The Bodyguard (21 page)

“Vasiliev is rich enough to buy off anyone. Finnish politicians have ludicrously low salaries and any extra income has to be carefully documented. I wanted to hear from Lehmusvuo why she was so critical of the gas pipeline. Who knows, maybe she works for Vasiliev, too. Wouldn’t that be the best cover: a representative for an idealistic party? I grew up in Russia under the Communist regime. You never knew who was spying on you. Vasiliev even has a man inside Europol. He used to work for me but quit; I guess he got tired of me.”

My heart skipped a beat. Vasiliev’s man inside Europol; someone who’d also worked for Paskevich.

“I assume you mean David Stahl? I need to let Vasiliev know that this guy is so transparent that even slime like you can see through him!”

“No, Anita told me about him when we met for the last time. We could’ve been so good togethe
r . . .
” Tears welled up in his eyes, and I stifled the urge to kick him in the crotch. Inside I was nothing but cold ice and black hatred, putting all my energy into finding out everything Paskevich was willing to spill.

“How about Usko Syrjänen, then? How’s he connected to Vasiliev?”

“They had some joint business ventures. Vasiliev’s company holds stock in Syrjänen’s most recent shopping paradise. Do you know how much energy is required to run all these spas and malls? The majority of Syrjänen’s revenue comes from those businesses. I bet Vasiliev is selling oil to Syrjänen for less than the market rate.

“How the hell did you find that out?” I yelled. Paskevich started to whimper. It really did pay off to pretend I was Vasiliev’s ally. Maybe I could locate that killer instinct after all.

“Anita told me,” Paskevich sobbed. “She discovered that Syrjänen and Vasiliev were working together. I wanted to find out whether the Finnish government knew about it. Lehmusvuo and Anita were acquaintances. Neither Russians nor Finns want to jeopardize the gas pipeline. I was doing my country a favor.”

“And afterward they’d ignore your questionable business ventures, right?” It was quite amusing that even though the Russian militia had suspected Paskevich of murdering Anita Nuutinen, nobody wanted to touch him because he had friends in high places. The system had cut off its own hand.

“I love Russia. We finally have a leader who can turn the country into a democracy. We’ve finally gotten rid of the czar and the Communists; we’re no longer a country run by an oligarchy.”

“And you don’t consider yourself part of an oligarchy, Valya? Well, you are a small-timer next to Vasiliev and his ilk. If I let you live, you better be careful. If you send people after me, even if they kill me, someone on my team will eventually find you. You’re following your dick and letting any woman who’s willing to play with you come into the house, with no security cameras installed anywhere. Even your motion detectors are primitive! You better have at least a fucking burglar alarm here!” I kicked the tumbler on the floor, enjoying my role as a psychotic hellion a little too much. This woman could blow Paskevich’s balls off at any moment.

“If you work with me, I’ll let Boris Vasilievich know what a good guy you are. I can tell him that you’re just a harmless minnow who will never again swim with the big fish. Call Trankov and tell him to bring Lehmusvuo over here.”

I stepped toward his chair. The puddle of urine under him was vile. Paskevich had sat with his legs wide apart so the liquid wouldn’t get on his shiny shoes. I moved the drink tray and grabbed the tablecloth from underneath, then soaked it in the puddle and threw it into the darkest corner of the room. Then I took his pants off, and wiped him down with another tablecloth. Touching his privates didn’t do a thing for me. I felt nothing, not even disgust. He was just a piece of meat.

“We’ve had a good time tonight, haven’t we, Valya? Now I’d like to see the birthday present Trankov brought you. I would like to have a chat with Lehmusvuo, as well—after all, it’s why I came. We had a tracker on her, which is how I found my way here. And I have implanted one in you, too. Don’t bother looking for it; you won’t find it. We are in different leagues, you and I. Next time you should choose your hairdresser with better care. Now, call Trankov, and speak in English.”

