The Columbus Affair

by Steve Berry

  He told himself to never forget the word.

  “Rabbi Loew knew he had to protect his people from danger and he found out how to do that in a dream. Ata bra golem dewuk hachomer w’tigzar zedim chewel torfe jisrael.”

  He knew some Hebrew and caught a few of the words.

  “ ‘You shall create a golem from clay, that the malicious anti-Semitic mob be destroyed.’ That’s what he dreamed. And that’s what he did. He created a living body from clay using fire, water, air, and earth. The first three made the last one come alive.”

  Could that be true? How incredible.

  “He made his creature real by inserting the shem. A small bit of parchment, upon which he’d written God’s name, into the mouth. Then he said, ‘Lord made a man from the clay of the Earth and breathed the breath of life into his mouth.’ The golem rose to his feet. Rabbi Loew told the golem that his mission was to protect the Jews from persecution. His name would be Josef and he must obey the rabbi’s commands no matter what may be asked.”

  Tom listened as his grandfather explained how Rabbi Loew would give the golem a plan every Friday and Josef would follow it for the next week, protecting the Jews. One Friday he forgot to provide direction and the golem, with nothing to do, went on a rampage, wanting to demolish anything and everything. People were terrified until Rabbi Loew ordered him to stop. From that day on, he never forgot to provide weekly instruction. By 1593 threats to the Jews had lessened. Rabbi Loew decided it was time to send Josef from this world.

  “He told the golem to spend the night in the attic of the Old-New Synagogue in Prague. After midnight, the rabbi and two others climbed up and proceeded to do backward everything that had been done to create the creature. If they were at his feet then, they were at his head now. All the words were recited in reverse. When done, the golem was again a mass of clay, which was left there. From that day on it was forbidden for anyone to go into the loft of the Old-New Synagogue.”

  Tom sat on the sofa in Inna’s apartment and thought about Saki. He’d loved that gentle soul. When he’d read Abiram’s note and caught the reference to the golem, he’d immediately recalled that day long ago when he’d first heard the story.

  And that’s all it was.

  A story.

  As an adult, he’d written a puff piece for the LA Times about Prague and the legend. Golems were not a Czech concoction. They were first mentioned in ancient Egypt. Kabbalist texts spoke of them. The Bible even used the word. They were never associated with Prague until the 19th century. And nothing in any historical record connected the great Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel, who lived in the 16th century, known as Rabbi Loew, with any golem. The story was first told in an obscure travel guide, reprinted in a popular book from 1858 on Jewish legends called Sippurim. After that, the golem became a part of Czech lore. Novels and more books followed that incorporated the story, each incantation making the tale even more fantastic.

  “This book is one of my favorites,” Saki said to him. “It’s a novel published in 1915. I was a boy when I was given this copy. I’ve kept it ever since.”

  He stared at the thin volume, printed in another language.

  “Czech,” Saki told him. “It’s called The Golem and was written by a man named Gustav Meyrink. A huge bestseller for its time. It’s about magical Prague. Mystical things.”

  “You can read this?”

  “My mother was from there. She taught me Czech as a child.”

  While writing the piece he’d made a point to learn more about Meyrink’s novel, which stoked the legend and eventually caused people from all over the world to visit Prague. The Iron Curtain halted those pilgrimages for decades, but the Velvet Revolution again allowed them. His story for the Times reported on how hundreds of thousands of Jews came each year in search.

  The golem helps protect our secret in a place long sacred to Jews.

  That’s what Abiram had written. His grandfather, Abiram’s father-in-law, had apparently used a fiction to shield a fact.

  He held the key from the grave, with its strange markings.

  What did it open?

  Alle was asleep in one of the bedrooms. Inna’s children had doubled up in the other. He and his daughter spoke little after Alle returned. She’d stayed quiet, calm, her customary anger suppressed. Which made him even more suspicious. Right now he was at least two steps ahead of Zachariah Simon, and he planned to stay that way.

  At least until he solved this mystery.

  And he’d decided to do just that.

  All this talk of Levites, Temple treasures, and great secrets held for centuries. If there was something to find, then he was damn well going to find it. True, he would not be honoring what Abiram had wanted, but so what? He was in charge now. A man died earlier. He wondered how many more had died before him. He once reported problems, exposed wrongdoing. Informed people what they needed to know. Keeping secrets was contrary to that mission. Surely Abiram knew that when he chose to pass down the duty.

  He walked over and sat before Inna’s computer. The apartment was wired with high-speed Internet—essential, he knew, for anyone in the newspaper business. When he’d first started in the business cyberspace had barely existed. Now it was indispensible. Certainly, writing novels had been made much easier with billions of websites available to surf. He’d never had to leave his house. He typed OLD-NEW SYNAGOGUE into Google and selected from the 2,610,000 offerings, skimming the high points of a few.

  The oldest building in Prague’s Jewish quarter. The oldest extant synagogue in Europe. 700 years it had stood, virtually undisturbed. War had passed it by, and even Hitler had not razed it. When it was first built, there was already an Old Synagogue. So this one was labeled New. Then, in the 16th century, another was built and called the New Synagogue. Since the Old one still existed, someone came up with Old-New, and the name stuck. Both of the other buildings were razed in the early 20th century. But the Old-New Synagogue survived.

