Lieutenant1 Collet stood alone at the foot of Leigh Teabing's driveway and gazed up at the massivehouse. Isolated2. Dark. Good ground cover. Collet watched his half-dozen agents spreading silentlyout along the length of the fence. They could be over it and have the house surrounded in a matterof minutes. Langdon could not have chosen a more ideal spot for Collet's men to make a surpriseassault.
Collet was about to call Fache himself when at last his phone rang.
Fache sounded not nearly as pleased with the developments as Collet would have imagined. "Whydidn't someone tell me we had a lead on Langdon?""You were on a phone call and—""Where exactly are you, Lieutenant Collet?"Collet gave him the address. "The estate belongs to a British national named Teabing. Langdondrove a fair distance to get here, and the vehicle is inside the security gate, with no signs of forcedentry, so chances are good that Langdon knows the occupant.""I'm coming out," Fache said. "Don't make a move. I'll handle this personally."Collet's jaw3 dropped. "But Captain, you're twenty minutes away! We should act immediately. Ihave him staked out. I'm with eight men total. Four of us have field rifles and the others havesidearms.""Wait for me.""Captain, what if Langdon has a hostage in there? What if he sees us and decides to leave on foot?
We need to move now! My men are in position and ready to go.""Lieutenant Collet, you will wait for me to arrive before taking action. That is an order." Fachehung up.
Stunned, Lieutenant Collet switched off his phone. Why the hell is Fache asking me to wait? Colletknew the answer. Fache, though famous for his instinct, was notorious for his pride. Fache wantscredit for the arrest. After putting the American's face all over the television, Fache wanted to besure his own face got equal time. Collet's job was simply to hold down the fort until the bossshowed up to save the day.
As he stood there, Collet flashed on a second possible explanation for this delay. Damage control.
In law enforcement, hesitating to arrest a fugitive4 only occurred when uncertainty5 had arisenregarding the suspect's guilt6. Is Fache having second thoughts that Langdon is the right man? Thethought was frightening. Captain Fache had gone out on a limb tonight to arrest RobertLangdon—surveillance cachée, Interpol, and now television. Not even the great Bezu Fache wouldsurvive the political fallout if he had mistakenly splashed a prominent American's face all overFrench television, claiming he was a murderer. If Fache now realized he'd made a mistake, then itmade perfect sense that he would tell Collet not to make a move. The last thing Fache needed wasfor Collet to storm an innocent Brit's private estate and take Langdon at gunpoint.
Moreover, Collet realized, if Langdon were innocent, it explained one of this case's strangestparadoxes: Why had Sophie Neveu, the granddaughter of the victim, helped the alleged7 killerescape? Unless Sophie knew Langdon was falsely charged. Fache had posited8 all kinds ofexplanations tonight to explain Sophie's odd behavior, including that Sophie, as Saunière's soleheir, had persuaded her secret lover Robert Langdon to kill off Saunière for the inheritance money.
Saunière, if he had suspected this, might have left the police the message P.S. Find RobertLangdon. Collet was fairly certain something else was going on here. Sophie Neveu seemed far toosolid of character to be mixed up in something that sordid9.
"Lieutenant?" One of the field agents came running over. "We found a car."Collet followed the agent about fifty yards past the driveway. The agent pointed10 to a wide shoulderon the opposite side of the road. There, parked in the brush, almost out of sight, was a black Audi.
It had rental11 plates. Collet felt the hood12. Still warm. Hot even.
"That must be how Langdon got here," Collet said. "Call the rental company. Find out if it'sstolen.""Yes, sir."Another agent waved Collet back over in the direction of the fence. "Lieutenant, have a look atthis." He handed Collet a pair of night vision binoculars13. "The grove14 of trees near the top of thedriveway."Collet aimed the binoculars up the hill and adjusted the image intensifier dials. Slowly, thegreenish shapes came into focus. He located the curve of the driveway and slowly followed it up,reaching the grove of trees. All he could do was stare. There, shrouded15 in the greenery, was anarmored truck. A truck identical to the one Collet had permitted to leave the Depository Bank ofZurich earlier tonight. He prayed this was some kind of bizarre coincidence, but he knew it couldnot be.
