The Hugo Xavier Series: Book 1-3

by Filip Forsberg

  Raynard put the bag on the table, and Sara held her breath. But before she could get to it herself, Jasper went ahead and took the bag. He opened it and pulled out a small box. He lifted the lid and held up a black USB stick. Sara’s lips tightened into one thin line. The crypto ledger.

  Jasper chuckled when he saw Sara’s expression. “But my dear, you have a bad poker face.”

  Sara moistened her lips and tried to say something, but she could barely think. Jasper laid the thing down on the table, his eyes sparkling.

  “But that’s not Magnus’ real treasure, you know.”

  Sara shook her head slowly and said, “I don’t understand.”

  Jasper gently pulled a second container from the bag and laid it on the table. He held his hand over it.

  “This is the real treasure. You understand, Magnus von Silverstråle is one of my oldest competitors, and I’ve studied him for many years. He’s smart, powerful, and exceptional in every way. But through my studies of him, I learned more and more about the stubborn rumor that decades ago, he had something to do with his father’s death. It was that day when Magnus got all the power that he then managed through the coming years. But the rumor that he’d intentionally gotten rid of his father made me dig and dig, and after many years of searching, I realized it was true. Magnus had done it. He’d murdered his father and his brother—”

  Sara gasped, and Jasper raised his hand. “But he hadn’t done quite enough. He’d also saved both the video camera that his nanny had used to film the incident and the diary that Magnus himself wrote about what happened.”

  Sara shook her head. “But . . .”

  A smile danced around Jasper’s mouth. “You see,” he went on, “Magnus saved both the film and the diary because he wanted to relive the feelings he had the day he murdered his father and brother. Therefore, he saved the evidence in his safe. And that’s why I suggested you help.”

  The room swayed, and Sara sat down on the edge of the sofa. A bolt of lightning flashed through her as she realized that Jasper had been continuously controlling her actions. It was not the crypto ledger that was the most valuable—it was proof that Magnus was now in their hands. Jasper smiled as he saw the truth overtake Sara’s mind. She groaned and pointed at the crypto ledger.

  “And what about that?”

  “You’ll get it after you perform an assignment for me. You do this one thing, you get it.”

  Sara already knew the answer before she opened her mouth. “What kind of assignment?”

  Jasper grinned. “Take the diary and the film down to Magnus’ press conference, which is starting now, and interrupt it. Explain to the entire world press what kind of evidence you’re holding in your hands. You do that for me, and you’ll get the crypto ledger.”

  Sara’s eyes watered as she realized the breadth of what Jasper was asking of her. The room spun even more forcefully, and little stars danced in the corners of her eyes.

  17

  Absolutely nothing could go wrong. Magnus von Silverstråle clenched and unclenched his fists as they approached the Grand Hôtel. Hugo noticed Magnus slow down and turn around.

  “Magnus?”

  Magnus shook his head. “You have to go after them by yourself,” Magnus said. “I have other things to take care of. The press conference is starting soon, and I need to be there.”

  “Can you not just cancel it?” Freya asked. “Or postpone it?”

  “Postpone it? When there are one hundred and twenty journalists from all over the world there to hear what I have to say?” He shook his head incredulously. “No, I don’t think so. That would be a terrible humiliation. I just cannot do that.”

  Hugo looked toward the Grand thirty meters from where they stood. Goddammit. “Okay, fine. Do what you need to do,” he told Magnus. “We’re going after Raynard and his team.”

  Magnus nodded. “Okay, good. Thanks for the help.”

  “We’re the ones thanking you,” Hugo said with a dry chuckle. Then he and Freya rushed on, leaving Magnus alone with his thoughts.

  It was now or never. There was so much was at stake. He’d called his staff who were on site at the hotel, and they’d continued with the preparations throughout the day. The fact that Magnus hadn’t been there had only increased the mystery, and he knew that the atmosphere at the presser would be electric. Magnus had chosen the most excellent meeting room in the hotel for the press conference—the famous Rococo Hall.

  He entered the hotel and was met by men and women who moved him deeper into the building. Magnus went to the reception desk, where the man with the movie star smile met him.