Paskevich did. This was, of course, a hell of a risk, as I had no idea how Helena would react when she saw me in this bondage gear. Where were Sami and the maids? I asked Paskevich when he was done with his phone call. He was picking through his hair as if looking for fleas.

“Lena and Lyuba are already in bed. Their room is behind the kitchen.”

“You don’t support the oligarchy, but you treat your kitchen staff like sex slaves?”

“I pay them well. You know, no one’s forcing them to be here. Sami sleeps upstairs with his wife, at the end of the hall where the guest rooms are. He keeps his cell on because he knows I might need him at any time.”

I took Paskevich’s phone and threw it into the glowing embers, still hot enough to ruin the phone immediately. If only I could get rid of Trankov and Paskevich for a second, I could take off with Helena. I just couldn’t let Trankov see me. If Helena was still unconscious, I’d need to carry her to the car. But first I had to get some decent clothes and go get my backpack—my car keys were there.

“Repetition is the greatest teacher, dear Valya. Neither one of us was here: not me, not Helena Lehmusvuo. As a matter of fact, you know nothing about Lehmusvuo. We’ve been after her for so long but she’s hardly ever alone, and we wanted to fly under the radar. Now I can simply take her to Boris Vasilievich. Maybe your little favor will convince him to treat you with kindness.”

There was a knock on the door, and I backed toward it with my gun still pointing at Paskevich. I opened the door and checked the lock with my hand at the same time. Shit, it couldn’t be locked from the outside. How about the kitchen? At least I could get out of the house through there, but I’d have to lock up Paskevich and Trankov elsewhere.

I couldn’t worry about it now. When Trankov stepped into the room, dragging a dazed Helena by her armpits, I knocked him out with a strategically placed palm strike. Mike Virtue would’ve given me an A-plus. Helena slumped toward the wall and slowly melted onto the floor. It was better that way. Although she was a smart woman and knew I’d been following her with the tracker, there’s no telling what she’d reveal in a panicked state.

I used Paskevich’s pants to gag him. Bite on this, you son of a bitch. It wouldn’t be long until either the maids or Sami would wake up to his muffled cries or until he loosened the ropes around his wrists, but I should have just enough time to get Helena to my car. I tossed her over my shoulder—she was lighter than I’d imagined—and barricaded the door as best as I could with an armchair and a small table from the hallway. I ran up the stairs to the chamber of horrors, laid Helena on the bed, and gratefully removed the chaps and boots. I didn’t have time to figure out how to take the string shirt off, so I left it on under the rest of my clothes. I put my spare clips into my pants pocket and strapped on my holster over my shirt. Then I lifted Helena over my shoulder and wrapped my coat around her. When we stepped outside, the lights clicked on, forming a halo around the house. If this didn’t make Sami suspicious, then I didn’t know what would. I began running. When I got to the dark road I could feel Helena retching. I gently placed her on her feet and held her as she threw up.

“Hilja, is that really you? Where am I?”

“You’re safe.”

“How did I get here?”

“It doesn’t matter right now. Come on, we have to get to the car.” I helped her through the rain and mud; the rental car would get filthy, but it was just a car. Helena was welcome to throw up in it if she wanted to.

The car started without a hitch and rolled steadily on the rain-ravaged road. There were no other people out—the world was empty and deserted, as if just created, as if dead.

Helena nodded off next to me, waking up to the occasional bump or turn. I forced myself to focus on driving. I couldn’t let myself think about the soul-crushing truth that was pounding in my head.

David Stahl was a double agent. David Stahl worked for the oil oligarch Boris Vasilievich Vasiliev. David Stahl was nothing but a bastard.

21

It was still dark when we got back to Kirkkonummi. The newspaper had already been delivered, its front page full of stories about how the True Finns party had won the election. Helena had been dozing off the entire way home, and only had enough energy to walk into the foyer before collapsing into a foul-smelling heap. I pulled her back to her feet and dragged her upstairs to the shower. I took her clothes off; Helena followed my instructions like a small child. I threw her clothes into the washer.

