The Da Vinci Code PROLOGUE

Louvre Mexercisingum, Paris 1046 P. M. celebrated curator Jacques Sauniere staggered through the vaulted archway of the museums Grand Gallery. He lunged for the ne best painting he could see, a Caravaggio. Grabbing the gilded frame, the seventy-six-year-old humanity heaved the masterpiece toward himself until it tore from the wall and Sauniere collapsed backward in a heap beneath the canvas.As he had anticipated, a thundering iron gate fell nearby, barricading the entrance to the suite. The parquet spirit level shook. Far off, an alarm began to ring.The curator lay a moment, gasping for breath, taking stock. I am still alive.He crawled surface from under the canvas and scanned the cavernous space for someplace to hide.A voice spoke, chillingly close. Do non move.On his hands and knees, the curator froze, turning his head slowly.Only fifteen feet away, outside the sealed gate, the mountainous silhouette of his attacker stared through the iron bars. He was broad and tall, with gho st-pale skin and thinning white hair. His irises were pink with blueish red pupils. The albino drew a pistol from his coat and aimed the barrel through the bars, directly at the curator. You should non have run. His accent was not easy to place. Now tell me where it is.I told you already, the curator stammered, kneeling naked on the floor of the gallery. I have no idea what you are talking aboutYou are lying. The man stared at him, perfectly immobile except for the glint in his ghostly eyes. You and your brethren possess something that is not yours.The curator felt a surge of adrenaline. How could he possibly know this?Tonight the rightful guardians allow for be restored. Tell me where it is hidden, and you will live. The man leveled his gun at the curators head. Is it a secret you will give way for?Sauniere could not breathe.The man tilted his head, peering protrude the barrel of his gun.Sauniere held up his hands in defense. Wait, he give tongue to slowly. I will tell you w hat you need to know. The curator spoke his next words carefully. The lie he told was wizard he had rehearsed many clips each time praying he would never have to use it.When the curator had finished speaking, his assailant smiled smugly. Yes. This is exactly what the others told me.Sauniere recoiled. The others?I found them, too, the huge man taunted. All tierce of them. They confirmed what you have just said.It cannot be The curators true identity, along with the identities of his three senechaux, was almost as inspirational as the ancient secret they protected. Sauniere now realized his senechaux, following strict procedure, had told the same lie before their declare deaths. It was part of the protocol.The attacker aimed his gun again. When you are gone, I will be the only one who knows the truth.The truth.In an instant, the curator grasped the true horror of the situation. If I die, the truth will be lost forever.Instinctively, he essay to scramble for cover.The gun roared , and the curator felt a searing heat as the bullet lodged in his tum. He fell forward struggling against the pain. Slowly, Sauniere rolled over and stared back through the bars at his attacker.The man was now taking dead aim at Saunieres head.Sauniere closed his eyes, his thoughts a swirling tempest of fear and regret. The tick off of an empty chamber echoed through the corridor. The curators eyes flew open.The man glanced down at his weapon, looking almost amused. He reached for a guerrilla clip, but then seemed to reconsider, smirking calmly at Saunieres gut. My work here is done.The curator looked down and saw the bullet hole in his white linen shirt. It was framed by a undersize circle of blood a few inches below his breastbone. My stomach.Almost cruelly, the bullet had missed his heart. As a antique of la Guerre dAlgerie, the curator had witnessed this horribly drawn-out death before. For fifteen minutes, he would survive as his stomach acids seeped into his chest cavity, slowly poisoning him from within.Pain is good, monsieur, the man said. Then he was gone. Alone now, Jacques Sauniere turned his see again to the iron gate. He was trapped, and the doors could not be reopened for at least twenty minutes. By the time anyone got to him, he would be dead. Even so, the fear that now gripped him was a fear far greater than that of his own death.I must pass on the secret.Staggering to his feet, he pictured his three murdered brethren. He thought of the generations who had come before them of the mission with which they had all been entrusted.An unbroken chain of knowledge.Suddenly, now, condescension all the precautions despite all the fail-safes Jacques Sauniere was the only remaining link, the sole guardian of one of the most powerful secrets ever kept.Shivering, he pulled himself to his feet.I must find some way .He was trapped inside the Grand Gallery, and there existed only one person on earth to whom he could pass the torch. Sauniere gazed up at the walls of his golden prison. A collection of the worlds most famous paintings seemed to smile down on him like old friends.Wincing in pain, he summoned all of his faculties and strength. The desperate task before him, he knew, would require every remaining second of his life.