by J J Marsh
The motorway crossed a wide body of water, spray and rain pelting his windscreen and sudden gusts blowing him off course. Theo kept his speed steady, hands gripping the steering wheel, his neck tense. Exploring a coastal path in this weather was an alarming prospect. He had no serious wet-weather gear and his trainers were not intended for Finnish paths, more Finsbury Park. Even though traffic grew less congested as they crossed the city, driving conditions were a nightmare. He breathed, in a conscious effort to relax his shoulders and prepare himself for the unknown. This was unfamiliar territory in every sense, yet he could handle himself. His eyes were open, his body primed and his mind flexible. He was ready for this, whatever it was.
Once off the bridge, they drove through an apparently endless suburb. In order to be fully prepared for what he was about to face, he needed more detail.
“Aleksis, I want you to understand something. I’m a private detective hired to do a job. I have no vested interest because my motivation is professional. I want to find Valpuri and Samu or I don’t get paid. Why they are in a cave, who put them there and the finger-pointing of blame? That stuff doesn’t interest me in the slightest. You want me to help them and I’m flying blind here. Can you at least give me a rough idea of what I can expect?”
Curled up in his wet weather jacket with his hood up, Aleksis looked like a hermit crab. They continued through the grey streets, windscreen wipers on full speed, the heater blowing like a hairdryer and Theo’s patience extending like the road ahead.
“What she said, his mum, I think that’s true.” Aleksis’s voice was only just audible above the sound of splashing tyres and the rumbling engine.
Rather than snap questions at the kid, Theo stayed silent, his focus on the traffic.
“Risto and Ursula…” He took several deep breaths, his voice catching in his throat. “Risto and Ursula are strong, mentally strong. They analyse everything and they understand the big picture. I don’t. This is why they decide Gaia Warrior strategy. The rest of us, Valpuri, Samu, Tuula and me, we have passion. They have vision. Sometimes, I’m too emotional. I didn’t want to do this.”
Traffic lights ahead changed to red and Theo turned down the heater a notch. He was tempted to repeat his speech on not giving a shit about why and trying to focus the boy’s attention on what. He didn’t, simply leaving a space for Aleksis to fill.
“What we do at grassroots level is a personal choice.”
The lights changed to green and Theo drove away, trying not to cross his eyes at the repetition of a mission statement.
“On a bigger scale, when we were trying to address a global problem, we agreed on a more extreme path of action. We can’t communicate a message without using the media. Somehow or other, we have to attract attention, get people talking, start a discussion. It’s not enough to change our own behaviours, to talk to our friends and families, we need a wider platform. We need to pull people’s focus on to us and our message.” He paused. “Sorry, you said you weren’t interested in why.”
Theo kept his voice gentle. “I want to hear your story. You can start at whatever point you like. All I’m doing is listening.”
Signs overhead indicated another bridge and Theo tensed himself for the inevitable onslaught of winds from the Baltic Sea. For a second, a vision crossed his mind. A long green apron, sparkling optics and a crowd of beautiful people on the other side of the bar. That was a chapter of his own story and he dismissed it as shallow and dull. Plus he’d heard it before.
“Ursula is smart. I mean really smart. She understands how to make people sit up and listen. She and Risto had an idea. It’s all about public perception, you see? Black and white, good and evil, aggressor and victim. The news painted us as aggressors, whiny millennials claiming entitlement, ungrateful for the benefits and ignorant of the sacrifices made by previous generations. Ursula said we had to change the narrative, making it more about our sacrifices, our loss, turning a cosy story of a nostalgic past into a dystopian future.”
It wasn’t clear exactly why Theo’s knuckles had gone pale while clutching the steering wheel. He decided to be magnanimous and put it down to the uncertainty of the weather. “We’re going to have a lot of time to discuss this, and we should because I am interested in what you have to say. Right now, Aleksis, I need you to tell me where we’re going and what I should expect. When I go into a situation like this, I need to have a picture in my mind. Can you tell me a little bit about this cave? How do you get to it, how do you deliver food, why can’t Valpuri and Samu get out on their own? Paint me a picture, will you?”
