he said. “We got onto a trail, and had to find out where it led.”
“And where did it lead?”
Marin did not answer for a minute. He sipped his coffee, then set the mug on the post beside him.
“Torgrim,” he said. “You arrived for me like an angel, in the square, in Orfeoplatz. I owe you my life. And now you have given us a greater gift. Your work in Hamburg has shown us what we are dealing with. This is news of enormous importance, I can assure you. However, it is also very dangerous. Simply the knowledge that twelve S-400 missiles are on the ship is like a target posted to your back. And now, I am afraid, they know who you are. They know your name, they know your work, they know everything about you. What Sasha was able to discover they will be able to discover, easily. Except, perhaps, your whereabouts at this minute.”
“What are you saying?”
“I am saying that I have put your life in danger, and I am distressed and sorry.”
Rygg shrugged. “I’ve been through worse,” he said. “I’ll deal with it.”
Marin seemed not to have heard him. “However, we have put in place some measures.”
“Yes?”
“There are … we have done some things – ‘pulled some strings’, I think the English say – to demonstrate that you were not in Hamburg.”
“They were in the hotel room, Marin. It’s over.”
“Already the records of your stay at the hotel have been wiped. We have intercepted a message from their Hamburg agent – in fact, the woman who came after you on Speicherstadt – and altered it slightly, to the effect that she was mistaken. It was not in fact Torgrim Rygg she saw outside the Café Mendelssohn, but a man with a mustache and yellow hair. We have provided evidence that you were at a meeting in Langenfelde.”
“ Jøss ! You can do that?”
“There is no privacy anymore, as I told you.”
“So I’m in the clear?”
“As clear as we can make it. The funds have been transferred to your account. You will find an airline ticket to Oslo in your suitcase.”
“For when?”
“For this evening.”
Rygg was silent. He held the mug against his lower lip, letting the steam waft up against his cheek. A breeze had risen, and the spume of cloud along the snowcaps was already eroding. It was going to be a pretty day.
“Is that what you were doing all night?”
“No, we accomplished this in the evening.”
“So what kept you up?”
Marin got down from his perch. He leaned back against the fence and crossed his arms. “Now that you are no longer in our employ, so to speak, Torgrim,” he said, “I do not wish to further encumber you. You know, better than me perhaps, that information is the equivalent of a weapon. Like a bomb in your pocket.”
“ Slutt å kødde . Don’t fuck around with me, Marin. You’re onto something, aren’t you? Tell me what it is.”
Marin nodded. “We are onto something.”
“And you’re not going to let me in on it?”
Marin shook his head.
“But the pictures,” Rygg said. “Yuri’s photo. Wasn’t that enough? You know it’s the S-400.”
“In my line of journalism it is not enough, I am afraid. Images, and especially digital images, are not considered evidence these days. I am certain that the Alpensturm is carrying a load of twelve S-400 missiles. But before I make my report, I need to know who is behind the transaction, and where the shipment is heading.”
Rygg looked up at the mountains again. A sudden image of the gray screen in his cubicle at Aker Brygge, the scrolling numbers, floated against the backdrop of clouds and forest. It made him nauseous to think of flying back into Oslo, jerking with the traffic along the highway to Drammen, past the silos and old factories, to his grim apartment. Suddenly he heaved himself free of the fence and stood before Marin.
“I’m not going back,” he said. He brandished his mug at Marin, who looked very small and pale in the sunshine.
“I think you will be safe; do not
“And where did it lead?”
Marin did not answer for a minute. He sipped his coffee, then set the mug on the post beside him.
“Torgrim,” he said. “You arrived for me like an angel, in the square, in Orfeoplatz. I owe you my life. And now you have given us a greater gift. Your work in Hamburg has shown us what we are dealing with. This is news of enormous importance, I can assure you. However, it is also very dangerous. Simply the knowledge that twelve S-400 missiles are on the ship is like a target posted to your back. And now, I am afraid, they know who you are. They know your name, they know your work, they know everything about you. What Sasha was able to discover they will be able to discover, easily. Except, perhaps, your whereabouts at this minute.”
“What are you saying?”
“I am saying that I have put your life in danger, and I am distressed and sorry.”
Rygg shrugged. “I’ve been through worse,” he said. “I’ll deal with it.”
Marin seemed not to have heard him. “However, we have put in place some measures.”
“Yes?”
“There are … we have done some things – ‘pulled some strings’, I think the English say – to demonstrate that you were not in Hamburg.”
“They were in the hotel room, Marin. It’s over.”
“Already the records of your stay at the hotel have been wiped. We have intercepted a message from their Hamburg agent – in fact, the woman who came after you on Speicherstadt – and altered it slightly, to the effect that she was mistaken. It was not in fact Torgrim Rygg she saw outside the Café Mendelssohn, but a man with a mustache and yellow hair. We have provided evidence that you were at a meeting in Langenfelde.”
“ Jøss ! You can do that?”
“There is no privacy anymore, as I told you.”
“So I’m in the clear?”
“As clear as we can make it. The funds have been transferred to your account. You will find an airline ticket to Oslo in your suitcase.”
“For when?”
“For this evening.”
Rygg was silent. He held the mug against his lower lip, letting the steam waft up against his cheek. A breeze had risen, and the spume of cloud along the snowcaps was already eroding. It was going to be a pretty day.
“Is that what you were doing all night?”
“No, we accomplished this in the evening.”
“So what kept you up?”
Marin got down from his perch. He leaned back against the fence and crossed his arms. “Now that you are no longer in our employ, so to speak, Torgrim,” he said, “I do not wish to further encumber you. You know, better than me perhaps, that information is the equivalent of a weapon. Like a bomb in your pocket.”
“ Slutt å kødde . Don’t fuck around with me, Marin. You’re onto something, aren’t you? Tell me what it is.”
Marin nodded. “We are onto something.”
“And you’re not going to let me in on it?”
Marin shook his head.
“But the pictures,” Rygg said. “Yuri’s photo. Wasn’t that enough? You know it’s the S-400.”
“In my line of journalism it is not enough, I am afraid. Images, and especially digital images, are not considered evidence these days. I am certain that the Alpensturm is carrying a load of twelve S-400 missiles. But before I make my report, I need to know who is behind the transaction, and where the shipment is heading.”
Rygg looked up at the mountains again. A sudden image of the gray screen in his cubicle at Aker Brygge, the scrolling numbers, floated against the backdrop of clouds and forest. It made him nauseous to think of flying back into Oslo, jerking with the traffic along the highway to Drammen, past the silos and old factories, to his grim apartment. Suddenly he heaved himself free of the fence and stood before Marin.
“I’m not going back,” he said. He brandished his mug at Marin, who looked very small and pale in the sunshine.
“I think you will be safe; do not
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