Stalker

45

Filip Cronstedt looks up and stares at Adam with tired eyes and dilated pupils.

‘I’m the hatmaker,’ he says quietly.

Sweat is running down Joona’s back, and he can’t hold his pistol up any longer.

The torch hanging from the ceiling sways in a gust of air, and the shadows slide around the walls, its light reflecting off a large floor-mirror.

Joona moves to one side, blinks, and sees in the mirror that there’s a knife sticking out of the box in front of Filip.

‘We need to talk to you,’ Adam says, moving forward cautiously.

‘How many videos are you in every day?’ Filip asks, staring at the floor. ‘Where does it all go, what decisions does it lead to?’

‘We can talk about that if you let the girls go.’

‘I don’t give a shit about Snowden and optic nerves,’ he says slowly, pointing at the ceiling.

‘Just let the girls go, and-’

‘This isn’t Prism or XKeyscore or Echelon,’ he interrupts in a louder voice. ‘This is a fuck of a lot bigger than that.’

Joona puts his pistol back in its holster and walks slowly towards the woman whose name is evidently Sophia. He can feel the last of his strength draining away, the way icy water makes everything sluggish, but scorchingly sleepy.

Filip’s hand is getting closer to the knife sticking out of the box.

Sophia falters, and the wire rattles softly.

‘Saturn ate his children,’ Filip goes on, then sniggers. ‘I mean, the NSA is much bigger… and we’re their children…’

Joona just manages to see him put his hand on the knife before his vision flares again and he has to lean his own hand against the wall to stop himself falling.

Little dots are still floating before his eyes as he starts to loosen the coarse wire around Sophia’s waist. He has to rest his forehead against her shoulder for a while before going on. He can hear her shallow breathing.

Without showing any sign of outward anxiety, he unwinds the wire some twenty revolutions before she’s free.

‘Are there more of you down here?’ he asks in a subdued voice as he leads her out of the storeroom.

‘Just me and my sister,’ she replies.

‘We’re going to get you out. What’s your sister’s name?’

‘Carola.’

The metal wire unravels on the cement floor with a scraping sound.

Filip tugs at the knife, making the side of the box bulge out before he loses his grip.

‘We’re here now, but who ends up in Guantánamo? You don’t know, do you?’ he says without looking at them.

‘Carola,’ Joona says in a normal tone of voice. ‘Could you come over here, please?’

Sophia’s sister puts the lid back on the jar of mushrooms and shakes her head without looking up.

‘Carola, come to me,’ Sophia says.

She sits there picking at the jar, as Filip looks at her and scratches his neck.

‘Come on,’ Joona says, feeling his gun rub against his chest.

‘Eugene is with them, you know, GCHQ… the NSA. Same thing… I’ve been so badly fucking deceived, for years… Everyone’s naked, everyone’s having fun… but how can you protect yourself if you’re completely naked, if everyone can film you from the fucking back?’

The torch spins round and dark shadows cross their faces and shoulders.

‘Sophia wants you to come over here,’ Joona says.

Carola looks up and smiles at her sister. Sophia brushes the tears from her cheeks and holds out her hand.

‘Can we go home now?’ Carola whispers, and stands up at last.

She’s about to start walking when Filip grabs hold of her hair and pulls her back, tugs the knife from the box and holds it to her throat.

‘Hang on, hang on, take it easy now,’ Adam calls. ‘Look, I’m putting my gun down.’

‘Go to hell!’ Filip screams and sticks the knife into his forehead before putting it to Carola’s throat again.

‘Do something!’ Sophia whimpers.

Blood from the wound in Filip’s forehead trickles through one eyebrow and drips down on to his cheek.

‘I know you’re only trying to protect her,’ Joona says calmly.

‘Yes, but you-’

‘Listen to me,’ Adam interrupts, breathing quickly. ‘You need to put the knife down.’

Sophia is sobbing with her hand over her mouth. Filip looks at Adam and grins at him.

‘I know where you’re from,’ he says, and presses the knife harder against Carola’s neck.

‘Put the knife down now,’ Adam shouts, moving sideways to get a clear line of fire.

Filip watches Adam and licks his lips nervously. The room is gloomy, but blood is clearly running down the blade.

‘Filip, you’re hurting her,’ Joona says, trying to conquer his dizziness. ‘You don’t have to do that, we’re no threat to you…’

‘Shut up!’

‘We’re just here to-’

‘Shut up!’

‘We’re here to ask about Maria Carlsson,’ Joona concludes.

‘Maria? My Maria?’ he says in a low voice. ‘Why…?’

Joona nods and thinks that he could shoot Filip in the shoulder, disarm him and then lie down on the floor. He’s waited too long. He can hardly see anything now, through the burning pain behind his eyes.

‘Look, I’m taking my gun out and giving it to you,’ Joona says, carefully drawing his Colt.

Filip stares at him with bloodshot eyes.

‘Maria said the NSA have started creeping about in her garden,’ he explains. ‘I went over and saw for myself, a skinny man in yellow overalls, like the Lofoten fishermen when I was little, he was filming her through the window, and…’

Joona wipes some blood from his nose and then his head explodes and his legs give way.

Sophia screams when he slumps on to his side, tries to get up, but falls on to his back and lies there with his eyelids quivering.

She goes over to him and kneels down. A bubbling, pulsing sensation behind one eye makes him hold his breath. Before it goes completely dark he feels her pull the pistol from his hand.

She stands up, straightens her back, takes a few shallow, panting breaths, then aims the pistol at Filip.

‘Let my sister go!’ she says sharply. ‘Just let her go!’

‘Put the gun down,’ Adam says in a shaky voice, and moves between them. ‘I’m a police officer, you need to trust me.’

‘Get out of the way!’ she yells. ‘Filip’s not going to let her go!’

‘Don’t do anything silly,’ Adam says, holding out his hand.

‘Don’t touch me – I’ll shoot!’

She’s clutching the pistol with both hands, but the barrel is still shaking.

‘Give me the gun and-’

There’s a deafening explosion as the pistol goes off. The bullet grazes Adam’s torso and hits Filip in the top of his arm. The knife falls to the floor and Filip stares at Sophia in astonishment as blood seeps through his fingers.

‘Get out of the way!’ she shouts again.

Adam lurches to the side, and feels warm blood pulsing out beneath his clothes. Sophia fires again, and hits Filip right in the chest. Blood spatters the boxes behind him and runs across the glass of the mirror. The empty cartridge falls to the ground with a tinkling sound.

Carola is still standing there with her head bowed, and slowly raises her hand to her neck. Sophia lowers the gun and stares blankly at Filip, who slumps down and sits on the floor, leaning back against a box.

He picks listlessly at the wound in his chest as blood pumps out, and his eyes flit about as he tries to say something.