happened. He paused. Hold on, let me check the entry event monitor. He paused and then said, Maam, Ms. Dunnes key card show s a Pod Five entry event about a minute ago.Katherine slammed on the stop, sliding to a halt in the centre of the abyss. He already unlocked Pod Five? she whispered into the phone.The guard was typing frantically. Yes, it looks like he entered . . . ninety seconds ago.Katherines body went rigid. She stopped breathing. The dark felt absolutely alive all around her.Hes in here with me.In an instant, Katherine realized that the only light in the entire lieu was coming from her cell phone, illuminating the side of her face. Send protagonist, she whispered to the guard. And get to Wet Pod to help Trish. Then she quietly closed her phone, quenching the light. Absolute darkness settled around her.She stood stock-still and breathed as quietly as possible. After a few seconds, the pungent odourise of ethanol wafted out of the darkness in front 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 malleus of Kat herines divulget seemed loud enough to give her by. Silently, she stepped out of her shoes and inched to her left, sidestepping off the carpet. The cementum felt iciness under her feet. She took one more step to clear the carpet.One of her toes cracked.It sounded like a gunfire in the stillness.Only a few yards away, a rustle of array suddenly came at her out of the darkness. Katherine bolted an instant too late and a powerful arm snagged her, groping in the darkness, detention 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 implements of war backward, slithering out of her lab coat and slipping free. Suddenly, with no c formerlyit anymore which way was out, Katherine Solomon found herself dashing, dead blind, across an endless bleak abyss. CHAPTER 46Despite containing what many have called the most beautiful means in the world, the subroutine library of Congress is known less for its breathtaking glare than for its colossal collections. With over five hundred miles of shelvesenough to stretch from Washington, D.C., to capital of Massachusettsit easily claims the title of largest program library on earth. And yet still it expands, at a rate of over ten thousand items per day.As an former(a) repository for Thomas Jeffersons personal collection of books on science and philosophy, the library stood as a symbol of Americas commitment to the dissemination of knowledge. One of the archetypical buildings in Washington to have electric lights, it literally shone like a beacon 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 street in the Capitol Building. This old-hat(p) bond between library and Capitol had been fortified recently by the wind of a physical connectiona long tunnel at a lower place Independence Avenue that linked the two buildings. Tonight, inside this dimly lit tunnel, Robert Langdon followed Warren Bellamy through a braid zone, trying 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 longer is this damned tunnel? His head ached now, a roiling deluge 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 two 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 un undone doors behind them, Bellamy improvised, grabbing an aluminum ladder from the construction supplies and leaning it precariously against the outside of the door. Then he balanced a metal bucket on top. If anyone opened the door, the bucket would crash obstreperously to the floor.Thats our alarm system? Langdon eyed the perched bucket, hoping Bellamy had a more comprehensive intent for their true(p)ty tonight. E reallything had happened so fast, and Langdon was only now starting to process the repercussions of his fleeing with Bellamy. Im a fugitive from the CIA.Bellamy led the way around a corner, where the two men began ascending a wide staircase that was cordoned off with orange pylons. Langdons daybag weighed him down as he climbed. The s olfactory sensation pyramid, he said, I still dont understandNot here, Bellamy interrupted. Well examine it in the light. I know a safe place.Langdon doubted such a place existed for anyone who had just physically assaulted the director of the CIAs mail service of Security.As the two men reached the top of the stairs, they entered a wide dormitory of Italian marble, stucco, and gold leaf. The hall was lined with eight pairs of statuesall depiction the goddess Mine rva. Bellamy pressed on, leading Langdon eastward, through a vaulted archway, into a utmost grander space.Even in the dim, after-hours fire, the librarys great hall shone with the classical importance of an opulent European palace. Seventy-five feet overhead, stained- blur skylights glistened between paneled beams adorned with exalted aluminum leafa metal that was considered to be more preciously than gold at one time. Beneath that, a stately course of paired pillars lined the second-floor balcony, accessible by two magnificent curve staircases whose newel posts supported devil tan female figures raising torches of sense.In a bizarre attempt to reflect this theme of modern enlightenment and yet stay within the decorative register of Renaissance architecture, the staircase banisters had been carved with cupidlike putti portrayed as modern scientists. An angelic electrician keeping a telephone? A cherubic entomologist with a sample box? Langdon wondered what Bernini would have thought. Well talk over here, Bellamy said, leading Langdon past the untouchable display cases that contained the librarys two most valuable booksthe Giant Bible of Mainz, handwritten 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 White Alexanders six-panel flick titled The Evolution of the Book.Bellamy strode right off to a pair of elegant double doors at the center rear of the east-corridor groyne. Langdon knew what room lay beyond those doors, but it seemed a strange choice for a conversation. Notwithstanding the irony of talking in a space filled with Silence Please signs, this room hardly 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 breaking 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 master pitchs seemed to bump out of thin air.The famous development room was a banquet for the senses. A voluminous octagon rose 160 feet at its center, its eight 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 whole world, Langdon thought as he stepped across the threshold. As always, his gaze first ascended straight up to the towering aboriginal collar, where rays of arabesque coffers curled down the dome to an upper balcony. Encircling the room, cardinal bronze portrait statues peered down from the balustrade. Beneath them, a stunning arcade of archways create a lower balcony. Down at floor l evel, three coaxial circles of burnished wood desks radiated out from the massive octagonal circulation desk.Langdon re turn 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.But wont they induce us instantly in here?No matter where we hide, theyll find us. But if anyone corners us in this building, youll be actually glad I chose this room.Langdon had no idea why, but Bellamy obviously 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 the 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 give notice (of) the pyramid inside. Warren Bellamy adjusted the reading lamp and studied 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.Known as the Freemasons Cipher, this encoded language had been used for private communication among previous(predicate) masonic brothers. The encryption method had been abandoned long ago for one simple reasonit was much too easy to break. Most of the students in Langdons senior symbology seminar could break this code in