The Da Vinci Code Chapter 63-67 Free Essays

CHAPTER 63 Lieutenant Collet stood alone at the foot of Leigh Teabing’s driveway and gazed up at the massive house. Isolated.Dark. We will write a custom essay sample on The Da Vinci Code Chapter 63-67 or any similar topic only for you Order Now Good ground cover.Collet watched his half-dozen agents spreading silently out along the length of the fence. They could be over it and have the house surrounded in a matter of minutes. Langdon could not have chosen a more ideal spot for Collet’s men to make a surprise assault. Collet was about to call Fache himself when at last his phone rang. Fache sounded not nearly as pleased with the developments as Collet would have imagined. â€Å"Why didn’t someone tell me we had a lead on Langdon?† â€Å"You were on a phone call and – â€Å" â€Å"Where exactly are you, Lieutenant Collet?† Collet gave him the address. â€Å"The estate belongs to a British national named Teabing. Langdon drove a fair distance to get here, and the vehicle is inside the security gate, with no signs of forced entry, so chances are good that Langdon knows the occupant.† â€Å"I’m coming out,† Fache said. â€Å"Don’t make a move. I’ll handle this personally.† Collet’s jaw dropped. â€Å"But Captain, you’re twenty minutes away! We should act immediately. I have him staked out. I’m with eight men total. Four of us have field rifles and the others have side arms.† â€Å"Wait for me.† â€Å"Captain, what if Langdon has a hostage in there? What if he sees us and decides to leave on foot? We need to move now! My men are in position and ready to go.† â€Å"Lieutenant Collet, you will wait for me to arrive before taking action. That is an order.† Fache hung up. Stunned, Lieutenant Collet switched off his phone. Why the hell is Fache asking me to wait? Collet knew the answer. Fache, though famous for his instinct, was notorious for his pride. Fache wants credit for the arrest.After putting the American’s face all over the television, Fache wanted to be sure his own face got equal time. Collet’s job was simply to hold down the fort until the boss showed up to save the day. As he stood there, Collet flashed on a second possible explanation for this delay. Damage control. In law enforcement, hesitating to arrest a fugitive only occurred when uncertainty had arisen regarding the suspect’s guilt. Is Fache having second thoughts that Langdon is the right man? The thought was frightening. Captain Fache had gone out on a limb tonight to arrest Robert Langdon – surveillance cachee, Interpol, and now television. Not even the great Bezu Fache would survive the political fallout if he had mistakenly splashed a prominent American’s face all over French television, claiming he was a murderer. If Fache now realized he’d made a mistake, then it made perfect sense that he would tell Collet not to make a move. The last thing Fache needed was for Collet to storm an innocent Brit’s private estate and take Langdon at gunpoint. Moreover, Collet realized, if Langdon were innocent, it explained one of this case’s strangest paradoxes: Why had Sophie Neveu, the granddaughter of the victim, helped the alleged killer escape? Unless Sophie knew Langdon was falsely charged. Fache had posited all kinds of explanations tonight to explain Sophie’s odd behavior, including that Sophie, as Sauniere’s sole heir, had persuaded her secret lover Robert Langdon to kill off Sauniere for the inheritance money. Sauniere, if he had suspected this, might have left the police the message P. S.Find RobertLangdon.Collet was fairly certain something else was going on here. Sophie Neveu seemed far too solid of character to be mixed up in something that sordid. â€Å"Lieutenant?† One of the field agents came running over. â€Å"We found a car.† Collet followed the agent about fifty yards past the driveway. The agent pointed to a wide shoulder on the opposite side of the road. There, parked in the brush, almost out of sight, was a black Audi. It had rental plates. Collet felt the hood. Still warm. Hot even. â€Å"That must be how Langdon got here,† Collet said. â€Å"Call the rental company. Find out if it’s stolen.† â€Å"Yes, sir.† Another agent waved Collet back over in the direction of the fence. â€Å"Lieutenant, have a look at this.† He handed Collet a pair of night vision binoculars. â€Å"The grove of trees near the top of the driveway.† Collet aimed the binoculars up the hill and adjusted the image intensifier dials. Slowly, the greenish shapes came into focus. He located the curve of the driveway and slowly followed it up, reaching the grove of trees. All he could do was stare. There, shrouded in the greenery, was an armored truck. A truck identical to the one Collet had permitted to leave the Depository Bank of Zurich earlier tonight. He prayed this was some kind of bizarre coincidence, but he knew it could not be. â€Å"It seems obvious,† the agent said,† that this truck is how Langdon and Neveu got away from the bank.† Collet was speechless. He thought of the armored truck driver he had stopped at the roadblock. The Rolex. His impatience to leave. I never checked the cargo hold. Incredulous, Collet realized that someone in the bank had actually lied to DCPJ about Langdon and Sophie’s whereabouts and then helped them escape. But who? And why? Collet wondered if maybe this were the reason Fache had told him not to take action yet. Maybe Fache realized there were more people involved tonight than just Langdon and Sophie. And if Langdon and Neveu arrived inthe armored truck, then who drove the Audi? Hundreds of miles to the south, a chartered Beechcraft Baron 58 raced northward over the Tyrrhenian Sea. Despite calm skies, Bishop Aringarosa clutched an airsickness bag, certain he could be ill at any moment. His conversation with Paris had not at all been what he had imagined. Alone in the small cabin, Aringarosa twisted the gold ring on his finger and tried to ease his overwhelming sense of fear and desperation. Everything in Paris has gone terribly wrong.Closing his eyes, Aringarosa said a prayer that Bezu Fache would have the means to fix it. CHAPTER 64 Teabing sat on the divan, cradling the wooden box on his lap and admiring the lid’s intricate inlaid Rose. Tonight has become the strangest and most magical night of my life. â€Å"Lift the lid,† Sophie whispered, standing over him, beside Langdon. Teabing smiled. Do not rush me.Having spent over a decade searching for this keystone, he wanted to savor every millisecond of this moment. He ran a palm across the wooden lid, feeling the texture of the inlaid flower. â€Å"The Rose,† he whispered. The Rose is Magdalene is the Holy Grail.The Rose is the compass that guides the way.Teabing felt foolish. For years he had traveled to cathedrals and churches all over France, paying for special access, examining hundreds of archways beneath rose windows, searching for an encrypted keystone. La clef de voute – a stone key beneath the sign of the Rose. Teabing slowly unlatched the lid and raised it. As his eyes finally gazed upon the contents, he knew in an instant it could only be the keystone. He was staring at a stone cylinder, crafted of interconnecting lettered dials. The device seemed surprisingly familiar to him. â€Å"Designed from Da Vinci’s diaries,† Sophie said. â€Å"My grandfather made them as a hobby.