Page 124 of The Secret of Secrets (Robert Langdon #6)

Katherine felt wary as she and Langdon climbed out of the embassy sedan into the cold wind near Old Town Square. At Langdon’s request, Sergeant Kerble had agreed to deposit them here before he continued on to the embassy.

I hope Robert knows what he’s doing.

Over the past several minutes, she could tell Langdon was being strangely elusive with the Marine, refusing to reveal exactly where he believed Sasha was located.

All he would say was that he needed to go to Sasha’s apartment to locate something that would help.

Kerble seemed to understand, perhaps even appreciate, Langdon’s rationale for reticence.

The CIA director desperately needs to locate Sasha Vesna; if questioned, Kerble can’t reveal what he doesn’t know.

Katherine would have felt safer if Kerble had accompanied them, but clearly he needed to get back to the embassy. It seemed as if he might be the ambassador’s lone ally and felt obligated to be on-site to protect her from the CIA director in whatever way he could.

“The ambassador will be grateful for your efforts,” Kerble said, rolling down his window to say a quick goodbye. “Good luck. Wherever it is you’re going.”

“Thanks for your understanding,” Langdon replied.

“OPSEC compartmentalization,” Kerble said. “You could be a Marine.”

“There’s a scary thought,” Langdon said as he reached through the window and shook the Marine’s hand. “I’ve got your direct number. I’ll call you the second we have anything.”

“If we locate Sasha,” Katherine added, “we’ll take her somewhere safe, and the ambassador will have all the leverage she needs to protect you.”

“I hope you’re right,” Kerble said. “Court-martials have a way of ruining a weekend.”

As the Marine pulled away, Langdon put an arm around Katherine and guided her across the bustling square. On the far side, they passed beneath an archway into a series of narrow alleys. When the sounds of the square began fading behind them, Katherine sensed it was finally private enough to talk.

“So what’s going on?” she blurted. “And where are we going? Where is Sasha?”

“We’re going to her apartment,” he said. “I figured out that Sasha never left. She couldn’t have. She’s still inside.”

Katherine stopped short. “That Marine just said Sasha is not there.”

“He’s wrong.”

“He said forensics searched the apartment!”

“Yes, but they didn’t search the whole thing.”

“I don’t understand.”

“You will, ” he said, holding out his hand. “Come on.”

Katherine followed Langdon deeper into the maze of alleyways surrounding Prague’s town square.

I’m glad he has a good memory, she thought as he retraced the path that Sasha had taken him on earlier today.

The alleys grew even narrower, and the cobblestone walkways fell into dark shadows with the fading afternoon light.

“This is it,” Langdon finally announced, stopping outside a nondescript door that looked like every other doorway they had passed.

“You’re certain?” Katherine saw no numbers or markings.

Langdon pointed to the window beside the door, and Katherine was startled to see four eyes staring out at her.

Two Siamese cats watched intently from inside, as if awaiting their owner’s return.

Despite confirming this was Sasha’s apartment, the presence of her cats only furthered Katherine’s mystification as to why Langdon thought Sasha was actually here.

“Robert, those cats look like they’re waiting for Sasha to get home. ”

“They are, ” Langdon said. “They just don’t know she’s here either.”

The comment made no sense to Katherine.

“Look at this alley,” Langdon said, motioning around them.

“Remember I told you about the note that was slipped under Sasha’s door this morning?

Within seconds of getting the note, I ran out into this very alleyway, but the messenger had vanished.

Impossibly so. He couldn’t have simply disappeared into thin air. ”

She surveyed the alley. Admittedly, nowhere to hide.

“And then I realized,” Langdon said, “the answer was obvious. The person who left the note… never fled the area. He simply stepped into a very convenient hiding place.”

Katherine glanced around, confused. “Where?”

“Right there,” Langdon said, pointing.

Katherine’s gaze followed Langdon’s outstretched finger up the facade of the building to a set of windows directly above Sasha’s apartment. All of the upstairs windows were boarded up with heavy wooden shutters.

“The apartment upstairs,” Langdon said. “Gessner said she owns both flats and used to live up there over her ailing mother. Now she lets Sasha use the lower apartment, and the upper apartment sits…vacant.”

