The Blinded Man aka Misterioso

14

They came from the cellar.

They poured out of a plain gray delivery van and rushed soundlessly toward the stairs. They carried submachine guns.

They opened the door and wound their way up the stone steps in the insulated stairwell. They moved in complete silence.

At every landing the first man barricaded the door leading to the apartments. The elevator started up somewhere outside.

At the seventh landing they stopped for a moment to assemble. The man at the door threw it open, and they spread out among the apartment doors on the eighth floor.

They rang the bell on a door labeled “Nilsson.”

No one opened it. Not a sound was heard.

A rough cement cylinder was brought forward. Affixed to one end was a thick metal plate, and there were two handles on either side. Two men grabbed the handles, and on signal they rammed the cylinder against the door.

It shattered into pieces around the lock.

They forced their way into the apartment, once again without making a sound. It was dark inside; all the blinds were drawn.

In the closest bed of the small two-room flat lay three little black children who had been awakened by the crash. Lying on mattresses on the floor were four more children. Five of the children had already started to cry.

They continued into the second room. On beds and mattresses lay four black adults, gaping at them. Half of the men stopped there with their guns raised. The rest made their way into the kitchen.

At the kitchen table sat a black man and a white pastor with cups of coffee in front of them. Paralyzed, they stared at the submachine guns, which were all pointed at them.

“What the hell!” said the pastor. Otherwise no one spoke.

Two well-built gentlemen in their forties wearing identical leather jackets came stomping into the kitchen, cast a quick glance at the pastor and the other man, then continued into the bedroom.

“Sonya Shermarke?” said the blonder of the men.

One of the women lying on the mattress on the floor sat up and looked at him in terror.

“Search her for weapons,” said Gillis Döös to his men.

“And drugs,” said Max Grahn.