His body is nothing more than a number of carefully bonded molecules, a temporary union that – like all other solid matter – is on its way toward its inevitable dissolution.
He can hear sounds around him, machines making warning signals, the focused discussions of the rescue team. An unpleasant gurgling sound that he gradually realizes is his own breathing.
But he isn’t scared. Not the slightest. Because he understands this is the universe’s plan. His time to be transformed. To reconnect with the universal stream.
Not until someone lifts one of his eyelids, calls his name, and shines a light directly into his brain does he get scared. Not because of the bright light or the voice calling out to him. What frightens him is the shadowy figure in the corner of his eye. A dark, threatening silhouette on the edge of his field of vision. Sarac tries to keep track of it, but the silhouette keeps evading him. He manages to see a leather jacket, a pulled-up hood whose shadow transforms the silhouette’s face into a black hole.
‘… need to get out of here now. The helicopter’s just arrived,’ someone says, presumably one of the paramedics.
But the silhouette doesn’t move, it just hovers at the corner of Sarac’s eye. Somewhere a cell phone rings. Once, then again.
The sound only exacerbates his fear. It grips Sarac’s rib cage, making his heart race and setting off a painful fusillade of fireworks in his head. Then the paramedic lets his eyelid fall and he slips back into the merciful darkness.
Jesper Stenberg flushed the condom down the toilet, showered carefully, and then dried himself with one of the thick towels in the bathroom. He inspected his appearance briefly in the bathroom mirror, checking as he always did that there were no telltale signs on his body or face. Then he quickly put his clothes back on before returning to the main bedroom.
It was 9:32 p.m.; his parents-in-law were looking after the children and Karolina had gone out to dinner with her girlfriends. She had offered to postpone it, but he had persuaded her to go. They could celebrate properly tomorrow. His father-in-law had already arranged everything. Dinner at his favorite restaurant, champagne, cognac, expensive wine. And of course his father-in-law would foot the bill and would go on about the future, and the possibilities that lay ahead of them, as long as they played their cards right.
She wasn’t lying in bed as he had been expecting. Instead she had poured herself a drink and was sitting on the sofa in the living room. She was still naked, and he couldn’t help admiring her body. Small, firm breasts, long, lithe legs, porcelain-white skin, and a toned stomach that suggested diets and an exercise regime he could barely imagine. He was going to miss her body. And the things she let him do with it …
But times were changing. From now on everything was going to be different.
‘So, Jesper, you’ve been asked the question,’ she said.
He went over to the drinks cabinet and poured himself a stiff whiskey in one of the heavy crystal glasses. He shouldn’t really have any more to drink if he was going to drive. But he needed a drink; he realized that the moment she opened her mouth.
For a moment he got it into his head that she had already realized. That this wasn’t going to be as hard as he imagined. But her tone of voice instantly dashed any hopes of that nature. Obviously he should have realized she wasn’t going to make it easy for him. Sophie Thorning never made things easy for anyone. In that respect she was just like her father.
‘Everyone’s got what they wanted. You’ve got your big chance, John gets to pull the strings, and your ambitious little wife and her power-crazed family have finally got themselves a new launchpad.’ She laughed, a low, mocking laugh that he didn’t like.
‘And now you want to break up with me, don’t you? Minimize the risks, re-establish control?’ She made a slight gesture toward the bedroom with her glass.
He still didn’t answer her, just turned away and looked out the window. Far below he could see the exit from the parking garage. In just a few minutes he would be down there. In the car, on his way home. Ready to put all this behind him.
‘Everyone’s got what they wanted. Everyone except me,’ Sophie went on. ‘I’m just expected to back down and act like the last few years never happened. Is that what you’re thinking, Jeppe?’
He turned around slowly. She knew he hated that nickname.
‘Jeppe on the mountain, like the old story.’ She leered. ‘An idiot who thinks he’s something special. That he’s suddenly someone to be reckoned with. But in actual fact he’s just a marionette, a puppet who jumps whenever anyone pulls his strings. Does that sound familiar?’
He opened his mouth to tell her to shut up, but stopped himself at the last moment. Sophie knew precisely which buttons to press. He mustn’t let himself be provoked.
‘Ooh, did that make you cross?’ She smiled. ‘You know what they say – the truth hurts. But you like pain, don’t you, Jeppe? Just like me. You get a real kick out of forbidden pleasures.’
She twisted around and crossed her long legs, slowly enough for him to get a good view of her hairless genitals.
‘I think we should go back to the bedroom to celebrate your success properly. I’ve got a few ideas that I’m sure you’d enjoy, things Karolina would never agree to.’
Stenberg emptied his glass and put it down slowly on the island unit between the living room and kitchen.
‘No, Sophie,’ he said. ‘This was the last time. I’m leaving now. From now on we’ll only see each other in the office, and any interaction between us will be strictly professional.’
He held up his hand before she had time to say anything.
‘No, no, I know how the game works. This is when you pull out your trump card, and threaten to tell Karolina or your dad. Maybe even both of them?’
She turned her head slightly and her face cracked into a mocking grimace.
‘But you don’t seem to have realized that the game has changed,’ he went on. ‘You’re quite right, other people have helped elevate me. I accepted that a long time ago, and realized it was the only way to get where I wanted to be. And now I’m there.’ He paused for a moment, collecting himself.
‘Sophie,’ he began, adjusting his tone of voice to show a hint of regret. ‘A few months ago you really could have spoiled everything. You could have ruined my life. But your trump card lost all its value the moment I was asked the Question.’
He gestured toward the telephone on the table.
‘Call Karolina if you want. She’d never leave me now, just as my father-in-law would never advise her to.’
Sophie’s smile had stiffened somewhat, but she still didn’t seem to have quite understood.
‘John,’ she said, ‘Daddy would—’
‘Come on, Sophie.’ His tone was perfect now, a cocktail made up of equal parts concern and condescension. ‘Do you seriously believe that John would sacrifice me for your sake? Now that his investment is finally about to pay off?’
He nodded toward the phone.
‘Please, call Daddy and cry on the phone to him. Tell him everything, be my guest.’