The Ice Cage — A Scandinavian Crime Thriller set in the Nordic Winter (The Baltic Trilogy) (19 page)

‘
I’m really sorry. O
bviously
I’
ll cover all the costs
.
’

Thor
didn’t even blink. He
was
definitely
done talking about the snowmobile
now that
the facts had been established. I had to stop apologising and
move on.

‘
Henrik went to Boeck’s church
twice.
Any idea why he would have
returned in the mi
ddle of the night?
’

Thor shook his head.

‘
What do you know about Boeck?
’

‘
What do you want to know?
’

‘
What was his relation to my father?
’

‘
Henke took photos for him. Go to the museum and you’ll see what Boeck’s about.
’

‘
What do you think?
’

‘
A mainlander f
ull of fancy ideas.
’

‘
Do you like him?
’

‘
I don’t care a
s long as
I don’t have to visit any museums
.
’

Thor’s sulking wasn’t getting me an
ywhere.
I had to return
to t
he church
, b
ut how?
I wasn’t going to ask Thor to lend me
another snowmobile.

38

I decided to skate.
At least
I’d be discreeter
. My father’s blades
were a tight fit
–
like a second s
kin, which wa
s ideal
for skating.
It would take a good hour
to reach
the
church bay
, but I knew the way now and I was taking a
dry change of clothes, w
ell wrapped in a sealed plastic bag, in case
I went thr
ough the ice again. A
nd no cott
on!
I borrowed a couple of base layers from my father’s expedition wardrobe.
I wasn’t going to get caught out.
I
also took a
head torch, o
nly to be used in
an
emergency.
I’m not quite sure what I was worrying about, as there was no tangible threat, but Anna’s di
sappearance didn’t reassure me.

Setting of
f
in the moonlight, i
t took me a goo
d 20 m
inutes to find my skating
rhythm, after which
I was committed to the movement and
the skating
totally absorbed me
, u
ntil I heard the sc
reams.

They echoed
through the night
and
guided me to the church
. It
sounded like a woman
. The silence carr
ied her pain
t
hrough the darkness and
m
y instinctive reaction was to rush to her help, but I didn’t know what was ahead.
So w
hen I was around the corner from the bay, I
hung the skates on a tree
and cut through the
peninsula on foot
.
I’d be too exposed s
kating into the bay.

As I was walking through the pines, t
he screaming stopped
and I could hear
m
y footsteps
crackling
through the night
on the hardened snow
.
I was hoping the snow
and the trees were
absorbing
most
of
the noise
and that it couldn’t be heard from a distance.
It was wishful thinking, because
suddenly
a beam of
light
shone through the trunks
and
I t
hrew myself flat on the ground. A
second beam moved past above my head, its reach constantly changing as it w
as c
ut short by the tree trunks.
The beams playing the trunks reminded me of a silent string instrument, but there we no musicians. All
I could hear
was
t
wo men muttering to each other, then a
snowmo
bile driving off. I lay still and d
idn’t dare
move until long after they’d gone.

When I
finally
did,
I walked on to the bay, hiding behind the trees as I went. Having reached the frozen water’s edge, I could see the
church further down the shore
,
m
aybe 75 metres
away
. There was light
in
the windows. The easiest way
to approach it
woul
d have been via the ice, but
again
I would be too exposed, so
I took my time and continued along the shore, stopping at regular intervals to watch and listen. The two men had nearly found me
, but had
they heard me or had it
simply
been a routine check?

Without realising it,
I almost walked straight into their arms
again. Th
e snow really did absorb
all
the sounds and
I hadn’t heard a thing until I saw them smoking
on the other side of a
tree.
I
was alerted by the cigarette glow
. W
ithout it
,
I would have been caught.
They stamped out their fag
s and disappeared to the back of the church, where a huge chimney
was
sticking up behind the little church tower. I hadn’t noticed it the first time I came
to the bay
.

