The Columbus Affair: A Novel by Steve Berry Read Free Book Online Page A

was the keeper of a great secret,” he said. “A man trusted with information that only a few in history knew.”
    “That’s nonsense.”
    “I assure you, it is not.”
    He saw that, despite himself, Sagan was intrigued. Maybe there was enough reporter left inside to motivate him one last time.
    So he said, “And it all started with Christopher Columbus.”
    Columbus stood on the pier. The
Niña, Pinta,
and
Santa María
rode at anchor in a branch of the Tinto River, near Palos de la Frontera on Spain’s southeastern coast, not far from open ocean. It had taken months to locate, outfit, and man the three vessels, but now all was ready
.
    It had to be
.
    Midnight was approaching
.
    Breaking with custom, Columbus had not waited to board just before the ships sailed. Instead he’d been present all day, personally supervising final preparations
.
    “Nearly all are here,” Luis de Torres said to him
.
    Eighty-seven crewmen would man the three ships. Contrary to the gossip he’d heard, none was a convict royally pardoned for volunteering. Instead each was fully capable, as no one but true seamen would endure this voyage. There was one Portuguese, one Genoese, a Venetian, and a Calabrian, the rest all Spaniards from in and around Palos. Two representatives of the Crown were included, required by his commission, and he’d already cautioned de Torres to be careful around one of them
.
    “Luis.”
    De Torres stepped close
.
    “We must have all on board by 11:00
P.M .”
    He knew de Torres understood. After midnight, when it became August 3, 1492, the police, the militia, and the white-hooded Inquisitors would begin their sweep of houses. Jews had been outlawed from France in 1394 and in England since 1290. The edict expelling them from Spain had been signed by Ferdinand and Isabella on March 31. The church had insisted on the move and the king and queen had agreed. Four months had been given to either leave the country or convert to Christianity
.
    Time ran out tonight
.
    “I fear that we might not make it away,” he whispered
.
    Thankfully, it was next to impossible to physically identify a Spanish Jew. Among the Celts, Iberians, Romans, Phoenicians, Basques, Vandals, Visigoths, and Arabs, there’d been a thorough mixing. But that would not deter the Inquisition. Its agents would stop at nothing to apprehend every suspected Jew. Already, thousands had converted, becoming
conversos.
Outwardly, they attended mass, offered confession, and baptized their children. Inwardly, and at night, they kept their Hebrew names and read from the Torah
.
    “So much depends on this journey,” he said to his friend
.
    And so much depended on de Torres
.
    He was the voyage’s interpreter, fluent in Hebrew, formerly in the employ of the governor of Murcia, a city that once possessed a large Jewish population. But those people were either gone or converted and the governor had no further need of a Hebrew interpreter. De Torres, like a few others in the crew, had been baptized only a few weeks ago
.
    “Do you think,” de Torres asked, “that we will find what you seek?”
    Columbus stared out to the dark water and the ships, lit by torches, where men were busy at work
.
    The question was a good one
.
    And there was but one answer
.
    “We have no choice.”
    “Are you saying Christopher Columbus was Jewish?” Sagan asked.
    “He was a
converso
. That is part of the great secret your father knew. He never told you any of this?”
    Sagan shook his head.
    “I am not surprised. You are not worthy.”
    “Who the hell are you to tell me what I’m worthy of?”
    “You renounced your entire heritage. How could you possibly understand things such as honor? Tradition? Duty?”
    “How do you know I did that?”
    “Is it a lie?”
    “And you?” Sagan said. “A kidnapper? Things like honor mean something to you?”
    “I have staked my fortune and my life to its fulfillment.”
    Zachariah reached into his jacket pocket and found the