Chapter 17

"What do you mean she's not answering?" Fache looked incredulous. "You're calling her cellphone, right? I know she's carrying it."Collet had been trying to reach Sophie now for several minutes. "Maybe her batteries are dead. Orher ringer's off."Fache had looked distressed¹ ever since talking to the director of Cryptology on the phone. Afterhanging up, he had marched over to Collet and demanded he get Agent Neveu on the line. NowCollet had failed, and Fache was pacing like a caged lion.

　　"Why did Crypto call?" Collet now ventured.

　　Fache turned. "To tell us they found no references to Draconian² devils and lame³ saints.""That's all?""No, also to tell us that they had just identified the numerics as Fibonacci numbers, but theysuspected the series was meaningless."Collet was confused. "But they already sent Agent Neveu to tell us that."Fache shook his head. "They didn't send Neveu.""What?""According to the director, at my orders he paged his entire team to look at the images I'd wiredhim. When Agent Neveu arrived, she took one look at the photos of Saunière and the code and leftthe office without a word. The director said he didn't question her behavior because she wasunderstandably upset by the photos.""Upset? She's never seen a picture of a dead body?"Fache was silent a moment. "I was not aware of this, and it seems neither was the director until acoworker informed him, but apparently⁴ Sophie Neveu is Jacques Saunière's granddaughter."Collet was speechless.

　　"The director said she never once mentioned Saunière to him, and he assumed it was because sheprobably didn't want preferential treatment for having a famous grandfather."No wonder she was upset by the pictures. Collet could barely conceive of the unfortunatecoincidence that called in a young woman to decipher a code written by a dead family member.

　　Still, her actions made no sense. "But she obviously recognized the numbers as Fibonacci numbersbecause she came here and told us. I don't understand why she would leave the office withouttelling anyone she had figured it out."Collet could think of only one scenario⁵ to explain the troubling developments: Saunière had writtena numeric code on the floor in hopes Fache would involve cryptographers in the investigation⁶, andtherefore involve his own granddaughter. As for the rest of the message, was Saunièrecommunicating in some way with his granddaughter? If so, what did the message tell her? Andhow did Langdon fit in?

　　Before Collet could ponder it any further, the silence of the deserted⁷ museum was shattered by analarm. The bell sounded like it was coming from inside the Grand Gallery.

　　"Alarme!" one of the agents yelled, eyeing his feed from the Louvre security center. "GrandeGalerie! Toilettes Messieurs!"Fache wheeled to Collet. "Where's Langdon?""Still in the men's room!" Collet pointed⁸ to the blinking red dot on his laptop schematic. "He musthave broken the window!" Collet knew Langdon wouldn't get far. Although Paris fire codesrequired windows above fifteen meters in public buildings be breakable in case of fire, exiting aLouvre second-story window without the help of a hook and ladder would be suicide. Furthermore,there were no trees or grass on the western end of the Denon Wing to cushion a fall. Directlybeneath that rest room window, the two-lane Place du Carrousel ran within a few feet of the outerwall. "My God," Collet exclaimed, eyeing the screen. "Langdon's moving to the window ledge⁹!"But Fache was already in motion. Yanking his Manurhin MR-93 revolver from his shoulderholster, the captain dashed out of the office.

　　Collet watched the screen in bewilderment as the blinking dot arrived at the window ledge and thendid something utterly¹⁰ unexpected. The dot moved outside the perimeter¹¹ of the building.

　　What's going on? he wondered. Is Langdon out on a ledge or—"Jesu!" Collet jumped to his feet as the dot shot farther outside the wall. The signal seemed toshudder for a moment, and then the blinking dot came to an abrupt¹² stop about ten yards outside theperimeter of the building.

　　Fumbling with the controls, Collet called up a Paris street map and recalibrated the GPS. Zoomingin, he could now see the exact location of the signal.

　　It was no longer moving.

　　It lay at a dead stop in the middle of Place du Carrousel.

　　Langdon had jumped.

她再次逼问道："你和祖父计划在今晚会面，你们打算谈些什么？"

兰登摸不着头脑。"他的秘书安排了这次会面，但没有告诉我有什么特别的原因，我也没问。"索菲不接受这样的解释。这样的联系太牵强。祖父比任何人都了解异教圣像。再说，他是个注重隐私的人，不会随便找个美国教授就聊上天，除非有什么重要的原因。

索菲深深地吸了一口气，进一步试探道："今天下午祖父打电话给我，说他和我的处境都极其危险。你知道这是什么意思吗？"

兰登那双蔚蓝的眼睛笼罩上了一层忧虑。"我不知道，但从已经发生的事情看来……"

索菲点了点头。想到今晚发生的事情，她当然会很害怕。她绞尽脑汁，也不能理解今晚发生的一切。她向厕所尽头那扇装着小块平板玻璃的窗户走去，默默地透过嵌在玻璃中的警报网向外望去。他们离地面很远--至少有四十英尺。