Aleksis shot him a quick glance and turned to look out of the passenger seat window. “It’s a place Risto knows. His father works at the golf club and Risto used to play there when he was a kid. There’s a cave, pretty deep, which is open to the sea. He and his friends had a rope ladder. They used to climb down there, make a fire, drink beer, grill fish, you know the kind of thing. No one could find you down there.”
“And that’s where you decided to hide Valpuri and Samu? How could you be sure they wouldn’t get out? How could you be sure ...” He hesitated, framing his words with care. “How could you be sure they would be safe?”
As the minibus drove across the bridge, Theo swallowed and clenched his jaw. Waves billowed across the motorway, battering vehicles and forcing all traffic to creep along at 30 kph. The road was reduced to one lane only; cars, lorries and buses crept in single file across the wild water.
Theo’s concentration was 100% on the road ahead, but he sensed Aleksis leaning forward to observe the dramatic conditions.
“It’s not far. On the other side of the bridge, we take a left at Sarvvik and go a little way towards the coast. We are about ten minutes away. We have to keep going.” Aleksis was rocking, as if to propel the vehicle forward by his own force of movement.
“I don’t plan to stop,” said Theo. “Tell me, how could you be sure they were safe? You heard what Samu’s mother said? He needs regular medication, no triggers such as cold and damp and his emergency inhaler in case of an attack. You took that into account, right?”
“It wasn’t up to me! I didn’t want to do this but they had it all planned. They didn’t tell me, they didn’t tell Tuula until the last minute. They said everything was organised and all we had to do was follow the plan. So we did.” He sniffed but Theo could tell he was not crying. “We always do. Samu always has an inhaler on him and we didn’t mean for this to go on so long.”
“You said we take a left at Sarvvik. That means this exit, yes?”
“Yes. Left here.”
For the next few minutes, they stayed silent and tense, the only communication being Aleksis’s directions. The road soon became little more than a washed-out track and Theo struggled to keep the decrepit old bus moving forward.
“Could we dump the bus and walk from here?” he asked.
“We need the bus! That’s the only way we can lower a ladder or a rope. We need the bus,” panted Aleksis, his voice high-pitched and breathless. “It’s only another hundred metres. Keep going, please, keep going!”
Even with his lights on full beam, Theo could barely see where he was going. The edge of the cliffs loomed closer and he had to make a judgement call. He stopped the bus and switched off the engine.
“No! Keep going!” shrieked Aleksis. “We have to help them!”
Theo inflated his ribcage and addressed the hyper individual in the passenger seat with a powerful, but modulated voice. “If we drive any further in these conditions, I am putting us both in danger. The bus stays here and we’ll walk to locate this access point. I’m sorry, Aleksis, but I need to alert the emergency services. Anyone exposed to this weather, whether they are healthy or not, is at serious risk. No more messing about, lives are on the line. Theirs and ours. Come on.”
The kid, to his credit, didn’t protest, and scrambled into the back.
He tried 112 but his phone refused to cooperate. He switched on location services so hopefu
lly he could be tracked. After two attempts at calling Beatrice failed, Theo sent her a message with their location and an alert to call police, ambulance and whatever version of coastguards existed in Finland. He just had to hope the message would get sent when the signal returned.
Over his shoulder, he saw Aleksis stuffing cans into his rucksack. “Forget the food! All we need is rope, the first aid kit, fluid and blankets. Give me that ...” he didn’t know the Swedish word for tarpaulin. “... thing!” He saw the confusion in the guy’s eyes. “The green canvas sheet with the holes! Come on, Aleksis, now’s the time to forget the rest of this shit and do right by your friends. Mind the door as you get out, this wind is insane!”
The door slid back and exposed them to the full ferocious force of the storm. Instantly, Theo was blinded by rain and his hood blew off his head. He sheltered behind the bus, tied his hood under his chin and followed the beam of Aleksis’s torch.