† Of course, Teabing realized. He had seen the sketches and blueprints. The key to finding the Holy Grail lies inside this stone.Teabing lifted the heavy cryptex from the box, holding it gently. Although he had no idea how to open the cylinder, he sensed his own destiny lay inside. In moments of failure, Teabing had questioned whether his life’s quest would ever be rewarded. Now those doubts were gone forever. He could hear the ancient words†¦ the foundation of the Grail legend: Vous ne trouvez pas le Saint-Graal, c’est le Saint-Graal qui vous trouve. You do not find the Grail, the Grail finds you. And tonight, incredibly, the key to finding the Holy Grail had walked right through his front door. While Sophie and Teabing sat with the cryptex and talked about the vinegar, the dials, and what the password might be, Langdon carried the rosewood box across the room to a well-lit table to get a better look at it. Something Teabing had just said was now running through Langdon’s mind. The key to the Grail is hidden beneath the sign of the Rose. Langdon held the wooden box up to the light and examined the inlaid symbol of the Rose. Although his familiarity with art did not include woodworking or inlaid furniture, he had just recalled the famous tiled ceiling of the Spanish monastery outside of Madrid, where, three centuries after its construction, the ceiling tiles began to fall out, revealing sacred texts scrawled by monks on the plaster beneath. Langdon looked again at the Rose. Beneath the Rose. Sub Rosa. Secret. A bump in the hallway behind him made Langdon turn. He saw nothing but shadows. Teabing’s manservant most likely had passed through. Langdon turned back to the box. He ran his finger over the smooth edge of the inlay, wondering if he could pry the Rose out, but the craftsmanship was perfect. He doubted even a razor blade could fit in between the inlaid Rose and the carefully carved depression into which it was seated. Opening the box, he examined the inside of the lid. It was smooth. As he shifted its position, though, the light caught what appeared to be a small hole on the underside of the lid, positioned in the exact center. Langdon closed the lid and examined the inlaid symbol from the top. No hole. It doesn’t pass through. Setting the box on the table, he looked around the room and spied a stack of papers with a paper clip on it. Borrowing the clip, he returned to the box, opened it, and studied the hole again. Carefully, he unbent the paper clip and inserted one end into the hole. He gave a gentle push. It took almost no effort. He heard something clatter quietly onto the table. Langdon closed the lid to look. It was a small piece of wood, like a puzzle piece. The wooden Rose had popped out of the lid and fallen onto the desk. Speechless, Langdon stared at the bare spot on the lid where the Rose had been. There, engraved in the wood, written in an immaculate hand, were four lines of text in a language he had never seen. The characters look vaguely Semitic, Langdon thought to himself, and yet I don’t recognize the language! A sudden movement behind him caught his attention. Out of nowhere, a crushing blow to the head knocked Langdon to his knees. As he fell, he thought for a moment he saw a pale ghost hovering over him, clutching a gun. Then everything went black. CHAPTER 65 Sophie Neveu, despite working in law enforcement, had never found herself at gunpoint until tonight. Almost inconceivably, the gun into which she was now staring was clutched in the pale hand of an enormous albino with long white hair. He looked at her with red eyes that radiated a frightening, disembodied quality. Dressed in a wool robe with a rope tie, he resembled a medieval cleric. Sophie could not imagine who he was, and yet she was feeling a sudden newfound respect for Teabing’s suspicions that the Church was behind this. â€Å"You know what I have come for,† the monk said, his voice hollow. Sophie and Teabing were seated on the divan, arms raised as their attacker had commanded. Langdon lay groaning on the floor. The monk’s eyes fell immediately to the keystone on Teabing’s lap. Teabing’s tone was defiant. â€Å"You will not be able to open it.† â€Å"My Teacher is very wise,† the monk replied, inching closer, the gun shifting between Teabing and Sophie. Sophie wondered where Teabing’s manservant was. Didn’t he hear Robert fall? â€Å"Who is your teacher?† Teabing asked. â€Å"Perhaps we can make a financial arrangement.† â€Å"The Grail is priceless.† He moved closer.† You’re bleeding,† Teabing noted calmly, nodding to the monk’s right ankle where a trickle of blood had run down his leg. â€Å"And you’re limping.† â€Å"As do you,† the monk replied, motioning to the metal crutches propped beside Teabing. â€Å"Now, hand me the keystone.† â€Å"You know of the keystone?† Teabing said, sounding surprised. â€Å"Never mind what I know. Stand up slowly, and give it to me.† â€Å"Standing is difficult for me.† â€Å"Precisely. I would prefer nobody attempt any quick moves.† Teabing slipped his right hand through one of his crutches and grasped the keystone in his left. Lurching to his feet, he stood erect, palming the heavy cylinder in his left hand, and leaning unsteadily on his crutch with his right. The monk closed to within a few feet, keeping the gun aimed directly at Teabing’s head. Sophie watched, feeling helpless as the monk reached out to take the cylinder. â€Å"You will not succeed,† Teabing said. â€Å"Only the worthy can unlock this stone.† God alone judges the worthy, Silas thought. â€Å"It’s quite heavy,† the man on crutches said, his arm wavering now. â€Å"If you don’t take it soon, I’m afraid I shall drop it!