Red Wolf_ A Novel - Liza Marklund [129]
‘I was wondering if the Red Wolf had met the Yellow Dragon recently?’ she said, and listened intently to the noise on the line, voices talking, a metallic clattering in the background, a tannoy announcing something, then a second later the line went dead.
Annika looked at the display. She pressed redial and got an impersonal electronic answering service, and ended the call without speaking.
Where had Karina Björnlund been when she took the call? What was the metallic voice saying over the tannoy in the background?
She shut her eyes and pressed her fingertips to her temples.
‘Last call for SK009 to Stockholm, gate number five’?
A flight announcement, that much was certain. But SK? Didn’t that mean an SAS flight?
She called directory inquiries and asked to be put through to the Scandinavian Airlines System for business customers, and waited in a queue for thirty seconds until the call was picked up.
‘SK009 is the afternoon flight from Kallax to Arlanda,’ the sales assistant at SAS told her.
Annika felt the adrenalin pumping.
Karina Björnlund was at the airport just five kilometres away and either was on her way back down to Stockholm or had just arrived and was collecting her bags. She considered booking her return flight to Stockholm but decided to wait, said thank you and ended the call.
Then she drove towards the roundabout, turned right and glided along frozen roads towards Kallax Airport.
Because of the taxi strike, anyone who didn’t have their own car was forced to take the bus from the airport into Luleå. Annika could see the queue trail back outside the terminal, huddled figures fighting against the cold and their own luggage. She was about to drive past the airport bus towards the hire-car parking lot when she caught sight of Karina Björnlund.
The minister was at the back of the queue, patiently waiting her turn.
Thoughts ricocheted round Annika’s head. What was Björnlund doing here?
She pulled up by the kerb, putting the car in neutral and pulling on the handbrake, stared at the minister and picked up her mobile again. She dialled the department and asked to speak to the minister’s press secretary. She was told that Karina Björnlund had taken the day off.
‘I have a question about the proposal being presented tomorrow,’ Annika said, her eyes glued to the woman at the end of the queue. ‘I have to talk to her today.’
‘I’m afraid that isn’t possible,’ the press secretary said amiably. ‘Karina’s away and won’t be back until late this evening.’
‘Isn’t it a bit odd for a minister to take time off the day before a major proposal is presented to parliament?’ Annika said slowly, staring at Karina Björnlund’s dark fur-coat.
The press secretary hesitated. ‘It’s a private matter,’ she said quietly. ‘Karina was called to an urgent meeting that couldn’t be postponed. It’s very unfortunate timing, I have to agree with you. Karina was very upset that she had to go.’
‘But she’ll be home this evening?’
‘That’s what she was hoping.’
What sort of meeting would make a minister abandon their work? A sick relative, a partner or child or parent? A meeting in Luleå, something she couldn’t avoid, something that took priority over everything else.
The Red Wolf.
The meeting to celebrate the return of the Dragon.
Annika’s fingers started to tingle, and sweat broke out along her back.
‘Thank you,’ she said, and ended the call.
She drove past the bus, and watched in the rear-view mirror as the minister climbed on, then let the bus pass her and stayed a hundred metres behind it. Just before the Bergnäs bridge she decided it was time to get closer.
You’re sitting in there, Annika thought, staring at the vehicle’s filthy back window. You’re on your way somewhere that you don’t want to be seen, but I’m here.
And the angels starting singing gently to her, slowly and mournfully.
‘Oh, shut up!’ Annika yelled, hitting her head with the palm of her hand, and the voices disappeared.
She followed the bus over the bridge and entered