“The trees are thinning out.”Jiro’s comment from behind startled her back to the present.It was true, the trunks were becoming less crowded, and she got a glimpse of a large flat area ahead.This must be the lake.They would sit down and take a break when they reached the edge, so she could assess their next movements.While the lake would be frozen over, it was still early in the season, and so the thickness of the ice could be variable.It might not be possible to walk directly across.Which would mean a complicated and time-consuming detour around.But Aurora was hesitant to walk straight across.She had an innate wariness about frozen lakes, and if there was another option, she usually took it.
“Let’s stop here,” she said, finding a fallen log close to the edge and brushing the snow away so they could sit.She could tell he wanted to keep going by the stubborn tightening of his jaw, but he helped her brush the snow away, and sat next to her as stiff as a board.
“Here.”She handed him one of the candy bars and opened the wrapper on another.“You didn’t have any breakfast, did you?”
“No,” he replied with a guilty smile.“Thanks for this,” he added, his shoulders dropping as he took first one, and then another large bite.“You’re right, I needed food,” he muttered through his mouthful.“Maybe I was getting a bit hangry.”
She looked at him askance.
“It means angry because I’m hungry,” he replied with a laugh.
He finished his chocolate bar before her, and she debated internally whether to give him another one, but decided to save it for later; who knew what they were about to encounter.As she chewed, she contemplated the frozen lake.Trying to put aside her reservations, she studied it impassively.It was covered with a uniform layer of thick, fresh snow.Mostly pristine, but there were signs of animals in the area, deer tracks as well as a few smaller footprints, possibly fox, as well as rabbits and stoat.The deer tracks were made by at least half a dozen animals, and led straight across the lake, which was a good sign.If they thought it was safe to cross, then it probably was, as an individual deer weighs more than most humans.
There was no sign of any human activity around this edge of the lake.She scanned to the left and to the right of them, but there was nothing obvious to be seen.If the kidnapper had left Taro out here, would he have made him easy for them to find?Perhaps staking an orange flag or wrapping him in a brightly colored tarp.There were no signs of habitation on this side of the lake, but she thought she could make out one or two red specks nestled between the trees on the other side, which could be hunting cabins.Most lakes in Sweden, be they big or small, were usually ringed by at least one or two cabins, handed down through ancestral families, and used as summer getaways, or winter hunting huts.Could Taro be in one of those?
At the thought of walking out onto all that ice, she broke out in a cold sweat.But as she followed the edge of the lake with her gaze, and saw that it curved off to the left, until the tree line disappeared around the bend.That end of the lake ran at least two kilometers to the east before she could see the boundary re-emerging in the distance.It was the same to the west; the lake was long and thin, the circumference must be a good ten kilometers.Either way would add a couple of hours at least to their journey.The shortest distance would be to go straight across.But that was not the way she wanted to go.Aurora gritted her teeth, not wanting Jiro to suspect her internal struggle.
She couldn’t let her own personal demons get in the way of finding a victim.She had walked across sheets of ice before in the past eight years, so she could do it again.Having made her decision, she stood up.“We’re going to follow the deer tracks,” she announced.It would be much quicker this way.“But I want you to stay behind me.I will be checking the ice with every step.”This was usually done with a long thin pole, but she didn’t have the luxury of one of those, so she would just have to use her eyes, ears, and the feeling beneath her boots to tell if the ice was thinning or cracking below them.
“Will do,” Jiro stated, but when she cast him a look from beneath lowered brows, wondering why he was suddenly so compliant, he took a step closer.“I took that to heart, what you said back at the cabin.This is your country, and I trust you to get us through it.”Leaning down, he placed a chaste kiss on her lips, almost as if sealing the deal.Or perhaps it was a taste of things to come.A hint of something in the future.She licked her lips and turned away.But the kiss had done the trick; she no longer felt such trepidation.His trust had replaced her fear with a sense of… hope.
“Good” was all she said in reply.
They started out onto the ice, her testing every step before she took it.The deer had made a pathway through the snow, revealing the ice beneath, which made it easier to see what was going on.If they made it past the first ten or twenty meters, they should be safe, as ice was always thinner around the edges of a body of water.As they progressed, she didn’t let her guard down, however.Plenty of people had died by becoming complacent while out in the middle of a frozen lake.
Her mother had been one of those people.
Aurora shied away from the thought.Now was not the time to be thinking about her mother falling through the ice of the lake near where they’d lived, and Karl dragging her drowned body out, heaving with the exertion.Or, of the way Aurora fell to her knees as she watched the scene unfold.
Nope.She shook her head to rid it of the memories.
Keep putting one foot in front of the other; that was how she would get across this barrier; both mental and physical.
It took them only five minutes or so to reach the middle of the lake.“Can we stop for a second?”Jiro asked.“It’s just so beautiful here.”He did a slow twirl, taking in the entirety of the body of frozen water, and the snow-fringed trees that lined the boundary.She stopped to look as well.It was spectacular, and she was suddenly so glad she lived in this amazing country.
Tipping his head to the sky, Jiro let out a sigh of pleasure.“I know we’re looking for my brother, but sometimes you just have to stop and smell the roses.”
She couldn’t agree more.She bent down to pick up a handful of snow, intent on making a snowball to throw at his face.
A sound rang out from somewhere in the trees behind them, and something whizzed overhead.She straightened and turned to look back the way they had come.It took a few seconds for her brain to compute.That was a gunshot.Someone was shooting at them.And they had just missed her when she bent down to pick up the snow.A figure emerged from behind a large tree trunk, rifle raised to their shoulder, aimed directly at her and Jiro.
“What was that?”Jiro said as Aurora yelled, “Get down,” at exactly the same time.She tried to pull him down into the snow with her, but he resisted, staring back at the man on the edge of the lake.Until another loud crack echoed in the silence.“He’s shooting at us.”Jiro sounded almost surprised.“Fuck, we have to get out of here.”
“No, wait.”Aurora knew they were marooned out here.If they ran, they would be sitting ducks, and the man could pick them off at his leisure.Or they could dive into the snow, where they would no longer be a target, and wait for him to advance on them.But she had her gun, so she could defend them.Perhaps if she got a chance, she might even kill the guy before he killed them.
But Jiro wasn’t listening.“Come on.”He grabbed the back of her jacket, tugging her along behind him as he ran further out onto the lake.She resisted, finally dragging herself free, and landing with a thump in the snow.
“Jiro, wait,” she screamed.“Get down.Use the snow for cover.”
But he kept running.Hampered by his snowshoes, his retreat was slow and ungainly.And he wasn’t following the deer trail; he was heading toward the closest edge of the lake.Another shot rang out, and Aurora turned on instinct.Struggling to release her weapon from underneath her jacket, she hunkered down in the snow until she had the Glock in her hand.Then, lying prostrate, she lined up the sniper and took a carefully aimed shot at him.He ducked behind the tree; she had missed.But at least the guy now knew she was armed.Perhaps that would make him think twice.Not daring to lift her head too far above the snow, she took a quick glance back at Jiro.
Just in time to see him vanish out of sight with a slight cry of surprise.
What?
Then it hit her like a ton of bricks.Jiro had fallen through the ice.
He would die within minutes if he couldn’t get out; if she didn’t get to him in time.