“Want me to wash your hair?”

“No, leave it. Where have we been?”

“In Bromarf, at Valentin Paskevich’s villa. His little helper Yuri Trankov kidnapped you. Go ahead and sleep if you feel like it. I’ll let the cabinet know that you’ll be taking the day off. Didn’t you have a post-election group meeting scheduled this morning, or is it in the afternoon?”

“I don’t remember. Where’s my cell phone? My schedule is in it.”

Most likely Trankov had tossed her cell phone into a ditch or the ocean. My body was screaming for sleep, but I had more work to do. I dried Helena with a towel and dressed her in the warmest pajamas I could find. I even tried brushing her teeth, knowing how terrible her mouth would taste after throwing up as violently as she had. I’d wait until the morning before I’d make her talk: What exactly did she know about Boris Vasiliev and Usko Syrjänen? Why did Vasiliev need Hiidenniemi? Chief Constable Laitio had been threatening Paskevich, but Paskevich had been too scared to mention Vasiliev to Laitio. I wouldn’t be.

I turned my computer on and typed up my notes on everything I knew. Reiska’s narrow bed was extremely inviting. Even without sheets, it looked like the most blissful place in the world. I went to turn all the burglar alarms back on and then hit the hay.

I woke up after noon to a phone ringing. It was one of the cabinet secretaries, asking how Helena was feeling. I said she was still ill. The secretary said she was sorry to hear that, but chuckled at how many others had been tired as well after the victory celebrations. I read the paper more closely to see if anyone had reported the car accident. How was Sarita doing? The terrible rains had been the cause of multiple crashes, and the accident in Karjaa was covered in a single paragraph—the woman driving the car was critically injured, but stable. I needed to send her some flowers as a thank-you for making my job so much easier.

I brewed a pot of strong coffee and fried some eggs. Helena must have been starving after what she’d been through. I peeked into her room. She was still asleep. Her damp hair had dried and was sticking up like fuzz on a troll’s head; her face was pale and narrow. She still looked so fragile. Paskevich would never bother her again, but I couldn’t guarantee Vasiliev wouldn’t. I thought about Marina Andreyevna Mihailova, who was even smaller and frailer than Helena; I wanted to protect them both. It had been a mistake to take Helena home—we should’ve gone to a safe house, somewhere where nobody could find her. Paskevich assumed that I worked for Vasiliev and I’d whisked her away. If Helena nonchalantly returned to the public eye, Paskevich would know he had been fooled. Maybe I could find a doctor who could insist she take a leave of absence. They must have doctors on staff at the cabinet, but I wasn’t sure if they could be trusted to keep their mouths shut. I avoided doctors like the plague.

I ate my breakfast alone. At one p.m. I went to check on Helena. She was slowly stirring and the bags under her eyes were dark, as if someone had beaten her up. I lowered the blinds in her room. Outside the rain had temporarily stopped; the cloud cover was slowly breaking apart.

“How are you feeling?”

“My head hurts. What happened to me? What did they do to me? I wasn’
t . . .
raped, was I?” Helena’s face was pure terror. I felt sorry for her, remembering what it was like to wake up in similar straits in Moscow. Paskevich’s story had convinced me about one thing—I may not have shot any of the bullets that had killed Anita, but that didn’t make me any less guilty of her murder.

“No, you were dressed when I found you. You took a shower and I didn’t see any bruises on you, either. Are you remembering something? Something they did to you?”

“No.” Helena rose carefully. “The room is spinning.”

“Are you nauseated? Should I help you to the bathroom?”

“No. I’m just dizzy. And thirsty.”

“There’s some water on your night table and I have breakfast ready. Get up, but take it slow.”

Helena followed my instructions. I handed her a pair of slippers and a robe, and walked in front of her down the stairs, ready to grab her should she waver.

“What do you remember?” I asked when she was on her second cup of coffee, the color returning to her cheeks.