  He found an exterior picture.

  A simple oblong with a saddle roof and Gothic gables, facing east. Buttresses supported exterior walls punctuated by narrow, pointed windows. Low annexes surrounded its lower parts on three sides. It had been completed in 1270, but renovations had occurred as recently as 2004.

  He clicked around and found photos from other angles, one showing the building’s east side. The loft seemed spacious, the roofline set at a high pitch. Nineteen U-shaped iron bars extended from the east side of the building, forming a path up to a loft door. A caption informed him that the fire ladder had been installed in 1880 to allow access to the roof in an emergency, but the first rung was a good fifteen feet off ground level. Another shot, a close-up of the loft door at the top of the iron rungs, showed a Star of David adorning its exterior. He noticed the lock and the keyhole. Arched at the top, flat at the bottom. The key from the grave sat on the tabletop beside the computer.

  He lifted it.

  Could it fit? Possible.

  Though jet-lagged, he was no longer tired. Sleep was not coming tonight. He noted the time. 9:40 P.M. He stood and walked to the door of the bedroom where Alle had retreated and knocked. His daughter apparently wasn’t tired, either, as the door opened quickly.

  The lights were still on, and she was fully dressed.

  “We’re leaving,” he said. “For Prague.”

  CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

  BÉNE HEAVED A SIGH OF RELIEF AS THE PLANE ROSE FROM SANTIAGO de Cuba’s international airport. He’d been worried that when the curator awoke he’d alert the police, especially since he’d not left the other $500. He’d never mentioned that they’d flown in, but the airport still could have been staked out. No officers, though, had been anywhere in sight when they made it back, and they’d left unimpeded.

  Tre had crammed two plastic bins with documents, some from both rooms, which they’d brought with them. The only repercussions from the theft would involve the Simon, and he wanted that to happen.

  He owed him.

&nb
sp; “Béne,” Tre said. “Are you going to tell me what happened back there? You looked like you were going to kill that guy.”

  He needed his friend’s help so he decided to say, “Simon and I have been working together on finding the mine.”

  “Which you’ve never mentioned.”

  “Why would I?” And he saw that his friend realized there was a line that need not be crossed. But he added, “Let’s just say that I’ve come to learn he’s not somebody you want to work with.”

  “Those police were there for us?”

  He nodded. “Simon sent them. The curator called him. He didn’t want us to leave Cuba alive.”

  The reality of the situation—the proximity of death—seemed to hit Halliburton. There’d been no time to explain while on the ground. They’d grabbed what they could and sped back to the airport, all the while keeping an eye on the rearview mirrors.

  “Why would Simon kill us?”

  “He wants the mine. He doesn’t want me to know what he knows.”

  Tre had been thumbing through one volume ever since they were aboard. He’d seemed anxious to examine it.

  “What is that?” he asked.

  “Some sort of diary. A narrative.”

  Tre showed him the pages. The script was block style in thick black ink, justified on the right and left. Maybe twelve to fifteen lines per page.

  “It’s in great shape, considering how it’s been stored,” Tre said. “And it’s written in Castilian.”

  “Is that important?”

  “It could be.”

  All he wanted to know was, “Did we get what we came for?” But Tre was reading.

  He decided to leave him alone. The plane was still climbing, heading south toward Montego Bay, away from Cuba. The Simon’s reach was far greater than he’d imagined, and his interest in the lost mine more intense than represented.

  “Béne,” Tre said. “Listen to this.”

  We find meaning of our mission in the sacred word. Numbers makes clear that “and with you bring your brother also, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, that they may join you and minister to you while you and your sons with you are before the tent of the testimony. They shall keep guard over you and over the whole tent. They shall join you and keep guard over the tent of meeting for all the service of the tent, and no outsider shall come near you. And you shall keep guard over the sanctuary and over the altar, that there may never again be wrath on the people of Israel. And behold, I have taken your brothers the Levites from among the people of Israel. They are a gift to you, given to the Lord, to do the service of the tent of meeting.” The Book of Jeremiah says even more. “As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured. So will I multiply the seed of David My servant, and the Levites that minister unto Me.”

  Tre looked up from the page. “This came out of the locked room. It was written by a man named Yosef Ben Ha Levy Haivri—Joseph, the son of Levi the Hebrew. He says that in the beginning. He also says that his Christian name was Luis de Torres, one he was forced to take, but one he now rejects.”

  “Why is it significant?”

  “There’s more.”

  Though we are not born of the house of Levi, God has heard our pleas and chosen us. God is gracious and beneficent. God is compassionate. God protects the simple. I was born low and He saved me. My soul is at rest for God has been good to me. He delivered me from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling. I trust in God. Out of great suffering I spoke and said rashly, “All men are false.” How can I repay God for all of His bounties to me? I will pay my vows in the presence of His people, in the midst of Jerusalem. I shall do my duty, as entrusted in me. Malachi said of the Levite, “The law of truth was in his mouth, and unrighteousness was not found in his lips. He walked with Me in peace and uprightness, and did turn many away from iniquity. O, Israel, trust in God. He is the help and shield. To those who shall assume this great duty, you shall be the Levite, as true as one born, for your task comes from God. To the Levite, trust in God. He is your help and shield.

