by Karen Guyler
A thwacking hit their snowsuits.
Eva held her breath, Luke did the same.
Rubin had fired at them. He’d really intended to kill them. How could he? He was every bit the monster his weapons cache suggested.
The drone’s insistent buzz hovered on the house side of the trees. She didn’t dare move. Luke’s grip on her back tightened. She had to remind herself to breathe, the shallowest breath in.
Then it whipped away, its buzz fading to silence.
They both waited beyond the point the sound had ceased to register.
“That it, do you reckon?” she murmured as though the drone might overhear.
“Only one way to find out.”
Cautiously they got to their feet.
The shimmering waves of the Northern lights hadn’t bloomed beyond a whisper of colour. The moon dominated the sky now, huge and icy blue, turning everything around them into a Christmas card scene. No sound other than their breathing, nothing moving other than the plumes of frosty air they gulped in and out.
Eva retrieved the bullets from their snow suits, her hand trembling just a little.
“Souvenir?” Luke asked.
She held them out on her palm. “For Sadie, the Danish authorities. They look a lot like what she’d got from those murders in Denmark. It was him, these prove it.”
Luke poked one of them. “Good thinking, I can’t imagine they’re standard. Think it’s safe to say our mission’s changed. We’ll need to report in, get clearance as to next steps.”
“Is losing my weapon on my first outing a bad thing?” Eva hesitated to put a foot in the snowsuit. It looked all white and innocent but it felt like she might be putting on a suicide vest.
“It’s not ideal.”
“We have no powers of arrest but Rubin doesn’t know that.”
Luke laughed. “I like your thinking, but him not knowing we survived is a good advantage. I’d like to keep it, for as long as we can, you never know when we might need it. What’s your plan now?”
“It’s 10:04, and Agnetha was definite about bringing the waiter here when Rubin wouldn’t be here.”
“That might have been the case before I brought the house down.” Luke pointed out.
“Fair point but he was going to Denmark, if he’s gone we could have time to look for our weapons and IDs.”
“You mean breaking and entering this time?”
“Probably but if he’s got rid of our hire car, we can’t walk back to Bergen, the chances of hitchhiking from out here are zero. We need to find our skis.” Luke grunted. “Or he might have a skidoo or something. How’re your hot-wiring skills?”
“I can give you a masterclass.”
“I was hoping you’d say that.”
Now she’d totally blown her mission, Luke was being the Luke she’d met last year, the frosty edge had melted away entirely. Had he wanted her to fail?
They trudged back through the snow, retracing the tracks they’d made earlier, as an extra precaution.
Usually getting back from somewhere felt faster, easier, but this was only harder. They could probably assume a rifle wasn’t targeted on them, but their adrenaline rush had faded, leaving them exhausted, wet, hungry and thirsty and probably on the edge of hypothermia. Bodies running on near zero.
“Is this normally how it goes?” Eva asked as they reached the tree-line at the bottom of the property.
“Not always. Sometimes it’s hard.”
She listened for the hum. “It’s back on. Looks like we’re going the long way round.”
“What’re the chances of all the roofs being so weak?” Luke looked beyond the end of the trees to the outbuildings they knew were there. “It’s a bloody long way to walk from this end to their driveway, and time’s not on our side.”
“I’m not the one who fell through it. How’s your shoulder?”
“I’m willing to give it a shot.”
Dropping into the Rubins’ compound from a different outbuilding, Eva strained to hear Luke. The metal roof they’d chosen this time creaked a warning, but he made it over, wincing as he landed beside her. They hugged the shadow of the outbuildings as they approached the house.
One foot over the rise and security lights snapped at them. No disguising their intentions now. Eva forced herself to not freeze, if she’d been seen, she’d been seen. Standing there like a deer wouldn’t help anything.
They reached the back of the house. Nothing, no one shouting or shooting. Just like it was when they climbed into the compound the first time.
20
Every door to Rubin’s house and each of the four garages at the front were locked electronically, a hand access panel beside each one. Even if Eva and Luke had a pick gun, there was no getting into any of them.
Luke peered through a window at the rear of the house, then tapped at it. He pulled out his knife and placed the handle in the bottom corner of the window. The glass crazed into a psychedelic spider’s web that he elbowed into the room.
“That’s impressive.” Eva said.
“Safety feature in triple and double glazing. Also, doesn’t hurt to get your knife from Sadie. This little punch has saved me probably more often than bullets.”
He levered himself in through the window, and the alarm screamed at him. Eva followed, feeling the crunch of broken glass beneath her boots, rather than hearing it above the racket of the clamouring siren.
“You search in here, I’m in the next room.” Luke ordered.
She drew the heavy curtains before switching on the light. A long sideboard and a sparse bookcase were the only places they could be hidden in what was the dining room. The drawers had apparently been organised by someone with OCD. It made for easy searching.
The kitchen was the same, everything gleaming and in its place. The warmth of the house was draining Eva’s reserves. Exhausted after their runs through the snow, at the wrong end of the champagne effects, she wanted to lie down on the sofa, put the fire on and just sleep.
