Rydberg had scoffed at the idea Mårten would put faith in the rumor mill of the native people.That he was grasping at straws, jumping at shadows, wanting to find clues where there were none.Like most Swedish city-born people, he had a distinct lack of understanding of the Sámi’s culture and how fiercely protective they were of their heritage.But through spending time with Jacob and his family, Mårten had come to value their close connection with the country.They understood the rivers and the lakes, the mountains and the grasslands better than anybody else.And they would see small nuances where the metropolitan cops might not.
He desperately hoped Jacob would read between the lines and agree with his choice to take matters into his own hands.
“It’s a bit of a stretch,” Jacob mused.“But I can see why you want to follow it up.I probably would too,” he added.
Mårten let out a relieved breath.He would’ve gone anyway, even if Jacob had said it was a bad idea, but now he had renewed faith.
“But I still think you should talk Rydberg into sending someone out with you,” Jacob continued.
Aurora would’ve jumped at the chance to come with him if he’d asked.But he didn’t want to stick around for the extra twenty minutes it’d take for her to arrive at his cottage, so he’d gone by himself.“If I find anything, I’ll call it in,” Mårten hedged.They both knew that wasn’t an ideal situation, as help would be half an hour or more away.And they both knew he wouldn’t wait for backup before he went in.Especially if Summer was in trouble.
“Just promise you won’t do anything stupid,” Jacob said with a sigh.
Mårten ignored him, saying instead, “Tell me you’ve got some good news.You called me, remember?”The FBI had access to resources that the Swedish police did not.He was hoping by some miracle that Jacob’s team might be about to crack the whole EIC terrorist group wide open.Mårten anticipated that if his hunch was correct, he was on track to finding and arresting Tyrone, but if the FBI had cornered other members of the group, then they could be interrogating them right now, getting answers and information as to Tyrone’s plans.Even where he was holding Summer if Mårten’s hunch was all wrong.
“Oh, ah…” Jacob hesitated, and Mårten tensed.“That’s the reason I was phoning.We’ve just taken a good look at the CCTV footage, and it’s… Ah…not actually Tyrone who flew to Sweden.”
What the fuck?Mårten slowed his car and then pulled over onto the edge of the road.This wasn’t a conversation he should have while he was driving.So many questions crowded his mind.
“How can you be sure?”he insisted.
“Because the man who boarded the plane under Tyrone’s name was white,” Jacob replied simply.
“Holy fuck,” Mårten swore.Anger and confusion warred in his chest.If it wasn’t Tyrone, who was it?
“How could you have let this slip through the cracks?”he demanded.What a monumental stuff up.But then, understanding of Tyrone’s rationale flooded in.“A white guy would’ve been less obvious entering Sweden; that’s why Tyrone chose another one of his lackeys, right?”
“Exactly,” Jacob said, already way ahead of Mårten.“It took us a while to find this guy on the camera footage, because of course we were looking for a Black man.Now we’ve pinpointed him, we think he’s one of the two other integral members of the EIC.”
That’d make sense, Mårten thought, but didn’t interrupt.Maybe he was the other guy in Summer’s photos.
“His name is Nathan Cole.But…” Jacob hesitated again.It was unlike Jacob not to just come out and say it.Which meant that whatever he was about to tell him was going to be bad.
“Spit it out,” Mårten growled.There was something more his friend wasn’t telling him.
“We also believe Paige Owen is alive.It seems she’s joined the terrorists after all.She was also at the airport.”
Mårten was speechless.Actually speechless.
Summer had been right; she had seen Paige the other day in the parking lot after all.Why had he been so eager to brush her fears aside?And why hadn’t he pushed Jacob harder to follow it up?He’d been so sure that Paige was dead.And when Summer had talked about how, in hindsight, she could see that perhaps Paige’s actions on their field trip were a clue to her affiliation with the terrorist group, he’d shrugged off her concerns.Because he’d been distracted.By his cock.By his need for her.Making love with Summer in the forest that night had been magical, the best thing that’d happened to him in a very long time.And so he’d buried Summer’s anxiety at the back of his mind, happy to soak in their newfound intimacy.Then he’d spent the next day lost in his introspection about what it all meant.Whether he should pursue it.Or whether he should just enjoy it and let her go.A one-time thing with no commitments.
Because he’d had sex with Summer, because he’d allowed himself to be distracted, he’d dropped the ball.And nowshewas paying the price.
Mårten covered his face with his hands, letting out a low groan.
“Mårten, are you there?Did you hear me?”Jacob’s tinny voice cut through the silence in the car.
He’d failed Summer.But he couldn’t dwell on that right now.Right now, he might be her only chance of rescue.He needed to get his shit together.He could ream Jacob out later about why they hadn’t followed Summer’s concerns up more closely.About how the FBI, with all its billions of dollars and its fearsome reputation for always getting its man, could have failed in this one little thing.
“Yep, I’m here.”His voice was hoarse with emotion, and he coughed once to clear it.“Tell me everything.”
“She also traveled under an alias, but they flew separately; she boarded an earlier flight.One more reason it took us so long to find them.”
The cogs in Mårten’s mind turned painfully as he tried to switch from self-condemnation back to evaluating the situation at hand.He needed to get his head back in the game.“So does this mean Tyrone is still in America?”he asked.
“Possibly.We don’t know.We’re checking all the details.All his other aliases.”
“But why?”Mårten queried, his mind still slow to evaluate things.“Why would Tyrone want us to think he’d left America?”He’d been so fixated on the fact that it was Tyrone who had taken Summer, he now had to reconfigure everything in his head.“So if it’s Nathan and Paige who’ve got Summer, then what do they want with her?”Mårten said, speaking his thoughts out loud.“Are they holding her as a hostage?As leverage until Tyrone can get out of the country as well?”
