In the domed bunker, Robert Langdon reels at Katherine Solomon’s realization that the suspended-animation EPR pods constitute a “death lab.” Katherine presses to learn everything, while Langdon, uneasy about the ethical implications, urges her to keep moving. They head toward a “SYSTEMS / UTILITIES” area, finding only a large opening in the floor leading deeper underground.

Before they can investigate, a gunshot cracks through the dome and Everett Finch steps in, weapon leveled at them. Identifying them by name, Finch freezes them into surrender and orders Katherine to set down her bag, which he notices contains a thick black binder of classified material.

From Finch’s perspective, the situation is advantageous: the intruders have penetrated a black project, and he believes killing them would trigger no investigation. Still, Finch decides to interrogate them first, calls for backup, and plans to use Threshold’s secrecy, drugs, and even the EPR pods to compel compliance and erase consequences if needed. He weighs complications—Nagel’s apparent betrayal, Sasha Vesna as an “unknown” linked to an epilepsy wand, and the impracticality of marching two captives out at gunpoint—so he chooses to hold them here.

Langdon offers to sign NDAs and return the binder, claiming they understand little. Finch refuses, insisting they have seen too much; he also rejects their suggestion that Threshold could have simply asked for help, saying time and public exposure made that impossible. Katherine accuses Finch of stealing her patent, and Finch counters that her patent was denied, then taunts that she helped build the project.

Below the dome, the Golěm hears everything from beside the pneumatic lift. Realizing Finch is the “mastermind behind Threshold,” the Golěm considers killing him but has only a near-spent stun gun and would be exposed if he rose into the chamber. With roughly fifteen minutes before the sealed system becomes a catastrophic pressure bomb, the Golěm debates racing back to the SMES vault to stop the blast, but fears reopening the portal without his wand; he ultimately recognizes he must survive to free Sasha.