The Nightmare

21

The main office of Sweden’s Security Service, Säpo, is on the fourth floor of the National Police Board headquarters. Its main entrance is on Polhemsgatan. The room smells of dust and warm lightbulbs, and pale light falls into the room from a small window facing the courtyard. A whistle can be heard from the exercise yard of the jail, located on the roof of the building. The head of the department of security is Verner Zandén. He’s a tall man with a pointed nose, coal-black eyes, and a deep bass voice. He sits now on a chair behind his desk with his legs wide apart, and he’s holding up a calming hand. Standing in this unusually depressing room is a young woman named Saga Bauer. She’s an investigator and her group’s antiterrorism expert. Saga Bauer is just twenty-five years old. Stripes of green, yellow, and red cloth are braided into her long blond hair. She looks like a wood sprite standing in the stream of light in a dark forest. She carries a large-caliber pistol in a shoulder holster under her unzipped exercise hoodie. NARVA BOXING CLUB has been printed on it.

“I’ve led this entire effort for more than a year,” she’s pleading. “I’ve been on stakeout for twenty-four hours at a time-”

“This is something entirely different,” her boss says with a smile.

“Please, please… You can’t just bypass me again!”

“Who says I’m doing that? A technician from CID is seriously wounded and an investigator has been attacked. That apartment could have exploded and-”

“I know. I need to get over there now-”

“I’ve already sent Göran Stone.”

“Göran Stone? I’ve been here for three years and I haven’t closed a case yet! This is my field of expertise! Göran knows nothing at all about-”

“He did a good job with the underground tunnel case.”

Saga swallows hard and then she replies, “That was also my case. I found the link to-”

“But it got dangerous and I still believe I made the right call.”

Saga’s cheeks turn red. She struggles to collect herself. “I can do this. This is what I’ve been trained for-”

“Yes, but I’ve made a different call.”

Verner sighs and props his feet up on the wastebasket next to his desk.

“You know my record. Affirmative action had nothing to do with my being accepted here,” Saga says, as calmly as she’s able. “I wasn’t part of a quota. I was top of my class in all the tests. I was best at sharpshooting. I have investigated two hundred and ten different-”

“I just don’t want anything to happen to you,” Verner says softly, and his coal-black eyes meet hers.

“But I’m not a doll, I’m not a princess, or some elf!”

“But you are so… so…”

Verner lifts his hands helplessly.

“All right, what the hell, let’s do it. You be the lead preliminary investigator. But Göran Stone is part of it and I want him to keep an eye on you.”

“Thanks,” she says, relieved.

“But this is a big deal. Remember that,” he warns. “Penelope Fernandez’s sister has been killed execution-style and Penelope is missing-”

“And we’ve noted increased activity among the left-wing extremist groups,” Saga says. “We want to know if the Revolutionary Front is behind the theft of explosives in Vaxholm.”

“The most important thing is if there is an immediate threat,” Verner emphasizes.

“Right now the radicals are sounding more threatening,” Saga continues, a little too eagerly. “I’ve just been in contact with Dante Larsson at Military Intelligence and Security, and he says there will probably be acts of sabotage this summer.”

“Right now just concentrate on Penelope Fernandez,” Verner demands.

“Of course,” Saga answers swiftly. “Of course.”

“The technical investigation might be a cooperative effort between the National Criminal Investigation Department and us, but, basically, keep them out of it.”

Saga nods and waits a moment before she asks one last question.

“I want to bring this investigation to its conclusion. It’s important to me because-”

“Right now, you’re in the saddle,” he says. “But at this moment we don’t know where it’s leading or where it will end. We don’t even know how it began.”