  Tre leaned across and showed him the pages, but Béne had already caught the one line that carried significance.

  To those who shall assume this great duty, you shall be the Levite.

  “De Torres wrote this for those who came after him. Instructions on what to do and why. Columbus told him, now he’s telling his successor.”

  The great Admiral of the Ocean, the man falsely called Cristóbal Colón but who was born Christoval Arnoldo de Ysassi, never forgot from where he came. He was a most wise man who accepted his duty. He led his men on a great voyage and with God’s help he succeeded where all believed he would fail. He told me before we sailed that we must accomplish our mission. I failed to realize then the importance of what he meant, but I do now. The whore Church and its Inquisition have decided to slaughter all who do not worship according to its dictates. They speak of God, but know nothing of His ways. They urge love and forgiveness, yet extend only pain and misery. Many have suffered much at their hands. Some were forced to renounce their faith, others fled. Still others were murdered on behalf of a false belief. May God forgive me, I was forced to convert, but I never succumbed in my heart. Now, here, in this new land, away from all that is evil about the ways of man I live in peace. The time for me is coming which will be neither day nor night. God will announce it for the day is His and also the night. He has appointed a watchman over his people all day and night. The Admiral has made me swear that a Levite who comes after our time shall one day enlighten us when the darkness turns to light. He chose me as the first and I shall select the next. Together we will accomplish our duty. God’s great treasure is hidden away, now safe from all those who do it harm. Blessed is He who keeps his promise to Israel. For the Holy One, Blessed be He, calculated the end to do as He had promised Abraham our forefather. As it is said, “And He said to Abram, ‘Know well that your offspring shall be strangers in a land not theirs, and they shall be enslaved and oppressed, but I will execute judgment on the nation they shall serve and in the end they shall go free with great wealth.’ ” It is this promise that will stand. It is this promise that we shall keep. For not just a single person has arisen to destroy us, but in every generation people will arise against us to destroy us. And the Holy One, blessed be He, saves us from their hands.

  Béne recalled what the Simon had told him about Columbus. That the Admiral converted to Christianity on threat of force, but remained a Jew at heart. He even knew his real name.

  Christoval Arnoldo de Ysassi.

  Of course he’d known that.

  These documents were under his control.

  “There’s a lot more here, Béne. I’ll need time to go through it.”

  “Start reading,” he said. “I want to know every detail.”

  CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

  TOM AND ALLE HUSTLED PAST THE GREAT ASTRONOMICAL CLOCK that adorned Prague’s old town hall. Its gilded hands and orbs displayed the time, date, zodiac, and positions of the sun, moon, and planets in a confusing array. Best he could tell it was around 4:00 A.M., Friday, March 8.

  Another day had passed with him still alive.

  The first half of the drive from Vienna north had been two-laned through dense Czech forest and a string of quiet villages, then autobahn the remainder, traffic light even for the middle of the night. The historic old town square was deserted. He recalled from previous visits how its cobbles usually burst at the seams with people. The statue of Jan Haus remained prominent, the great religious reformer having been burned at the stake five hundred years ago. The Tyn Church still dominated one side, its spired twin towers lit to the night. Crisp air carried the last bit of winter’s bite, and he was glad he’d brought a jacket.

  A colorful array of buildings encircled the cobblestones, their windows dark, doors shut. The architecture and façades varied—Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo, Art Nouveau. He knew how Prague had escaped destruction during World War II, the country’
s leader summoned to Berlin by Hitler and told that either a document be signed requesting Germany to take the Czech people under the protection of the Reich or bombers would reduce the country’s cities to ashes. President Emil Hacha, elderly and ill, had fainted at the threat. Once revived, he signed and, without resistance, Prague was occupied.

  But the country paid a horrible price, especially its Jews.

  Ninety percent died.

  Stalin assumed control of the country after the war, and the city languished for decades behind the Iron Curtain.

  But the old city survived.

  Alle had said little on the four-hour ride. Neither had he. They both seemed satisfied just to be there, neither willing, as yet, to yield an inch. Before leaving Vienna he’d printed out a map of Prague’s old town, including the nearby Jewish quarter, noting its major landmarks.

  Legend proclaimed that Jews first came here after the destruction of their Second Temple in the 1st century. History records the 10th century as the start of their occupation. Jews called Prague ir va’em b’Yisrael. City and mother of Israel. As close to Jerusalem as one could get. Another myth proclaimed that angels brought stones for the synagogue from the destroyed Temple, on loan until another Temple rose from the mount. By the 13th century Jews had established their own town and were forbidden to live anywhere else, their movements restricted, their trades hampered. Eventually, they moved from one side of the Vltava River to the other, into an enclave bordering the old town, which was annexed into the city in 1851, renamed Josefov, becoming Prague’s fifth quarter. Not much space. Only 100,000 square yards. A maze of streets, houses, yards, and passageways where, at its height, nearly 2,000 people lived.