她叹了口气，举目凝望窗外巴黎眩目的景色。左边，在赛纳河的对岸，耸立着灯光闪耀的埃菲尔铁塔；正前方，是凯旋门；右边，在蒙马特山丘的上方，可以看见圣心堂别致的圆形屋顶，那光滑的石头闪耀着白色的光芒，使整个建筑看上去像一座华丽的圣殿。

这里是德农馆的最西端。卡尔赛广场上南北向的交通干线与这里平行，它们与卢浮宫的外墙之间只隔着一条人行道。德农馆下方的街道上，夜间送货的卡车队停在那里，悠闲地等候着信号灯变色。那些闪亮的车灯似乎在用嘲弄的眼神冲索菲眨眼。

"我不知道该说些什么。"兰登说着，走到她的身后。"很显然，你的祖父试图告诉我们些什么。很遗憾，我帮不上什么忙。"索菲从兰登低沉的声音中感觉到了他内心的遗憾。虽然他遇到了许多麻烦，但很显然，他希望助索菲一臂之力。索菲转过身来，想道：他果然具备教师的素养。索菲是从警署的嫌疑人调查记录中了解到他的基本情况的。他是尊重事实的学者。

我们有共同点，索菲想道。

作为一名密码破译员，索菲的工作就是从那些看似杂乱无章的数据中提取出含义。今晚，索菲所能做出的最好猜测就是兰登拥有她迫切想得到的信息，无论兰登本人是否意识到这一点。索菲公主，去找罗伯特。兰登。祖父所传达的信息非常明了。索菲需要更多与兰登共处的时间，需要思考问题的时间，需要与他一起破解这个谜团的时间。不幸的是，没有时间了。

索菲凝视着兰登，终于想出了个主意。"贝祖。法希随时都可能将你逮捕。我能帮你逃出博物馆。但我们必须现在就行动。"兰登吃惊地睁大眼睛："你想让我逃跑？"

"这是明智之举。如果现在法希逮捕了你，你就得在法国监狱呆上几个星期。与此同时，法国警署和美国大使馆会开始争论由哪个国家来审判你。但如果我们现在逃出去，设法逃到美国大使馆，美国政府就可以保护你的权利。与此同时，我们可以想办法证明你与这桩谋杀案无关。"兰登毫不动摇。"算了吧！法希在每个出口都布下了警卫！就算我们不被打死，逃了出去，这也只会更让人觉得我是有罪的。你应该告诉法希，地上的信息是为你而留的，你祖父写下我的名字并不是为了告发我。""我会这样做。"索菲急切地说。"不过那要等你安全地进入美国使馆。使馆距这里只有一英里，我的车就停在博物馆外面。在这里与法希周旋几乎没有胜算。你没看到吗？法希将找出你的罪证作为今晚的任务。他之所以推迟逮捕，是想观察你的行为，希望你的某些言行能让他的指控更有力。""不错。就比如说逃跑！"

索菲毛衣口袋里的手机突然响了起来。可能是法希。她把手伸进口袋，关掉了手机。

"兰登先生。"她急切地说。"我问你最后一个问题。它将决定你的整个未来。地板上的文字显然不是你的罪证，但法希已经宣称你就是他要抓的人。你能找出他为你定罪的理由吗？"

兰登沉默了片刻，说道："不能。"

索菲叹了口气，显然法希故意说谎。索菲无法想象这是为什么，但这不是眼前的问题。事实就是贝祖。法希决定不惜一切代价，要在今晚将兰登投入大牢。

但是，索菲需要兰登。这样的两难境遇使索菲得出了一个结论：我得让兰登去美国大使馆。

索菲转向窗户，透过平板玻璃中镶嵌的警报网，从令人晕眩的四十英尺高处俯视马路。要是兰登从这么高的地方跳下去，至少也会摔断腿。

但不管怎样，索菲已经做了决定。

无论兰登是否情愿，他必须逃出卢浮宫。

"你说她不接听是什么意思？"法希看上去并不相信。"你打的是她的手机，没错吧？我知道她带着呢。"科莱已经打了好几分钟电话，试图找到索菲。"可能手机没电了，或者是她把铃声关了。"

接到密码破译部门局长的电话后，法希就一直忧心忡忡。挂上电话，他大步走到科莱跟前，要他打电话找到奈芙警官。现在，科莱没有打通电话，法希急得像头困兽，在屋里踱来踱去。

"密码破译部门说什么？"科莱冒失地问。

法希转过身来："告诉我们他们没有找到‘严酷的魔王’和‘瘸腿的圣徒’的出处。"

"就讲了这些？"

"不，还告诉我们他们刚刚确认那串数字是斐波那契数列，但他们怀疑那串数字并无含义。"科莱迷惑了。"但他们已经派奈芙警官来告诉过我们了。"

法希摇了摇头："他们没有派奈芙警官来。"

"什么？"

"局长说，接到我的命令后，他叫来全队的人看我电传过去的图片。奈芙警官赶来后，看了一眼索尼埃和密码的照片，就一言不发地离开了办公室。局长说，他没有对奈芙的行为产生疑问，因为她的不安情绪是可以理解的。""不安？她没有看过死者的照片吗？"

