Cold Fear

by Mads Peder Nordbo

  Tupaarnaq, however, had said that she needed time on her own and that she would catch the next helicopter from Constable Point to Tasiilaq.

  Matthew looked away from the window. Constable Point itself was now nothing but a tiny spot somewhere far below them. He took a sip of his cola and glanced furtively at Tom.

  They were sitting in the same row, but with a vacant seat between them. Matthew’s backpack lay on the floor. Tom had nothing.

  ‘You’re smiling,’ Matthew said.

  ‘Yes,’ Tom said with a grin. ‘I’ve seen my son for the first time in twenty-four years and I discovered that I’m not a killer after all.’

  ‘Have you any idea why Bradley and Reese would turn up now?’ Matthew asked. ‘Briggs told me that the three of you were repatriated to the US back in 1990, so those coffins must have been empty?’

  ‘Until a few hours ago I had no doubts at all that Bradley and Reese were dead,’ Tom said. He pressed his eyelids with his fingers. ‘And I’m sure the number of people who know that they’re alive is very small.’

  ‘But it doesn’t make any sense, does it?’

  ‘Yes, it does, as it happens, but it requires a long explanation, which is why I wrote to you and asked you to visit me.’ He adjusted the sling supporting his arm. ‘I had a lot of evidence in my house, but it was lost in the fire, so now you’ll have to take my word for it.’

  ‘Okay,’ Matthew said, with a glance at his trouser pocket where his mobile lay. He would like to make notes, but it seemed impossible as long as his right arm was in a sling like Tom’s and his broken finger was strapped to a clumsy brace. He took another sip of his cola and wedged the can in place between his thighs.

  ‘You’ve read about the Chinese man who disappeared near Kangerlussuaq seven weeks ago, haven’t you?’ Tom began.

  ‘Yes, we wrote about it, why?’

  ‘Even when I read about him the first time, I had a hunch that there was more to it than the press was aware. After all, Kangerlussuaq isn’t just a civilian airport, it’s also a military one, and when I saw the pictures taken of the Chinese man as he headed off on his hike, I could see that he wasn’t carrying standard photo equipment. There was no way he was a tourist, and I’m quite sure that he was there to survey the landscape and possibly the entire complex.’

  ‘So you believe that the US military is involved in his disappearance?’

  ‘A Chinese national walking around with surveyor’s equipment in an area of Greenland with American military interests? I’m pretty sure he didn’t just fall into a crevice or drown…at least not by accident. The situation up here is much more tense than people think. Danish Intelligence is very aware of the need to prevent Chinese acquisitions in Greenland, because neither the Danes nor the Americans want China to be able to influence the political situation up here. Several news agencies have picked up that the Danish prime minister has gained a cross-party agreement to reopen the Grønnedal naval base in south Greenland in order to block a bid from a Chinese mining company.’ Tom coughed briefly into his left hand. ‘The Danish Security Service distrusts big Chinese corporations because they’re constructed in such a way that it’s impossible to see how closely they’re related to the Chinese government and thus the Chinese army.’

  ‘I’ll need to write all this down when we land,’ Matthew said. ‘And understand how it’s connected to Tupilak. You wrote that you wanted to tell me about something called Tupilak, and in your house we found a file with data from the Thule experiment. That file was labelled Tupilak.’

  ‘The Thule experiment and the pills were part of a large operation codenamed Tupilak. When the Chinese man disappeared, I began to suspect that perhaps Tupilak had been sucessful after all. I admit it was just an educated guess, but today we got the proof that my guess was right.’

  ‘You mean Bradley and Reese?’

  ‘Yes…Stupid bastards! The worst thing is that I can’t even allow myself to be mad at them, because all they’ve done is carry out the plan for all four of us. That was what I wanted to tell you.’ He hesitated for a moment. ‘Only I hadn’t factored in you going to Briggs, of all people, and telling him about me and Tupilak.’

  ‘I had no way of knowing that Tupilak was a secret army operation,’ Matthew said, staring at the floor of the cabin. ‘And Briggs told heartwarming stories about your lifelong friendship.’

