"While I was fearing it, it came,
But came with less of fear,
Because that fearing it so long
Had almost made it dear.
There is a fitting a dismay,
A fitting a despair.
'T is harder knowing it is due,
Than knowing it is here.
The trying on the utmost,
The morning it is new,
Is terribler than wearing it
A whole existence through."
Robert sunk onto his bed inside the Jesmond Dene Hotel in London, the small clock on the wall telling him that it was nearly one o' clock in the morning. It had been over an hour since he had attempted to call Sophie and instead had gotten in touch with someone he would rather have forgotten about long ago.
Silas... The very sound of the man's voice had frozen Robert to his chair, and knowing that Sophie was in the albino's grasp had brought all of his fears to life. He had told Sophie not to go alone; now her life was more in danger than ever before. Robert only had one choice, and that was to get Sophie back safe and sound. There was only one man that could possibly give Silas what he wanted.
The elevator music on the other end of the phone droned on. Robert rubbed his forehead, wondering if he would get connected this time or if the operator would come back on the line to tell him that he was being redirected yet again. He was on hold for at least the fourteenth time that night, even though he had called the moment he'd been disconnected from Sophie's line. His eyes were beginning to close when a gruff voice suddenly snapped in his ear.
"What do you want?"
"Captain Fache," he replied wearily, "this is Robert Langdon. I'm sorry to call so late but... I have a problem and I need your help."
A snort. "You always have problems, monsieur."
"Sophie Neveu has been kidnapped."
The captain sat upright in his chair, spilling his cup of coffee. "Kidnapped! What do you mean, she was kidnapped?"
With a sigh, Robert recounted the earlier phone conversation. Fache grumbled randomly as he tried to dab the drink off of his paperwork and himself with a wad of napkins. When Robert mentioned Opus Dei, Fache paused, the coffee-soaked paper still in hand.
"He wants the records on Opus Dei?" he asked, throwing the napkins into the wastebin. Fache frowned and reclined in his chair. "For what purpose?"
"'Borrow, bribe or steal if you must' were the exact words. I assume that he or someone in the organization wants to destroy them. He offered to give Sophie back alive in return for the records."
"Of course," Fache replied, doubt entering his voice."However, he must know that he would never get the original records, if he got anything at all. At the most, he could only get copies and it would be highly illegal."
"I thought as much but the last I recall, kidnapping was illegal as well."
Fache went silent. Robert sighed again, reaching for a bottle of painkillers on the dresser next to the bed. A headache was slowly beginning to form on top of the rising panic he felt over Sophie's disappearance; being awake was becoming a chore.
"Monsieur Langdon?" the captain finally asked, sounding farther away.
"I'm here," Robert replied, tossing a Tylenol in his mouth. Just barely.
"I may be able to help in this situation. It's... unconventional but it may work. I will have to call you back. One moment, monsieur."
The dial-tone sounded before Robert could say anything more. He sat the phone down next to him on the bed, trying to count how many times he had been hung up on that night. Shaking his head, he lay down upon the rock-hard matress, staring at the ceiling and waiting for the phone to ring. Knowing Fache, it would be a long wait.
As his eyes drifted shut, he saw Sophie in his mind. Her smiling face, full of light, and the eyes that held a barely concealed playfulness. Behind the cheerfulness and mischeif was a soft nature, but Robert had sensed a determined power that came with overcoming struggles and inner turmoil. She was both sweet and strong... Robert found himself missing her terribly.
Sophie had waltzed into his life at just the right moment, saving him from a fate that most surely would have involved being sent to jail. Her quick wit had helped him many times on their journey, whether it was solving a riddle or keeping him smiling with her easy humor. Even so, the girl had always seemed to stumble right where she shouldn't, and now her penchant for finding trouble had caught up to her.
Robert looked out the window towards the night sky. He hadn't forgotten the kiss they had shared the day before, though it seemed as if the hours had stretched into years. Sophie had smiled at him, affection dancing in her gaze. It had felt so... right. Then came a phone call, the message draining all color from her youthful face.
"That...was captain Fache. It seems that our albino acquaintance is still alive," she said cautiously, her arms stiff as if to prevent jostling a wound.