† He swayed perilously. Silas stepped quickly forward to take the stone, and as he did, the man on crutches lost his balance. The crutch slid out from under him, and he began to topple sideways to his right. No! Silas lunged to save the stone, lowering his weapon in the process. But the keystone was moving away from him now. As the man fell to his right, his left hand swung backward, and the cylinder tumbled from his palm onto the couch. At the same instant, the metal crutch that had been sliding out from under the man seemed to accelerate, cutting a wide arc through the air toward Silas’s leg. Splinters of pain tore up Silas’s body as the crutch made perfect contact with his cilice, crushing the barbs into his already raw flesh. Buckling, Silas crumpled to his knees, causing the belt to cut deeper still. The pistol discharged with a deafening roar, the bullet burying itself harmlessly in the floorboards as Silas fell. Before he could raise the gun and fire again, the woman’s foot caught him square beneath the jaw. At the bottom of the driveway, Collet heard the gunshot. The muffled pop sent panic through his veins. With Fache on the way, Collet had already relinquished any hopes of claiming personal credit for finding Langdon tonight. But Collet would be damned if Fache’s ego landed him in front of a Ministerial Review Board for negligent police procedure. A weapon was discharged inside a private home! And you waited at the bottom of the driveway? Collet knew the opportunity for a stealth approach had long since passed. He also knew if he stood idly by for another second, his entire career would be history by morning. Eyeing the estate’s iron gate, he made his decision. â€Å"Tie on, and pull it down.† In the distant recesses of his groggy mind, Robert Langdon had heard the gunshot. He’d also heard a scream of pain. His own? A jackhammer was boring a hole into the back of his cranium. Somewhere nearby, people were talking. â€Å"Where the devil were you?† Teabing was yelling. The manservant hurried in. â€Å"What happened? Oh my God! Who is that? I’ll call the police!† â€Å"Bloody hell! Don’t call the police. Make yourself useful and get us something with which to restrain this monster.† â€Å"And some ice!† Sophie called after him. Langdon drifted out again. More voices. Movement. Now he was seated on the divan. Sophie was holding an ice pack to his head. His skull ached. As Langdon’s vision finally began to clear, he found himself staring at a body on the floor. Am I hallucinating? The massive body of an albino monk lay bound and gagged with duct tape. His chin was split open, and the robe over his right thigh was soaked with blood. He too appeared to be just now coming to. Langdon turned to Sophie. â€Å"Who is that? What†¦ happened?† Teabing hobbled over. â€Å"You were rescued by a knight brandishing an Excalibur made by Acme Orthopedic.† Huh? Langdon tried to sit up. Sophie’s touch was shaken but tender. â€Å"Just give yourself a minute, Robert.† â€Å"I fear,† Teabing said,† that I’ve just demonstrated for your lady friend the unfortunate benefit of my condition. It seems everyone underestimates you.† From his seat on the divan, Langdon gazed down at the monk and tried to imagine what had happened. â€Å"He was wearing a cilice,†Teabing explained. â€Å"A what?† Teabing pointed to a bloody strip of barbed leather that lay on the floor. â€Å"A Discipline belt. He wore it on his thigh. I took careful aim.† Langdon rubbed his head. He knew of Discipline belts. â€Å"But how†¦ did you know?† Teabing grinned. â€Å"Christianity is my field of study, Robert, and there are certain sects who wear their hearts on their sleeves.† He pointed his crutch at the blood soaking through the monk’s cloak. â€Å"As it were.† â€Å"Opus Dei,† Langdon whispered, recalling recent media coverage of several prominent Boston businessmen who were members of Opus Dei. Apprehensive coworkers had falsely and publicly accused the men of wearing Discipline belts beneath their three-piece suits. In fact, the three men did no such thing. Like many members of Opus Dei, these businessmen were at the† supernumerary† stage and practiced no corporal mortification at all. They were devout Catholics, caring fathers to their children, and deeply dedicated members of the community. Not surprisingly, the media spotlighted their spiritual commitment only briefly before moving on to the shock value of the sect’s more stringent† numerary† members†¦ members like the monk now lying on the floor before Langdon. Teabing was looking closely at the bloody belt. â€Å"But why would Opus Dei be trying to find the Holy Grail?† Langdon was too groggy to consider it. â€Å"Robert,† Sophie said, walking to the wooden box. â€Å"What’s this?† She was holding the small Rose inlay he had removed from the lid.† It covered an engraving on the box. I think the text might tell us how to open the keystone.† Before Sophie and Teabing could respond, a sea of blue police lights and sirens erupted at thebottom of the hill and began snaking up the half-mile driveway. Teabing frowned. â€Å"My friends, it seems we have a decision to make. And we’d better make it fast.† CHAPTER 66 Collet and his agents burst through the front door of Sir Leigh Teabing’s estate with their guns drawn. Fanning out, they began searching all the rooms on the first level. They found a bullet hole in the drawing room floor, signs of a struggle, a small amount of blood, a strange, barbed leather belt, and a partially used roll of duct tape. The entire level seemed deserted. Just as Collet was about to divide his men to search the basement and grounds behind the house, he heard voices on the level above them. â€Å"They’re upstairs!† Rushing up the wide staircase, Collet and his men moved room by room through the huge home, securing darkened bedrooms and hallways as they closed in on the sounds of voices. The sound seemed to be coming from the last bedroom on an exceptionally long hallway. The agents inched down the corridor, sealing off alternate exits. As they neared the final bedroom, Collet could see the door was wide open. The voices had stopped suddenly, and had been replaced by an odd rumbling, like an engine. Sidearm raised, Collet gave the signal. Reaching silently around the door frame, he found the light switch and flicked it on. Spinning into the room with men pouring in after him, Collet shouted and aimed his weapon at†¦ nothing. An empty guest bedroom. Pristine. The rumbling sounds of an automobile engine poured from a black electronic panel on the wall beside the bed. Collet had seen these elsewhere in the house. Some kind of intercom system. He raced over. The panel had about a dozen labeled buttons: STUDY†¦ KITCHEN†¦ LAUNDRY†¦ CELLAR†¦ So where the hell do I hear a car? MASTER BEDROOM†¦ SUN ROOM†¦ BARN†¦ LIBRARY†¦ Barn! Collet was downstairs in seconds, running toward the back door, grabbing one of his agents on the way. The men crossed the rear lawn and arrived breathless at the front of a weathered gray barn. Even before they entered, Collet could hear the fading sounds of a car engine. He drew his weapon, rushed in, and flicked on the lights. The right side of the barn was a rudimentary workshop – lawn-mowers, automotive tools, gardening supplies. A familiar intercom panel hung on the wall nearby. One of its buttons was flipped down, transmitting. GUEST BEDROOM II. Collet wheeled, anger brimming. They lured us upstairs with the intercom! Searching the other side of the barn, he found a long line of horse stalls. No horses. Apparently the owner preferred a different kind of horsepower; the stalls had been converted into an impressive automotive parking facility. The collection was astonishing – a black Ferrari, a pristine Rolls-Royce, an antique Astin Martin sports coupe, a vintage Porsche 356. The last stall was empty. Collet ran over and saw oil stains on the stall floor. They can’t get off the compound.The driveway and gate were barricaded with two patrol cars to prevent this very situation. â€Å"Sir?