  ‘Fair point,’ Tom said. ‘Besides, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise, because we’ve discovered that Bradley and Reese are alive.’ He rubbed his face. ‘Only I don’t understand how? I mean, I saw them back then…There was blood everywhere.’ He lowered his hand and looked at Matthew. ‘I had blood all over my hands…I find it really hard to believe that they’re not dead.’

  ‘Do you think they came to kill you?’

  ‘Yes, once they discovered the file.’ He ground to a halt and looked at Matthew. ‘They planted the box with the pistol and the dog tags.’

  Matthew nodded slowly and glanced at his backpack. He had managed to bring the box, but the Tupilak file had been missing from his backpack when he had gone to take it out earlier. He had no doubt that Bradley and Reese had found it and possibly burned it along with the house. But they hadn’t taken the box, even though it had been right next to the file. Fortunately he had already photographed the whole file with his mobile before it disappeared, sent the pictures to his fellow reporter, Leiff, and asked him to investigate what the data was all about. He looked back at his father. ‘Why didn’t they just tie you up in your own house?’

  Tom raised his eyebrows. ‘They ambushed me in Konrad’s house. My guess is that they watched the town for several days before they struck.’

  ‘Why were you in Konrad’s house?’

  ‘I’ve spent some time there recently,’ Tom said, looking up at the ceiling of the cabin. ‘Leaving the pills lying about so that four young lads could get hold of them isn’t something I’m proud of. Bradley and Reese may not be dead, but Konrad, Salik and Miki are definitely gone forever.’

  Matthew watched the ice cap glide past underneath them. The sun hung low, pink and orange over the horizon, and in less than half an hour everything would be dark. ‘I don’t think you can avoid Nuuk Police,’ Matthew said at length.

  ‘I don’t think I can avoid anything.’ Tom pressed his lips together, then said, ‘How many people do you think will believe me when I tell them that Bradley and Reese aren’t dead?’

  ‘Briggs, possibly?’

  ‘Briggs? Briggs was much higher up in this than I ever was. He’s not going to take my side. If Tupilak has succeeded, then Briggs is one of the few people who has known about it all along.’

  Matthew closed his eyes and rested his cheek against the cold glass. ‘I’ve been such an idiot,’ he said, bashing his head lightly against the window a couple of times. ‘What exactly is Tupilak? What roles do Bradley and Reese play in all this?’

  ‘Yes, what is their role? The original intention was to create elite military units similar to the Danish Sirius Patrol. The American version would be programmed to be extra resistant to the cold, among other things. Tupilak would be shadow units trained to operate from dog sledges and crisscross the ice. Briggs and I were to form one group, while Bradley and Reese would make up the other. Pairs, just like in Sirius. Our mission was to protect American interests in Greenland, with Danish acceptance…military as well as political.’ Tom heaved a sigh and shifted in his seat. ‘Again, exactly like Sirius, but ratcheted up a notch and underpinned by a hidden strategic defence agenda. However, if Tupilak still exists, which after today’s events there’s every reason to believe, then I dread to think how far its remit has been extended. I wanted out precisely because I realised that we were on our way to becoming state-sponsored assassins.’

  ‘So you believe that Bradley and Reese killed the Chinese man?’

  ‘For spying on a military complex, yes.’

  ‘And what about Lyberth?’

  ‘Lyberth?’

>   ‘He was murdered in a flat in Nuuk two months ago. Some people believe his death was a warning to those who are fighting hard for Greenlandic independence.’

  ‘Okay, I see. Yes, it’s possible that Tupilak killed him too. Greenland will never be just Greenland. This enormous island in the Arctic is either Danish or American, and as far as the US is concerned, it’s better for Greenland to remain Danish than it is to deal with the political mayhem that would ensue if the US was forced to annex an independent Greenland for security reasons.’

  THE THULE MAN

  62

  NUUK, WEST GREENLAND, 1 NOVEMBER 2014

  Matthew had been sitting staring into the air for almost an hour when the door to the side ward opened. He had chased Leiff by text to hear if his doctor friend had examined the Tupilak data, but Leiff had yet to reply.

  ‘They told me I would find you here,’ Ottesen said.

  ‘Yes.’ Matthew coughed and straightened up in the chair. ‘Arnaq had a check-up today and I decided to come with her and look in on Malik at the same time.’

  Ottesen looked at the sleeping young Inuit. ‘At least he’s stable.’

