Inferno: (Robert Langdon Book 4)

a powerfully built man whose military background had imbued him with an emotionless sense of duty and respect for the command chain. He knew his mission, and he knew the stakes.
    The organization for whom he worked contained many divisions, but Brüder’s division—Surveillance and Response Support—was summoned only when a situation reached “crisis” status.
    As his men disappeared into the apartment building, Brüder stood watch at the front door, pulling out his comm device and contacting the person in charge.
    “It’s Brüder,” he said. “We’ve successfully tracked Langdon through his computer IP address. My team is moving in. I’ll alert you when we have him.”

    High above Brüder, on the rooftop terrace of Pensione la Fiorentina, Vayentha stared down in horrified disbelief at the agents dashing into the apartment building.
    What the hell are THEY doing here?!
    She ran a hand through her spiked hair, suddenly grasping the dire consequences of her botched assignment last night. With the single coo of a dove, everything had spiraled wildly out of control. What had begun as a simple mission … had now turned into a living nightmare.
    If the SRS team is here, then it’s all over for me.
    Vayentha desperately grabbed her Sectra Tiger XS communications device and called the provost.
    “Sir,” she stammered. “The SRS team is here! Brüder’s men are swarming the apartment building across the street!”
    She awaited a response, but when it came, she heard only sharp clicks on the line, then an electronic voice, which calmly stated, “Disavowal protocol commencing.”
    Vayentha lowered the phone and looked at the screen just in time to see the comm device go dead.
    As the blood drained from her face, Vayentha forced herself to accept what was happening. The Consortium had just severed all ties with her.
    No links. No association.
    I’ve been disavowed.
    The shock lasted only an instant.
    Then the fear set in.

CHAPTER 16
    “HURRY, ROBERT!” SIENNA urged. “Follow me!”
    Langdon’s thoughts were still consumed by grim images of Dante’s underworld as he charged out the door into the hall of the apartment building. Until this instant, Sienna Brooks had managed the morning’s substantial stress with a kind of detached poise, but now her calm demeanor had grown taut with an emotion Langdon had yet to see in her—true fear.
    In the hallway, Sienna ran ahead, rushing past the elevator, which was already descending, no doubt summoned by the men now entering the lobby. She sprinted to the end of the hall and, without looking back, disappeared into the stairwell.
    Langdon followed close behind, skidding on the smooth soles of his borrowed loafers. The tiny projector in the breast pocket of his Brioni suit bounced against his chest as he ran. His mind flashed on the strange letters adorning the eighth ring of hell: CATROVACER . He pictured the plague mask and the strange signature: The truth can be glimpsed only through the eyes of death.
    Langdon strained to connect these disparate elements, but at the moment nothing was making sense. When he finally came to a stop on the staircase landing, Sienna was there, listening intently. Langdon could hear footsteps pounding up the stairs from below.
    “Is there another exit?” Langdon whispered.
    “Follow me,” she said tersely.
    Sienna had kept Langdon alive once already today, and so, with little choice but to trust the woman, Langdon took a deep breath and bounded down the stairs after her.
    They descended one floor, and the sounds of approaching boots grew very close now, echoing only a floor or two below them.
    Why is she running directly into them?
    Before Langdon could protest, Sienna grabbed his hand and yankedhim out of the stairwell along a deserted hallway of apartments—a long corridor of locked doors.
    There’s nowhere to hide!
    Sienna flipped a light switch and a few bulbs went out, but the dim hallway did little to hide them. Sienna and Langdon were clearly visible here. The thundering footsteps were nearly upon them now, and Langdon knew their assailants would appear on the staircase at any moment, with a direct view down this hall.
    “I need your jacket,” Sienna whispered as she yanked Langdon’s suit jacket off him. She then forced Langdon to crouch on his haunches behind her in a recessed doorframe. “Don’t move.”
    What is she doing? She’s in plain sight!
    The soldiers appeared on the staircase, rushing upward but