The gun.
Both men lunged for it at the same moment, but Langdon had the high ground and got there first, grasping the handle and pointing the weapon at his attacker, who stopped short just beneath him, staring defiantly into the barrel of the gun.
In the glow of the flashlight, Langdon could see the man’s salt-and-pepper beard and stark white pants…and in an instant, he knew who it was.
The navy officer from the Guggenheim…
Langdon leveled the gun at the man’s head, feeling his index finger on the trigger. “You killed my friend Edmond Kirsch.”
The man was out of breath, but his reply was immediate, his voice like ice. “I settled a score. Your friend Edmond Kirsch killed my family.”
CHAPTER 75
Langdon broke my ribs.
Admiral ávila felt sharp stabs each time he inhaled, wincing in pain as his chest heaved desperately, trying to restore oxygen to his body. Crouched on the stairs above him, Robert Langdon stared down, aiming the pistol awkwardly at ávila’s midsection.
ávila’s military training instantly kicked in, and he began assessing his situation. In the negative column, his enemy held both the weapon and the high ground. In the positive column, judging from the professor’s unusual grip on the gun, he had very little experience with firearms.
He has no intention of shooting me, ávila decided. He will hold me and wait for the security guards. From all the shouting outside, it was clear that Sagrada Família’s security officers had heard the gunshots and were now hurrying into the building.
I must act quickly.
Keeping his hands raised in surrender, ávila shifted slowly onto his knees, conveying full compliance and submission.
Give Langdon the sense that he is in total control.
Despite his fall down the stairs, ávila could feel that the object he had lodged in the back of his belt was still there—the ceramic pistol with which he had killed Kirsch inside the Guggenheim. He had chambered the last remaining bullet before entering the church but had not needed to use it, killing one of the guards silently and stealing his far more efficient gun, which, unfortunately, Langdon was now aiming at him. ávila wished he had left the safety engaged, guessing Langdon probably would have had no idea how to release it.
ávila considered making a move to grab the ceramic gun from his belt to fire on Langdon first, but even if he were successful, ávila estimated his chances of survival at about fifty-fifty. One of the perils of inexperienced gun users was their tendency to fire by mistake.
If I move too quickly…
The sounds of the yelling guards were growing closer, and ávila knew that if he were taken into custody, the “victor” tattoo on his palm would ensure his release—or at least that’s what the Regent had assured him. At the moment, however, having killed two of the king’s Guardia Real agents, ávila was not so sure that the Regent’s influence could save him.
I came here to carry out a mission, ávila reminded himself. And I need to complete it. Eliminate Robert Langdon and Ambra Vidal.
The Regent had told ávila to enter the church via the east service gate, but ávila had decided to jump a security fence instead. I spotted police lurking near the east gate…and so I improvised.
Langdon spoke forcefully, glaring down over the gun at ávila. “You said Edmond Kirsch killed your family. That’s a lie. Edmond was no killer.”
You’re right, ávila thought. He was worse.
The dark truth about Kirsch was a secret ávila had learned only a week ago during a phone call from the Regent. Our pope is asking you to target the famous futurist Edmond Kirsch, the Regent had said. His Holiness’s motivations are many, but he would like for you to undertake this mission personally.
Why me? ávila asked.
Admiral, the Regent whispered. I’m sorry to tell you this, but Edmond Kirsch was responsible for the cathedral bombing that killed your family.
ávila’s first reaction was complete disbelief. He could see no reason whatsoever for a well-known computer scientist to bomb a church.
You are a military man, Admiral, the Regent had explained to him, and so you know better than anyone: the young soldier who pulls the trigger in battle is not the actual killer. He is a pawn, doing the work of those more powerful—governments, generals, religious leaders—those who have either paid him or convinced him that a cause is worthy at all costs.
ávila had indeed witnessed this situation.
The same rules apply to terrorism, the Regent continued. The most vicious terrorists are not the people who build the bombs, but the influential leaders who fuel hatred among desperate masses, inspiring their foot soldiers to commit acts of violence. It takes only one powerful dark soul to wreak havoc in the world by inspiring spiritual intolerance, nationalism, or loathing in the minds of the vulnerable.
ávila had to agree.
Terrorist attacks against Christians, the Regent said, are on the rise around the world. These new attacks are no longer strategically planned events; they are spontaneous assaults carried out by lone wolves who are answering a call to arms sent out by persuasive enemies of Christ. The Regent paused. And among those persuasive enemies, I count the atheist Edmond Kirsch.
Now ávila felt the Regent was beginning to stretch the truth. Despite Kirsch’s despicable campaign against Christianity in Spain, the scientist had never issued a statement urging the murder of Christians.
Before you disagree, the voice on the phone told him, let me give you one final piece of information. The Regent sighed heavily. Nobody knows this, Admiral, but the attack that killed your family…it was intended as an act of war against the Palmarian Church.
The statement gave ávila pause, and yet it made no sense; Seville Cathedral was not a Palmarian building.
The morning of the bombing, the voice told him, four prominent members of the Palmarian Church were in the Seville congregation for recruiting purposes. They were targeted specifically. You know one of them—Marco. The other three died in the attack.
ávila’s thoughts swirled as he pictured his physical therapist, Marco, who had lost his leg in the attack.
Our enemies are powerful and motivated, the voice went on. And when the bomber could not gain access to our compound in El Palmar de Troya, he followed our four missionaries to Seville and took his action there. I’m so very sorry, Admiral. This tragedy is one of the reasons the Palmarians reached out to you—we feel responsible that your family became collateral damage in a war directed against us.
A war directed by whom? ávila demanded, trying to comprehend the shocking claims.
Check your e-mail, the Regent replied.
Opening his in-box, ávila discovered a shocking trove of private documents that outlined a brutal war that had been waged against the Palmarian Church for over a decade now…a war that apparently included lawsuits, threats bordering on blackmail, and huge donations to anti-Palmarian “watchdog” groups like Palmar de Troya Support and Dialogue Ireland.
More surprising still, this bitter war against the Palmarian Church was, it appeared, being waged by a single individual—and that man was futurist Edmond Kirsch.
ávila was baffled by the news. Why would Edmond Kirsch specifically want to destroy the Palmarians?
The Regent told him that nobody in the Church—not even the pope himself—had any idea why Kirsch had such a specific abhorrence for the Palmarians. All they knew was that one of the planet’s wealthiest and most influential people would not rest until the Palmarians were crushed.