Page 14 of The Secret of Secrets (Robert Langdon #6)
“Is this the woman you saw?” Captain Janá?ek demanded, holding up a computer tablet. The screen showed a grainy video capture of the woman with black spines encircling her head and carrying a spear.
Janá?ek and Attaché Harris were seated facing Langdon in front of the fire.
“Yes, that’s her,” Langdon replied, recalling his panic.
“According to the surveillance videos,” Janá?ek said, “you were on the bridge, you passed this woman halfway across, stopped to speak to her, and then suddenly ran back here and evacuated the hotel. What did this woman say to you?”
“Nothing,” Langdon replied. “She ignored me and kept walking.”
“She said nothing ?” Janá?ek laughed. “Professor, if she said nothing…what made you panic?”
Harris looked equally confused.
“She was wearing that unusual spiked headpiece…and carrying a spear,” Langdon said. “There was also a very strong…smell.” Langdon immediately realized how strange this sounded.
The captain raised his eyebrows. “You did not like her smell? So you ran away?”
“She smelled of…death.”
Janá?ek stared at him. “Death? And what exactly does death smell like?”
“I don’t know…decay, sulfur, rot…It’s a complicated—”
“Professor Langdon!” Janá?ek barked. “How did you know this building needed to be evacuated?!”
“Captain,” Harris intervened. “Perhaps we can give Mr. Langdon a moment to explain himself?”
Janá?ek drummed his pen against his notepad, never breaking eye contact.
Langdon took a deep breath. Here goes nothing.
“Last night,” he began, his tone as matter-of-fact as possible, “my colleague Katherine Solomon gave a lecture at Prague Castle. Afterward, she and I returned to this hotel and had a drink in the bar downstairs. We were joined by a well-known Czech neuroscientist—Dr. Brigita Gessner—who was instrumental in inviting Katherine to Prague. Dr. Gessner insisted Katherine try the local Bohemian absinthe, which she did, and it caused a restless night’s sleep. ”
Janá?ek took notes. “Continue.”
“At some point, around one thirty a.m.,” Langdon continued, “Katherine awoke in a panic from a nightmare. She was extremely upset. I brought her out to this room, sat her down by the fire, made some tea, let her get her bearings, and then, when she calmed down, we both went back to bed.”
“How nice of you,” Janá?ek grumbled. “And this relates to your evacuation stunt how ?”
Langdon fell silent, formulating how best to explain it. Then, steeling himself for their response, he spoke the truth. “Katherine’s nightmare,” he said as calmly as possible. “She dreamed there was a deadly explosion…in this hotel.”
Langdon could see that neither Janá?ek nor Harris had anticipated this response.
“That’s obviously quite alarming…” Harris said quietly. “But the woman…on the bridge? Why did you run when you saw her?”
Langdon sighed, speaking slowly. “Because in Katherine’s dream, a woman appeared beside our bed in this suite.
She was dressed in black and was wearing…
” Langdon pointed to the image on the iPad.
“Exactly this—a black spiked headpiece. And she was carrying a silver spear. The woman reeked of death and said Katherine was going to die.” Langdon paused.
“And then, in the dream, this entire hotel exploded, killing everyone.”
“Hovadina!” Janá?ek erupted. “ Bullshit! As you Americans say! I don’t believe a word of this!”
Harris’s expression looked equally incredulous.
“I understand your reaction,” Langdon said. “I’m still trying to grasp it myself, but I’m telling the truth. This morning, when I saw the same woman from Katherine’s dream, in the flesh, I panicked. I was afraid maybe the dream had been some kind of…I don’t know…warning.”
“A dream warning?!” Janá?ek snapped, his heavy Czech accent making the scenario sound even less plausible. “So tell me, in Ms. Solomon’s magical dream, what time did the bomb explode?”
Langdon thought about it. “I don’t know. She didn’t mention a time.”
“And yet you jumped out of the window to escape by seven a.m., the exact time the bomb was set to detonate. How did you know seven a.m.?!”
“I didn’t, ” Langdon said. “The church bells started tolling, and for some reason, it all just collided in my mind—”
“Je?tě vět?í hovadina!” Janá?ek spat, jumping to his feet and pitching threateningly toward Langdon. “Double bullshit! You’re lying to me!”
Harris leaped up in defense, facing Janá?ek. “Captain, that’s enough.”
“Really?” Janá?ek snapped, turning to the attaché. “At seven a.m. this morning—the precise time the bomb was set to explode— both Robert Langdon and Katherine Solomon were conveniently out of the hotel. Clearly, they were afraid for their lives.”
“That’s ridiculous !” Langdon exclaimed, unable to contain his anger.
“As ridiculous as a sulfur-scented dream?!”
“Captain Janá?ek,” Harris warned firmly. “You’re way over the line here.”