† The agent pointed down the length of the stalls. The barn’s rear slider was wide open, giving way to a dark, muddy slope of rugged fields that stretched out into the night behind the barn. Collet ran to the door, trying to see out into the darkness. All he could make out was the faint shadow of a forest in the distance. No headlights. This wooded valley was probably crisscrossed by dozens of unmapped fire roads and hunting trails, but Collet was confident his quarry would never make the woods. â€Å"Get some men spread out down there. They’re probably already stuck somewhere nearby. These fancy sports cars can’t handle terrain.† â€Å"Um, sir?† The agent pointed to a nearby pegboard on which hung several sets of keys. The labels above the keys bore familiar names. DAIMLER†¦ ROLLS-ROYCE†¦ ASTIN MARTIN†¦ PORSCHE†¦ The last peg was empty. When Collet read the label above the empty peg, he knew he was in trouble. CHAPTER 67 The Range Rover was Java Black Pearl, four-wheel drive, standard transmission, with high- strength polypropylene lamps, rear light cluster fittings, and the steering wheel on the right. Langdon was pleased he was not driving. Teabing’s manservant Remy, on orders from his master, was doing an impressive job of maneuvering the vehicle across the moonlit fields behind Chateau Villette. With no headlights, he had crossed an open knoll and was now descending a long slope, moving farther away from the estate. He seemed to be heading toward a jagged silhouette of wooded land in the distance. Langdon, cradling the keystone, turned in the passenger seat and eyed Teabing and Sophie in the back seat. â€Å"How’s your head, Robert?† Sophie asked, sounding concerned. Langdon forced a pained smile. â€Å"Better, thanks.† It was killing him. Beside her, Teabing glanced over his shoulder at the bound and gagged monk lying in the cramped luggage area behind the back seat. Teabing had the monk’s gun on his lap and looked like an old photo of a British safari chap posing over his kill. â€Å"So glad you popped in this evening, Robert,† Teabing said, grinning as if he were having fun for the first time in years. â€Å"Sorry to get you involved in this, Leigh.† â€Å"Oh, please, I’ve waited my entire life to be involved.† Teabing looked past Langdon out the windshield at the shadow of a long hedgerow. He tapped Remy on the shoulder from behind.† Remember, no brake lights. Use the emergency brake if you need it. I want to get into the woods a bit. No reason to risk them seeing us from the house.† Remy coasted to a crawl and guided the Range Rover through an opening in the hedge. As the vehicle lurched onto an overgrown pathway, almost immediately the trees overhead blotted out the moonlight. I can’t see a thing, Langdon thought, straining to distinguish any shapes at all in front of them. It was pitch black. Branches rubbed against the left side of the vehicle, and Remy corrected in the other direction. Keeping the wheel more or less straight now, he inched ahead about thirty yards. â€Å"You’re doing beautifully, Remy,† Teabing said. â€Å"That should be far enough. Robert, if you could press that little blue button just below the vent there. See it?† Langdon found the button and pressed it. A muted yellow glow fanned out across the path in front of them, revealing thick underbrush on either side of the pathway. Fog lights, Langdon realized. They gave off just enough light to keep them on the path, and yet they were deep enough into the woods now that the lights would not give them away. â€Å"Well, Remy,† Teabing chimed happily. â€Å"The lights are on. Our lives are in your hands.† â€Å"Where are we going?† Sophie asked.† This trail continues about three kilometers into the forest,† Teabing said. â€Å"Cutting across the estate and then arching north. Provided we don’t hit any standing water or fallen trees, we shall emerge unscathed on the shoulder of highway five.† Unscathed.Langdon’s head begged to differ. He turned his eyes down to his own lap, where the keystone was safely stowed in its wooden box. The inlaid Rose on the lid was back in place, and although his head felt muddled, Langdon was eager to remove the inlay again and examine the engraving beneath more closely. He unlatched the lid and began to raise it when Teabing laid a hand on his shoulder from behind. â€Å"Patience, Robert,† Teabing said. â€Å"It’s bumpy and dark. God save us if we break anything. If you didn’t recognize the language in the light, you won’t do any better in the dark. Let’s focus on getting away in one piece, shall we? There will be time for that very soon.† Langdon knew Teabing was right. With a nod, he relatched the box. The monk in back was moaning now, struggling against his trusses. Suddenly, he began kicking wildly. Teabing spun around and aimed the pistol over the seat. â€Å"I can’t imagine your complaint, sir. You trespassed in my home and planted a nasty welt on the skull of a dear friend. I would be well within my rights to shoot you right now and leave you to rot in the woods.† The monk fell silent.† Are you sure we should have brought him?† Langdon asked. â€Å"Bloody well positive!† Teabing exclaimed. â€Å"You’re wanted for murder, Robert. This scoundrel is your ticket to freedom. The police apparently want you badly enough to have tailed you to my home.† â€Å"My fault,† Sophie said. â€Å"The armored car probably had a transmitter.† â€Å"Not the point,† Teabing said. â€Å"I’m not surprised the police found you, but I am surprised that this Opus Dei character found you. From all you’ve told me, I can’t imagine how this man could have tailed you to my home unless he had a contact either within the Judicial Police or within the Zurich Depository.† Langdon considered it. Bezu Fache certainly seemed intent on finding a scapegoat for tonight’s murders. And Vernet had turned on them rather suddenly, although considering Langdon was being charged with four murders, the banker’s change of heart seemed understandable. â€Å"This monk is not working alone, Robert,† Teabing said,† and until you learn who is behind all this, you both are in danger. The good news, my friend, is that you are now in the position of power. This monster behind me holds that information, and whoever is pulling his strings has got to be quite nervous right now.† Remy was picking up speed, getting comfortable with the trail. They splashed through some water, climbed a small rise, and began descending again. â€Å"Robert, could you be so kind as to hand me that phone?