The Da Vinci Code Chapters 96–101 Summary & Analysis

Summary: Chapter 96

Silas wakes up with the sense that something is wrong. He sees the police car outside the building and realizes that the police are looking for him. In the process of fleeing the building, he accidentally shoots Bishop Aringarosa.

Summary: Chapter 97

At Westminster Abbey, Langdon and Sophie look for Newton’s tomb. Meanwhile, the Teacher stands outside Newton’s tomb with the cryptex. He doesn’t understand what orb the riddle refers to. When he sees Sophie and Langdon looking for Newton’s tomb, he realizes that Langdon might be able to help him decipher the final clue. He formulates a plan to force Langdon to comply.

Summary: Chapter 98

Langdon and Sophie go to Newton’s tomb and see that there are many orbs on it. Sophie sees a message from the Teacher scrawled on the floor. The message says he has Teabing and wants to meet Sophie and Langdon in the garden. In their haste to get there, Sophie and Langdon miss the sign saying that that area is under renovation. When they arrive at the route to the garden, they see that there is no exit. A door closes, and they are trapped—with Teabing, who is pointing a revolver at them.

Summary: Chapter 99

Teabing explains his treachery. Saunière refused to reveal the Grail because he had been threatened by the Church. The Church had killed the rest of Sophie’s family and promised to kill Sophie if the documents were revealed. Teabing orchestrated Saunière’s death and the deaths of the other three members of the Brotherhood. Because Sophie understood Saunière’s codes, he decided to keep Sophie and Langdon involved in the quest until the rendezvous at Temple Church, where he was going to steal the cryptex. Teabing asks Sophie and Langdon to help him find the Grail. Sophie swears she will not, because Teabing killed her grandfather. Teabing asks Langdon what he will do.

Summary: Chapter 100

Aringarosa, who lies on the ground outside Opus Dei’s house, remembers the meeting he had five months ago with the Pope’s secretary at Castel Gandolfo. The assembled officials told him that Opus Dei was to be severed from the Church by order of the Pope himself. The Church had become embarrassed by its affiliation with the sect because of Opus Dei’s aggressive recruiting practices, treatment of women, and habits of bodily mortification. Not wanting to embarrass Aringarosa and his order, they gave him six months to effect the separation himself. Shortly after that, the Teacher called Aringarosa and told him he had information that would lead to the discovery of a relic that would give him great power within the Church.

Silas, frantic, brings Aringarosa to the hospital. The doctor tells him that the bishop may be dying.

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