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Langdon felt a pang of truth in the statement. Leonardo Vetra had indeed been branded with the Illuminati symbol. Where had it come from? The sacred brand seemed too difficult a hoax for someone trying to cover his tracks by casting suspicion elsewhere. There had to be another explanation.

Again, Langdon forced himself to consider the implausible. If the Illuminati were still active, and if they stole the antimatter, what would be their intention? What would be their target? The answer furnished by his brain was instantaneous. Langdon dismissed it just as fast. True, the Illuminati had an obvious enemy, but a wide-scale terrorist attack against that enemy was inconceivable. It was entirely out of character. Yes, the Illuminati had killed people, but individuals, carefully conscripted targets. Mass destruction was somehow heavy-handed. Langdon paused. Then again, he thought, there would be a rather majestic eloquence to it—antimatter, the ultimate scientific achievement, being used to vaporize—

He refused to accept the preposterous thought. "There is," he said suddenly, "a logical explanation other than terrorism."

Kohler stared, obviously waiting.

Langdon tried to sort out the thought. The Illuminati had always wielded tremendous power through financial means. They controlled banks. They owned gold bullion. They were even rumored to possess the single most valuable gem on earth—the Illuminati Diamond, a flawless diamond of enormous proportions. "Money," Langdon said. "The antimatter could have been stolen for financial gain."

Kohler looked incredulous. "Financial gain? Where does one sell a droplet of antimatter?"

"Not the specimen," Langdon countered. "The technology. Antimatter technology must be worth a mint. Maybe someone stole the specimen to do analysis and R and D."

"Industrial espionage? But that canister has twenty-four hours before the batteries die. The researchers would blow themselves up before they learned anything at all."

"They could recharge it before it explodes. They could build a compatible recharging podium like the ones here at CERN."

"In twenty-four hours?" Kohler challenged. "Even if they stole the schematics, a recharger like that would take months to engineer, not hours!"

"He’s right." Vittoria’s voice was frail.

Both men turned. Vittoria was moving toward them, her gait as tremulous as her words.

"He’s right. Nobody could reverse engineer a recharger in time. The interface alone would take weeks. Flux filters, servo-coils, power conditioning alloys, all calibrated to the specific energy grade of the locale."

Langdon frowned. The point was taken. An antimatter trap was not something one could simply plug into a wall socket. Once removed from CERN, the canister was on a one-way, twenty-four-hour trip to oblivion.

Which left only one, very disturbing, conclusion.

"We need to call Interpol," Vittoria said. Even to herself, her voice sounded distant. "We need to call the proper authorities. Immediately."

Kohler shook his head. "Absolutely not."

The words stunned her. "No? What do you mean?"

"You and your father have put me in a very difficult position here."

"Director, we need help. We need to find that trap and get it back here before someone gets hurt. We have a responsibility!"

"We have a responsibility to think," Kohler said, his tone hardening. "This situation could have very, very serious repercussions for CERN."

"You’re worried about CERN’s reputation? Do you know what that canister could do to an urban area? It has a blast radius of a half mile! Nine city blocks!"

"Perhaps you and your father should have considered that before you created the specimen."

Vittoria felt like she’d been stabbed. "But… we took every precaution."

"Apparently, it was not enough."

"But nobody knew about the antimatter." She realized, of course, it was an absurd argument. Of course somebody knew. Someone had found out.

Vittoria had told no one. That left only two explanations. Either her father had taken someone into his confidence without telling her, which made no sense because it was her father who had sworn them both to secrecy, or she and her father had been monitored. The cell phone maybe? She knew they had spoken a few times while Vittoria was traveling. Had they said too much? It was possible. There was also their E-mail. But they had been discreet, hadn’t they? CERN’s security system? Had they been monitored somehow without their knowledge? She knew none of that mattered anymore. What was done, was done. My father is dead.

The thought spurred her to action. She pulled her cell phone from her shorts pocket.

Kohler accelerated toward her, coughing violently, eyes flashing anger. "Who… are you calling?"

"CERN’s switchboard. They can connect us to Interpol."