“What line?!” the captain shouted. “A terrorist attack was narrowly avoided, and the evidence shows these two Americans knew about the explosion beforehand. I’m not accepting the alibi of a magical dream!”
Harris stared at Janá?ek and did not back up an inch. “You and I both know it’s wholly inconceivable that Robert Langdon or Katherine Solomon would plot to blow up a hotel. It makes no sense at all.”
“It does make sense when you consider Katherine had a clear motive.”
“A motive to blow up a hotel?!” Langdon demanded in disbelief.
“Absolutely,” Janá?ek replied. “In criminal investigations, I always ask myself one simple question: Who stands to benefit from the crime? Whoever that person is, no matter how unlikely, he or she is my prime suspect.”
“Captain,” Harris interjected, “what benefit could Katherine Solomon possibly derive—”
“Let me ask you something, Professor,” Janá?ek interrupted, turning back to Langdon. “It is my understanding that Ms. Solomon is writing a book, no?”
“That’s correct.” Even though Katherine had mentioned her book last night in her lecture, Langdon still felt unnerved that this man knew about it.
“Furthermore,” Janá?ek said, “it is my understanding that this book supports the existence of paranormal powers like ESP, seeing the future, that sort of thing—a specialty of Ms. Solomon. It seems to me that a news story about a mystical dream that saved a hotel full of people would be very helpful to her book’s credibility… and sales?”
Langdon stared at the officer in disbelief.
“Captain,” Harris said, sounding equally taken aback. “Your insinuation is clearly—”
“The only possible explanation,” Janá?ek said.
“Sir,” Langdon said quietly. “Are you implying the fire alarm and nightmare were…some kind of publicity stunt?”
Janá?ek smirked and took a long pull on his cigarette.
“After thirty-eight years of investigative work, Professor, I thought I had seen everything. But now, in your social media world, I’m continually shocked what people will do for media coverage…
to go ‘viral,’ as you Americans love to say.
Your plan was ingenious, actually, surprisingly safe and easy to pull off. ”
“How can you say planting a bomb would be safe ?!” Langdon demanded.
Harris had fallen silent.
“You ensured it was safe,” Janá?ek repeated. “The bomb we found was quite small and placed in a basement location where it would have done minimal damage. You called in an anonymous tip to be sure the explosive was discovered before anybody got hurt.”
The police dogs in the lobby…
“By the way,” Janá?ek added, “the crown of spikes was a nice touch—very memorable and hard to miss on security tapes.”
Langdon felt slightly nauseous. “Sir, nothing could be further from the truth.”
“If you believe that,” the captain said, “then perhaps you don’t know the truth. Perhaps you don’t know Katherine Solomon as well as you think. Perhaps she did all this behind your back and used you as an unwitting accessory.”
Langdon refused to dignify his words with a response.
“I’m quite skilled at discovering the truth, Professor,” Janá?ek said flatly, “which is why I am eager to hear Ms. Solomon’s version of the story.
If, in fact, she had a dream that came true, then perhaps she is innocent.
But that would mean that Katherine Solomon can see the future, which would make her very special indeed. Is she that special, Mr. Langdon?”
The sarcasm in the man’s voice left little doubt that Langdon and Katherine were now fighting an uphill battle. Guilty until proven innocent.
“Which leads me to my final question,” Janá?ek said. “Where is Ms. Solomon right now?”
“Meeting a colleague,” Langdon replied tersely.
“Who?”
“The Czech neuroscientist I mentioned—Dr. Gessner.”
“And the two women are meeting at Dr. Gessner’s lab?”
Langdon was startled the officer would know that.
“Relax,” Janá?ek said. He held up a note. “I took this from your bedroom along with both your passports.”
It was the note Katherine had left. Janá?ek had merely been testing him.
“What time is the meeting?”
“Eight a.m.,” Langdon replied.
Janá?ek checked his watch. “Which is in a few minutes. Where is this lab?”
Langdon had learned last night that Gessner’s lab was located in a secure Prague landmark—Crucifix Bastion—a small medieval fortification that had been renovated into an ultramodern research facility four kilometers from the city center.
“I’ll call Katherine,” he offered, suspecting she would not want to be interrogated in front of Gessner. “I’m sure she will come back immed—”
“Where is the lab?!” Janá?ek exploded, pushing past Harris and stopping inches from Langdon’s face. “I will arrest you this instant, Professor, and your consulate will need weeks to cut through the red tape.”
Langdon stood his ground. “I’d like to speak privately with Mr. Harris.”
“Last chance,” Janá?ek snapped. “Where is the lab?”
There was a long silence, and the voice that spoke next felt like a knife in Langdon’s back.
“Crucifix Bastion,” Harris said flatly. “Four kilometers from here.”