Antler Plan (A Konrad Loki Thriller Book 1)

by Joonas Huhta

  “White light into a prism, sending in the mixture of all colors…” Konrad said. “And if we trail the rainbow back to the prism, we’ll get white light again.”

  “Thinking what I’m thinking?” Ruut asked.

  “The skin.” Konrad said. “It needs to be placed on the hand mark. I’ll do this if you tell me why you and Gideon have such a troubled relationship. You’re strangely interested in certain aspects of medicine. Where does it stem from?”

  Her upright posture slumped.

  “I accidentally killed Gideon’s sister.”

  Konrad gave her time.

  “It was sunny, warm summer holiday, and we had gone swimming in the Mediterranean Sea. We wore elf hats just for fun. Gideon and Alina were excellent swimmers, going deeper and competing back to the shore. But on one race Gideon got a cramp in his leg, and he came to the beach. Alina got tangled with water reed. She got water to her lungs, started panicking…”

  “You went in?”

  “I dived into the water, swam as fast as I could. I managed to cut her loose and bring her in. Gideon came to hug her, a few people cheered, and a lifeguard also. But then something happened. We walked for ice cream bar, talked about returning to the water afterwards. Alina ate her ice cream complaining she was sleepy. We all thought we could stop at home, and take a nap, return later. Gideon, Alina and I slept in the same big bed. That was when she drowned.”

  “I’m not following.”

  “It’s called dry drowning. Even a small amount of water in the lungs acquired from a bath can be lethal. I misinterpreted the signs, which were hardly any apart from the drowsiness. It was hot, and she had been running and swimming in the heat for an hour before the incident. I thought she was just tired.”

  “And Gideon accused you of her death?”

  Tears dyed her eyes red. “Yes. A small amount of water in my little girl’s lungs broke our family. Gideon blamed me for not taking care of her, but even though he was just handling his mixed-up emotions, I took the mantle of guilt. I drifted black, reading all kinds of medical stories. It was the darkest period of my life. Gideon tried to drown himself from a bridge in the winter. But I saw it happening, and I knew cold protects the brains, so I managed to save him with a rescue team. After thirty minutes, we found him and rushed into the hospital…”

  Konrad noted how her hands folded in and out in a biological ache, the memory causing a great urge to protect a child.

  “He’s a walking miracle,” Ruut said.

  “I’m sorry, I had no idea.”

  Ruut flashed a smile. “It’s okay. Will you look what’s behind the creaky doors?”

  Konrad turned to the tree with the drum skin in his hand. Unable to control the pulse of his hyperventilating heart, he positioned himself before the hand mark, reaching for the heartwood.

  “Here goes nothing.”

  He felt the relentless burning of ice on the skin. But as if struck by lightning, something tightened around his heart, stopped it. His body stiffened, his lungs not functioning. His consciousness remained in a paralyzed, useless body, when a twin manifestation arrived.

  Gideon was an avatar of destiny. He wore an explosive vest among a crowd of people celebrating Christmas, the flames of destruction burning all human flesh. And he saw Ruut betraying him. She turned her weapon toward him.

  She pulled the trigger.

  34

  VIKTOR VODYANOY WAS a smaller man than Eric remembered, but the handshake was a powerful pull. The president paid much resemblance to Stalin himself. Nobody could meet Stalin without trepidation, not even one who was held in history as one of the greatest wartime leaders of all time.

  Winston Churchill.

  If western civilization still allowed Viktor to lead Russia with his iron fist, the nuclear mushroom cloud would be stamped in everyone’s backbones.

  The toxic footprint of war.

  Because of the presence of the press in Santa Claus Village, he kept a forced smile. He wanted to launch all his fury and frustration with unbridled bitterness. Viktor was nothing but the embodiment of reversed progress in the global affairs.

  Ded Moroz, the father frost in blue clothes shook hands with Santa Claus, and Eric. As Eric was ready to give the present to Santa Claus, he drawled:

  “Please accept a small present as a gesture of companionship.”