† Teabing pointed to the car phone on the dash. Langdon handed it back, and Teabing dialed a number. He waited for a very long time before someone answered. â€Å"Richard? Did I wake you? Of course, I did. Silly question. I’m sorry. I have a small problem. I’m feeling a bit off. Remy and I need to pop up to the Isles for my treatments. Well, right away, actually. Sorry for the short notice. Can you have Elizabeth ready in about twenty minutes? I know, do the best you can. See you shortly.† He hung up. â€Å"Elizabeth?† Langdon said. â€Å"My plane. She cost me a Queen’s ransom.† Langdon turned full around and looked at him.† What?† Teabing demanded. â€Å"You two can’t expect to stay in France with the entire Judicial Police after you. London will be much safer.† Sophie had turned to Teabing as well. â€Å"You think we should leave the country?† â€Å"My friends, I am far more influential in the civilized world than here in France. Furthermore, the Grail is believed to be in Great Britain. If we unlock the keystone, I am certain we will discover a map that indicates we have moved in the proper direction.† â€Å"You’re running a big risk,† Sophie said,† by helping us. You won’t make any friends with the French police.† Teabing gave a wave of disgust. â€Å"I am finished with France. I moved here to find the keystone. That work is now done. I shan’t care if I ever again see Chateau Villette.† Sophie sounded uncertain. â€Å"How will we get through airport security?† Teabing chuckled. â€Å"I fly from Le Bourget – an executive airfield not far from here. French doctors make me nervous, so every fortnight, I fly north to take my treatments in England. I pay for certain special privileges at both ends. Once we’re airborne, you can make a decision as to whether or not you’d like someone from the U. S. Embassy to meet us.† Langdon suddenly didn’t want anything to do with the embassy. All he could think of was the keystone, the inscription, and whether it would all lead to the Grail. He wondered if Teabing was right about Britain. Admittedly most modern legends placed the Grail somewhere in the United Kingdom. Even King Arthur’s mythical, Grail-rich Isle of Avalon was now believed to be none other than Glastonbury, England. Wherever the Grail lay, Langdon never imagined he would actually be looking for it. The Sangreal documents.The true history of Jesus Christ.The tomb of Mary Magdalene.He suddenly felt as if he were living in some kind of limbo tonight†¦ a bubble where the real world could not reach him. â€Å"Sir?† Remy said. â€Å"Are you truly thinking of returning to England for good?† â€Å"Remy, you needn’t worry,† Teabing assured. â€Å"Just because I am returning to the Queen’s realm does not mean I intend to subject my palate to bangers and mash for the rest of my days. I expect you will join me there permanently. I’m planning to buy a splendid villa in Devonshire, and we’ll have all your things shipped up immediately. An adventure, Remy. I say, an adventure!† Langdon had to smile. As Teabing railed on about his plans for a triumphant return to Britain, Langdon felt himself caught up in the man’s infectious enthusiasm. Gazing absently out the window, Langdon watched the woods passing by, ghostly pale in the yellow blush of the fog lights. The side mirror was tipped inward, brushed askew by branches, and Langdon saw the reflection of Sophie sitting quietly in the back seat. He watched her for a long while and felt an unexpected upwelling of contentment. Despite his troubles tonight, Langdon was thankful to have landed in such good company. After several minutes, as if suddenly sensing his eyes on her, Sophie leaned forward and put her hands on his shoulders, giving him a quick rub. â€Å"You okay?† â€Å"Yeah,† Langdon said. â€Å"Somehow.† Sophie sat back in her seat, and Langdon saw a quiet smile cross her lips. He realized that he too was now grinning. Wedged in the back of the Range Rover, Silas could barely breathe. His arms were wrenched backward and heavily lashed to his ankles with kitchen twine and duct tape. Every bump in the road sent pain shooting through his twisted shoulders. At least his captors had removed the cilice. Unable to inhale through the strip of tape over his mouth, he could only breathe through his nostrils, which were slowly clogging up due to the dusty rear cargo area into which he had been crammed. He began coughing. â€Å"I think he’s choking,† the French driver said, sounding concerned. The British man who had struck Silas with his crutch now turned and peered over the seat, frowning coldly at Silas. â€Å"Fortunately for you, we British judge man’s civility not by his compassion for his friends, but by his compassion for his enemies.† The Brit reached down and grabbed the duct tape on Silas’s mouth. In one fast motion, he tore it off. Silas felt as if his lips had just caught fire, but the air pouring into his lungs was sent from God. â€Å"Whom do you work for?† the British man demanded.† I do the work of God,† Silas spat back through the pain in his jaw where the woman had kicked him. â€Å"You belong to Opus Dei,† the man said. It was not a question. â€Å"You know nothing of who I am.† â€Å"Why does Opus Dei want the keystone?† Silas had no intention of answering. The keystone was the link to the Holy Grail, and the Holy Grail was the key to protecting the faith. I do the work of God. The Way is in peril. Now, in the Range Rover, struggling against his bonds, Silas feared he had failed the Teacher and the bishop forever. He had no way even to contact them and tell them the terrible turn of events. My captors have the keystone! They will reach the Grail before we do! In the stifling darkness, Silas prayed. He let the pain of his body fuel his supplications. A miracle, Lord.I need a miracle.Silas had no way of knowing that hours from now, he would get one. â€Å"Robert?† Sophie was still watching him. â€Å"A funny look just crossed your face.† Langdon glanced back at her, realizing his jaw was firmly set and his heart was racing. An incredible notion had just occurred to him. Could it really be that simple an explanation?† I need to use your cell phone, Sophie.† â€Å"Now?† â€Å"I think I just figured something out.† â€Å"What?† â€Å"I’ll tell you in a minute. I need your phone.† Sophie looked wary. â€Å"I doubt Fache is tracing, but keep it under a minute just in case.† She gave him her phone. â€Å"How do I dial the States?† â€Å"You need to reverse the charges. My service doesn’t cover transatlantic.† Langdon dialed zero, knowing that the next sixty seconds might answer a question that had been puzzling him all night. How to cite The Da Vinci Code Chapter 63-67, Essay examples

Art Tatum free essay sample

