A/N - IT'S FINALLY HERE! THE LONG-AWAITED NEXT INSTALLMENT IN CONNECTIONS! It took me long enough. I actually wrote this chapter before I wrote the prologue, but it took me a REALLY long time to type it up. But here it is. Chapter one. Short, but whatever. I promise not to leave this fic for so long again.
Reviewers:
Spork-Mistress - Well, since it's been about . . Nine months since I updated, my house is no longer freezing. But my mother is often cold, and she need heat to loosen her sore muscles, so any flames will go to her for her benefit. I'm so sorry it took so long.
Bloody Priestess - Yeah, DVC IS a great book. But I haven't gotten around to reading Angels and Demons yet, though I own it. I've read Deception Point and Digital Fortress, and they're both excellent. Have you read them? Yes, you needed to be patient with this fic. You might even have to re-read the prologue, just to see what's going on. Thanks a whole bunch for reviewing!
ducks-rule-world - I absolutely LOVE your sn! Ducks are amazing. Freezing houses suck, eh? I hope you like this chapter, even though it took me so long to get it out. Chapter two should be out next week, though I'm not sure. I have no inspiration for the next chapter, so if you mind emailing me and helping me out maybe?
C - Thanks:)
NightMage - I do plan on continuing this as far as I can, but it may take me a while. I've got other fics in progress at the moment, and they're just as important as this one. But I'll try to update way more often than I have. Thanks for putting me on the Alert list, otherwise you'd never know when this got updated! I, personally, put every fic I like on Author Alert. It's so much easier than constantly watching the topic.
The lady of the shadows - I, too, am a hopeless romantic, so yes, there WILL be romance. I'm still not sure of the pairings yet. Probably Robert/Sophie, and Pière/Vittoria. Yes, Vittoria will show up. I'll read A&D just so I can figure out what she acts like.
suga CraZie - Yes, I know it's short. Most of the chapters will probably be short, though there might be a few longer ones to balance things out. I'm glad you like it, and I hope you keep reviewing.
Violet Russel - Yeah, I fashioned the assassin after Silas and the operator after the Teacher, but they have a TOTALLY different role than Silas and Teabing did in the original DVC. There's going to be a lot of suspense, and a lot of confusion. I'm hoping to keep people guessing as I go, making them wonder what the operator is planning and who he is . . .
caththesnitch - Love the sn, very cool. Thanks for the review. Haha, glad I got you wondering. Yeah, giving an assassin a gun and telling him not to use it is a very stupid idea . . . But you know what? You gave me an idea . . . And it'll come up in the next chapter. How does two assassins, each with a different mission, one male, one female, sound?
Nimriel - Thanks a bunch! I really hope you keep reading. It starts really boringly, but next chaoter there will be WAY more excitement, I promise you!
Serindipity9 - Yes, it'll be a Robert/Sophie fic. I think they're really cute together, don't you?
M-X - Glad you're intrigued. Here's more.
Nefertiti Membarak - I am continuing, I promise!
Illegitime Carborandum need no - Riiiiight. Please refrain from posting religious quotes on my fics, ok? Way too much thinking and reading involved for me, though — get this — I read it.
Chapter One
"I still don't get it," Pière sighed, staring at the piece of paper he held in his hand. "There were thousands of ways Sophie could have left a message. Why this?"
Marie Chauvel silently agreed. Her granddaughter was brilliant. What had driven her to write something so . . . Strange? "Let me see it again."
Pière handed her the paper. Marie read it, sighed, and read it again. No matter how many times she read it, it never made sense. Was Sophie going insane? Or had she merely written it in a hurry? It had clearly been written in a hurry, though Marie could still recognize her granddaughter's writing.
Goat came rio
Thy rock spent to Tee
Gone tor learn dprobt
Rave moris in otiti
Proot thee torc
P.S. Sing dear Crente
"Rio? Dprobt? Otiti? Proot? Crente? What is she trying to say?" Pière's voice was frustrated and anxious. Marie could easily understand why.
Three months ago, Pière, Marie and Sophie had been reunited, finally, as a family. Pière had only three months to get to know his sister.
And now she had been kidnapped.
"There's only one thing left to do." Marie said, reaching for her cell phone.
"What's that?" Pière asked, hopefully.
Marie had already dialed the number and was waiting for it to be picked up.
"Call Robert Langdon."
Robert Langdon, one the professor of Religious Symbology at Harvard University, had abandoned life in America. Three months ago, he had left Harvard behind and moved overseas to Paris. But if he'd wanted to move to France and therefore vanish into obscurity, he had no chance. For he had gone from being a world-renowned teacher and lector to being the now world-renowned successor to Jacques Saunière as the curator of the Louvre Museum of Art.
Robert loved his new job even more than his old one. Not only did he get to see the artwork he used to explain on a daily basis, he also had access to the basement.
And to what he thought was the Holy Grail of man.
He had been in the basement when his cell phone rang. He listened to the tune. It played the 'Darth Vader' theme from Star Wars.
How fitting, he thought, without fully realizing why. For a while he just knelt, listening to the music. Then, finally and quite suddenly, he realized that his cell phone was ringing. He flipped it open, quickly.
"Hello?"
The voice on the other end was a woman's. "Mr. Langdon?" It was a strange mix of a French and Scottish accent. "This is Marie Chauvel."
"How are you?" he asked, becoming uneasy. Though Sophie had called and e-mailed often over the last three months, Marie had never once come into contact with him.
"I don't have time for small talk, Robert. How soon can you get to Scotland?"
Robert was definitely nervous now. "Why?"
As Marie explained, he found himself running, out of the basement, out of the Louvre. He hung up as he ran into the car garage.
Oh God. Sophie.
He shoved the keys of his SUV into the ignition and sped off, not bothering to do up his seatbelt.
He had been in such a hurry, he hasn't realized that he'd left the basement door unlocked.
And open.
A/N - Next chapter there will be lots more action, and it should come out sometime early next week. You'll get the heads up! Thanks guys!
Lots of love,
Maddy