Luke was standing in front of a closed door at the end of the hallway. “Nothing in the. . .” the blaring alarm snatched her words away. “Nothing in the. . .” yelling got her nowhere. She touched his arm. Luke whipped round, his fight stance softening when he saw her.
“Nothing in the kitchen or dining room.” She shouted right at him.
He nodded and gestured at the access panel, leaning closer to her. “This must be his office, he’s either put them in there or in our car to give credence to his story about us.”
Eva’s turn to lean close to him. “Your punch no help there?”
“Not unless I don’t mind being electrocuted. If he hasn’t taken his sat phone with him, it’s in there.”
“If we can turn the power off, could you break the panel?” She yelled.
He shrugged. “Probably but I’m guessing he has other safeguards that’ll kick in then. He could have a generator, solar powered batteries, he’s got enough panels on the roof, he could be off the supply entirely, which probably means no transport back to Bergen.”
Eva didn’t need to hear his last words, swallowed by the alarm as they were. “Then we eat something and walk it.”
“I knew this mission would be trouble,” Luke shook his head. “Should never have taken it.” Then she understood, because she’d failed it, so had he. But she was losing more.
“As I failed every single objective, it’s safe to say you won’t have to work with me again,” the yelling was easy now, “once I get us back to Bergen—”
“You don’t get it,” Luke shouted.
“So you keep telling me.”
The alarm stopped and the silence that collapsed on to everything made them both start.
“What the hell are you doing in my house?” Agnetha, a picture of righteous fury, demanded.
“Looking for your husband.”
“By breaking in? How did you find this place?”
Eva could see the moment she realised she’d understood he
r giving the address to Ralph. “You said you don’t speak Norwegian.”
“I don’t,” Eva agreed, “but Google Translate does.”
“You can call the police.” Luke held his hands away from his body, showing her he posed no threat. “They’ll vouch for us, we’re Interpol.”
Agnetha looked him up and down, even though his snowsuit was no tux. Her fury softened a little. “You’re with her?”
He nodded. “Partners. You calling us in?”
“That depends. How good are you at the sweet talk?”
“What do I need to sweet talk you about?”
“He’s obviously not here, my husband, since you triggered the alarm.” Her look changed when she added, “we have an open relationship. I’m free to pursue whoever I please.”
“Or pleases you?”
Was Luke flirting with her? Whatever got the job done, Eva supposed.
Agnetha smiled, dropped her fur coat on the floor for a maid to pick up, and sashayed into the lounge. Not the coat that had half the fish market on it, this one looked like a lynx, ready to pounce.
She pointed the remote at the opposite side of the room and ambient lamps turned on in two corners. Then the flames leapt alive again. It was all Eva could do to not rush up to them.
“I’m having a cognac, for you?”
“Our IDs and service weapons, would be a good place to start.” Luke said. “Your husband took them from us.”
“That was a little careless on your part.” She chinked the decanter against a heavy glass and the spirit splashed into it.
“Agnetha, is what’s outside the reason you can’t divorce Carl?” Eva asked.
“What’re you talking about?” Agnetha snapped. “The lynxes are better cared for than if they were in the wild. Ours never go hungry.”
Eva looked at Luke, reveal their hand? He gave a slight nod. “I’m talking about what’s inside the outbuildings. I’m guessing you don’t divorce an arms dealer.”
Agnetha turned away, staring at the curtains as if she was looking right through them at the view outside.
“Who said anything about divorce?”
“You’re unhappy, I could see that when we talked—”
“You don’t know the first thing about me.” She gripped the drinks cabinet.
“There might be some room to make a deal for you,” Luke said, “if you help bring in your husband and give us information on who he’s been selling the weapons to. We can use that as leverage for your future.”
“My future’s well assured, thanks very much. I won’t be telling you anything about his agenda.” She picked up the remote again, pointing at the cabinet this time and the door popped open. She turned to face them and Eva recognised the only handgun she knew, her or Luke’s Glock.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Luke said as calmly as if she were just offering him a drink. “Shooting an Interpol agent will bring heat on you that you really can do without.”
Eva glanced around the room. What could she use as a weapon? The cushions on the sofa were too big and unwieldy, the china coasters on the coffee table? Agnetha would have shot her before she grabbed one.
“If you hurt us, we can’t help you.” Eva tried for reasonable.
A man’s voice behind them interrupted. Eva snapped around. A gunshot filled the space.
21
The stunned silence erupted as Luke ran at Agnetha. She fired into the ceiling and he stopped as though she’d shot him.
“I didn’t say move. Now you know I’m not afraid to use this and we have a dead civilian, shot by one of you two, I won’t have any trouble, will I?”
“Can I. . .?” Eva gestured at Ralph, lying on the floor.
“No point, I’m a crack shot. I meant him to be dead, he’s dead.” She sighed. “Look what you made me do. Such a waste of that pretty face and body.”
She was like a different person to the one Eva had spent time with in the champagne bar. This was the Agnetha who had pressed the button to confirm her husband’s assassination order. She laughed. “You look shocked, but married to an arms dealer, it’s just makes sense to be a better shot than he is.” She hefted the Glock on her open palm. “Who does this belong to?”