"It seems obvious," the agent said, "that this truck is how Langdon and Neveu got away from thebank."Collet was speechless. He thought of the armored truck driver he had stopped at the roadblock. TheRolex. His impatience16 to leave. I never checked the cargo17 hold.
Incredulous, Collet realized that someone in the bank had actually lied to DCPJ about Langdon andSophie's whereabouts and then helped them escape. But who? And why? Collet wondered if maybethis were the reason Fache had told him not to take action yet. Maybe Fache realized there weremore people involved tonight than just Langdon and Sophie. And if Langdon and Neveu arrived inthe armored truck, then who drove the Audi?
Hundreds of miles to the south, a chartered Beechcraft Baron18 58 raced northward19 over theTyrrhenian Sea. Despite calm skies, Bishop20 Aringarosa clutched an airsickness bag, certain hecould be ill at any moment. His conversation with Paris had not at all been what he had imagined.
Alone in the small cabin, Aringarosa twisted the gold ring on his finger and tried to ease hisoverwhelming sense of fear and desperation. Everything in Paris has gone terribly wrong. Closinghis eyes, Aringarosa said a prayer that Bezu Fache would have the means to fix it.
科莱中尉独自站在雷。提彬家的车道前，仰望着这座大宅子。偏僻。黑暗。结实的城堡。科莱手下的人沿篱笆散开。他们几分钟之内就会到达指定位置把房子围起来。兰登选的这个地方太理想了，太适合科莱来个突然袭击了。
科莱正想给法希打电话，手机却响了起来。
出乎科莱意料，法希对案子的进展并不满意。"有了兰登线索，为什么没有人告诉我？"
"当时您在打电话，而且……"
"科莱中尉，你到底在哪里？"。
科莱汇报了他的方位。"这栋房子属于一个名叫提彬的英国人。兰登开了很长时间的车才到这里。车现在就在防盗门里面，没有强行进入的迹象，所以兰登很可能认识房子的主人。"法希说道："我马上过来。先不要行动，我要亲自指挥。"
科莱大吃一惊。"可是上尉，您二十分钟后才能到达这里呢！我们应该立即行动。我已经把他监视住了。我这里总共有八个人。四个人有步枪，另外四个有手枪。""等着我。"
"可是上尉，如果兰登在里面挟持了人质怎么办？如果他发现了我们，逃走了怎么办？
我们应该立即行动！我的人已经就位，随时可以行动。""科莱中尉，你必须要等我到达现场。在此之前，不准有任何行动。这是命令！"法希挂上了电话。
科莱目瞪口呆，无可奈何地关掉了手机。他XX 的，法希为什么让我等他？科莱知道，虽然法希天资聪颖，但他也因高傲自大而臭名昭著。法希想通过逮捕兰登来提高自己的声誉。他在电视上发布了通缉令，想在电视上露把脸。科莱要做的就是守住堡垒，然后等着头儿降临来拯救世界。
他站在那里，脑海中闪过法希让他推迟行动的第二种解释。破坏控制。在执法时，推迟逮捕一个逃犯只会在不确定嫌疑犯的罪行时才会发生。法希在重新考虑兰登是不是凶手吗？这个想法太可怕了。如果今晚法希上尉不能逮捕罗伯特。兰登，那他就太尴尬了，因为他早巳通知了警方监控人员、国际刑警组织而且还在电视上发了通缉令。如果贝祖。法希错误地把一个美国社会名流的头像展示在法国电视上，说他是谋杀犯的话，那么不管他有多伟大，也无法承担可怕的政治后果。如果法希现在意识到了错误，那他让科莱停止行动就太有意义了。法希可不希望看到科莱冲进一位无辜的英国公民的私宅，然后用枪指着兰登。
科莱还意识到，如果兰登是无辜的，那么就澄清了这个案子里最自相矛盾的一件事：为什么索菲。奈芙--被害人的孙女--要帮助那个所谓的凶手逃跑。除非索菲知道兰登是被冤枉的。法希作出了各种各样的解释来说明她的行为：作为雅克，索尼埃的唯一的继承人，索菲为了得到遗产而唆使她的秘密情人罗伯特。兰登杀死了雅克。索尼埃。如果雅克。索尼埃对此早有怀疑的话，那就会给警察留下信息：P.S.：去找罗伯特。兰登。可是科莱总觉得此事另有蹊跷。索菲看上去很纯洁，应该不会参与这样的肮脏交易。
"中尉！"一个警察跑了过来。"我们发现了一辆车。"
科莱跟着那个警察顺着车道走了约五十码。那个警察指向车道的一侧。在灌木丛里停着一辆黑色的奥迪车，不仔细看的话，根本就发现不了。车上挂的是出租牌照。科莱摸了一下车盖。还是热的，甚至有些烫手。
科莱说："兰登肯定是坐这辆车来的。给出租公司打电话，看看是不是偷来的。"
"是，警官。"
另外一个警察在篱笆那边挥手要科莱过去。他递给科莱一副夜视双筒望远镜，说道："中尉，看那边。车道尽头的小树林。"科莱把望远镜对着小山丘，调节着镜筒。慢慢地，那些绿乎乎的东四进入了眼帘。他先找到车道的拐弯处，然后顺着车道慢慢往上望去。最后把视野定在了那片小树林上。他被自己的所见惊呆了。那里有辆用草盖着的装甲车。那车竟然跟早些时候他在苏黎世储蓄银行放行的那辆-模一样。他希望这只是某种奇特的巧合，但他知道那是不可能的。
那个警察说："显然，兰登和奈芙就是坐着这辆车从银行里逃出来的。"
科莱一言不发。他回想起他在路障前面拦住的装甲车司机、那块劳力士手表以及他急于离开的样子。我竟然没有检查货舱。
简直不可思议，科莱意识到银行里有人向警署撒了谎。他们没有说出兰登和索菲藏身之处而是帮助他们逃了出来。但是，是谁干的呢？又是为什么呢？科莱怀疑这才是法希阻止采取行动的真正原因。也许法希意识到了参与这个案子的人不仅仅是兰登和索菲。如果兰登和索菲是坐这辆装甲车来的，那么是谁开来的奥迪呢？
