EXT PANTHEON - TWO MINUTES LATER

CLOSE ON a pair of hands, linked. Vittoria and Langdon, holding

hands like lovers, walk slowly toward the entrance to the

Pantheon. A COUPLE DOZEN TOURISTS, blissfully unaware, mill about

the square while up on the rooftops, SNIPERS have them in view.

Langdon looks around, this wasn't what he had in mind. Vittoria

glances at him, amused.

VITTORIA

You're crushing my hand.

LANGDON

I'm sorry.

VITTORIA

A nervous newlywed?

LANGDON

Ancient newlywed.

VITTORIA

Try harder.

He puts an arm around her waist, feels a lump in her back.

LANGDON

You really know how to use that gun

gave you?

VITTORIA

I can tag a breaching porpoise from

forty meters off the bow of a rocking

ship.

LANGDON

Thought you said you were a physicist,

VITTORIA

I am. Long story.

LANGDON

Make it short.

40.

VITTORIA

(THINKS)

Can't be done. What time is it?

Langdon raises his hand and checks his watch.

LANGDON

Seven minutes to eight.

VITTORIA

(of the watch)

Was that Mickey Mouse?

LANGDON

Long story.

VITTORIA

Make it short.

LANGDON

(THINKS)

Can't be done.

And with that they step through the entrance and into --

INT PANTHEON DAY

-- the Pantheon, a massive, circular room with a 141-foot

unsupported span even larger than the cupola of St. Peter's. There

are a DOZEN TOURISTS scattered around, and a TOUR GROUP on one

side hearing a lecture from a MUSEUM DOCENT.

Langdon looks up at the hole in the ceiling through which a bright

shaft of light is shining.

LANGDON

The oculus. That could be the

"demon's hole" in the poem.

Looking around, Vittoria sees several sarcophagi scattered around

the room, all pointing obliquely in a certain direction. As they

move stealthily through the crowd, they speak in low tones:

VITTORIA

Why are the tombs at an angle?

LANGDON

To face east. Sun worship.

VITTORIA

But this is a Christian church.

41.

LANGDON

(SHRUGS)

New religions often adopt existing

holidays to make conversion less

shocking. December 25th was the pagan

holiday of the Unconquered Sun. Made

it a handy choice for Christ's

birthday.

VITTORIA

You're saying Christianity is

repackaged sun worship?

LANGDON

Where do you think halos came from?

Not just sun worship though, the

Catholics borrowed Communion from the

Aztecs, canonization from Euphemerus,

the cruciform from the Egyptians ---

VITTORIA

No wonder they don't like you around

here.

LANGDON

Just trying to keep the conversation

lively.

(POINTS)

Check the recesses. I'll go left.

See you in a hundred eighty degrees.

He starts to the left, she goes to the right, walking in the

shadowy recesses behind the pillars at the edges of the room.

Langdon walks slowly, checking out faces. Tourists. Couples.

Teenagers. More tourists.

Around every column, there are shadows, and in those shadows --

--- nothing.

He looks at his watch. Five minutes to eight. And then --

--- a SHRIEK from the other side of the room. He whirls, sees

Vittoria backing away from something.

LANGDON (cont'd)

Vittoria!

He races across the room, reaches her at the far side. Her face is

ashen. She's pointing at something, aghast.

42.

VITTORIA

Raphael's tomb! But --

Langdon rushes forward to the crypt. There doesn't seem to be

anything out of the ordinary, except ---

VITTORIA (cont'd)

--- it's the wrong one!

LANGDON

What are you talking about?!

He leans down, looks at the plaque on it.

VITTORIA

He was moved here, in 1759. A century

after Diagramma was published!

LANGDON

That's not possible, the poem said-

VITTORIA

Where was he originally buried?

LANGDON

I don't know... Urbino, I think...

(thinking like crazy)

Santi's earthly tomb... what else

could it possibly... Santi 's tomb...

His eyes flit around the room, from one ornate sarcophagus to

another. And then it hits him:

LANGDON (cont'd)

Damn it! "Santi's tomb" must mean

one of the chapels he built! He's

not buried in it, he designed it! Rich

people commissioned burial chapels in

churches all over Rome in his day!

(looks up)

And the "demon's hole," it isn't the

oculus, it's an undercroft, a crypt,

common sixteenth century term!

At that very moment, the tour group is passing them, and the

elderly Docent asks his group the perfunctory wrap-up:

DOCENT

Does anyone have any questions?

Langdon busts in on the group.

43.

LANGDON

Yes! Did Raphael Santi ever design

a chapel with an ossuary annex and

angel figure commissioned by the

Catholic Church?!

The Docent blinks. Wasn't expecting quite so esoteric a

question.

LANGDON (cont'd)

Well?!

DOCENT

I'm sorry, I... I can only think of

one.

Langdon suppresses the urge to grab him by the lapels and shake it

out of him.

LANGDON

One'll do.

CUT TO:

EXT PANTHEON DAY

A clock in the square outside the Pantheon says 7:56. Langdon

and Vittoria face Rocher, Olivetti, and half a dozen Swiss Guard.

ROCHER

Wrong? What do you mean, wrong?!

LANGDON

(FAST)

The first altar of science is the

Chigi Chapel, in the church of Santa

Maria del Popolo, about a mile from

here! It used to be called Capella

della Terra, Chapel of the Earth.

Earth, the first element! This is

it, I'm certain.

ROCHER

You were certain of the Pantheon.

LANGDON

Please, we have four minutes!

Rocher looks at Langdon with contempt, then BARKS orders to his

men in Italian. They begin to head for their cars.

VITTORIA

Back to the Vatican?! You can't!

44.

LANGDON

Commandante, if you care at all about

your church-

ROCHER

My church? My church feeds the

hungry, comforts the sick and dying.

What does your church do, Professor?

(no answer)

Ah, that's right, you haven't one.

He turns and walks away, glaring at Olivetti.

ROCHER (cont'd)

Take him if you want, but I'm done

with him.

CUT TO:

Date: 2015-12-18; view: 677