法希沉默了片刻。"众所周知，索菲。奈芙是雅克。索尼埃的孙女。我原来并没有意识到这一点，局长也是在一名同事的提醒下才想起来的。"科莱无言。

"局长说，奈芙从来没有向他提起过索尼埃，这可能是因为她不想因为有这样一位有名的祖父而受到优待。"无疑，她为那张照片感到不安。让一个年青女子去破解死去的家人所留下的密码-科莱简直无法相信还有这样不幸的巧合。而且，她的行为也不合常理。"但她显然认出了那串数字是费波那契数列，因为她这样告诉过我们。但我不明白她为什么默默地离开办公室，而不把她的发现告诉任何人。"科莱想，这件怪事只有一种解释：萨尼尔在地板上写下一串数字密码以期让密码破译员也参与到案件的调查中来，这样他的孙女也自然有机会参与其中。其余的信息，萨尼尔是否会通过某种特殊的方式与其孙女交流？如果是这样，萨尼尔要告诉她些什么呢？兰登又是如何被卷入的呢？

科莱还没来得及深思，一阵警报打破了博物馆的沉寂。警报声听上去是从艺术大画廊中传来的。

"警报！"一名警官看着卢浮宫安全中心的反馈信息，叫道。"艺术大画廊！男厕所！"

法希迅速转向科莱，问道："兰登在哪里？"

"还在男厕所！"科莱指着电脑屏幕上闪烁的小红点说道。"他一定打破了窗户玻璃！"科莱知道兰登不会走远。虽然，巴黎消防法规规定公共建筑离地十五米以上的窗户要安装可以打破的玻璃，以备火灾时人们逃生之用，但如果不借助钩子或梯子，从卢浮宫二楼的窗户跳出去则无异于自杀。再说，德农馆最西端的下方既没有树也没有草可以起缓冲作用。

厕所的下方，距卢浮宫外墙几米远，就是两车道的卡尔赛广场。"我的天哪！"科莱看着屏幕叫道："兰登在向窗沿移动！"

这时，法希已经开始行动了。他从肩上的枪套里抽出马努汉MR93 左轮手枪，冲出了办公室。

科莱仍大惑不解地盯着屏幕。小红点移动到了窗户的边缘，然后出人意料地移出了建筑的边界。

将会发生什么？他感到很惊奇。兰登是站到了窗沿上还是-"我的天！"看着小红点迅速远离了建筑物边界，科莱吃惊得跳了起来。信号抖动了一阵，忽然停在了距建筑物约十码远的地方。

科莱手忙脚乱地操作着电脑，调出了一幅巴黎街区地图，又重新调整了一下"全球定位系统"。这样，只要把画面拉近放大，他就可以看到信号所在的确切地点。

小红点不动了。

它停在卡尔赛广场的中心一动也不动。

兰登跳了下去。

1 distressed   

痛苦的

参考例句：

• He was too distressed and confused to answer their questions. 他非常苦恼而困惑，无法回答他们的问题。
• The news of his death distressed us greatly. 他逝世的消息使我们极为悲痛。

2 draconian   

adj.严苛的；苛刻的；严酷的；龙一样的

参考例句：

• You can't expect the people to obey such draconian regulations.你不能指望人民服从如此严苛的规定。
• The city needs a draconian way of dealing with robbers.这个城市需要一个严苛的办法来对付强盗。

3 lame   

adj.跛的，(辩解、论据等)无说服力的

参考例句：

• The lame man needs a stick when he walks.那跛脚男子走路时需借助拐棍。
• I don't believe his story.It'sounds a bit lame.我不信他讲的那一套。他的话听起来有些靠不住。

4 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

5 scenario   

n.剧本，脚本；概要

参考例句：

• But the birth scenario is not completely accurate.然而分娩脚本并非完全准确的。
• This is a totally different scenario.这是完全不同的剧本。

6 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

7 deserted   

adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的

参考例句：

• The deserted village was filled with a deathly silence.这个荒废的村庄死一般的寂静。
• The enemy chieftain was opposed and deserted by his followers.敌人头目众叛亲离。

8 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

9 ledge   

n.壁架，架状突出物；岩架，岩礁

参考例句：

• They paid out the line to lower him to the ledge.他们放出绳子使他降到那块岩石的突出部分。
• Suddenly he struck his toe on a rocky ledge and fell.突然他的脚趾绊在一块突出的岩石上，摔倒了。

10 utterly   

adv.完全地，绝对地

参考例句：

• Utterly devoted to the people,he gave his life in saving his patients.他忠于人民，把毕生精力用于挽救患者的生命。
• I was utterly ravished by the way she smiled.她的微笑使我完全陶醉了。

11 perimeter   

n.周边，周长，周界

参考例句：

• The river marks the eastern perimeter of our land.这条河标示我们的土地东面的边界。
• Drinks in hands,they wandered around the perimeter of the ball field.他们手里拿着饮料在球场周围漫不经心地遛跶。

12 abrupt   

adj.突然的，意外的；唐突的，鲁莽的

参考例句：

• The river takes an abrupt bend to the west.这河突然向西转弯。
• His abrupt reply hurt our feelings.他粗鲁的回答伤了我们的感情。