Without warning, I turn and reach up, curling my fingers onto the high ledge, pulling myself up, scrambling onto my knees, then standing . . . We can force you to tell us where it is.’įor that reason, I have climbed halfway to heaven. They stare deep into my clear green eyes, and their expressions darken, no longer cajoling, but threatening. I stand now, cornered, my back to the cold stone. He is back: Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon in the 2009 film version of Angels and Demons

They do not understand what is coming . . . They are behind me, unyielding, closing in. spiralling skyward on soft marble treads, pitted and worn. I urge my leaden legs up the narrow staircase . . .

I turn the handle and step into the passage from which I know there will be no return. snaking through the early-morning vendors in Piazza di San Firenze with their hoarse voices smelling of lampredotto and roasted olives.Ĭrossing before the Bargello, I cut west toward the spire of the Badia and come up hard against the iron gate at the base of the stairs. I pass behind the palazzo with its crenellated tower and one-handed clock . . . for the Apennine Mountains are blotting out the first light of dawn. Here above ground, I raise my eyes to the north, but I am unable to find a direct path to salvation . . . labouring beneath the earth like a chthonic monster. Their persistence has kept me underground . . .

Their footsteps grow louder now as they hunt with relentless determination.įor years they have pursued me. turning left on to Via dei Castellani, making my way northward, huddling in the shadows of the Uffizi. 'Robert Langdon gazed at the veiled woman across a river of blood.' PROLOGUEĪlong the banks of the river Arno, I scramble, breathless . . .

Inferno sneak preview dan brown