Phantom (35 page)

“Just a concert.”

Realizing he wasn’t going to be told any more, Bellman looked down at the paper and read aloud: “ ‘Old timber house with long gravel drive, deciduous trees and steps by the front door, no overhang’? Sounds like a description of half the houses in Blindern. What are you after?”

Harry lit a cigarette. “A rat’s nest. An eagle’s lair.”

“And if we find it, what then?”

“You and your officers need a search warrant to be able to do anything
while a normal civilian like me could get lost one autumn evening and be forced to take refuge in the nearest house.”

“OK—I’ll see what I can do. But explain to me first why you’re so anxious to catch this Dubai.”

Harry shrugged. “Professional training, maybe. Get the list and email it to the address at the bottom. Then we’ll see what I can get for you.”

Filip returned without water as Harry was leaving, and on his way to the car he heard a ball hit the racket frame and a low curse.

Distant cannons rumbled in the armada of clouds, and it was as dark as night when Harry got into his car. He started the engine and called Hans Christian Simonsen.

“It’s Harry. What are the current penalties for grave desecration?”

“Er, four to six years, I would guess.”

“Are you willing to risk that?”

A tiny pause. Then: “To what end?”

“To catch the person who killed Gusto. And perhaps the person who’s after Oleg.”

“And if I’m not willing?” A very tiny pause. “I’m in.”

“OK—find out where Gusto is buried and get some spades, a flashlight, nail scissors and two screwdrivers. We’ll do it tomorrow night.”

As Harry drove across Solli Plass the rain came. It lashed the rooftops, lashed the streets, lashed the man standing in Kvadraturen opposite the open door to the bar.

T
HE BOY IN
reception gave Harry a dour look as he came in.

“Would you like to borrow an umbrella?”

“Not unless your hotel’s leaking,” Harry said, running a hand through his brushlike hair and sending a fine spray through the air. “Any messages?”

The boy laughed as if it were a joke.

As Harry was climbing the stairs to the second floor he thought he heard footsteps farther down and stopped. Listened. Silence. Either he had heard the echo of his own steps, or the other person had stopped as well.

Harry walked on slowly. In the corridor he increased his speed, inserted the key in the lock and opened the door. Scanned the darkened room and peered across the yard to the woman’s illuminated room. No one there. No one there, no one here.

He switched on the light.

As it came on he saw his reflection in the window. And someone else standing behind him. At once he felt a heavy hand squeeze his shoulder.

Only a phantom can be so fast and silent, Harry thought, whirling around, but he knew it was already too late.

“I saw them once. It was like a wake.”

Cato still had his large, dirty hand resting on Harry’s shoulder.

Harry heard himself gasp and felt his lungs pressing against the inside of his ribs.

“Who?”

“I was talking to someone selling the devilry. His name was Bisken and he wore a leather dog collar. He came to me because he was frightened. The police had hauled him in for possession of heroin, and he had told Beret Man where Dubai lived. Beret Man had promised him protection and immunity if he would testify in court. And while I was standing there they came in a black car. Black suits, black gloves. He was old. Broad face. He looked like a white aborigine.”

“Who?”

“I saw him, but … he wasn’t there. Like a phantom. And when Bisken saw him he didn’t move, didn’t try to run or struggle when they took him with them. After they’d gone it was as if I’d dreamed it all.”

“Why didn’t you tell me this before?”

“Because I’m a coward. Do you have a smoke?”

Harry gave him the pack, and Cato fell into the chair.

“You’re chasing a ghost, and I don’t want to be involved.”

“But?”

Cato shrugged and held out his hand. Harry passed him the lighter.

“I’m an old, dying man. I have nothing to lose.”

“Are you dying?”

Cato lit his cigarette. “It’s not acute, maybe, but we’re all dying, Harry. I just want to help you.”

“With what?”

“Don’t know. What are your plans?”

“Can I trust you?”

“Christ, no, you can’t trust me. But I’m a shaman. I can also make myself invisible. I can come and go without anyone noticing.”

Harry rubbed his chin. “Why?”

“I told you why.”

“I’m asking again.”

Cato looked at Harry, first with a reproachful glare. Then, when that didn’t help, he heaved a deep sigh of annoyance. “Maybe I had a son once myself. One I didn’t treat as well as I should have. Maybe it’s a new opportunity. Don’t you believe in fresh opportunities, Harry?”

Harry eyed the old man. The furrows in his face looked even deeper in the darkness, like valleys, like slashes from a knife. Harry thrust out his hand, and reluctantly Cato took the cigarettes from his pocket and handed them back.

“I appreciate it, Cato. I’ll tell you if I need you. But what I’m going to do now is link Dubai to Gusto’s death. From there the tracks will lead directly on to the burner in the police and the killing of the undercover cop who was drowned in Dubai’s house.”

Cato slowly shook his head. “You have a pure and courageous heart, Harry. Maybe you’ll go to heaven.”

Harry poked a cigarette between his lips. “So there’ll be a kind of happy ending after all, then.”

“Which has to be celebrated. May I offer you a drink, Harry Hole?”

“Who’s paying?”

“Me, of course. If you pay. You can say hello to your Jim, I can say hello to my Johnnie.”

“Get thee hence.”

“Come on. Jim’s a good man deep down.”

“Good night. Sleep well.”

“Good night. And don’t sleep too well, in case—”

“Good night.”

I
T HAD BEEN
there all the time, but Harry had succeeded in suppressing it. Up until now, up until Cato’s invitation. It was impossible to ignore the gnawing now. It had started with the violin fix—that had set it in motion, had released the dogs again. And now they were baying and clawing, barking themselves hoarse and gnashing at his intestines. Harry lay on the bed with his eyes closed, listening to the rain and hoping sleep would come and carry him away.

