The Lost Symbol (Robert Langdon) by Dan Brown

circles called Sephiroth. “Obviously, the nomenclature is esoteric, but the physics is very advanced.”
    Katherine didn’t know how to respond. “But . . . then why don’t more people study this?”
    Her brother smiled. “They
will
.”
    “I don’t understand.”
    “Katherine, we have been born into wonderful times. A change is coming. Human beings are poised on the threshold of a new age when they will begin turning their eyes back to nature and to the old ways . . . back to the ideas in books like the
Zohar
and other ancient texts from around the world. Powerful truth has its own gravity and eventually pulls people back to it. There will come a day when modern science begins in earnest to study the wisdom of the ancients . . . that will be the day that mankind begins to find answers to the big questions that still elude him.”
    That night, Katherine eagerly began reading her brother’s ancient texts and quickly came to understand that he was right.
The ancients possessed profound scientific wisdom.
Today’s science was not so much making “discoveries” as it was making “rediscoveries.” Mankind, it seemed, had once grasped the true nature of the universe . . . but had let go . . . and forgotten.
    Modern physics can help us remember!
This quest had become Katherine’s mission in life—to use advanced science to rediscover the lost wisdom of the ancients. It was more than academic thrill that kept her motivated. Beneath it all was her conviction that the world
needed
this understanding . . . now more than ever.
    At the rear of the lab, Katherine saw her brother’s white lab coat hanging on its hook along with her own. Reflexively, she pulled out her phone to check for messages. Nothing. A voice echoed again in her memory.
That which your brother believes is hidden in D.C. . . . it can be found. Sometimes a legend that endures for centuries . . . endures for a reason.
    “No,” Katherine said aloud. “It can’t possibly be real.”
    Sometimes a legend was just that—a legend.

CHAPTER 16
    Security chief Trent Anderson stormed back toward the Capitol Rotunda, fuming at the failure of his security team. One of his men had just found a sling and an army-surplus jacket in an alcove near the east portico.
    The goddamn guy walked right out of here!
    Anderson had already assigned teams to start scanning exterior video, but by the time they found anything, this guy would be long gone.
    Now, as Anderson entered the Rotunda to survey the damage, he saw that the situation had been contained as well as could be expected. All four entrances to the Rotunda were closed with as inconspicuous a method of crowd control as Security had at its disposal—a velvet swag, an apologetic guard, and a sign that read THIS ROOM TEMPORARILY CLOSED FOR CLEANING . The dozen or so witnesses were all being herded into a group on the eastern perimeter of the room, where the guards were collecting cell phones and cameras; the last thing Anderson needed was for one of these people to send a cell-phone snapshot to CNN.
    One of the detained witnesses, a tall, dark-haired man in a tweed sport coat, was trying to break away from the group to speak to the chief. The man was currently in a heated discussion with the guards.
    “I’ll speak to him in a moment,” Anderson called over to the guards. “For now, please hold everyone in the main lobby until we sort this out.”
    Anderson turned his eyes now to the hand, which stood at attention in the middle of the room.
For the love of God
. In fifteen years on security detail for the Capitol Building, he had seen some strange things. But nothing like this.
    Forensics had better get here fast and get this thing out of my building.
    Anderson moved closer, seeing that the bloody wrist had been skewered on a spiked wooden base to make the hand stand up.
Wood and flesh,
he thought.
Invisible to metal detectors.
The only metal was a large gold ring, which Anderson assumed had either been wanded or