Kneeling in the first pew, Silas pretended to pray as he scanned the layout of the sanctuary. Saint-Sulpice, like most churches, had been built in the shape of a giant Roman cross. Its long centralsection—the nave—led directly to the main altar, where it was transversely intersected by a shortersection, known as the transept. The intersection of nave and transept occurred directly beneath themain cupola and was considered the heart of the church... her most sacred and mystical point.
Not tonight, Silas thought. Saint-Sulpice hides her secrets elsewhere.
Turning his head to the right, he gazed into the south transept, toward the open area of floor beyondthe end of the pews, to the object his victims had described.
There it is.
Embedded in the gray granite floor, a thin polished strip of brass glistened in the stone... a goldenline slanting across the church's floor. The line bore graduated markings, like a ruler. It was agnomon, Silas had been told, a pagan astronomical device like a sundial. Tourists, scientists,historians, and pagans from around the world came to Saint-Sulpice to gaze upon this famous line.
The Rose Line.
Slowly, Silas let his eyes trace the path of the brass strip as it made its way across the floor fromhis right to left, slanting in front of him at an awkward angle, entirely at odds with the symmetry ofthe church. Slicing across the main altar itself, the line looked to Silas like a slash wound across abeautiful face. The strip cleaved the communion rail in two and then crossed the entire width of thechurch, finally reaching the corner of the north transept, where it arrived at the base of a mostunexpected structure.
A colossal Egyptian obelisk.
Here, the glistening Rose Line took a ninety-degree vertical turn and continued directly up the faceof the obelisk itself, ascending thirty-three feet to the very tip of the pyramidical apex, where itfinally ceased.
The Rose Line, Silas thought. The brotherhood hid the keystone at the Rose Line.
Earlier tonight, when Silas told the Teacher that the Priory keystone was hidden inside Saint-Sulpice, the Teacher had sounded doubtful. But when Silas added that the brothers had all givenhim a precise location, with relation to a brass line running through Saint-Sulpice, the Teacher hadgasped with revelation. "You speak of the Rose Line!"The Teacher quickly told Silas of Saint-Sulpice's famed architectural oddity—a strip of brass thatsegmented the sanctuary on a perfect north-south axis. It was an ancient sundial of sorts, a vestigeof the pagan temple that had once stood on this very spot. The sun's rays, shining through theoculus on the south wall, moved farther down the line every day, indicating the passage of time,from solstice to solstice.
The north-south stripe had been known as the Rose Line. For centuries, the symbol of the Rose hadbeen associated with maps and guiding souls in the proper direction. The Compass Rose—drawnon almost every map—indicated North, East, South, and West. Originally known as the WindRose, it denoted the directions of the thirty-two winds, blowing from the directions of eight majorwinds, eight half-winds, and sixteen quarter-winds. When diagrammed inside a circle, these thirty-two points of the compass perfectly resembled a traditional thirty-two petal rose bloom. To thisday, the fundamental navigational tool was still known as a Compass Rose, its northernmostdirection still marked by an arrowhead... or, more commonly, the symbol of the fleur-de-lis.
On a globe, a Rose Line—also called a meridian or longitude—was any imaginary line drawn fromthe North Pole to the South Pole. There were, of course, an infinite number of Rose Lines becauseevery point on the globe could have a longitude drawn through it connecting north and south poles.
The question for early navigators was which of these lines would be called the Rose Line—the zerolongitude—the line from which all other longitudes on earth would be measured.
Today that line was in Greenwich, England.
But it had not always been.
Long before the establishment of Greenwich as the prime meridian, the zero longitude of the entireworld had passed directly through Paris, and through the Church of Saint-Sulpice. The brassmarker in Saint-Sulpice was a memorial to the world's first prime meridian, and althoughGreenwich had stripped Paris of the honor in 1888, the original Rose Line was still visible today.
"And so the legend is true," the Teacher had told Silas. "The Priory keystone has been said to lie'beneath the Sign of the Rose.' "Now, still on his knees in a pew, Silas glanced around the church and listened to make sure no onewas there. For a moment, he thought he heard a rustling in the choir balcony. He turned and gazedup for several seconds. Nothing.
I am alone.
Standing now, he faced the altar and genuflected three times. Then he turned left and followed thebrass line due north toward the obelisk.
At that moment, at Leonardo da Vinci International Airport in Rome, the jolt of tires hitting therunway startled Bishop Aringarosa from his slumber.
I drifted off, he thought, impressed he was relaxed enough to sleep.
"Benvenuto a Roma," the intercom announced.
Sitting up, Aringarosa straightened his black cassock and allowed himself a rare smile. This wasone trip he had been happy to make. I have been on the defensive for too long. Tonight, however,the rules had changed. Only five months ago, Aringarosa had feared for the future of the Faith.
Now, as if by the will of God, the solution had presented itself.
Divine intervention.
If all went as planned tonight in Paris, Aringarosa would soon be in possession of something thatwould make him the most powerful man in Christendom.
