The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (Millennium 3)

"I'll find out if he has time," Nurse Agneta said gently, and closed the door. And then locked it. It was 2:36, and then the clock clicked over to 2:37.

Salander got up from the edge of the bed and went to the window. She kept an eye on the clock. 2:39. 2:40.

At 2:44 she heard steps in the corridor and the rattle of the Securitas guard's key ring. Jonasson gave her an inquisitive glance and stopped in his tracks when he saw her desperate look.

"Has something happened?"

"Something is happening right now. Do you have a mobile on you?"

"A what?"

"A mobile. I have to make a call."

Jonasson looked over his shoulder at the door.

"Anders, I need a mobile. Now!"

When he heard the desperation in her voice he dug into his pants pocket and handed her his Motorola. Salander grabbed it from him. She could not call Blomkvist because he had not given her the number of his Ericsson T10. It had never come up, and he had never supposed that she would be able to call him from her isolation. She hesitated a tenth of a second and punched in Berger's number. It rang three times before Berger answered.

Berger was in her BMW half a mile from home in Saltsjobaden when her mobile rang.

"Berger."

"Salander. No time to explain. Do you have the number of Mikael's second mobile? The one that's not tapped."

"Yes."

Salander had already surprised her once today.

"Call him. Now! Teleborian is meeting Jonas at the Ring in Central Station at 3:00."

"What's--"

"Just hurry. Teleborian. Jonas. The Ring in Central Station. 3:00. He has fifteen minutes."

Salander flipped the phone shut so that Berger would not be tempted to waste precious seconds with unnecessary questions.

Berger pulled over to the curb. She reached for the address book in her bag and found the number Blomkvist had given her the night they met at Samir's Cauldron.

Blomkvist heard his mobile beeping. He got up from the kitchen table, went to Salander's office, and picked up the phone from the desk.

"Yes?"

"Erika."

"Hi."

"Teleborian is meeting Jonas at the Ring in Central Station at 3:00. You only have a few minutes."

"What? What? What?"

"Teleborian--"

"I heard you. How do you know about that?"

"Stop arguing and make it snappy."

Mikael glanced at the clock--2:47. "Thanks. Bye."

He grabbed his laptop case and took the stairs instead of waiting for the elevator. As he ran he called Cortez on his T10.

"Cortez."

"Where are you now?"

"At the Academy bookshop."

"Teleborian is meeting Jonas at the Ring in Central Station at 3:00. I'm on my way, but you're closer."

"Oh, boy. I'm on my way."

Blomkvist jogged down to Gotgatan and sped up towards Slussen. When he reached Slussplan he was badly out of breath. Maybe Figuerola had a point. He was not going to make it. He looked around for a taxi.

Salander handed the mobile back to Dr. Jonasson.

"Thanks," she said.

"Teleborian?" Jonasson could not help overhearing the name.

She met his gaze. "Teleborian is a real, real bastard. You have no idea."

"No, but I could see that something happened just now that got you more agitated than I've seen you in all the time you've been in my care. I hope you know what you're doing."

Salander gave Jonasson a lopsided smile.

"You should have the answer to that question very soon," she said.

Cortez left the Academy bookshop running like a madman. He crossed Sveavagen on the viaduct at Master Samuelsgatan and went straight down to Klara Norra, where he turned up the Klaraberg viaduct and across Vasagatan. He flew across Klarabergsgatan between a bus and two cars, one of whose drivers punched his windshield in fury, and through the doors of Central Station as the station clock ticked over to 3:00 sharp.

He took the escalator three steps at a time down to the main ticket hall and jogged past the Pocket bookshop before slowing down so as not to attract attention. He scanned every face of every person standing or walking near the Ring.

He did not see Teleborian or the man Malm had photographed outside Cafe Copacabana, whom they believed to be Jonas. He looked back at the clock--3:01. He was gasping as if he had just run a marathon.

He took a chance and hurried across the hall and out through the doors onto Vasagatan. He stopped and looked around, checking one face after another, as far as his eyes could see. No Teleborian. No Jonas.

He turned back into the station--3:03. The Ring area was almost deserted.

Then he looked up and got a split second's glimpse of Teleborian's dishevelled profile and goatee as he came out of Pressbyran on the other side of the ticket hall. A second later the man from Malm's photograph materialized at Teleborian's side. Jonas. They crossed the concourse and went out onto Vasagatan by the north door.

Cortez exhaled in relief. He wiped the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand and set off in pursuit of the two men.

Blomkvist's taxi got to Central Station at 3:07. He walked rapidly into the ticket hall, but he could see neither Teleborian nor anyone looking like he might be Jonas. Nor Cortez for that matter.

He was about to call Cortez when the T10 rang in his hand.

"I've got them. They're sitting in the Tre Remmare pub on Vasagatan by the stairs down to the Akalla line."

"Thanks, Henry. Where are you?"

"I'm at the bar. Having my afternoon beer. I earned it."

"Very good. They know what I look like, so I'll stay out of it. I don't suppose you have any chance of hearing what they're saying."

"Not a hope. I can only see Jonas's back, and that fucking psychiatrist mumbles when he speaks, so I can't even see his lips move."

"I get it."

"But we may have a problem."

"What's that?"

"Jonas has put his wallet and mobile on the table. And he put his car keys on top of the wallet."

"OK. I'll handle it."

Figuerola's mobile played the theme from Once Upon a Time in the West. She put down her book about God in antiquity. It did not seem as though she would ever be able to finish it.

"Hi. It's Mikael. What are you up to?"

"I'm sitting at home sorting through my collection of photographs of old lovers. I was ignominiously ditched earlier today."

"Do you have your car nearby?"

"The last time I checked it was in the parking space outside."

"Good. Do you feel like an afternoon on the town?"

"Not particularly. What's going on?"

"A psychiatrist named Teleborian is having a beer with an undercover agent--code name Jonas--down on Vasagatan. And since I'm cooperating with your Stasi-style bureaucracy, I thought you might be amused to tag along."

Figuerola was on her feet and reaching for her car keys.

"This is not your little joke, is it?"

"Hardly. And Jonas has his car keys on the table in front of him."

"I'm on my way."

Eriksson did not answer the phone, but Blomkvist got lucky and caught Karim, who had been at Ahlens department store buying a birthday present for her husband. He asked her to please--on overtime--hurry over to the pub as backup for Cortez. Then he called Cortez.

"Here's the plan. I'll have a car in place in five minutes. It'll be on Jarnvagsgatan, down the street from the pub. Lotta is going to join you in a few minutes as backup."

"Good."

"When they leave the pub, you tail Jonas. Keep me posted by mobile. As soon as you see him approach a car, we have to know. Lotta will follow Teleborian. If we don't get there in time, make a note of his registration number."

"OK."

Figuerola parked beside the Nordic Light Hotel next to the Arlanda Express platforms. Blomkvist opened the driver's door a minute later.

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"Which pub are they in?"

Blomkvist told her.

"I have to call for backup."

"I'd rather you didn't. We've got them covered. Too many cooks might wreck the whole dish."

Figuerola gave him a sceptical look. "And how did you know that this meeting was going to take place?"

"I have to protect my source. Sorry."

"Do you have your own fucking intelligence service at Millennium?" she burst out.

Blomkvist looked pleased. It was cool to outdo Sapo in their own field of expertise.

In fact he did not have the slightest idea how Berger came to call him out of the blue to tell him of the meeting. She had not had access to ongoing editorial work at Millennium since early April. She knew about Teleborian, to be sure, but Jonas had not come into the picture until May. As far as he knew, Berger had not even known of his existence, let alone that he was the focus of intense speculation both at Sapo and at Millennium.