Vayentha falls to her death

Vayentha, the spike-haired Consortium field agent who had been pursuing Robert Langdon and Sienna Brooks, falls to her death through the torn canvas of Vasari's Apotheosis of Cosimo I in the Hall of the Five Hundred of the Palazzo Vecchio, after Sienna Brooks body-checks her over the railing of the viewing platform in the attic garret. The fall ends the career of an agent who had already been disavowed by the provost, and it marks the moment when Sienna's instinct to protect Langdon crosses a line into lethal force, a consequence that visibly shakes her.

The Attic Confrontation

After Langdon and Sienna had climbed into the attic above the Hall of the Five Hundred to escape the SRS team, they were separated by a twenty-foot expanse of open air when a plank fell away beneath Langdon. Sienna began inching along the sidewall toward him, but a door slammed and fast-moving footsteps approached along the central walkway. A faceless silhouette with a flashlight arrived on the raised viewing platform and aimed the beam into Langdon's eyes. The silhouette was Vayentha, lean and dressed all in black, her spiked hair hidden beneath a baseball cap. Langdon's muscles tightened as he flashed on the image of Dr. Marconi dying on the hospital floor. Vayentha swung her flashlight beam back into Langdon's eyes and whispered, "Mr. Langdon. Where is your friend?" Langdon made a show of glancing away from Sienna, over his shoulder into the darkness from which they had come, saying, "She has nothing to do with this. You want me." Vayentha raised her light and scanned the empty garret behind him, but Sienna was already climbing up onto the walkway behind the viewing platform, entirely too close to the woman with the gun. Vayentha called out in a throaty whisper, trying to convince Sienna that she could help them escape, but Langdon challenged her loudly, calling her a killer. Vayentha realized the time for talking was over and reached into her leather jacket, extracting the silenced handgun.

The Body Check and the Fall

Sienna, crouched in the shadows no more than ten yards behind Vayentha, sensed the woman's body language and knew she was about to fire. Vayentha took two threatening steps toward Langdon, stopping at the low railing that enclosed the viewing platform above Vasari's Apotheosis, and raised the gun, pointing it directly at Langdon's chest. "This will only hurt for an instant," she said, "but it's my only choice." Sienna reacted on instinct. The unexpected vibration in the boards beneath Vayentha's feet caused her to turn slightly as she was firing, and even as her weapon discharged, she knew it was no longer pointed at Langdon. Something was approaching behind her, approaching fast. Vayentha spun in place, swinging her weapon 180 degrees toward her attacker, and a flash of blond hair glinted in the darkness as someone collided with Vayentha at full speed. The gun hissed again, but the person had crouched below barrel level in order to apply a forceful upward body check. Vayentha's feet left the floor and her midsection crashed hard into the low railing of the viewing platform. As her torso was propelled out over the railing, she flailed her arms, trying to grab onto anything to stop her fall, but it was too late. She went over the edge.

The Descent Through the Canvas

Vayentha fell through the darkness, bracing herself for the collision with the dusty floor that lay eight feet beneath the platform. Strangely, her landing was softer than she had imagined, as if she had been caught by a cloth hammock, which now sagged beneath her weight. Disoriented, she lay on her back and stared up at her attacker. Sienna Brooks was looking down at her over the railing. Stunned, Vayentha opened her mouth to speak, but suddenly, just beneath her, there was a loud ripping sound. The cloth that was supporting her weight tore open. Vayentha was falling again. This time she fell for three very long seconds, during which she found herself staring upward at a ceiling that was covered with beautiful paintings. The painting directly above her—a massive circular canvas depicting Cosimo I encircled by cherubs on a heavenly cloud—now showed a jagged dark tear that cut through its center. Then, with a sudden crash, Vayentha's entire world vanished into blackness.

Aftermath and Sienna's Reaction

High above, frozen in disbelief, Robert Langdon peered through the torn Apotheosis into the cavernous space below. On the stone floor of the Hall of the Five Hundred, the spike-haired woman lay motionless, a dark pool of blood quickly spreading from her head. She still had the gun clutched in her hand. Langdon raised his eyes to Sienna, who was also staring down, transfixed by the grim scene below. Sienna's expression was one of utter shock. "I didn't mean to …" she whispered. Langdon told her she had reacted on instinct, that Vayentha was about to kill him. From down below, shouts of alarm filtered up through the torn canvas. Gently, Langdon guided Sienna away from the railing, telling her they needed to keep moving. The provost later reflected that he doubted Vayentha was trying to kill Langdon—her gun fired only blanks—and that her only hope of redemption was to take control of him. He added that whether Sienna actually meant to kill Vayentha or was only trying to interfere with the shot, he would not venture to guess, acknowledging that he was beginning to realize he did not know Sienna Brooks as well as he thought. Langdon, recalling the look of shock and remorse on the young woman's face, sensed that what she had done to the spike-haired operative was very likely a mistake.