几百英里以外的法国南部，一架比齐卡拉夫特。男爵58 飞机正在第勒尼安海高空向北高速飞行。虽然飞机飞得很平稳，可是阿林加洛沙还是紧紧地抓着晕机袋，觉得自己随时都会呕吐。他跟巴黎方面的通话大大出乎他的意料。
阿林加洛沙独自坐在小机舱里，不停地转动着手上的戒指，竭力使自已从无法抗拒的恐惧和绝望之中解脱出来。巴黎的一切都弄砸了！阿林加洛沙闭上眼，祈祷着法希能够有办法扭转败局。
收听单词发音 |
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lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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isolated
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| adj.与世隔绝的 | |
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jaw
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| n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训 | |
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fugitive
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| adj.逃亡的，易逝的；n.逃犯，逃亡者 | |
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uncertainty
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| n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物 | |
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guilt
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| n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责 | |
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alleged
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| a.被指控的，嫌疑的 | |
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posited
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| v.假定，设想，假设( posit的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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sordid
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| adj.肮脏的，不干净的，卑鄙的，暗淡的 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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rental
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| n.租赁，出租，出租业 | |
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hood
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| n.头巾，兜帽，覆盖；v.罩上，以头巾覆盖 | |
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binoculars
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| n.双筒望远镜 | |
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grove
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| n.林子，小树林，园林 | |
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shrouded
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| v.隐瞒( shroud的过去式和过去分词 )；保密 | |
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impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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cargo
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| n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物 | |
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baron
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| n.男爵；(商业界等)巨头，大王 | |
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northward
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| adv.向北；n.北方的地区 | |
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bishop
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| n.主教，（国际象棋）象 | |
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