The Secret of Secrets: A Novel
by Dan Brown
Contents
Chapter 50
Overview
Pavel arrives at Pet9in Tower with a gun and tries to trap Langdon by using the elevator to intercept him at the base of the closed spiral stairs. Langdon narrowly escapes by vaulting onto the visitor-center roof, dropping into the woods, and sprinting across Pet9in Park while questioning whether the tower meeting and Katherine’s “LXXEDOC” clue were part of a larger setup. Desperate for cover, Langdon ducks into a tourist “castle” and discovers it is a mirror maze, complicating his escape as Pavel closes in.
Summary
Lieutenant Pavel storms into the Petřin Tower visitor’s hall with his gun drawn, demanding to know where “the American” is. The attendant points upward, and Pavel hears the elevator descending. When it opens on a young Indian couple, Pavel orders them out and rides the elevator back to the top, expecting to corner Robert Langdon.
On the observation deck, Pavel finds the platform empty and realizes Langdon has slipped past the “NO ENTRY” barrier onto the closed spiral staircase. Pavel rushes back to the elevator to cut Langdon off at the bottom, confident Langdon will have nowhere to go.
Langdon sprints down the icy metal staircase, fighting for traction and hearing the elevator descending inside the adjacent shaft. He realizes too late that Pavel will likely arrive first. Before reaching the bottom, Langdon improvises: at the point where the stairs meet the visitor-center rooftop, Langdon swings over a low railing, lands on the roof, then drops off the far side to the ground and flees into the woods behind the building.
Pavel quickly pursues Langdon through the snowy forest. As Langdon runs, he suspects the Petřin Tower rendezvous was a setup and reels over Katherine Solomon’s cryptic Enochian clue, “LXXEDOC,” and the message claiming Katherine is being held.
Langdon bursts into a park plaza and, with Pavel gaining, darts into a bright yellow “castle” that is opening for the day. He vaults a turnstile marked “ZRCADLOV3 BLUDI0Ta” and rushes inside—only to stop short in a mirrored room where he sees six “Langdons” staring back at him, realizing he has entered a mirror maze with Pavel close behind.
Who Appears
- Robert LangdonFlees Pavel, escapes via the roof, and hides in a mirror maze.
- Lieutenant PavelArmed pursuer; tries to corner Langdon using the tower elevator and tracks him into the park.
- Visitor-center attendantFrightened tower employee who points Pavel toward Langdon’s direction.
- Young Indian coupleInnocent visitors confronted at gunpoint when the elevator opens.
- Medieval-costumed attendantOpens the tourist “castle” entrance as Langdon rushes inside to hide.