I understood th
at th
e guards
had to keep moving
–
i
t was too cold to stand still.
Whatever you’r
e wearing at
-
25°C
, if you don’t keep moving you
’ll
freeze to the bone.
What I c
ouldn’t understand was why they were there
. What could they be guarding?
I could hear moaning and sne
aked up to a window.
When I peered in I saw a
man in a soldier’s uniform
trying to kiss a young woman who looked like Anna. When she
wouldn’t
kiss him, he slapped her and a second soldier
went through the same scenario, but this time he ripped her dress off and pushed her onto a table. The girl screamed with terror
. I
couldn’t identify the uniforms
or see their face
s
, but one of them had a pony
tail.
It was difficult to tell
if it was really
Anna
. I w
as too shocked to think clearly and
I’d
only seen her in a
photo
–
a happy snap.
I heard
another male
voice
from the
corner of the room
,
but
couldn’t see him
.

For a mo
ment
, I thought Anna had
spotted me and
felt her pleading look.
I had to do something
,
but
what?
I
stood
no chance against them.
I couldn’t come up with a rational solution
and acted intuitively.
I
just wanted it to stop. I banged
at the window and dived under
the church. It was built on
rounded
rocks with
gaps underneath and
I crawled as far in as I could while there was still noise and agitation from inside. It didn’t take long for the torches and
shouts to come out. My vision was limited to
a gap the size of a
small
tel
evision
screen
alternating between darkness and
flashes of torch light
.
The male
voice
barking
out
orders
to the guards
was fam
iliar, but I couldn’t place it.
When o
ne of the guards suggested it might have been a bi
rd,
hi
s
response was immediate.

‘
My grandma used to say that when a bird hits a window, someone you know is abou
t to die. You wouldn’t want
that
to be you
, would you? You’d better find that ‘bird’ very quickly.
’

I recognised
Boeck’s voice.
He was
in
on it.
He’
d fooled
me
with his smart
appearance.
I had to get h
elp. I couldn’t crawl backwards, so
I continued to the other side of the church and peered out. Everything seemed to have gone quiet, but I couldn’t take any risks. I rolled over to the shadow of a pine tree a good 2
0 metres from the church and w
aited. There was
still
no s
ign of anyone having spotted me, so
I carried
on to the next tree and kept going, stopping
behind
every
trunk
to check I wasn’t
being
fo
llowed. I got all the way to my
skates
hanging on the tree
. As I was taking them dow
n,
I heard something behind me and turned to face the
two guards stepping out from behind
a
nother
tree.
Their faces were covered. All I could see was their eyes locked on me. They looked like wolves ready to jump.
I froze,
t
errified after what I’d witnessed in the church.

‘
Come with us.
’

The guard ha
d spoken with what I guessed was a Russian accent, but he could have been
from any former
Soviet republic.

‘
I have to get back.
’

A dumb reply, but I wasn’t sure how to handle the situation. I suspected
their intentions were
unfriendly and t
here were two of them.
The second man pulled a gun o
r was about to.
It was difficult to distinguish in the dark, but h
e reached
for what looked like a holster
. I acted impulsively with the only weapo
n I had
–
the
laced
-
together skates
. Holding one skate, I swung the other at the ma
n with the gun. T
he bl
ade hit him right in the eye
, causing him to howl
with pain. Th
e other man fumbled for his gun, a
major
challenge with
mittens and frozen f
ingers. I had no time to lose and
did my best ever
Olympian hammer thrower impression
as I
swung the
skate for the second time. It hit his body
but his thick winter c
oat took the bulk of the shock
.
I started running through the woods.

I didn’t look back. If he was
destined to catch me, he would, but h
e didn’t need my help
to do it
. I cou
ld hear him running in the snow
behind me. All
I
could do was
to
keep goi
ng, pulsing through the snow
in the hope that
I’d be faster than him.
I was r
unning for my life. At least I was lighte
r.
He looked like he must have been at least 100 kilo
s.
I was just above
80
and tried to choose the toughest terrain to work to my advantage.