"Oh," Robert had replied, unsure of what to say. "What does that have to do with anything? It's not our problem anymore."
She had looked up at him, biting her lip as she stared off into the distance. "Robert... I might know who I am now. But..."
"But...?"
Running her hand through her hair, Sophie shook her head. "But there's so many things I wish I could understand..."
"And do you think that this Silas will answer anything? Sophie, it's insane."
That had sealed the conversation. She had caught the next taxi she could, flashing him a confident smile before disappearing along the road towards London. Robert should have known better... Sophie was unstoppable when it came to the unknown. If there was any possibilty that Silas would satisfy her curiosity...
"Damn it," Robert groaned as another thought reared its ugly head. He rolled off the bed and walked towards the hotel window.
He had taken Sophie out for dinner after picking her up at the hospital, opting to spend what was supposed to be his final day in Europe with the woman that had so easily captured his attentions. The ride to the resturaunt had been a silent one, however, and the conversation at the table wasn't much better.
Picking
at her food, Sophie finally set down her fork and folded her hands in
her lap. "I have to go back, Robert."
"Go back? What for?"
"Not tonight... tomorrow. There's something there ... I know it. I saw it in his eyes. If I just had more time..."
"Sophie..."
"Robert," she retorted, a hint of steel in her tone.
"...I'll take you back in the morning. But I'm going with you."
She had smiled, picking up her fork and eating her dinner. The rest of the night passed with barely a word spoken between them. Sophie had accepted Robert's offer to drive her to a hotel but there was no luck in that, either. She'd spent the entire ride staring out the window, absently rubbing her wrist. Robert had figured that if Sophie wanted to talk about it, she would do so in her own time.
"Thank you, Robbie," she said when he'd brought her to the door of her suite. Leaning over, Sophie had kissed him on the cheek and vanished inside. "See you tomorrow!"
If anyone knew how to pluck his strings, surely it was the enigma called Sophie. It was endearing as it was disconcerting.
Coming back to the present, Robert glanced at the clock. Half past one and Fache had yet to call back. Every moment of the three days left was precious and Robert felt time slipping away. Images of what Silas could do to Sophie flooded back into his mind. The albino had offered to bring her back... alive. Did that mean unharmed? In all of Robert's experience, which was admittedly not enough compared to any police officer, no matter what a man professed his morals to be, when a sadistic man kidnapped a woman and had her alone...
His worries were calmed slightly as he reminded himself that Sophie, of all women, was not one to be a victim. The memory was fresh of a moment not too long ago when Sophie had delivered Silas a swift kick to the jaw. The man would have his hands full, that was for sure, if he attempted to hurt her in any way.
Give him hell, Sophie. You're the only one who can get into his head now, he thought wistfully.
And maybe, his mind whispered demurely, that is what you fear.
The sudden ring of the phone was a welcome relief from the turmoil of his own mind. Robert snatched the phone, eager to hear the voice on the other end. "Fache?"
"Oui. We have success, monsieur," the captain said cheerfully on the other end.
Despite his pleasant tone, there was an undercurrent of concern which Robert could almost feel, and it caused his headache to pulsate. "What are we doing then?"
Twirling the cord of the phone, Fache looked at his computer screen. "We are going to pray, monsieur, that our Sophie keeps her temper in check for three more days. I've found a perfectly legal way for Silas to get all the information he likes, directly from the source."
Robert stared. "How?"
"I'm sure you know of a man by the name of Aringarosa."
"His name is familiar, yes. He's a member of Opus Dei."
The captain nodded. "And Silas' mentor. I'm sure that if Aringarosa knew that his Silas was still alive, with a little bit of convincing, he would sing for his adoptive son... no?"
Slowly, Robert began to put the pieces together. A whole world of possibilities opened and it was a world where he and Sophie finally had the advantage. We're not going to do what I think we are, Robert wondered, are we?
Inside his office, Fache continued speaking as he wrote down Aringarosa's hospital room number. "Think of it as a game of chess, Langdon," he said. "Monsieur Silas may have our little queen... but we have his Bishop."
Yes. Yes, we are.
Robert grinned. "Checkmate."