“Just flashes here and there. I came home for a change of clothes. No offense, but I needed some time alone. It’s a rare treat these days. I was going to take the bus, but when I left the house it was pouring, so I thought about getting a cab. I opened my umbrella, which prevented me from seeing what was in front of me. I heard a vehicle stop right in front of me and, next thing I knew, a man had pulled me into the car and was poking me with a needle. I remember lying on some boards in the dark, the smell of smoke all around me, and then I was dragged through the rain into a brightly lit building, and there you were. Aside from that, I have no clue what happened.”

“Trankov must’ve had you drugged the entire time. You were a birthday present for his boss. The present his other minion got him wasn’t exactly what he’d wanted. Instead of the cowgirl he’d paid for, Paskevich got me.” I told Helena what had happened without getting into any of the unsavory details, and then returned to the subject at hand. “So Paskevich was after you, but not for the reason we suspected. He wanted to know how much you knew about Vasiliev’s business.”

Helena’s eyes grew wide. Combined with the dark bags under her eyes and her pale skin, she looked like a frightened panda.

“Does Paskevich know that I’m helping Marina Andreyevna to find out what Vasiliev is really up to? Did he tell Vasiliev about that?”

“Weren’t you listening to me? Paskevich thinks that I work for Vasiliev, and that I took you to see Vasiliev. Who is this guy and what does he want with Hiidenniemi?” I asked.

“According to Marina Andreyevna, Vasiliev is an evil, power-hungry creep. He’s upset that with Putin and Medvedev in charge, there’s a limit to how much power he can grab. He doesn’t want to criticize Putin’s government too directly—he’s worried he’ll end up like Hodorovsky.”

“Who?”

“This oligarch Putin put behind bars. Hodorovsky spoke out publicly against Putin and did his best to buy off Duma members. Marina doesn’t know whether Vasiliev is trying to do the same, or whether he’s just trying to create chaos. He’s against the pipeline venture in the Gulf of Finland, so I assume that gaining access to Hiidenniemi has something to do with that gas pipeline. I doubt he’s interested in the value of the land—he’ll let Syrjänen handle that—but the large bodies of water around the property are a different matter entirely.” Helena set down her coffee cup. “There’s been a lot of talk about how the pipeline will affect the surrounding marine life, and researchers have already found evidence of increased levels of methane in the area. Marina Andreyevna suspects that Vasiliev is trying to slow down or even halt the project by polluting the waters near Hiidenniemi and blaming it on the pipeline.”

“Has this Vasiliev character been threatening you?”

“No. It’s been just Paskevich—or, well, actually, I don’t know. I never thought Vasiliev was behind Anita’s murder—I always thought it was Paskevich simply seeking revenge. When I heard about it, I was upset and went public with my suspicions, knowing that Paskevich had connections to the militia and could have paid them to make up the story about a lone drunken murderer. Anita was a Finnish citizen; they should have taken action when a foreigner was murdered. I told you how I’d also received threats in English, right? But I thought they had to do with my friendship with Marina Andreyevna. Vasiliev isn’t her only target. Like I said, the security police special forces are after her.”

I thought about the threats I’d received. They were orchestrated to make me believe that Paskevich was behind them. If the Russian special forces were following Marina Andreyevna Mihailova, they would probably be able to dig up information on Paskevich, as well. We just didn’t know how they’d use all that information.

“So you got in touch with the Central Bureau of Investigation and Chief Constable Laitio about Anita’s murder, and you told Laitio that you thought Paskevich did it?”

“That’s right. And at first I thought that Paskevich had paid you off, too, but Monika vouched for you. She said you’re strong-willed and sometimes a little unpredictable, but you couldn’t be bought. Otherwise I wouldn’t have hired you.”

I would have been in a real pickle without Monika. She was a true friend. But enough with the sentiment—it was time for action.

I told Helena that she should lay low for a few days and not go into work. She claimed that it wasn’t possible—people just didn’t take a leave of absence from the government. The media scrutinized everything, down to what politicians were having for lunch and who they were having it with. And although hospital records were private, the public would soon be speculating about what was wrong with Helena. I asked her whether a doctor from the cabinet could stop by for a visit.