Katherine studied the shuttered windows of the empty flat and pictured someone—most likely Dmitri—placing a note under Sasha’s door and then quietly slipping upstairs while Langdon searched the street in vain. Quite possible…

Langdon strode to the building’s outer door, which was made of thick wood, diagonally slatted, with a security screen. He fished the Krazy Kitten key ring from his pocket, unlocked the door, and ushered Katherine into the dingy foyer.

Despite the modest entrance, she could see that Sasha had made it her home. Her apartment door was immediately on the right, decorated with potted plants, a wisteria wreath, and a welcome mat that said: Please Wipe Your Paws.

On the back wall of the foyer, a small storage room was packed to the ceiling with old cardboard boxes.

To Katherine’s surprise, Langdon headed directly for it, stopping only an inch from the blockade of boxes, his chest practically touching them.

He peered upward, as if studying the architecture of the alcove, and then gave a nod, waving her over.

As Katherine approached, Langdon stepped sideways to his right, disappearing into an imperceptible opening that apparently existed between the boxes and the wall of the alcove.

Startled, she quickly followed, slipping through the cramped passageway, turning left around the stack of boxes, then left again, finding herself at Langdon’s side.

In the faint light filtering around the boxes, she could see that they were standing at the bottom of a narrow staircase, which ascended into darkness.

This is not a storage room at all, she realized. It’s the landing to a staircase.

“I didn’t notice initially that this foyer had no staircase to the second floor.

Later, I realized there had to be access, and since there’s no separate entrance, both apartments would have to be accessible through this foyer.

It also explains how someone could disappear without a trace immediately after sliding a note under Sasha’s door. ”

Katherine nodded. “Hiding just a few steps away. Very clever.”

“Yes, and after I ran off to Pet?ín Tower, he simply emerged from hiding, entered Sasha’s apartment, and either convinced her to go upstairs or incapacitated her somehow. Either way, he must have left her upstairs so she wouldn’t have to see him killing Harris.”

Simple and clean. Katherine nodded. “And when the embassy found Harris’s body, Sasha was gone, so they logically assumed she had fled the scene.”

“Exactly.”

“So how are you going to get into the apartment?” she asked, peering up the stairs.

“I’m going to bang on the door and hope Sasha hears me.”

“That’s your plan?” Katherine demanded. “What if she’s too drugged to hear you? Or she’s restrained and can’t get to the door?”

Langdon frowned. “Then I have a plan B.”

As Langdon started up the darkened staircase, he flipped the light switch at the bottom, but nothing happened.

Katherine motioned to the fixture overhead, which was bare. “No bulb.”

She was about to suggest Langdon go into Sasha’s apartment and find a flashlight, but he was already pushing on into the blackness, no doubt eager to get out of the cramped passageway.

Katherine enjoyed darkness about as much as Langdon enjoyed enclosed spaces, but she forced herself to follow.

With her hand placed firmly on the rickety railing, she climbed to the top of the stairs and reached out tentatively to find Langdon on the small landing, in near-complete darkness, standing outside a solitary door.

“Sasha?!” he called, knocking. “Hello?!”

Silence.

He knocked more heavily now. “Sasha? It’s Robert Langdon! Are you okay?”

Nothing.

Langdon tried the door. Locked.

After pounding some more, he held his ear to the door for a full ten seconds. Finally, he backed away and shook his head. “It’s dead quiet in there. I hope she’s okay.”

“What was plan B?” Katherine asked in the darkness. “Should we find a crowbar or hammer?”

“It might be simpler than that,” Langdon said, thinking. “Gessner owns both these apartments, and she used to live above her sick mother…” He seemed to be examining the door handle in the darkness.

Katherine squinted to see what he was doing. “Are you trying to pick the lock?”

“Not quite,” he replied. He continued to jiggle his hands, and then she heard the sound of a cylinder click. Langdon lifted the handle and gave the door a gentle push. It swung open.

Katherine stared at him. “What just happened?”

Langdon held up the Krazy Kitten key ring. “Gessner lived here, owned both apartments, and her mother was ailing—so why not make it simple and have one key that works for both flats, for easy access?”

Of course, Katherine realized, and there was no reason to change the locks when Sasha moved in because the second apartment sat empty.

As the door creaked inward, Langdon and Katherine found themselves staring into pitch-darkness, which was not surprising considering the heavy shutters shrouding the windows.

Katherine reached inside the doorframe and felt around, locating a light switch.

When she flipped it, they both stepped back in surprise.

The scene that illuminated before them was a foreign world.

The barren flat was bathed entirely in an eerie, purple luminescence.