  “Welcome to the Grand Hôtel, sir. How can I help you?”

  “My name is Magnus von Silverstråle. I’m holding a press conference here today.”

  The receptionist’s cheery smile faded, and he stammered, “Mr. von Silverstråle. What are you doing here? I mean, they’re waiting for you in the Rococo Hall. The press conference will be starting in just a few minutes.”

  Magnus’ face unfolded in a genial smile. “Then it’s a good thing I arrived on time. Can you please show me the way there?”

  The receptionist hurried around. “Of course, Mr. von Silverstråle. Come with me, and we’ll go there at once.”

  The young man led Magnus through the crowd in the lobby. Some of the journalists whispered and pointed when Magnus von Silverstråle rushed past, but Magnus ignored them. He was led deeper into the hotel and up to a door. They passed through the door, and there were three of Magnus’ staff. One of them, an older woman, shouted and rushed to Magnus.

  “Magnus! Where in all his days you have been! We’re starting in just a couple of minutes!”

  Magnus took the woman’s hands. “I know, Marjorie. I’ll tell you about it later. Is everything ready?”

  Marjorie pursed her lips, and her white hair danced as she nodded her head. “Yes, everything’s ready. They’re in there waiting. Everything has been taken care of according to your wishes.”

  “Thank you, Marjorie. You’re an angel.”

  Magnus went to the door and put his hand on the knob. This was it. Everything he wanted was within reach. If only Hugo and Freya were able to prevent any surprises, this would be the best day of his life. He turned the handle and pushed open the door.

  ***

  It couldn’t be true. Sara Blitz’s eyes teared up, and she had to bite her tongue to keep from crying. Frustration welled up inside her at what Jasper was asking her to do. Jasper studied her but said nothing. Sara swallowed hard.

  “You cannot be serious, Jasper.”

  Jasper took a step toward her. “Yes, I can, my dear. This is what you want,” he said, waving the crypto ledger in front of her. “A billion dollars in untraceable currency. Is it not?”

  Sara’s mouth became sand as she looked at it. So close, but so far away. She nodded almost imperceptibly. “Yes. But you can’t ask me to go down to that press conference now and cancel it. I’ll be crucified!”

  Jasper chuckled. “No, not at all. Now you exaggerate, my dear. It’ll be a scandal, of course, but no one will die. The only thing that’ll happen is that the world will finally find out what kind of man Magnus von Silverstråle is. Nothing more.”

  Sara pulled out a chair and sat down. Her hands were damp with sweat, and she wiped them on her pants. She knew that everything, her whole future, depended on the choices she made in the next few seconds. Thoughts swirled behind her eyes. Everything she’d ever wished for was within reach; everything she ever dreamed of could become hers: money, freedom, power. But to get it, she had to go through purgatory. Was it worth it?

  To storm into a press conference with the assembled world press and present evidence that one of the most powerful businessmen in the Nordic countries was a murderer who killed his own father and brother? That was more than explosive. It was a pure supernova. Her heart pounded in her chest, and the faint taste of bile penetrated her throat. She swallowed and took a deep, shaking breath. Jasper lea
ned in.

  “Well, my dear, what will it be?”

  Sara grimaced but met his gaze. She bared her teeth. “I’ll do it,” she said. “But the moment I do, I’ll be taking that.” She pointed to the crypto ledger in Jasper’s hand.

  Jasper clapped his hands and exclaimed. “Excellent, my beautiful! Excellent!” He looked up at the two bodyguards.

  “See to it that Sara gets down to the press conference,” he instructed, checking his wristwatch. “It has already started.”

  The two bodyguards nodded. “Of course, Mr. Roscoe.”

  Sara looked at Jasper. “What exactly am I going to present?”

  Jasper’s eyebrows shot up. “But of course, my beautiful. Excuse me, I thought you knew that. But of course, you wouldn’t know exactly what it is. Jasper rolled his eyes at himself theatrically. “You really must excuse me—sometimes I get a little too excited.”