Ohio, he was destined for revolutionize Jazz. He was born with a blind eye and the other partially blind, but his ears were his way of seeing the world. He could sit down and play the same music meant for four hands. He was unbeatable at any piano competition. His influence on jazz will be forever respected by Jazz pianists (and non-pianists) worldwide. As a child, Art received a little formal training for piano at Toledo School of Music, but he mainly just taught himself.By the age of 18, he was already playing for radio redcoats and even had his own show at one point. By age 24, he wrote and released Tiger Rag, a song fully equipped with fast beats, Incredibly technical rhythms, and the need for skill. As he continued in his musical career, his articulation, style, and individuality only got better. Art changed the entire face of jazz music. We will write a custom essay sample on Art Tatum or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page He helped lead the next generation into the bebop era. He was the musician that started to change the chord progressions, fingered with the harmonics, and tried new Inversions of different chords (to get a more Jazzy sound).Datum was able to use his classical background and his Jazzy style to create his own type of music. It was technical and complex, but still full of the freestyle that jazz so easily expresses. He used his left-handedness to create extreme bass parts and his right hand to create beautiful runs up and down the entire piano. Art had incredible ears. Although he was nearly blind in one eye and completely blind In the other, he could see perfectly when it came to music. It was said that Datum could find the dominant note in a flushing toilet. He had Incredible pitch, so e knew exactly which notes would sound perfect with the others.In regard to his piano, they called him, God because he was so good. Datum never stopped playing piano. It was his life. As one man said, Datum played so brilliantly and so much. .. That I thought the piano was goanna break. My mother left the room So I said Whats wrong, Mama? And she said Oh, that man plays too much piano. Even extremely critical people would compliment him for his piano skills. Whenever he ever entered a competition for Plano, he never lost. Arts style of music was not the impel, easy music that anybody could play.HIS technique was mastered. He had the most intricate ornamentation in every line of a song he played. Not only that, but he didnt even seem like he was trying. As he pounded away at the keys, it didnt seem like pounding but more floating. It seemed so effortless to him. Hank Jones said, When I finally met him and got a chance to hear him play in person, It seemed as if he wasnt really exerting much effort, he had an effortless way of playing. It was deceptive. Youd watch him and you couldnt believe what was coming out, what was reaching your ears.

RTXM Clothing Company Case Study-Free Sample -Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Discuss about the RTXM Clothing Company Case Study. Answer: RTXM clothing company stakeholders The following are RTXM company stakeholders; Employees: These include the companys employees and employees in the supply chain. Employees will benefit from sustainability practices of the company in several ways. First, employees will be paid according avoiding underpay either in the company or in the supply chain of the company. Secondly, employees health and safety will be guaranteed while working in the company. Lastly employees with have more opportunities and promotion as result training from the company. Shareholders: Sustainability in the company will impact shareholder negatively in the short term and positively in the long term. In the short term, sustainability practices will require resources to implement and also increase the cost of clothing in the company. This will reduce short term dividends of the shareholders. In the long run, shareholders will get high sustainable returns to their investment as a result of increased company reputation and environmental and social sustainability. Local communities: These include the local community living near the company and it suppliers in the supply chain. The local community will benefit from clean environment, safe and healthy neighborhood and abolishment of child labour. Therefore, the local communities will benefit from low environmental and social impacts. Customers: Sustainability in RTXM Company will increase the price of clothing to its customers. This will deny customers low price clothing. On the other side, customers will benefit from high quality clothing from the company. The customers will also benefit from positive projects to the environment that will be undertaken by the company. Suppliers: Sustainability in the company will increase the reliability of payments and long term contract with it suppliers. Suppliers will be able to get payment on time and enter in long term contacts that will enable the success of suppliers in the business. Suppliers will also get support on their products from the company in the process of implementing sustainable supply chain. RTXM Balanced Scorecard Financial Indicator: Ability to meet all financial obligation Increase revenues Maximization of profits Customers Quality Clothing Timely delivery Business Process Indicators; Reduce carbon emission to the environment Proper waste management Safe and healthy working environment Innovation Learning Indicators; Training of employees New designs The above balanced scorecard outlines performance key indicator in RTXM Company to measure success in sustainability practices. The Balanced Scorecard gives a overall performance of the company in different perspective. Theses perspectives are Financial, Customers, Business Process, and innovation and learning in the company. Finance performance indicators will be the ability of the company to meet its obligations, increase sales revenue, and maximize profit. The important metric in this perspective performance will be dividends to the shareholders. Increase in dividend to shareholders shows that the company is maximizing profiting through increased sales revenue. Customers perspective performance indicators are quality clothing and delivery time. The important metric to measure this perspective performance is number of complaints received in every department. A reduction in number of complaints will indicate that customers are getting high quality products form the company and deliv ery is made on time. Business process performance indicators will be a reduction in carbon gas emission to the environment, proper waste management, and safe and health workplace. This perspective performance metric will be company carbon footprint level. A decrease in the level of carbon footprint of RTXM Company will indicate that the company business processes are reducing the amount of carbon emission, there is proper waste disposal, and the workplace