  Viktor’s blue eyes were callous and calculating. But upon opening the present, his face revealed a small boyish signal. The narcissistic smile building on his face after reading the note proved Theo’s theory right: the man was a megalomaniac wielding too much power.

  Out of the blue, Eric’s mind repeated Albert Einstein’s famous saying: I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.

  LOWERING HIS BINOCULARS on the table in the restaurant Ensilumi a hundred meters away, Theo closed his eyes and sighed. The Plan was running smoothly with its unstoppable momentum. The historically long and bloody moral arc of man was finally bending toward freedom and justice.

  Theo felt his own eyes crinkling at the corners almost without a care in the world. No nation was able to fight against their invisible weapon. So many times, the wars were fought with kids in the battlefield, the generals using them as pawns. For the first time in history, the first casualty of war would not be the truth. There would be only one simple, single sacrifice.

  Viktor Vodyanoy.

  FIVE KILOMETER SOUTH of the Santa Claus Village, Gideon’s foot jittered against the floor in the passenger seat of the black van. Behind the dark, frosty window in the street lights, the line of trees falling behind seemed to jump closer as though they were passing through a lightning storm. Briefly, he held his hand on the window. But he couldn’t thaw it.

  What’s happening to me?

  He closed his eyes and leaned against his seat, his scalp itching with nervousness.

  A road sign up ahead read Ounasvaara ski center.

  Gideon noted that Patrick’s right hand missed a little finger. Had he encountered a wolf or some wild animal? Patrick’s bright-eyed look was engaging with the environment. Not even the buzzing of his cell phone broke his solid concentration.

  “Affirmative, sir,” Patrick said. “The light is green.” Then, as he hung up the call, he stayed quiet for a moment, until he turned to Gideon. “The president of Russia will arrive at our training ground in thirty minutes. Our Russian colleagues have replaced the original skiing teacher. You’ll know what to do.”

  Gideon started imagining what might happen. While overthinking the outcomes, his father’s words gave him the boost and determination he needed.

  I trust you, son.

  35

  “ARE YOU OKAY?” Ruut asked Konrad who lay on the ground unmoving.

  Konrad took a deep breath. His brain was stunned into inactivity, and when he regained normal sense of balance, his heart double-thumped, then began a tap dance of panic in his chest.

  “Give me a minute.”

  Ruut held her cheek against Konrad’s temple and held him in a one-arm hug.

  “I thought I’d lost you.”

  A few seconds later Konrad managed to give her his most winning smile. She helped him up to all-fours on wobbly knees, guiding him back against the tree.

  “What did you see?”

  “Not much more sense than in palmistry.”

  “Spit it out before you forget anything!” Ruut’s voice rose with authoritarian gusto.

  “It’s nothing uplifting.”

  Ruut sat on her knees.

  “Please, Konrad. Speak. If it were like a dream, you’d forget it soon.”

  Konrad knew he would never forget nor understand what he experienced.

  “I saw Gideon.”

  “You saw his future?”

  “I saw… you might say… his potential.”

  “What?” Her voice first dropped only to bounce up. “You could see? You mean like… as if you were… a substitute f
or a Messenger?”

  Konrad felt his stomach clinch. “I saw only the flash of a scene where people were celebrating Christmas. Gideon stood among them. He detonated a suicide vest.”

  Ruut’s eyes were wide in search of ‘I beg your pardon?’

  “Ruut. Don’t make any hasty judgments. Gideon doesn’t seem a bit suicidal.”

  She let out a hollow laugh. “You’re kidding, right? Tell me that you are making this up.”

  There was a strange vibe of unprecedented pretension in her voice. Did she know something he didn’t?

  The membrane was in her hands.

  “What’s in it?”

  “The membrane is now complete,” she said and rose. “But you wouldn’t value its teachings.”

  “Let me see.”

  Ruut pocketed the membrane and produced the Parabellum. “I’m sorry, this information is not in our jurisdiction.” She took Konrad’s face in her aim.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Oona told me to take care of you.”

  “No, she didn’t,” Konrad said. “This is not you. What’s going on?”

