Phantom(102)

‘Of course. Tresko, this is actually pretty urgent.’

‘I don’t give a shit. I don’t have the authorisation to do that. You’ll have to talk to Henmo, and he—’

‘He’s asleep and we don’t have the time!’ Harry shouted. At that moment another shot rang out and a cupboard in the kitchen was hit. A set of dishes slid out with a clatter and smashed on the floor.

‘What on earth was that?’ Tresko asked.

‘What do you think? You can choose between the responsibility for a forty-second blackout or a pile of human bodies.’

Silence at the other end for a few moments. Then it came, slowly:

‘Fancy that, eh, Harry? Now I’m sitting here and I’m in charge. You would never have believed that, would you, eh?’

Harry took a deep breath. Saw a shadow glide across the terrace. ‘No, Tresko. I wouldn’t have believed it. Can you—’

‘You and Øystein never thought I’d amount to much, did you?’

‘No, we made a big booboo there.’

‘What about saying pleas—’

‘Turn that fucking electricity off!’ Harry yelled. And heard the dial tone. He got to his feet, took the elderly woman under his arm and half dragged her into the bathroom. ‘Stay here,’ he whispered, closing the door behind him and running to the open front door. He charged into the light, steeling himself for the deluge of bullets.

And then everything went black.

So black that he landed on the flagstones and rolled forward thinking for a confused instant that he was dead. Before he realised that Asbjørn ‘Tresko’ Treschow had flicked the switch, pressed the key or whatever it was they did at the substation. And that he had forty seconds.

Harry ran blind into the pitch black. Stumbled over the picket fence, felt tarmac under his feet and ran on. Heard shouting and sirens coming closer. But also the growl of a powerful car engine starting up. Harry kept to the right, could see enough to stay on the road. He was south of Frogner Park. There was a chance he would make it. He passed darkened detached houses, trees, forest. The district was still without electricity. The car engine was coming closer. He lurched left into the car park by the tennis courts. A puddle in the gravel almost brought him to grief, but he stumbled on. The only objects reflecting enough light to be seen were the white chalk stripes on the tennis courts behind the wire fence. Harry saw the outline of the OTC clubhouse. He sprinted to the wall in front of the dressing-room door and dived headlong as the light from two car headlamps swept across. He landed and rolled sideways on the concrete. It was a soft landing, but nevertheless it made him dizzy.

He lay as still as a mouse, waiting.

Heard nothing.

Stared up into the dark night.

Then, without warning, he was dazzled by light.

The outside lamp beneath the roof. The electricity was back.

Harry lay for two minutes listening to the sirens. Cars came and went on the road by the clubhouse. The search parties. The area was probably already surrounded. Soon they would be bringing in the dogs.

He couldn’t move away, so he would have to break into the building.

He stood up, peered over the edge of the wall.

Saw the box with the red light and the keypad beside the door.

The year the king was born. God knows when that was.

He visualised a photo from a gossip mag and tried 1941. It beeped and he wrenched at the door handle. Locked. Hang on, hadn’t the king just been born when the family went to London in 1940? 1939? Bit older maybe. Harry feared it would be three tries and you’re out. 1938. Grabbed the handle. Shit. 1937? Green light. The door opened.

Harry slipped in and heard the door lock behind him.

Silence. Safe.

He switched on the light.

Dressing room. Narrow wooden benches. Iron cabinets.

It was only now that he realised how exhausted he was. He could stay here until dawn, until the hunt had been called off. He inspected the dressing room. A sink with a mirror. Four showers. One toilet. He opened a heavy wooden door at the end of the room.

A sauna.

He went in and let the door close behind him. The smell of wood. He lay down on one of the broad benches by the cold stove. Closed his eyes.





30

THERE WERE THREE of them. They were running down a corridor, holding each other’s hands, and Harry shouted that they would have to hold tight when the avalanche hit so they wouldn’t be separated. He heard the snow coming behind them, first as a rumble, next as a roar. Then it was there, the white darkness, the black chaos. He clung on as hard as he could, yet still he felt their hands slipping from his.

Harry woke with a start. Looked at his watch and saw he had been asleep for three hours. He let out his breath in a long wheeze as though he had been holding it. His body felt battered and bruised. His neck ached. He had a thundering headache. And he was sweating. Was so drenched in sweat that his suit had dark patches. He didn’t need to turn to see the reason. The stove. Someone had switched on the sauna.