environment is safe and health (Neugebauer, Figge, and Hahn, 2016). The Innovation and learning performance of the Company will be indicated by the training of employees and new designs developed within a specified period of time. The important metric for innovation and learning will be the rate at which the inventory is turnover. The inventory turnover refers to the period within which product clothing will take to get sold. This metric will indicate that the company is performing in terms of high skills and desirable designs in t he market. Choosing a Supplier between Green Fashion and Super Cheap Supplier Demerits Benefits Super Cheap Child labour Low wages Long working hours Poor working conditions Improper waste management Large range of products Short time delivery Competitive price Green Fashion Limited range of products Higher price Longer time frame Ethical sourcing of materials Promotes work life balance of employees Protects the environment Supports outsourcing partners or employees with incentives. From the analysis of Super Cheap and Green Fashion Suppliers, it evident that each supplier has both advantages and disadvantages. Super Cheap Supplies are cheap and attractive but the supplier neglects all the social responsibility of an entity. Green Fashion supplies are expensive and take longer to supply but the supplier is socially responsible. Green Fashion supplier is a better option for RTXM Company. Green Fashion operates ethically to both the environment and people. This shows that Green Fashion Suppliers are socially responsible in their operations. Therefore, choosing Green Fashion will enable RTXM Company pursue it strategic objective of engaging in sustainable business practices. The RTXM will also save the resources that could be used to offer incentives for supplier to engage in sustainable business operations by choosing Green Fashion. Lastly, the choice of Green Fashion will improve the companys reputation through quality products, environmental protection, and ethical sourcing. Life Cycle Analysis of a T-Shirt The following diagram is a life cycle analysis of a T-shirt in RTXM Company. The diagram assesses the entail life of a t-shirt till to it disposal. Analysis of two stages of Life cycle of a T-Shirt Production of cotton This stage of t-shirt involves growing of cotton plant. The process of growing cotton requires several inputs of production for successful cotton harvest. The input used to grow cotton is seedlings, water, fertilizers, pesticides, and human labour to plant, weed and harvest (Eilers et al., 2016). These activities have adverse effect on the environment if not undertaken sustainably. The following are impacts of cotton product ion; Long working hour: This involve employees forced to work long hours in the farm with an objective of exploiting them. Safety and health working environment: The production farms of cotton use chemicals that are harmful to human body. These chemicals are in forms of pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers that are used to control pests, weeds, and diseases and supplement nutrient to maximum yield (Gamble, and Thompson, 2014). This environment is not safe for human being to work on. Carbon gas emission: This refers to green house gases emitted to the environment during the process of growing cotton. Green houses gases damages the Ozone layer hence destroying the environment. The gases are from fertilizer, pesticides, and on-farm fuel Water pollution: Chemicals and excessive use of water in the farm lead to water pollution and wastage. Suggestions to reduce social and environmental impacts of cotton production Use of safety protective gears on the farm: This will ensure that employees work in safe environment. The farms should record carbon footprint and strategize on minimizes carbon emissions. Ethical usage of resources: This requires farm operators to use resources such as water and soils responsibility to avoid their depletion. There should be policies to protect working hours of employees to enhance work-life balance in the firm. Importance of sustainability Sustainability in business means that all stakeholders interests in the business addressed. This entails that the main objective of a company shifting from maximizing shareholders value. The Company therefore has to engage in activities that are sustainable socially and to the environment (Bansal, and DesJardine, 2014). The Company stakeholders are employees, suppliers, local communities, consumers, and shareholders. Sustainability in the company requires sourcing materials ethically, maintaining safe and healthy workplace, advocating for work-life balance. Sustainability increases costs that reduces profits in the short term but has several benefits in the long term. First, sustainability improves the company reputation that increases sales in the long term. Customers nowadays want to buy from companies that are socially responsible (Lueg, Pedersen, and Clemmensen, 2015. Secondly, sustainability enables responsible use of resources avoiding depletion that can lead to closure of a bu siness. This enables the company to earn profits for a long period of time. Lastly, sustainability enables a company to have good relationship with it stakeholders that increase reliability and long term contracts that increase the companys profits (Klettner, Clarke, and Boersma, 2014). For example, Interface global, a carpet manufacturing company has been a market leader in sustainability which has increased its earnings through improved reputation from customers and ethical sourcing of raw materials. References Bansal, P. and DesJardine, M.R., (2014). Business sustainability: It is about time. Strategic Organization, 12(1), pp.70-78. Eilers, H., Eilers, H., Chong, W., Chong, W., Kim, J., Kim, J., Naganathan, H., Naganathan, H., Glavinich, T.E. and Glavinich, T.E., (2016). Impact of sustainability on business performance and strategy for commercial building contractors. World Journal of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development, 12(4), pp.323-343. Gamble, J.E. and Thompson Jr, A.A., (2014). Essentials of strategic management. Irwin Mcgraw-Hill. Klettner, A., Clarke, T. and Boersma, M., (2014). The governance of corporate sustainability: Empirical insights into the development, leadership and implementation of responsible business strategy. Journal of Business Ethics, 122(1), pp.145-165. Lueg, R., Pedersen, M.M. and Clemmensen, S.N.,( 2015). The role of corporate sustainability in a low?cost business modelA case study in the Scandinavian fashion industry. Business Strategy and the Environment, 24(5), pp.344-359. Neugebauer, F., Figge, F. and Hahn, T., 2016. Planned or emergent strategy making? Exploring the formation of corporate sustainability strategies. Business strategy and the environment, 25(5), pp.323-336.

