INT HELICOPTER NIGHT

The Camerlengo is indeed at the controls of the helicopter,

piloting it upwards and away from the crowd below. The canister

is beside him on the passenger seat.

EXT ST. PETER'S SQUARE NIGHT

The crowd falls silent, all eyes turning upward, watching the

helicopter recede into the clouds.

117.

INT HELICOPTER NIGHT

The canister BEEPS on the seat beside the Camerlengo -- still a

few minutes left on its timer, but the urgently flashing red power

light can't be considered a good sign.

The Camerlengo looks at it.

Crosses himself.

Raises the crucifix from around his neck and brushes it against

his lips.

EXT ST. PETER'S SQUARE NIGHT

All eyes are upturned, all voices have fallen still, watching as

the helicopter's anti-collision lights disappear into the clouded

night sky.

EXT IN THE SKY NIGHT

High above the square, the helicopter still climbs, rotating in

circles.

INT HELICOPTER NIGHT

CLOSE ON the canister as the red light flashes even faster, and a

shrill BEEPING fills the cockpit.

EXT ST. PETER'S SQUARE NIGHT

In the crowd, faces turn, PEOPLE point. There's something in

the sky above them.

Langdon and Vittoria see it too -- a faint white speck, far up in

the sky. This is the explosion?

EXT IN THE SKY NIGHT

No, the faint white speck is a billowing parachute -- and the

Camerlengo dangles at the end of it.

ABOVE HIM,

the helicopter continues to climb, far up into the night.

INT HELICOPTER NIGHT

And in the canister, the BEEPING sound becomes continuous and the

light winks out altogether.

118.

The shimmering bead of anti-matter falls out of suspension and

drops, slowly, toward the bottom of the canister, it barely

touches the surface --

EXT IN THE SKY NIGHT

-- and the helicopter explodes in a blinding pinpoint of white

light.

EXT ST. PETER'S SQUARE NIGHT

Up in the sky over St. Peter's Square, the pinpoint of light is

tiny at first, then it shoots out to either side in a searing

white line, then the white line balloons out on either side,

expanding into a gigantic ball of hot white light.

And then the sound hits.

THIS is the explosion, and it is so much more ferocious than we

could have imagined.

The entire image is bleached white, with only the faint outlines

of people visible within it.

And then concussive force of the blast hits, like heat waves,

rippling everything in its way. SCREAMING and panic.

EXT IN THE SKY NIGHT

The Camerlengo, clinging to the parachute, is buffeted wildly,

spun over and over, tangling him in his cords, which makes him

fall faster.

EXT ST. PETER'S SQUARE NIGHT

The second wave of the blast comes, and this one's ten times as

powerful as the first.

Everything standing is flattened -- PEOPLE, camera trucks, the

fountain in the middle of the square collapses in a shower of

marble and water.

INT ST. PETER'S BASILICA NIGHT

Ceiling tiles fall and SMASH on the floor inside St. Peter's,

statues topple.

EXT IN THE SKY NIGHT

The Camerlengo falls, unconscious now, tumbling over and over,

dropping too fast. He SLAMS off an angled rooftop, headed for the

ground.

119.

EXT ST. PETER'S SQUARE NIGHT

In the square, Langdon and Vittoria dodge falling debris.

Vittoria loses her footing as a chunk of plaster CRUNCHES off a

building, plummeting toward her.

Langdon pulls her to safety as the plaster PULVERIZES itself in

the square.

Date: 2015-12-18; view: 783