Plot Overview
Robert Langdon is called to Washington D.C., to give a speech, by his friend Peter Solomon, who is a well known free Mason. When Robert arrives at the capitol building he find out that there is no speech and that Peter has been kidnapped and Robert is the only person who knows how to get the compensation the kidnapper wants in exchange for Peter. The kidnapper leaves Peter’s severed hand in the Capitol rotunda as an invitation for Robert to help him find the first clue to find the Ancient Mysteries. Langdon is approached by the director of the CIA’s director of office security, Inoe Sato. Sato pushes Langdon to solve the clues insisting that it is a matter of national security. They follow the clues to the basement of the Capitol building where they find a stone pyramid with the head of the pyramid removed. Sato is then attacked and Robert escapes with Warren Bellamy, a Free Mason. At the same time Katherine Solomon, Peter’s sister, is planning to meet a man who claims to be a friend of her brothers. The man tries to kill her, but she manages to escape and call Langdon. She decides to meet up with Robert and warren at the Library of Congress. Sato follows the men to the library and Robert and Katherine run to the National Cathedral. There they meet another Free Mason who helps them decipher the meaning of the pyramid. They call peter’s kidnapper and a police officer answers the phone and tells them that she has found Peter and the kidnapper is not around. Meanwhile, Director Sato explains to Bellamy why this matter is of such importance to her. They find Robert and Katherine and decide to split up. Sato and Bellamy will try and trap the kidnapper and Langdon and Katherine will go see her brother. When they arrive at the house they are attacked by the kidnapper and left for dead as the kidnapper takes Peter and goes to find the location deciphered from the pyramid. The others realize that they are in the wrong location when the kidnapper does not show. They find Robert and Katherine and race after the kidnapper. At the location the kidnapper reveals to Peter that he is his son, and tries to get Peter to kill him. He is lying under a sky light when a CIA helicopter breaks it and the glass from the window kills him before he can have is glorious death. When Robert and Katherine arrive Peter is in need of medical treatment, but insists that he reward Robert for helping him. Peter shows Robert the secret of the Ancient Mysteries, something the kidnapper could never understand, and leaves him to think about them.