I Was With ______ When ...... Essays - English-language Films

I Was With ______ When ...... Chapter I I was with george in a small town that afternoon. We were playing horseshoes and we were betting on them horseshoes. As George leaned over the bench shot a glanceat me and said "Watch 'ya plannin' on doin' afterwards..." i told him i was going to hike over to the bunk house and have a short nap. I looked back at the playing area. I slammed down 5 bucks on the wooden betting table over player 1. I heard George yell and scream. 2 seconds later the player i bet on won and i won double. Content with my winnings i screamed over to George to tell him i was going back to the bunk house. George told me to wait up. We left the barn and ran over to see where lennie was. We both stopped straight in our tracks we saw something that almost made us faint. Chapter II In front of us stood lennie, he was standing over the slouched curley's wife and was mumbling "I've done another bad thing..." We asked lennie what the heck he did. He just stood there looking at us like we were some alien from a diffrent planet. He just started screaming and ran off in the distance. I told george we had better tell the gang this. We gonna get our hides whipped when curley finds out about this. A few minutes later when curley and the gang came over and saw this he said to george "You fat Son-of-a-*****" you killed my wife. I'm going to beat the living daylights outta you. George sensing curley's fustration moved back a few feet. George stammered " I didn't kill your wife it must've been lennie, The crazy idiot must've did it. he ran off when we ran to him ", " i don't believe you, you lying scoundrel's ll' pay for this'". I shook my hand at George to tell him to run. We suddenly dashed off into the distance. I heard curley yelling at us but we couldn't hear him in out fear of getting killed. Chapter III When we thought we lost curley a few shotgun blast hit the side of a tree as we dashed past it. We were both frightened as hell, but we kept on running for our lives. Another 2 shots rang out. As we were running we spotted a cave on the left hand side of the country road and dove in it. Chapter IV Inside the cave was a thin piece of some type of glass. It was glowing a deep red and looked like it was hollow. i put my hand in and it looked like it just dissapeared in the glass. I withdrew my hand in fright. I asked george what it was, he replied with a shrug of his shoulders. We then heard shotgun blasts again from the outside but this time it was much closer than the other blast. George said " We better dive in that whatever it is or we'll get ourselves shot ". With that he dived in the blank void. I jumped in after him. I saw a huge amount of swirling colours around me and then it disappeared. I looked at my surroundings. I saw huge metal boxes in the distance and desert sand all around me. the sun was in the early east which meant it must be sometime in the morning. I felt a tap on my shoulder. I whirled around and put my hand around the person's neck. " Ack. It's me man. George i not no alien." I released my hold. He went on " Whatever in that place may be ". I started to talk when George interuppted me. " Let's go and check them place out ". He started to walk, i followed along. A few hours laters. The metal boxes we had seen earlier were not as small as before they had rised way over our heads and were huge. We saw people like ourselves all around the streets walking. Funny thing though they were wearing funny clothing that seemed to stick to their skins. We also saw sliding pieces of glasses in the openings of the boxes. We approached a man standing on the street block carry a funny round object. We approached him. I asked him " Were's here? ". He replied in a strange language whichwe couldn't understand. He took out a small black box

Homicide essays

Homicide essays Homicide is defined as the taking of a persons life by another human being. There are five different types of homicide that have similarities and differences from each other that I am going to explain. There are many circumstances in determining what kind of homicide has occurred. Some of those circumstances include whether the crime was intentional, the age of the offender, the motive of the offender and the emotions that the offender is experiencing before the act was committed. According to the Bureau of Justice, the homicide rate doubled from the mid 1980s to the late 1990s. In the 1980s, the homicide rate reached its highest rate at 10.2 per 100,000, and decreased to 7.9 per 100,000 in 1985. In the late 1980s and the early 1990s, the homicide rate increased to 9.8 per 100,000. Ever since, the rate has noticeably declined, down to 5.5 per 100,000 by the year 2000. As a result of writing this paper I will define, differentiate and explain the types of homicide, how the homicide is committed, and the consequences of committing the homicide, and give examples and court cases involving the homicide. The reader will gain valuable information about these crimes and their penalties that can be helpful in the future or in a career. The first type of homicide is involuntary manslaughter. Involuntary manslaughter is the unintentional killing of another human being, during a commission of an unlawful act committed illegally or with gross negligence, without malice or intent. Malice is ill will, an intention to cause injury on another person. An example of involuntary manslaughter would be; if someone consumed enough alcohol to impair their driving abilities and tried to drive their car home, hitting somebody while they were crossing the street and killing that person. Involuntary manslaughter is a class 5 felony. Donald Tucker of Rowan County, MD was convicted of involuntary mansl...

Australian Uni Important assignment(Minitab17 required) Assignment

Australian Uni Important (Minitab17 required) - Assignment Example tion between whether there are any pre-school children in the household and the likelihood of the household renting DVDs from a DVD rental service in a typical week (PreSchoolers and Rental). The Nordic Ecolabel is the official Ecolabel of the Nordic countries and was established in 1989 by the Nordic Council of Ministers.The Nordic Ecolabel evaluates a products impact on the environment throughout the whole life cycle. The label guarantees among other things that climate requirements are taken into account, and that CO2 emissions (and other harmful gasses) are limited.The "Swan" symbol, as it is known in Nordic countries, is available for a large number of product groups. Companies can obtain the right to use the Nordic Ecolabel on their†¨product via a licensing process. Environmental criteria, performance criteria and quality and regulatory criteria must be satisfied. A Nordic Ecolabelled bakery is a bakery that has been awarded a Nordic Ecolabel licence subject to strict requirements that cover the entire business. Criteria are set on ingredients, energy use, packaging, transport, cleaning chemicals, the working environment and waste management. A Nordic Ecolabelled bakery must ensure that the manufacturing of the bread has a low environmental impact from a life cycle perspective. This applies to the baking as well as the supplier chain. One of the requirements is that the total energy use in the bakery’s production processshould not exceed 1.50 kilowatts per hour per kg. Another is that at least 95% of the palm oil used in the bakery must be certified according to a standard that includes balancing financial, ecological and social interests and this standard must promote and contribute towards sustainable forestry agriculture. A study of Bread Basket Bakeries, a chain of Nordic bakeries, found that the average amount of energy used in their bakeries follows a normal distribution with a mean of 2 kilowatts per hour per kgand a standard deviation of

Ebola Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Ebola - Essay Example The disease again struck in West Africa in March 2014 and had been the most lethal outbreak of the disease where cases of death outnumbered all of its previous outbreaks combined (World Health Organization). The host of Ebola virus is not yet known. The first patient who contracted the virus was believed to have been infected through a contact with an infected animal such as apes, monkeys or fruit bat. Among humans, the virus can be transmitted through direct contact with blood or body fluids (urine, sweat, saliva, feces, breast milk, semen) with person who has the Ebola virus. The virus can also be transmitted to another person through the medium of objects such as using needles and syringes that was contaminated by the virus or through primates and fruit bats (since the first patient was known to be infected by a primate or fruit bat). Ebola is not airborne or it cannot be transmitted through the air. Once a person has contracted Ebola, the following symptoms may appear – â€Å"fever, muscle pain, weakness, fatigue, diarrhea, vomiting, abdominal (stomach) pain, unexplained hemorrhage (bleeding or bruising)† (Center for Disease and control Prevention). These symptoms may appear between 2 to 21 days after a person has been exposed to the virus. There is no FDA approved vaccine for Ebola yet. Ebola is treated as the symptoms and complications appear. Experimental vaccines are now being developed to arrest the disease but are not yet fully tested for their effectiveness (Center for Disease and control Prevention). At present, health care professionals administer the following interventions to increase the probability of survival of Ebola patients: One of the unorthodox treatment of Ebola is the infusion of body fluids of a person who recovered from Ebola believing that the antibodies in that person will help the immunity of the infected person to fight the