The Sandman

161

Joona is wrenched from his dreams by the sound of the phone ringing. He hadn’t even realised he was dozing off, just plunged straight into deep sleep while Disa was changing into her work clothes. The bedroom is dark, but the glow from his phone is casting a pale elliptical shape on the wall.

‘Joona Linna,’ he answers with a sigh.

‘Jurek’s escaped, he’s managed to get out of—’

‘Saga?’ Joona asks, leaping out of bed.

‘He’s killed loads of people,’ she says, a note of hysteria in her voice.

‘Are you hurt?’

Joona walks through the flat, adrenalin coursing through him as the realisation of what Saga’s saying sinks in.

‘I don’t know where he is, he just said he was going to hurt you, he said—’

‘Disa!’ Joona cries.

He sees that her boots are gone, opens the front door and calls her name down the stairwell, his voice echoing in the darkness. He tries to remember what she said just before he fell asleep.

‘Disa’s gone to Loudden,’ he says.

‘Sorry to—’

Joona cuts the call off, pulls his clothes on, grabs his pistol and holster and leaves the flat, not bothering to lock it behind him.

He runs down the stairs and out onto the pavement, then off towards Dalagatan where Carlos parked his car. As he runs he calls Disa. No answer. It’s snowing heavily, and when he sees the snow piled up along the edge of the pavement, he wonders if he’s going to have to dig the car out.

His path is blocked by a bus passing so close that the ground shakes. The wind is blowing fresh snow from a low, wide wall.

Joona rushes over to the car, gets in and drives straight through the bank of snow, scraping the side against a parked car and putting his foot down.

As he accelerates past Tegnérlunden and down towards Sveavägen, the loose snow flies off the car in soft clouds.

Joona is suddenly aware that everything he’s afraid of is going to flare up like a firestorm tonight.

The transition is instant, from one moment to the next.

Disa is alone in her car, on her way out to Frihamnen.

Joona can feel his heart pounding against his holster. Snow is falling heavily on the windscreen.

He’s driving very fast now, thinking of how Disa’s boss called and asked her to look at something that had been found. Samuel’s wife Rebecka got a call from a carpenter, asking her to go out to their summer house earlier than arranged.

The Sandman must have mentioned Disa in the letter that Susanne Hjälm gave Jurek. His hands are shaking as he brings up Disa’s name in his contacts and calls again. As the phone rings, he feels sweat trickling down his back.

She doesn’t answer. Joona turns sharply into Karlavägen and drives as fast as he possibly can.

It’s probably nothing, he tries to convince himself. He just has to get hold of Disa and tell her to turn round and drive home. He’ll hide her away somewhere until Jurek has been recaptured.

The car slides on the brown slush on the tarmac and a lorry swerves violently out of his way. He calls again. Still no answer.

He heads past Humlegården as fast as he can. The road is lined with grubby banks of snow, and the streetlamps reflect off the wet tarmac.

He calls Disa again.

The traffic lights have turned red, but Joona turns right into Valhallavägen. A cement-mixer swerves out of his way, and a red car pulls up sharply with a shriek of brakes. The driver blows his horn as Disa suddenly answers.