  He stood up and pulled the dark red box to himself. Opening it, he took out a small, worn journal. “This is Magnus’ diary,” he said. “It contains a detailed description, in his own words, of what happened that day.”

  “In his own words? Why in the world would he write it down?”

  A smile flitted over Jasper’s mouth. “Remember, I told you. Magnus is an extraordinary person. Part of him needs to relive that day.”

  Sara bit her lip. “What a fool,” she muttered.

  Jasper chuckled. “Yes, that was perhaps not the smartest thing he could’ve done. But this is just as powerful.” He pulled out a dark, small box and removed a camcorder videotape.

  “What is it?”

  “This, my dear, is the tape that was in the video camera the nanny dropped. She’d been standing on the beach and filming what happened. Magnus later found the camera and kept it.”

  Sara moaned.

  “Well now,” Jasper said lightly, “the world’s most powerful individuals all have their special little quirks. And this is what Magnus has. He’s always known that he held the evidence that could one day destroy him. And now that day has come.”

  Sara moistened her lips and glanced at her watch. “Okay, that’s enough. I guess I won’t get the money before I do this, so let me just take the stuff get this over with.”

  Jasper clapped his hands. “That’s the spirit! We’ve wasted too much time here.”

  Jasper put the diary and videotape back in the box and pushed it over to Sara. She took it in her hands, then got up and went out into the hall, followed by the two bodyguards. Outside the doorway, she spun around and narrowed her eyes at Jasper. Nodding at the box holding the USB stick, she said, “Make sure I get that the second I get back.”

  Jasper nodded slowly and smiled. “Absolutely. You know you can trust me.”

  Sara turned and vanished.

  ***

  Seek, and you will find. Hugo scanned the lobby but saw nothing that didn’t fit. Most people had gone up to the Rococo Hall for the presser, so there were only two or three couples in the exquisite lobby. One man stood looking down at his cell phone. A minute later, he put it in his pocket, went out onto the street, and disappeared.

  “Nothing?” Freya asked, approaching Hugo.

  Hugo shook his head. “No, nothing at all. We need to search the hotel and hope we have time to find whoever it is that’s planning to interrupt the press conference.”

  “Do you think it’s someone we know?”

  Hugo shook his head. “No. It’s probably a civilian or someone unrelated to Magnus.”

  Freya grimaced. “Did you talk to Madeleine?” she asked.

  “Yes, but she knows nothing new since the last time we spoke. It’s probably Jasper Roscoe who’s behind all this, and considering that he’s in Oslo now, it wouldn’t surprise me if he was here at the hotel to control things.”

  Freya stared at him. “Do you think so?”

  Hugo shrugged. “Well, that’s how I would do it. So somehow we have to find out if Jasper’s here at the hotel, and if so, where he is.”

  Freya nodded toward the reception.

  “We can always just ask, can’t we?”

  He looked at her and smiled. “Sure. They probably won’t tell us anything, but we can always try.”

  Freya stretched her hands out and looked over at the reception desk. A friendly-looking young man stood there just waiting to help someone.

  “Let me try,” Freya said.

  So Hugo hung back while Freya went to the reception desk. She smiled brightly as she talked to the young man, playing on all her charm. She laughed a couple of times, nodded confidently just as many times, but eventually turned on her heel and went back to Hugo. Her facial expression said it all.

  “Nope. You were right. He said nothing.”

  Hugo nodded. “All right, it was a good try.” Then someone caught his eye; a tall, fair-haired woman walked across the lobby and behind the reception desk. “She’s in charge of VIPs,” Hugo said in a low voice.

  Freya peered at the tall woman. She was speaking softly to the young man behind the desk. Hugo’s thoughts rushed. They barely had any time left. The press conference was already halfway over, and he guessed that it wouldn’t be long before whatever was going to happen happened. It was now or never. The tall woman said something to the young man, who nodded. Then the woman pivoted and walked across the lobby, heading for the elevators.

  Hugo took a deep breath and left Freya. He went up behind the woman and fell back on the training he had received an eternity ago. All the muscles in his body moved automatically, and everything else fell away around him. The only thing that existed was the woman. She got to the elevators, took some metal rods from the corner, and extended them in front of the elevator doors. Hugo guessed their purpose was to temporarily block the elevators until the press conference ended and hundreds of people poured out into the lobby.