塞拉斯跪在前排的座位上，一边假装祷告，一边扫视着圣殿的结构布局。与大多数教堂一样，圣叙尔皮斯教堂呈巨大的十字形。中间的较长的区域--中殿--直接通向圣坛，在圣坛处有较短的区域与中殿垂直交叉，这一区域叫做翼部。中殿与翼部在教堂圆顶中心的正下方相交，相交处被视为教堂的心脏--教堂中最为神圣和神秘的一点。
今晚例外，塞拉斯想。圣叙尔皮斯把秘密藏在了其他地方。
塞拉斯扭头向教堂的南翼望去，看着座位那头的地面--遇害者们所描述的目标。
就在那里。
一根光滑而又细长的铜条嵌在灰色的花岗岩地面中闪闪发光--这条金线斜穿教堂地面。这条线上标有刻度，就像一把尺。有人告诉过塞拉斯，这是指时针，是异教的一种天文仪器，与日晷相似。全世界的旅游者、科学家、历史学家和异教徒都来到圣叙尔皮斯教堂参观这条著名的金属线。
玫瑰线。
塞拉斯的目光慢慢地随着铜条的轨迹移动，铜条在地面的石砖中从他的右侧延伸至左侧，在他的面前折成一个难看的角，完全与教堂的对称设计格格不入。在塞拉斯看来，那穿越过圣坛地面的铜条，就像美丽的脸庞上的一道疤痕。铜条横贯教堂，将纵向的走道截为两段，最终延伸至教堂北翼的角落。在那个角落，树立着一座碑，这让人颇感意外。
一座巨大的埃及方尖碑。
闪闪发光的玫瑰线在方尖碑的基石处向上转了个九十度的弯，顺着碑面继续向上延伸了三十三米，终结于石碑的尖顶处。
玫瑰线，塞拉斯想，兄弟会的人将楔石藏在了玫瑰线的下面。
傍晚，当塞拉斯告诉教父，修道院的楔石藏在圣叙尔皮斯教堂里时，教父似乎有点儿不相信。但当塞拉斯补充说兄弟会的人已经交代了确切地点，那地点与横贯教堂地面的一条铜线有关时，教父立即明白过来。"你说的是玫瑰线。"
教父告诉塞拉斯，圣叙尔皮斯教堂有一奇异处赫赫有名--在南北轴线上的一根铜条分割了中殿。那是一种古代的日晷，是异教古庙的遗迹。每天，太阳光通过南墙上的洞眼照射进来，光束会顺铜线上的刻度一点一点地移动，这样就可以计量时间了。
这条南北向的铜线被称为玫瑰线。几个世纪以来，玫瑰的象征意义一直与地图或为灵魂指引方向有关。例如，每张地图上都会有"罗盘玫瑰"，指明东、南、西、北。它由"风向玫瑰"演变而来，那是一种可以指明三十二种风向的仪器，通过它可以辨别四面八方的来风。罗盘图上有个圆圈，圈上有三十二个点，酷似玫瑰花的三十二片花瓣。直到今天，最基本的航海工具依然被叫做"罗盘玫瑰"，它的正北方向一般会有一个法国百合的标志，当然，有时是一个箭头的标志。
地球仪上的玫瑰线--也叫做子午线或经线--是想象中连接南北两极的线。当然，玫瑰线有无数条，因为经过地球仪上的任意一点都可以画出条连接南北两极的经线。于是，早期的航海者就遇到了这样一个问题--如何确定玫瑰线，即零度经线，并依此来确定其他的经线的度数。
现在，玫瑰线在英国的格林威治。
但过去并非如此。
在将格林威治天文台确定为本初子午线所经过的一点之前，零度经线正好穿过巴黎，穿过圣叙尔皮斯教堂。为了纪念那根铜条的制作者，本初子午线最初被这样确定。虽然，格林威治于1888 年从巴黎手中夺走了这项殊荣，但当初的玫瑰线依然可见。
教父告诉塞拉斯："据说，修道院的楔石被藏在有玫瑰象征的东西下面。看来，这个传闻属实。"塞拉斯依旧跪在那里，他环视了一下教堂，又竖起耳朵听了听周围的动静，以确定周围是否真的没人。忽然，他好像听见唱诗班站台上有"沙沙"的响动。他转过头，盯着那里看了好几秒钟，但什么也没看见。
只有我一个人。
他这才起身，又向圣坛曲膝三次。接着，他向左转身，沿着铜线向北面的方尖碑走去。
此刻，在列昂纳多。达。芬奇机场，阿林加洛沙主教被飞机轮胎撞击跑道的震动惊醒了。
我飘了下来，他想着，还清楚地记得自己刚才放松得睡着了。
"欢迎您来到罗马。"飞机的扬声器里传来这样的语句。
阿林加洛沙坐直身体，拉了拉他的黑色长袍，露出了他那难得一见的微笑。他很乐意做这次旅行。我处于守势很久了。但今晚，规则改变了。五个月前，阿林加洛沙还在为这个宗教的前途而担忧，但现在，好像如有神助，出路自动呈现在他面前。
来得正好。
如果巴黎那头的事态发展顺利，阿林加洛沙很快就会拥有他想要的东西，那东西可以让他成为基督教界中最有权力的人。