Eva glanced at Luke. She had no idea.
“It’s mine.” They said it together.
Agnetha laughed again. “How noble. Well, Erika and?” She raised her eyebrows at Luke.
“Pierre,” he gave his cover name.
“Pierre, we could have had such fun, but maybe you’re not enough of a bad boy for me. I’ll give you a head start before I call Ralph’s unfortunate demise into the authorities. But not a long one, I want them to catch you after all. What are you waiting for? Get out.” She jabbed at the hallway with the gun. “Now.”
The front door closed behind them with a solid thunk and the electronic sound of locking.
“Back in the window to rush her?” Eva asked.
“Unless you have a better idea. I’m so over this sodding cold and not a little fed up with the Rubins.”
The security lights bathing the front of the house with their spotlights went dark.
Eva closed her eyes to help her night vision wake up. It felt colder outside now they’d been in the warmth inside. She could almost wish she’d grabbed up the fur coat.
“Now?” she asked.
“Give her a couple of minutes, let her think we’ve gone. Element of surprise is always best if you have it firmly on your side.”
Eva’s breath sighed out in a white stream. All hints that the Northern lights would play were cloaked now by the ethereally deep, dark sky.
And then she caught it. Luke snapped a look at her. He’d heard it, too.
“Is that what I think it is?”
The low growl came again.
She nodded. “Definitely the lynx, definitely not in its enclosure.”
“You know anything about them?”
“A bit, they’re in Sweden too, but they’re usually shy of humans, not even as bold as the urban foxes in London. But these two aren’t completely wild, they’re used to humans.” Eva tried to think of when her father and godfather had taken her out into the Swedish countryside. “Whatever you do don’t run. Its instinct is to chase, if you run you’re acting like prey and that’ll make him a predator.”
“Can we climb out of their way?” Luke was checking out the trees that ran the length of the driveway, looking behind him as though he was thinking about trying to get on the roof.
“They climb better than us.”
The low rumble was closer.
“Hold your arms out, make yourself seem bigger.” Eva added.
She saw it then, its beautiful fluidity, a weapon in motion, padding through its natural element. Stalking. Right towards them.
Eva yelled. “See it?”
“We doing this for a reason?” Luke shouted back.
“Being assertive. Showing it we’re the boss.”
The yelling was already exhausting.
The cat bared its teeth, Eva hoped it was just for show, it was apparently well fed going by the pile of bones she’d fallen beside. And she, oh God, it was–those bones; she realised what she’d seen. Human bones. They were in more danger than she thought.
“Behind the pillars,” she yelled at Luke, shuffling to keep the far too thin wooden column between her and the big cat.
The lynx paused, head up, alert. Stared at her. Eva roared at it. She’d be dinner for sure if they were hungry, they were probably sizing her up already as easier to subdue than Luke. Holding her arms out further away from her body, she yelled, “Go on, get away.”
The lynx stood still, watching.
“Let’s get inside the house.” Eva said. “Walk backwards though, don’t turn your back on it. Go, I’ll follow.”
Luke’s ski boots crunched on the trampled snow behind her, freezing now to ice. The lynx watched.
Eva’s legs were tensed ready to run. Deliberately she took one
slow step backwards, then another. Don’t bolt, slow steps away.
A thud behind her, a hiss.
“Luke, is it the other cat?”
She couldn’t turn around, take her gaze off the one in front of her in case her stare was the only thing holding it still.
“Luke, what’re you doing?” She forced her panic-edged words out past her dry mouth. “Luke?” She shouted.
“Slight deviation from the plan.” He gasped.
“Talk to me.”
But he didn’t.
“Luke?” Eva took two steps to her left, skirting where he was behind her. Past his boots, on the ground his feet flopped outwards. A snapshot of him having been knocked unconscious by Charles at the airport hit her for the second time that day. Damn him, he wasn’t going to haunt everything she ever did. She had to let go of him and the hurt he’d caused.
Keeping her gaze on the cat, Eva slowly backtracked to Luke. He’d knocked himself out or fainted.
Nothing for it. She could only take care of one of them right then. Eva pulled in a frosted breath and, screaming, charged at the lynx.
22
Yelling like a mad woman, arms waving, slipping on the fast icing compacted snow, Eva chased the lynx. It wasn’t what it was used to. In a sleekly fluid motion, it folded in on itself and bounded away, setting off the security lights.
“Yeah, you run.” She shouted after it. “You keep going, leave us alone.”
She squatted beside Luke who’d regained consciousness. “What happened?”
“I slipped, shoulder.” He breathed.
“It looks like you might have dislocated it. That’s a hospital trip. Unless you’ve done this a lot of times and popping it back in is a hidden superpower?”
He shook his head, hissed out the pain. “I wish, first time, not intending to do it again.”
“I’m going to have a chat with the lady of the house, show her it’s in her interests to help us. Up you come, I’ll get you behind the pillar.”
“Think I’m good here.”
“No, the cat could come back. Come on.” She staggered beneath his weight as he struggled to standing, hissing out the pain, on the edge of fainting again. “Easy mission, right?” she tried to take his mind off it.