Chapter 33
The minute Beatrice arrived back at the hotel, she knew it was a bad idea. There was no way she could settle without knowing where Theo was and what he was doing. The view from the windows of her hotel room brought home the violence and fury of the storm. Boats rocked, bucked and crashed up against the sea wall, while the sea bubbled and frothed like a volcano. On top of that, she had no choice but to listen to all the voicemails she had thus far studiously ignored.
Before braving the furious voices of her loved ones, she needed sustenance. Conditions such as this called for comfort food. She ordered fish soup with crusty bread and a half bottle of white wine. She switched on the TV with the sound down and faced her punishment.
Her phone showed messages from Matthew, Catinca, Adrian and Gabriel. Gabriel but not Tanya? Maybe the bride-to-be was too angry to even speak.
She pressed Play.
I’m used to you hiding behind electronic communication when you’re being evasive and I was not fooled for an instant. But delaying your return by a day merited the common decency of a phone call. If not to me, then to Tanya. Passing the buck to Theo is beneath you, Old Thing.
With a wince, she acknowledged the truth in what Matthew said. This disappointment in his tone was painful to hear. The next message began to play.
What you playing at? We are all rolling up sleeves and mucking in to make Tanya’s wedding a success. Where are you, mate? Shoulda sodding been here this morning. This is your responsibility as well as ours. Sort yourself out!
Beatrice muttered to herself. “That’s the whole point. With all of you on hand, what difference does one more person make?” Then she pictured the scornful expression on Catinca’s face and realised that line of argument would not wash.
Beatrice Stubbs, I cannot believe I have to make this call. Do you have any idea how awkward this is! When Will and I got married, you couldn’t do enough. Now, two days before Tanya marries her dream man, you go AWOL. It’s not good enough. Will is driving to the airport tomorrow and you had better be on that flight. The one that you should have been on this morning. Yes, I can read airline timetables and your flight took off and landed as scheduled. I mean it, Beatrice. This is not funny.
She took a swig of her wine and tallied up how many apologies she owed. Before the next message played, she’d already lost count.
Hello, Beatrice. This is Gabriel. I hear you’re not coming back until tomorrow. Right now, Tanya is emotionally fragile. I know you think she’s got enough support from family and friends. What you don’t realise is how much you mean to her. You’re probably busy and I understand that, but could you at least give her a call? Oh, yeah, Luke is here and says he still loves you.
Disappointment, anger, outrage, reproach and appeal to loyalty all had an effect, but nothing punched her in the solar plexus quite like that simple message from Luke. She swallowed the lump in her throat and blew her nose in the napkin. Her first instinct was to call Tanya. Her gaze ranged the room as she pondered what to say. Then a picture on the television caught her eye.
The twin images of Valpuri Peura and Samuel Pekkanen filled the screen. Beatrice scrabbled for the remote and turned up the volume. Her frustration reached screaming point when she couldn’t recognise a single word in the newsreader’s delivery. Then the image switched to a map, showing the southern coast of Finland and across the Baltic Sea, the northern coast of Estonia. The capital city of Tallinn was circled in red. Her jaw dropped open and snapped shut again as her phone rang.
“Beatrice Stubbs speaking.”
“This is Sahlberg. We have new information, Ms Stubbs.”
Beatrice jerked to attention. “Is this about the news? I’ve been watching. I couldn’t understand it all but they definitely mentioned Tallinn.”
“Yes, they mentioned Tallinn and repeated everything on the recording you gave me. We have a better quality audio version and a transcript in English if you would like to read. But my reason for calling is regarding the caves at Malmen. Do you have any information from your assistant?”
Beatrice took her handset from her ear and looked at the screen, although she already knew she had received nothing from Theo. “Not yet. The signal goes off and on. I’m sure he will let me know when he can.”
“We interviewed another member of the Gaia Warriors this afternoon. A young woman called Tuula Sirkka. She confirms the information you have about the caves and has given us an approximate location. We are travelling there immediately.”
“I want to come! I mean, sorry, please may I come with you? I’m worried about my assistant and I can do nothing to help sitting here.”