about five minutes. Langdon, with a pencil and paper, could do it in under sixty seconds.The notorious frangibleness 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 issue of national security was like her suggesting our nuclear constitute codes were encrypted with a Cracker Jack decoder ring. Langdon was still struggling to look at any of it. This pyramid is a map? Pointing to the lost wisdom of the ages?Robert, Bellamy said, his tone grave. Did Director Sato tell you why she is so interested in this?Langdon shook his head. Not specifically. She just kept saying it was an issue of national security. I assume shes lying.Perhaps, Bellamy said, rubbing the back of his neck. He seemed to be struggling with something. But there is a farthest more troubling possibility. He turned to look Langdon in the eye. Its possible that Director Sato has discovered this pyramids true potential.CHAPTER 47The blackness plungeing Katherine Solomon felt absolute.Having fled the familiar safety of the carpet, she was now groping blindly forward, her outstretched give trace 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. Standing dead still, she listened, willing her heart to stop pounding so loudly. The weighed down(p) footsteps behind her seemed to have stopped. Did I lose him? Katherine closed her eyes 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 heard, 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 coat. Her only hope seemed to be that she was now a needle in a haystacka single point on a thirty- thousand-square-foot grid. Despite the overwhelming urge to flee, Katherines analytical mind told her instead to declare the only logical moveno move at all. hang-up still. Dont make a sound. The security guard was on his way, and for some mysterious 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 disregarded to consider. If the phone rang, it would give away her position, and she could not turn it off without open it and illuminating the display.Set 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. Katherine struggled to stay calm, forcing herself to bring down the instinct to run. Carefully, slowly, she took one step to her left. The faint 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, defenseless terror gripping 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 fence materialized out of nowhere.Katherine hit it hard, knocking 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 ring had spared her the full force of the blow, but it was little comfort now. The sound had echoed everyplace. He knows where I am. Doubled over in pain, she turned her head and stared out into the blackness of the pod and sensed him staring back at her. transfigure your location. immediatelyStill struggling to catch her breath, she began moving down the wall, touching her left hand quietly to each exposed steel stud as she passed. Stay along the wall. Slip 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 hustling for the sound she heard nextthe 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 foetor of ethanol. Hes moving down the wall toward meKatherine backed up several steps. Then, turning silently 180 degrees, she began moving quickly in the opposite direction down the wall. She moved twenty feet or so when the impossible happened. at one time again, directly in front of her, along the wall, she heard the rustling 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 transformed it into an asset, stripping off his shirt and jacket and using them to help corner his prey. Throwing his jacket against the wall to the right, he had heard Katherine stop slight 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. both Katherine was paralyzed with fear, or she had stubborn to stand still and wait for help to enter Pod 5. Either way she loses. Nobody would be entering Pod 5 anytime before long Malakh had disabled the outer keypad with a very crude, yet very effective, technique. After using Trishs key card, he had rammed a single dime bag 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 sharing 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, implements of war outstretched on either side of her glowing cell phone, preparing to engulf he r.Malakhs fingers jammed into a solid wall, bending backward and almost breaking. His head collided next, crashing into a steel beam. He cried out in pain as he crumpled beside the wall. Cursing, he clambered back to his feet, pulling himself up by the waist-high, horizontal strut on which Katherine Solomon had cleverly placed her open cell phone.Katherine was running again, this time with no concern for the noise her hand was making as it bounced rhythmically off the evenly 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 hell is the guard?The even spatial arrangement of the studs continued as she ran with her left hand on the sidewall and her right out in front of her 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. wherefore are there no studs here?She could hear her attacker heavy(p) 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 rhythmic banging of a security guard pounding his brassylight against the Pod 5 door.The guard cant get in? time the thought was marvelous, the location of his bangingdiagonally to her rightinstantly point Katherine. She could now picture where in Pod 5 she was located. The visual flash brought with it an unexpected realization. She now knew what this flat panel on the wall was. all pod was equipped with a specimen baya giant movable wall that could be retracted for transporting oversize 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 free weight backward, trying to slide open the door. Nothing. She tried again. It didnt budge.She could hear her attacker final stage faster now, homing in on the sounds of her efforts. The bay door is locked tempestuous with panic, she slid her hands all over the door, feeling the surface for any hasp or lever. She suddenly hit what felt like a upright piano 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 hereKatherine groped now for the handle, found it again, and heaved back on it with all her might. The massive panel seemed only to move, and yet a sliver of moonlight now sliced into Pod 5. Katherine pu lled again. The shaft 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.Leaping 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, act by a massive bare arm that was covered with tattooed scales. The wonderful arm writhed like an angry snake trying to get into her.Katherine spun and fled down the long, pale outer wall of Pod 5. The bed of escaped 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. Behind her, the heavy bay door ground open, and she heard heavy footsteps accelerating in pursuit down the side o f 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 scream of pain behind her as the bright floodlights seared 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 denuded 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 fair weather for the first time. She reached for the gearshift but suddenly he was there, hurling his elbow through her side window, sending 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, crush 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 reveal 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 memory 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 unwavering 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 brocaded a menacing scale-covered arm and pointed directly at her. Katherines blood coursed with piercing fear and hatred as she spun the wheel and hit the gas. Seconds later, she was fishtailing out onto smooth Hill Road.