  ‘They say he wakes up every now and then, but he’s still heavily sedated.’

  ‘It’s a miracle he survived,’ Ottesen said. ‘What was it the doctors said? His lung was pierced by two ribs?’

  Matthew looked at the thin tube running from the bandages on Malik’s chest and into a container. ‘No, I think his lung just collapsed, but he had broken three ribs.’

  Ottesen grimaced and narrowed his eyes. ‘Poor guy. That’s hurts like hell.’ He adjusted his jacket. ‘Can I have a word with you?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘It’s about your father. Is it okay to talk in here?’

  ‘Sure.’

  ‘We’ve questioned him,’ Ottesen said, sitting down on a chair on the other side of the low hospital bed. ‘And he has told us quite a lot, but not everything makes sense to me.’

  ‘Which bits?’ Matthew said, and coughed again. The back of the chair was flimsy and he could feel it give when he pressed his back against it.

  ‘Most of it, to be honest,’ Ottesen said. ‘The good news is that he has given us plenty of information about the killings in Ittoqqortoormiit, but he’ll pay a high price for that.’

  ‘Because he didn’t come forward straightaway?’

  ‘Yes, and then there’s the business with the pills…But it’ll count in his favour that he travelled with you to Nuuk, knowing the consequences it would have for him.’ Ottesen narrowed his eyes slightly. ‘We’ve had the test results from the rifle. Only Konrad’s and Nukannguaq’s fingerprints are on it, so one of them shot the two brothers on the sofa.’

  ‘Do you think Konrad did it?’

  Ottesen nodded slowly. ‘Your father claims that he saw Konrad and Nukannguaq shoot themselves, and if that’s true, then the finger points to Konrad as he had the rifle before Nukannguaq. That also matches Nukannguaq’s own account, but I can’t be sure of what Tom really saw. It was during a snowstorm and the windows in the house are small and filthy.’ He shook his head. ‘I don’t know right now. Has Tom told you about this as well?’

  ‘No, only that he felt bad about the pills.’

  ‘Yes, what a stupid idea that was, and now the pills have vanished into thin air. Tom says that he took them, but it could just as well have been Sakkak. Like I said the other day, they’re as thick as thieves over there.’

  ‘So you think Sakkak went into the house right after the shooting?’

  ‘Yes, he did what he could to save his boy…but I’m guessing that he had doubts as to who killed who, too.’

  ‘And then there’s the girl,’ Matthew said. ‘I think Sakkak suspects Konrad of raping Salik’s and Miki’s sister.’

  ‘I don’t know how Sakkak can know anything about that,’ Ottesen said, giving Matthew a puzzled look. ‘She told me that she had only told the nurse at the health centre.’ He snorted angrily. ‘It’s always the same in those small, closed communities; everyone knows everyone else’s business, but everything is hidden from the outside world. I’ll speak to Sakkak and the girl again, and I might ask your father about it as well.’

  ‘Yes, that’s just it…Has my father explained why he was even near the house where the shooting took place?’

  ‘Yes, but I’m not happy about it,’ Ottesen said. ‘He said that he heard shots and went down there, but as I’ve already mentioned there was a violent snowstorm raging there that night, and I just don’t think he could have heard a couple of rifle shots. Perhaps he discovered that the pills were gone and went to have a word with the young men.’

  ‘When we were in Tom’s house,’ Matthew said, ‘Sakkak told us that they had made the pills to make the young men more cold-resistant. They’re pretty desperate in every way over there.’

  ‘The road to hell is paved with good intentions,’ Ottesen said. ‘But to be fair, most of your theories have been proved right. Drugs, cannabis, the side effects of the pills, murder and suicide. If it hadn’t been for Tom and the pills, it would have been just another Greenlandic murder case, admittedly one of the more violent.’

  ‘Did my father also tell you about Tupilak and the US military experiment with the pills on the Thule base?’

  ‘Yes, but it’s not something that really helps us.’ Ottesen got up and went over to one of the windows in the side ward. It had started snowing again. ‘To be perfectly honest, it sounds like a desperate man’s last-ditch attempt to save his own skin after he has been caught. We’ve no evidence to support his stories.’