“You’re still in shock after the kidnapping. Doctors can’t breach confidentiality and tell anyone about that. I’ll file a report about the kidnapping because you’re still sick. Where can I find the doctor’s number?”

“I’d rather get Krista here. She’s my primary care physician. But can I at least call her myself? We’ve known each other for ages, and I don’t want to lie to her any more than I have to.”

The doctor came early in the evening. While she examined Helena, I went to buy groceries for the Talludden cabin. I also bought a phone with a wireless connection. It was ridiculously expensive, but Helena would need it while she was in seclusion. I used Reiska Räsänen’s ID to register it. Then I left Laitio a voice mail. As soon as Helena’s leave from work was approved, we headed out to Talludden. I’d told the rental car people that I’d keep the car a bit longer. It made my life easier, and I doubted that any of Paskevich’s guys had memorized the license plate. I didn’t think that the rental place would share the information with anyone else other than the police, either.

As we left the city, I turned to Helena. “I wasn’t completely honest with you before. The cabin is not in Stävö but in Degerby. But it’s a really peaceful place—you only run into elk and the occasional hiker. Should you tell your son that you can’t be reached for a while? I would assume he’s tried calling you already.”

“Aapo is on a college trip to Rome and won’t be back until next week. He won’t miss me.”

Paskevich’s information about David was still burning in my mind. I felt even worse after I got a text message from him when we reached the cabin, forty minutes after we left Helsinki.

Dear Hilja, I’ll be in Finland tomorrow. When can we meet? I yearn for you, David.

I wish I could’ve believed it. I felt sick, but I responded in kind.
Dear David, I’ll be busy for the next couple days, but Thursday might work out. How about that Kopparnäs Inn? Country girl that I am, I prefer it to Torni. With love, Hilja.

Had I truly loved David, I wouldn’t have used that four-letter word yet, but now I despised him, so I felt fine lying. The cabin was cool, so I turned the heat up to seventy-five and lit the fireplace. Helena did her best to convince me that I was wasting too much energy, but she went quiet when I told her that the cabin heated up quickly. I let her stay in the main room and made myself a bed in the loft where I could keep an eye on anyone approaching from either the north or south. I’d check in the morning to see if there had been any new lynx tracks. After making sure that Helena’s tracker was still working—what a blessed device—I installed motion detectors near the cabin and on its doors. Dinner was millet-eggplant stew and spelt crackers from Inkoo. I hadn’t brought any alcohol with me this time—we had to stay alert. We had our late-night tea and retreated to our beds to read. Helena had dragged piles of work with her.

My cell phone was on silent, but around midnight I saw the light blinking. It was Laitio.

“Ilveskero,” I answered.

“Laitio here. What’s the story? I got your voice mails. Do you have something to tell me?”

“Yes, I do. I know who killed Anita Nuutinen.” I heard Laitio curse, but I didn’t let him interrupt me. “Can we meet tomorrow? I’d prefer the National Bureau’s offices in Jokiniemi.”

“No can do. I mean, I can’t meet in Jokiniemi. I sprained my ankle.”

“An old man like you shouldn’t be pissed-drunk in the streets. Leave it to the younger guys.”

“It’s a sports injury! But goddamn it, there was no way I was going to take any sick days. If you want to talk to me, you’ll have to come to Urheilu Street. At two. Buzz for Pepponen. And Ilveskero, this time I have your phone number. I’ll find you if you don’t show up.” I knew these were just empty threats, but so did Laitio.

The next day I went for a long run in the morning drizzle. Sunday’s storm had pulled the remaining leaves off the trees, and the raindrops sparkled in spider webs, like crystal lace. “Even princesses don’t have jewelry as fine as that,” Uncle Jari had told me. “And they’re precious; they only last for a short while. You have to stop and look whenever you notice them.”