Sahlberg hesitated for a second. “You can do nothing to help anyway. We are already on the road with two patrol cars and an ambulance. Stay in your hotel. This is a police matter now.”
“Detective!” she squeaked, but he had already rung off. Somebody really should have a word with that man about phone etiquette.
She scrolled through recent calls and pressed a number.
An efficient voice answered instantly. “Hello, Beatrice. I saw the news.”
“Me too. Astrid, the police have a rough idea of where the kids might be hidden. There are some caves in an area called Malmen. The police want me to stay in my hotel, but I’d ...”
“I’ll collect you in twenty minutes. Have you got any waterproofs?”
“Thank you so much! No, not exactly. More tourist type of gear. Have you heard from Karoliina?”
“Yes. She knows. See you soon.”
Twenty minutes. Long enough to make a well overdue phone call.
She was just about to press Tanya’s number when somebody knocked on the door. Either Astrid had a broomstick or Beatrice had an unexpected visitor. She sidled up to the spyhole and peeked out. Nothing. Not even a view of an empty corridor. She froze. Whoever wanted access had blocked her view. Not a good sign.
Someone rapped again and her breath became shallow. She retreated to the balcony door. All she need do was hop over the little wall onto Theo’s balcony and get into his room. If it was open. If he’d locked his balcony door, she was trapped, with who knows what waiting outside.
She twisted the lock and jumped as a voice came through the door. “Maintenance, Mrs Stubbs. Your air-conditioning is leaking onto the floor below. May we come in?”
She drew the curtains, eased open the door, grabbed her bag, slipped through the gap and closed the door behind her. The wind blew her hair wildly around her head as she kept her face pressed to the gap in the curtains. Inside, the room door opened and the bulk of the Nordic giant filled the doorway. With a squeak of fear, she hopped over the barrier and tried the handle of Theo’s room, praying his distraction after the morning’s phone call had made him careless. To her immense relief, it opened.
The man would work out where she’d gone and come after her, that much was clear. She locked the balcony door, closed the curtains and scuttled across the carpet. With great caution, she peeped out of the spyhole at the corridor.
No one there. She opened the room door
silently and checked in both directions. The corridor was empty. But to get to the lifts, she had to walk past her own room. Astrid’s voice echoed in her head. Nobody uses the stairs. She dodged out of Theo’s room, round the corner and into the stairwell. Her instinct was to rush downwards, but the same would occur to any pursuer. She opted for up, taking the stairs two at a time.
Chapter 34
This was suicide. Climbing down into blackness on a metal ladder in high winds and torrential rain would be an act of wilful self-harm. Gusts of wind pushed and shoved Theo with all the force of aggressive commuters on the Central Line. He leaned against the pressure and bent his knees to keep his balance. When Aleksis uncovered the ladder, it was as if the kid had pulled a rabbit out of the hat, the solution to all their problems. Theo stared at him, incredulous, shaking his head. Sure, the metal foundation securing the thing to the rock looked sturdy enough to be trusted on a summer afternoon. Today, no way.
“No way!” he yelled at Aleksis. “I’m not going down there and you can’t with a broken wrist. Give me that torch!” He crawled towards the aperture of the cave and shone the torch below, trying to make out any signs of life. The drop to the ground was around twelve metres and visibility close to zero. As far as the pathetically weak torch beam illuminated the cave, he could see nothing but dark shapes and patches of sand.
Theo beckoned Aleksis to join him and they each wrapped an arm around the metal ladder. Aleksis held the torch and Theo cupped his hands around his mouth, calling a ‘hello’ into the chamber below. The wind whipped his voice away as if it were a sparrow’s fart. He tried again. Nothing. Then Aleksis pointed with his left hand, shining the torch with his right. Theo squinted into the gloom and spotted the glint of a plastic water bottle. It wasn’t much, but it was a sign someone had recently occupied the space. Aleksis shone the torch in a semicircle around the area and they both spotted the encroaching waves at the same time. The cave was going to flood and anything down there would be swept out to sea.