INT OFFICE OF THE SWISS GUARD NIGHTCLOSE ON a handwritten page, half-filled with mathematical
computations; the other half with a scratchy handwritten prose.
(IF WE'RE EAGLE-EYED, we'll notice the phrase we move past just as
we cut into the scene is "may His will be done," the same phrase
we just heard Mortati utter.)
Commandante Rocher is at his desk, Vittoria's leather-bound
journals on the desk in front of him. He's studying them
carefully, and seems troubled by what he reads.
Through the glass walls of his office, we can see a commotion in
the still-chaotic Swiss Guard headquarters. Someone is walking
toward us, briskly, a WOMAN'S VOICE complaining loudly in Italian.
Rocher calmly places the journals on top of the screen of the
video monitor inlaid in his desk, the one we saw earlier, with a
keyhole where a power switch should be.
He pushes a button and the monitor rotates shut, into an inlaid
panel in the desk's surface. It closes just after --
VITTORIA (O.S.)
Those journals are private property.
-- Vittoria arrives in the doorway, livid.
VITTORIA (cont'd)
I demand that you return them to me.
ROCHER
(no attempt at a
DENIAL)
They are material evidence in a
Vatican investigation.
VITTORIA
I am an Italian citizen and I have a
right to-
86.
ROCHER
This isn't Italy. It isn't even
Rome. The Vatican is its own
country, with its own laws, and when
those journals crossed our border they
became our property. You will get
them back when I have decided they
contain nothing of value to this
investigation.
She looks at him, then down at the desk, where the outline of the
hidden panel is visible in the veneer of the wood.
VITTORIA
Do you have something to hide,
Commandante Rocher?
ROCHER
Do you, Doctor Vetra?
He stresses her title, as if it offends
CUT TO:
EXT SANTA MARIA DELLA VITTORIA NIGHT
The burning church, now mostly extinguished. But a LARGE CROWD
has gathered, along with a dozen police and fire vehicles.
INT SANTA MARIA DELLA VITTORIA NIGHT
As FIREMEN put out the last of the flames (not using water, but
Halon gas, which creates no steam), a metallic TAPPING sound comes
from somewhere.
One of the Firemen approaches another, gets his attention -- stop
what you're doing and listen.
They shut down a hose and stop, listening.
There it is again. They SHOUT in Italian to the others, now
everybody shuts down their hoses and listens.
The metallic TAPPING echoes in the smoldering church.
They walk toward it -- it's coming from an oval plate in the
floor, like a manhole cover, heavy and carved. We've seen one
of these before, it leads to a Demon's Hole.
The TAPPING is louder now, rhythmic. Somebody's down there.
Crowbars are produced, the cover of the Demon's Hole is pried off
and shoved aside, revealing --
87.
-- Robert Langdon, wedged into the top of the opening, holding a
rock in one hand as he clings precariously to the walls he has
climbed.
Strong hands reach down, haul him to his feet --
Date: 2015-12-18; view: 591
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