Disgraced and fearful, Paloma became convinced after five years that the most profound act of maternal love she could show her child would be to give him a new life, one shielded from God’s punishment of Paloma’s sins. And so she placed five-year-old Edmond in an orphanage and returned to Spain, where she entered a convent. Edmond had never seen her again.
When he was ten, Edmond learned that his mother had died in the convent during a self-imposed religious fast. Overcome with physical pain, she had hanged herself.
“It’s not a pleasant story,” Edmond told Langdon. “As a high school student, I learned these details—and as you can imagine, my mother’s unwavering zealotry has a lot to do with my abhorrence of religion. I call it—‘Newton’s Third Law of Child Rearing: For every lunacy, there is an equal and opposite lunacy.’?”
After hearing the story, Langdon understood why Edmond had been so full of anger and bitterness when they met during Edmond’s freshman year at Harvard. Langdon also marveled that Edmond had never once complained about the rigors of his childhood. Instead, he had declared himself fortunate for the early hardship because it had served as a potent motivation for Edmond to achieve his two childhood goals—first, to get out of poverty, and second, to help expose the hypocrisy of the faith he believed destroyed his mother.
Success on both counts, Langdon thought sadly, continuing to peruse the apartment’s library.
As he began scanning a new section of bookshelves, he spotted many titles he recognized, most of them relevant to Edmond’s lifelong concerns for the dangers of religion:
THE GOD DELUSION
GOD IS NOT GREAT
THE PORTABLE ATHEIST
LETTER TO A CHRISTIAN NATION
THE END OF FAITH
THE GOD VIRUS: HOW RELIGION INFECTS OUR LIVES AND CULTURE
Over the last decade, books advocating rationality over blind faith had sprung up on nonfiction bestseller lists. Langdon had to admit that the cultural shift away from religion had become increasingly visible—even on the Harvard campus. Recently, the Washington Post had run an article on “godlessness at Harvard,” reporting that for the first time in the school’s 380-year history, the freshman class consisted of more agnostics and atheists than Protestants and Catholics combined.
Similarly, across the Western world, antireligious organizations were sprouting up, pushing back against what they considered the dangers of religious dogma—American Atheists, the Freedom from Religion Foundation, Americanhumanist.org, the Atheist Alliance International.
Langdon had never given these groups much thought until Edmond had told him about the Brights—a global organization that, despite its often misunderstood name, endorsed a naturalistic worldview with no supernatural or mystical elements. The Brights’ membership included powerhouse intellectuals like Richard Dawkins, Margaret Downey, and Daniel Dennett. Apparently, the growing army of atheists was now packing some very big guns.
Langdon had spotted books by both Dawkins and Dennett only minutes ago while skimming the section of the library devoted to evolution.
The Dawkins classic The Blind Watchmaker forcefully challenged the teleological notion that human beings—much like complex watches—could exist only if they had a “designer.” Similarly, one of Dennett’s books, Darwin’s Dangerous Idea, argued that natural selection alone was sufficient to explain the evolution of life, and that complex biological designs could exist without help from a divine designer.
God is not needed for life, Langdon mused, flashing on Edmond’s presentation. The question “Where do we come from?” suddenly rang a bit more forcefully in Langdon’s mind. Could that be part of Edmond’s discovery? he wondered. The idea that life exists on its own—without a Creator?
This notion, of course, stood in direct opposition to every major Creation story, which made Langdon increasingly curious to know if he might be on the right track. Then again, the idea seemed entirely unprovable.
“Robert?” Ambra called behind him.
Langdon turned to see that Ambra had completed searching her side of the library and was shaking her head. “Nothing over here,” she said. “All nonfiction. I’ll help you look on your side.”
“Same here so far,” Langdon said.
As Ambra crossed to Langdon’s side of the library, Winston’s voice crackled on the speakerphone.
“Ms. Vidal?”
Ambra raised Edmond’s phone. “Yes?”
“Both you and Professor Langdon need to see something right away,” Winston said. “The palace has just made a public statement.”
Langdon moved quickly toward Ambra, standing close by her side, watching as the tiny screen in her hand began streaming a video.
He recognized the plaza in front of Madrid’s Royal Palace, where a uniformed man in handcuffs was being marched roughly into the frame by four Guardia Real agents. The agents turned their prisoner toward the camera, as if to disgrace him before the eyes of the world.
“Garza?!” Ambra exclaimed, sounding stunned. “The head of the Guardia Real is under arrest?!”
The camera turned now to show a woman in thick glasses who pulled a piece of paper out of a pocket of her pantsuit and prepared to read a statement.
“That’s Mónica Martín,” Ambra said. “Public relations coordinator. What is going on?”
The woman began reading, enunciating every word clearly and distinctly. “The Royal Palace is hereby arresting Commander Diego Garza for his role in the murder of Edmond Kirsch, as well as his attempts to implicate Bishop Valdespino in that crime.”
Langdon could feel Ambra stagger slightly beside him as Mónica Martín continued reading.
“Regarding our future queen, Ambra Vidal,” the PR coordinator said in an ominous tone, “and the American professor Robert Langdon, I’m afraid I have some deeply disturbing news.”
Langdon and Ambra exchanged a startled glance.
“The palace has just received confirmation from Ms. Vidal’s security detail,” Martín continued, “that Ms. Vidal was taken from the Guggenheim Museum against her will tonight by Robert Langdon. Our Guardia Real are now on full alert, coordinating with local authorities in Barcelona, where it is believed that Robert Langdon is holding Ms. Vidal hostage.”
Langdon was speechless.
“As this is now formally classified as a hostage situation, the public is urged to assist the authorities by reporting any and all information relating to the whereabouts of Ms. Vidal or Mr. Langdon. The palace has no further comment at this time.”
Reporters started screaming questions at Martín, who abruptly turned and marched off toward the palace.
“This is…madness,” Ambra stammered. “My agents saw me leave the museum willingly!”
Langdon stared at the phone, trying to make sense of what he had just witnessed. Despite the torrent of questions now swirling in his mind, he was entirely lucid about one key point.
I am in serious danger.
CHAPTER 56
“Robert, I’m so sorry.” Ambra Vidal’s dark eyes were wild with fear and guilt. “I have no idea who is behind this false story, but they’ve just put you at enormous risk.” The future queen of Spain reached for Edmond’s phone. “I’m going to call Mónica Martín right now.”
“Do not call Ms. Martín,” Winston’s voice chimed from the phone. “That is precisely what the palace wants. It’s a ploy. They’re trying to flush you out, trick you into making contact and revealing your location. Think logically. Your two Guardia agents know you were not kidnapped, and yet they’ve agreed to help spread this lie and fly to Barcelona to hunt you? Clearly, the entire palace is involved in this. And with the commander of the Royal Guard under arrest, these orders must be coming from higher up.”
Ambra drew a short breath. “Meaning…Julián?”
“An inescapable conclusion,” Winston said. “The prince is the only one in the palace who has the authority to arrest Commander Garza.”