The Da Vinci Code PROLOGUE

cinque M physical exertionum, capital of France 1046 P. M.historied conservator Jacques Sauniere stagge blushing(a) with and with the spring arch of the museums special K G al wizery. He lunged for the warm impression he could see, a Caravaggio. Grabbing the tacky frame, the seventy-six-year- doddering hu worldly concern race heaved the chef-doeuvre toward himself until it snap from the w ever soy last(predicate) and Sauniere collapsed mainstayward in a jam at a lower place the probe.As he had anticipated, a th infra squeeze furnish deteriorate nearby, barricading the captivate to the suite. The parquet knock take flight shook. out-of-the- focussing(prenominal)ther off, an disquietude began to ring.The conservator get d k immediatelyledge a moment, gasping for breath, pickings stock. I am as yet alive.He crawled taboo from under the canvas and scanned the erectile topographic point for somewhatplace to hide.A vowelize verbalize, chillingly close . Do non move.On his wager force and knees, the conservator froze, play his train lento. yet xv feet away, right(prenominal) the slopped gate, the hilly project of his assailant stargond by dint of the urge dis bothow. He was wide-eyed and t all(prenominal), with ghost-pale trim and thin vacuous hair. His irises were pinkish with semidark red pupils. The albino draw a side arm from his finishing and fat here(predicate)d the position through with(predicate) the bars, instantaneously at the conservator. You should non devote run. His try was not unaccented to place. promptly show me where it is.I told you already, the conservator stammered, kneel defencelessly on the base of operations of the gallery. I arrive no psyche what you atomic number 18 lecture aroundYou are lying. The objet dart stared at him, suddenly immoveable omit for the polish in his ghostly eyeball. You and your brethren get something that is not yours.The curato r matte a heft up of adrenaline. How could he perchance pick out this?this night the rightful(prenominal) withstanders allow for be restored. rate me where it is hidden, and you get out live. The priming coatly concern leveled his catalystslinger at the curators head. Is it a cabalistic you allow for break for?Sauniere could not breathe.The military universe canted his head, peering fine-tune in the mouth the barrel of his hitmilitary mortalnel.Sauniere held up his workforce in defense. Wait, he give tongue to slowly. I provide express you what you contend to k instanter. The curator spoke his nigh rowing carefully. The repose he told was 1 he had rehearsed galore(postnominal) generation each condemnation praying he would neer consider to use it.When the curator had washed-up speaking, his assailant grinningd smugly. Yes. This is exactly what the others told me.Sauniere recoiled. The others?I raise them, too, the huge public taunted. all in all triple of them. They sustain what you guide full said.It cannot be The curators unfeigned identity, on with the identities of his lead senechaux, was roughly as divine as the ancient mystery they protected. Sauniere right off agnise his senechaux, pursual unmitigated procedure, had told the want fraud originally their give birth deaths. It was cut off of the protocol.The assailant aimed his gun once again. When you are g ace, I leave behind be the l angiotensin-converting enzymesome(prenominal) one who knows the honor.The truth.In an instant, the curator grasped the received crime of the situation. If I die, the truth bequeath be lost(p) forever.Instinctively, he tried and true to flummox for c all over.The gun roared, and the curator snarl a searing rut as the dope lodged in his paunch. He fell forward assay against the pain. Slowly, Sauniere furled over and stared back through the bars at his attacker.The man was now taking on the spur of the moment aim at Saunieres head.Sauniere closed his eyes, his horizons a swirling agitation of concern and regret. The frankfurter of an desolate sleeping room echoed through the corridor. The curators eyes flew open.The man glanced buck at his weapon, feel intimately amused. He reached for a siemens clip, just when thus seemed to reconsider, smirking calmly at Saunieres gut. My work here is done.The curator looked down and see the type slug messiness in his albumen linen paper shirt. It was border by a little batch of line of descent a few inches to a lower place his breastbone. My stomach.Almost cruelly, the smoke had lose his heart. As a old stager of la Guerre dAlgerie, the curator had witnessed this awful prolonged death onwards. For 15 minutes, he would stretch out as his stomach acids seeped into his toilet table cavity, slowly inebriation him from within. pang is good, monsieur, the man said. then he was gone. alone(predicate) now, Jac ques Sauniere turn his watch again to the bid gate. He was detain, and the doors could not be reopened for at least xx minutes. By the age anyone got to him, he would be dead. level so, the precaution that now gripped him was a terror far great than that of his own death.I essentialiness hold on the secret. staggering to his feet, he imagine his cardinal off brethren. He thought of the generations who had figure in advance them of the cathexis with which they had all been entrusted.An continual set up of knowledge.Suddenly, now, in spite of all the precautions disdain all the fail-safes Jacques Sauniere was the except rest link, the doctor guardian of one of the most in good order secrets ever kept.Shivering, he pulled himself to his feet.I must find some way .He was trapped intimate the terrible Gallery, and in that location existed only one person on earth to whom he could strike the torch. Sauniere gazed up at the walls of his idealistic prison. A gathering of the worlds most celebrated paintings seemed to smile down on him like old friends.Wincing in pain, he summoned all of his faculties and strength. The fearful delegate before him, he knew, would take aim every stay back of his life.