  ‘I feel the exact opposite,’ Matthew said with a frown. He looked at Ottesen, who stared firmly out of the window. ‘I saw the file and Bradley and Reese in Ittoqqortoormiit. Can’t you do something to look into it?’

  ‘Nuuk Police can’t demand insight into a US military investigation, and all the Americans care about is putting their killer behind bars.’ He looked back at Matthew. ‘You yourself found the murder weapon and the dog tags over there.’

  ‘I think they were part of a set-up. It makes no sense for the dog tags to be there. Why on earth would my father have taken them in the first place? They were planted in his house to incriminate him.’

  ‘Loyalty is a beautiful thing, Matthew, but it doesn’t beat cold hard facts.’

  Matthew managed to free his phone from his trouser pocket with some difficulty, switched it on and found the photographs of the Tupilak file. ‘What about this, then? Secret documents from Thule in 1990.’

  Ottesen took the mobile and swiped through the pictures. ‘I would like to look into it more closely, Matt,’ he said. ‘Do you have the originals?’

  ‘No, sadly,’ Matthew said. ‘And I’ve no idea if Bradley and Reese took them or if they were lost in the fire.’

  Ottesen shrugged and handed the mobile back to him. ‘It’ll take more than a few photos, and I saw nothing relating to the murders in those pictures…Sorry, Matt, your father will take the rap for this, and from where I’m standing, he’s looking increasingly guilty.’

  ‘But I saw Bradley and Reese myself! Surely that must count for something? My father didn’t murder anyone!’

  ‘Matthew, you and Tom saw two men who Tom claims are Bradley and Reese, while the US military insists that Bradley and Reese were killed by Tom at the Thule base in 1990. They’ve been buried for more than twenty-four years.’ Ottesen looked up at the ceiling and held his breath for a moment. ‘The only thing that remains outstanding in this investigation is for Tom to be handed over to the US military, and that’s all there is to it.’

  Matthew rubbed his neck. ‘Then what about my father’s coffin? He was also buried in 1990, according to Briggs. But Tom is alive, so if there really were three coffins, at least one of them must have been empty.’

  ‘I don’t know, Matthew. Tom turning up alive has come as a bit of a shock to the Americans, it’s fair to say, but no matter how we twist and turn it, I’ve no author
ity to demand insight into an internal matter at an American military base.’

  ‘It still doesn’t add up,’ Matthew said wearily.

  ‘I just want to conclude my investigation,’ Ottesen went on. He sounded weary as well. ‘We only buried Rakel yesterday and it was a really horrible day, so pardon me for speaking plainly, but all I want to do is hand over your father to the Americans and then find Abelsen and Bárdur. Rumour has it that they’re hiding in Tasiilaq. Then I want to close down this insane investigation for good.’

  Matthew stared at the floor and covered his face with his hand. ‘Was it okay? Rakel’s funeral.’

  ‘Yes,’ Ottesen said, and his voice trembled. ‘She was laid to rest next to Jakob.’

  ‘I’ll drive out to the cemetery once Arnaq’s appointment is over.’

  ‘The church was packed again,’ Ottesen said. ‘I helped carry the coffin.’

  There was silence. Out in the corridor they heard someone hurry past.

  ‘Do you need to talk to a psychologist?’ Ottesen asked him gently.

  Matthew shook his head slowly without taking his hand away.

  ‘I’ll make you an appointment anyway,’ Ottesen said, still in a soft voice, then his face lit up. ‘We have a match to the DNA evidence we found in Jakob’s house. The match is Símin.’

  ‘What?’ Matthew lowered his hand and looked at Ottesen. ‘So why was there no match with Bárdur? I thought Símin was Bárdur’s son?’

  ‘That’s just it, Matt. It turns out Bárdur isn’t Símin’s father at all, but I can’t imagine that either of them knows.’

  ‘Then who is it?’ Matthew froze. ‘My father was there in 1990, so if Símin is twenty-four, then—’

  ‘There was no match to your father either,’ Ottesen said with a smile. ‘I’ve no idea who his father is and it doesn’t matter now. I just thought you ought to know that Símin killed Jakob.’

  ‘He must have travelled to Nuuk with Bárdur to kill Jakob, since Jakob was murdered around the time I was attacked.’