Saga steadies herself with her hands on her thighs. Sweat drops from her face.
“Of course, we’d put the apartment fires and the boat accident together sooner or later,” she says. She straightens up.
“But then it would be too late,” he says. “The hit man’s job is to erase the evidence and eliminate the witnesses.”
“But now we have the photograph and Penelope,” Saga says with a smile. “That hit man hasn’t solved the problem.”
“Not yet…”
Saga gives a few random blows to the boxing bag hanging from the ceiling and then looks Joona over. “During my training, I saw a film of a bank robbery and how you rendered the suspect harmless with a broken pistol.”
“I was lucky,” Joona says.
“Right.”
He laughs and she comes up to him, circles him with fancy footwork and then stops. She reaches out with open hands and meets his eyes. She waves at him to come on, waggling her fingers. She’s wanting him to take her on for a round. He smiles as he understands her reference to Bruce Lee: the waving hand. He shakes his head but doesn’t break eye contact.
“I’ve seen how you move,” he says.
“Then you know,” she says shortly.
“You’re quick and you’ll get in the first blow, but after that-”
“I’m cooked,” she answers.
“It’s a good thought, but-”
She makes the same gesture again, a bit more impatiently.
“But you will come in much too hard,” he says, amused.
“No, I won’t,” she says.
“Try it and you’ll find out,” Joona says calmly.
She waves once more, but he doesn’t seem to care. He gets up and turns his back to her as he heads for the door. She goes straight for him to land a right hook. He bends his neck slightly and the blow sails over his head. As a smooth continuation, Joona spins around and draws his pistol while taking her down to the ground with a kick to the kneecap.
“I have to tell you something,” Saga says.
“That I was right, right?”
“Don’t flatter yourself.” She glares at him as she gets up.
“If you head in too hard-”
“I wasn’t heading in hard,” she says. “I held back because I’d just thought of something important.”
“I get it!” He laughs.
“I don’t give a shit what you think you get or don’t get,” she says. “My idea is to use Penelope as bait.”
“What are you getting at?”
“I started to think about how she wants to go somewhere else and then at the moment I was about to hit you, I got an idea. I couldn’t knock you out if I had to talk to you.”
“So talk,” he says.
“I realized that Penelope would be bait anyway, whether we’d be involved or not. She’d lure the hit man to her.”
Joona stops smiling and nods slowly.
“Keep talking,” he says.
“We don’t know for sure if the hit man can listen in to our communication, if he can hear everything we say via RAKEL… but it’s probable since he found Penelope on Kymmendo,” Saga says.
“Right.”
“He’ll find her one way or another, that’s what I think. He doesn’t care if she’s under police protection or not. We’ll do everything we can to keep her placement a secret, but it’s hellish to protect her without radio communication.”
“He will find her,” Joona says.
“That’s what I was thinking. Penelope will be bait, no matter what. The question is: Are we going to be ready when he comes? She gets just as much protection as planned, but if we put the stakeout guys from Span to watch the place as well, maybe we can catch this guy.”
“That’s entirely possible. You’re thinking in the right direction,” Joona says.
76
Carlos, Saga, and Joona are heading down the long hallway to Sapo headquarters. Verner Zanden is already waiting for them, and without unnecessary greetings, he speaks the minute they’ve shut the door behind them.
“Klara Olofsdotter at the International Prosecutor’s Office is in on this. I don’t have to tell you, this is a big stakeout for CID and Sapo. But who the hell are we trying to catch?”
“We know next to nothing about him,” Saga says. “We don’t even know if he’s working alone or if he’s part of a team of professional killers from Belgium, or Brazil, or even leftover operatives from the KGB or from the former Eastern bloc.”
“It’s not very difficult to listen in on our radio communications,” Carlos admits.
“This man knows Penelope’s being protected and it will be difficult to get at her,” Joona says. “But there are always small chances: at times a door must be opened, guards change, people bring her food, she’ll have to meet her mother, confer with a psychologist, and she’s planning to meet Niklas Dent from the NHS-”
Joona stops talking when his cell phone rings. He checks the display and clicks it to voice mail.
“Of course, our first priority is Penelope,” Saga says. “But even while protecting her, we feel we might have a chance to catch this man who’s murdered so many of our colleagues.”
“I don’t have to remind you that he’s extremely dangerous,” Joona says. “None of us will meet a more dangerous human.”
The secure apartment, at Storgatan 1, has a window that faces Sibyllegatan with a view over Ostermalm Square. There are no apartment buildings across the street and the closest building is at least one hundred meters away.
Saga Bauer holds the steel door open at street level for Dr. Daniella Richards to lead Penelope Fernandez from an iron-gray police bus. Armored Sapo guards surround them.
“This is the most secure aboveground apartment in all of Stockholm,” Saga explains.
Penelope doesn’t seem to notice her words. She just follows Dr. Richards to the elevator. Security cameras proliferate around the entry hall and the stairwell.
“We’ve put in motion detectors, an advanced alarm system, and two encrypted direct lines to Central Control,” Saga tells Penelope as the elevator heads up.
On the fourth floor, Penelope is brought through a heavy door to yet another locked door, which yet another uniformed officer opens, letting them into the apartment.
“This apartment has tremendous protection against fire,” Saga says. “It has its own electrical generator and its own ventilation system.”
“You’re safe here,” Dr. Richards says gently.
Penelope raises her face and looks at the doctor with an empty expression.
“Thanks,” she finally says, almost soundlessly.
“I can stay with you if that’s what you want.”
Penelope shakes her head. Dr. Richards and Saga wait for a long moment before they turn to leave.
