The Da Vinci Code

Usually detached and cool under pressure, Fache tonight seemed emotionally engaged, as if this

were somehow a personal matter for him.

Not surprising, Collet thought. Fache needs this arrest desperately. Recently the Board of

Ministers and the media had become more openly critical of Fache's aggressive tactics, his clashes with powerful foreign embassies, and his gross overbudgeting on new technologies. Tonight, a high-tech, high-profile arrest of an American would go a long way to silence Fache's critics, helping him secure the job a few more years until he could retire with the lucrative pension. God

knows he needs the pension, Collet thought. Fache's zeal for technology had hurt him both

professionally and personally. Fache was rumored to have invested his entire savings in the technology craze a few years back and lost his shirt. And Fache is a man who wears only the finest

shirts.

Tonight, there was still plenty of time. Sophie Neveu's odd interruption, though unfortunate, had been only a minor wrinkle. She was gone now, and Fache still had cards to play. He had yet to inform Langdon that his name had been scrawled on the floor by the victim. P.S. Find Robert

Langdon. The American's reaction to that little bit of evidence would be telling indeed.

"Captain." one of the DCPJ agents now called from across the office. "I think you better take this call." He was holding out a telephone receiver, looking concerned. "Who is it." Fache said. The agent frowned. "It's the director of our Cryptology Department." "And." "It's about Sophie Neveu, sir. Something is not quite right."

CHAPTER 15

It was time. Silas felt strong as he stepped from the black Audi, the nighttime breeze rustling his loose-fitting robe. The winds of change are in the air. He knew the task before him would require more finesse than force, and he left his handgun in the car. The thirteen-round Heckler Koch USP 40 had been provided by the Teacher.

A weapon of death has no place in a house of God.