The Sandman

178

Saga wakes to find blood running into her eyes. She blinks and rolls over onto her side. Her temple is throbbing. She has a splitting headache, her throat feels swollen and she’s having trouble breathing.

She tentatively touches the wound on her temple and groans with pain. With her cheek to the floor she can see that her Glock is lying in the dust under the large chest of drawers by the window.

She shuts her eyes again and tries to work out what’s happened. Joona was right, she thinks. Jurek wants Mikael back.

She has no idea how long she’s been unconscious. It’s still almost dark in the room.

She rolls over onto her stomach and whimpers.

‘Oh, God...’

With a great effort she gets up on all fours. Her arms shake as she crawls across the pool of blood from the dead man towards the chest of drawers.

She stretches for the gun, but can’t reach it.

Saga lies down on the floor, reaches in as far as she can, but only manages to nudge the Glock with her fingertips. It’s impossible. She’s so dizzy that the room is tilting in violent lurches and she has to close her eyes again.

Suddenly she sees light through her closed eyelids. She looks up and notices a strange white glow. It’s bouncing shakily across the ceiling. She turns her head and sees that it’s coming from the park, sparkling in the ice-crystals on the outside of the window.

Saga forces herself to stand up, gasping as she leans against the chest of drawers for support. A string of bloody saliva is dripping from her mouth. She looks out of the window and sees David Sylwan running over, holding a burning flare in his hand. The bright light spreads out in a blazing circle around him.

Everything else out there is black.

David moves off through the deep snow. He’s holding the flare in front of him, and its glow reaches all the way to the stables in the distance.

That’s when Saga catches sight of Jurek’s back and the knife in his hand.

She bangs on the window and tries to open the latches. She tugs at them, but they’ve rusted into place and are impossible to move.