It didn’t.

He had a phone number in his cell he had apportioned two letters.
AA
. Alcoholics Anonymous—Trygve, an AA member and sponsor he had used several times before at critical points. Three years. Why start
now, now that there was everything to play for and he needed more than ever to be sober? It was madness. He heard a scream outside. Followed by laughter.

At ten past eleven he got up and left. He barely registered the rain splashing down on his skull as he crossed the street to the open door. And this time he didn’t hear the footsteps behind him, for Kurt Cobain’s voice filled his auditory canals, the music like an embrace, and he stepped inside, sat on the stool by the counter and called to the barman.

“Whis … key. Jim … Beam.”

The barman stopped wiping down the counter, put the cloth beside the corkscrew and lifted the bottle from the mirrored shelf. Poured. Set the glass on the counter. Harry placed his forearms on either side of the glass and stared into the golden-brown liquid. And for that moment nothing else existed.

Not Nirvana, not Oleg, not Rakel, not Gusto, not Dubai. Not Tord Schultz’s face. Not the figure that muffled the street noise as it came in. Nor the movement behind him. Nor the singing tone of the springs as the blade shot out. Nor the heavy breathing of Sergey Ivanov standing a mere yard from him with legs together and hands held low.

S
ERGEY LOOKED AT
the man’s back. He had both arms resting on the counter. It couldn’t be more perfect. The hour had come. His heart was pounding. Pounding wildly with fresh blood, as it had the first time he had fetched the heroin packages from the cockpit. All fear was gone. Because he knew now—he was alive. He was alive and about to kill the man before him.
Take
his life, make it part of his own. The very idea of it made him grow; it was as though he had already consumed the enemy’s heart. Now. The movements. Sergey took a deep breath, stepped forward and placed his left hand on Harry’s head. As if in blessing. As if he were going to baptize him.

Sergey Ivanov couldn’t get a hold. Simply could not get a hold. The damn rain had soaked the man’s skull and hair, and the short spikes slipped through his fingers, preventing him from snatching his head back. Sergey’s left hand shot forward again, grasped the man’s forehead and pulled it to him as he brought the knife around his throat. The man’s body jerked. Sergey slashed with the knife, felt it make contact, felt it slice through skin. There! The hot jet of blood on his thumb. Not as deep as he expected, but three more heartbeats and it would all be over. He raised his gaze to the mirror to see the fountain. He saw a bared row of teeth and beneath that a gaping wound from which blood was streaming down the front of the shirt. And the man’s eyes. It was that look—a cold, angry predatory glare—that made him realize the job was not yet done.

W
HEN
H
ARRY HAD
felt the hand on his head he had known instinctively. Known it was not a drunken customer or an old acquaintance, but them. The hand slid off, and that gave Harry a tenth of a second to look in the mirror, to see the glint of steel. He already knew where it was heading. Then the hand was around his forehead and jerking him backward. It was too late to put a hand between throat and blade, so Harry stood on the foot rail and levered himself upward while squeezing his chin against his chest. He felt no pain as the knife sliced his skin, didn’t feel it until it cut through to the chin and penetrated the sensitive membrane around the bone.

Then he met the other man’s eyes in the mirror. He pulled Harry’s head back toward his own, making them resemble two friends posing for a picture. Harry felt the blade being pressed against his chin and chest, trying to find a way into one of the two neck arteries, and he knew that within a few seconds it would succeed.

• • •

S
ERGEY WRAPPED THE
whole of his arm around the man’s forehead and jerked with all his might. The man’s head tilted backward, and in the mirror he saw the blade finally find the gap between chin and chest and slide in. The steel bit into the throat and moved to the right, toward the carotid artery.
Blin!
The man had managed to lift his right hand and stick a finger between knife and artery. But Sergey knew the razor-sharp edge would sever a finger. It was just a question of applying enough pressure. He pulled. And pulled.

H
ARRY COULD FEEL
the pressure from the knife, but knew it wouldn’t make any headway. The highest strength-to-weight ratio of any metal; nothing cut through titanium, whether it was made in Hong Kong or not. But the guy was strong, and soon he would realize that the blade wasn’t biting.

He groped with his free hand in front of him, knocking over his drink, and found something.

It was a T-shaped corkscrew of the simplest kind, with a short helix. He grabbed the handle with the point protruding between first and second fingers. Felt panic surge as he heard the knife blade slide over the prosthesis. He forced his eyes down to see in the mirror. See where he should aim. Raised his hand to the side and struck backward, behind his head.

He noticed the other man’s body stiffen as the tip of the corkscrew perforated the skin on the side of his neck. But it was an innocuous, superficial wound and it didn’t stop him. He was beginning to shift the knife to the left. Harry concentrated. The corkscrew demanded a firm, practiced hand. However, a couple of turns was all it needed to penetrate deep into the cork. Harry twisted twice. Felt it slip through the flesh. Bore its way in. Felt soft resistance. The esophagus. Then he pulled.

It was like pulling the bung from the side of a full barrel of red wine.

S
ERGEY
I
VANOV WAS
fully conscious and saw the whole process in the mirror as the first heartbeat sent a jet of blood to the right. His brain registered, analyzed and formed a conclusion: The man whose throat he was trying to cut had found a main artery with a corkscrew and then pulled the vessel from his neck, and it was now pumping out his
lifeblood. Sergey had three further thoughts before the second heartbeat came and consciousness went.