  Hugo moved softly toward the woman. When she had set the second metal bar in place and pulled out the band between them, Hugo made his move. The woman turned, and at the same moment, Hugo bumped into her. She gasped, and, like a shadow, Hugo’s hand moved into the woman’s pocket and pulled out the key card he’d seen when she had walked by a few moments earlier. Hugo caught the woman as she stumbled backward.

  “Oh, no, I apologize!”

  The woman quickly regained her balance. She stroked her hand over her hair to straighten it. Her face was a little paler than before.

  “No problem,” she assured him with a smile. “Accidents happen so easily.”

  Hugo took the woman’s hands.

  “You sure you’re okay? That was entirely my fault. I’m so clumsy.”

  The woman smiled, a little more confident this time. “Don’t worry about it. I wasn’t paying attention.”

  Hugo apologized again and left the woman. He went back to the lobby and to Freya, who had watched it all. She rolled her eyes.

  “You’re quite the actor. What a performance.” She gave him two slow claps.

  Hugo chuckled. “Right. But at least we have access to all the rooms in the hotel.” He winked. “Now it’s just a matter of looking for Raynard—and whoever else we need to find.”

  “All right, I have an idea,” Freya said. “It’s a gamble, but it might save us some time.”

  “Let’s hear it.”

  Freya took a deep breath.

  “If the person who hired Raynard is as rich and powerful as we think they are, they probably wouldn’t stay in a regular hotel room. It’s more likely that they’d take one of the suites.”

  Hugo thought about this. “Sure, that sounds right.”

  “And probably one of the top suites,” Freya went on. “So if we start at the top, we may have the best chance of finding our guy.”

  Hugo smiled and said, “It’s just as good a place to start as anywhere. The elevators are closed, so we’ll need to take the stairwell.” He nodded toward the exit door.

  “Okay, then, let’s move!”

  ***

  There was nothing more into
xicating than power—pure force over what people did and said. Jasper Roscoe shivered with anticipation. He went to the side table and poured another drink, then tossed a glance at Raynard and the other three men.

  “Ready for a drink now, then?”

  Raynard looked at Jules, who smiled. “Hell yeah.”

  Jasper chuckled, took out four glasses, and set them on the table. He filled them all with whiskey.

  “Here. For a job well done.” He nodded at the sofas. “Sit down. You’ve done well. Completely according to plan. Cheers!”

  Everyone raised their glasses.

  The sweetly burning liquid traveled down Raynard’s throat, and he finally felt something that could be compared to the end. The last twenty-four hours had been unbelievably stressful, and now the tension was subsiding at last. His hands trembled as the adrenaline dissipated. Jasper watched him.

  “Tough day at the office?”

  Raynard sipped his whiskey. “You have no idea. I was surprised at how stubborn the group that followed us was.”

  Jules nodded. “Yeah, they were stubborn as sin. Especially the leader—he was a tenacious devil.”

  Raynard quickly reproduced the last twenty-four hours for Jasper. When he’d run through it all, he emptied the glass in one go. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter now,” Raynard said. “They’re stuck on that cursed ship until someone comes out and picks them up with a boat or until the ship goes ashore.”

  A strange feeling grew in the back of Jasper’s mind. “You’re sure they’re still on the ship, though? There’s no chance that they followed you here?”

  Raynard chuckled. “No, we made sure of it. There was one other helicopter on the ship, but we blew it up before we ran out. They’re as attached to that ship as rats in a cage.”

  Jasper narrowed his eyes. Nothing could go wrong here. He thought about it for a moment, the fact that these oh-so-stubborn pursuers were still alive out there somewhere, but then decided that he had to trust what Raynard said. There was nothing they could do about it now. The presser was still underway, and it wouldn’t be long before Sara interrupted it to present the evidence against Magnus the murderer. Jasper’s heart hammered in his chest. Power. This was how he liked it, with high stakes and the best cards in hand.