  “I care about you, Konrad. I truly do. But people like you… you are anti-everything. If Gideon blows himself up, it’s because of the shit he’s gotten all around from evil people. Those fuckers want to study him and hinder his potential. They’ll use him, like Oona. And get rid of him. But not on my fucking watch!”

  “But I’m on your side. I didn’t mean to cause harm. Ruut!”

  “End of discussion.”

  “But… this is so wrong,” Konrad pleaded, “I saw you too—”

  BANG.

  Skyrockets of pain went off in his head, and all turned black.

  36

  THE WHOLE DOWNHILL was closed to the public. Gideon saw Russian security men surrounding the president like spiders placed around an entire web. All were protecting the man like he was the mother queen.

  Up along the hill, there were agents and more security on both sides in the tree lines. Did they honestly expect any threat coming from the woods? At any rate, the ability to carry any attacks on Viktor was zero and below.

  They exited the lift and looked down at their own, secured downhill.

  “You,” Viktor said and pointed both at Gideon and the open road. “First. You.”

  “I’ll go a hundred meters down and wait for you,” Gideon said. “Is it okay?”

  Viktor was nodding.

  Gideon tied his legs to his board, and waited for the president to finish his. Then he went down, trying to look calm and relaxed but his knees were feeble. Not wanting to show any trembling, he sat in the snow, looked over his shoulder at the president.

  Viktor Vodyanoy was known for his Aikido skills, and as the man started coming down, and falling after every five meters, Gideon thought the man should have stayed in the Dojo.

  A black belt won’t make you a master on snow.

  After a minute, the president found some balance and came down thirty meters before stopping his speed with a skillful ukem rollover. From the snow cloud surrounding the man, his smile reached Gideon. “Good?”

  Gideon nodded. “Magnificent, sir.”

  Viktor pointed at himself, then the hill.

  Gideon said, “Go ahead. Take it easy. The hill gets steeper.” Gideon showed the degree of tilt with his hand, but the president was back on his board, sliding down like a speed-junkie without brakes.

  As Viktor fell and got up, Gideon couldn’t fathom how anybody could harm him. The security was impenetrable. Also, he was being watched and probably targeted with a weapon from somewhere, should he attempt any aggressive move on the president.

  FURTHER DOWN IN the tree line, agent Bruce Moodyson saw Patrick Praytor’s hand signal at the bottom near the skiing cafe. A Russian agent accompanied Bruce. A muscle-build goon, who smiled at him as they were able to see the president coming tumbling down. Bruce did nothing, but looked at his watch and said: “Abracadabra.”

  The Russian agent faced him. “Prastite?”

  Bruce smiled and waved his arm: don’t worry. The agent suspected nothing. As Bruce activated the weapon in the president’s direction, the moral enhancement began in all its glory. The machine made the Russian agent only smile brighter his crooked, stupid smile.

  Smile, for tomorrow your service won’t be needed.

  37

  THEO KRAFT OPENED a champagne bottle in the car outside Santa Claus’s Village. He filled two plastic cups and offered one to Eric.

  “Potential uncorked,” he said, raising a toast. “For the better future of Finland.”

  Eric evaluated the liquid in his cup, waited for the foam to settle.

  “They now have the Messiah, who’s not tempted to invade, command and tell the rules to others,” Theo stated. “All we have to do is to watch God’s word come to pass.”

  “This is wrong,” Eric muttered. “The moral enhancement was not Viktor’s choice. This was purely moral enforcement.”

  “I like you being analytical, Eric. And I know that as time passes you’ll understand you made the right decision. Think of your children. Their future. It’s all that matters.”

  “There’s no turning back for humanity.”

  “Let’s face it. We were biologically and genetically doomed to cause our own destruction. Not anymore.”

  “Philosophy has never been your greatest strengths. If you haven’t done the groundwork well, then all hail the Russian reaper and soon-to-be ground zero Lapland.”

  “Oh, we have the philosophical ground covered,” Theo said. “Our greatest mind in the team has accessed the inaccessible. I can’t go into the details, but our source knew the potential of the matter better than the genius of geniuses.”

  Eric shot Theo a look of disgust.

  “Trust me,” Theo said, his voice hard and piercing, firm as granite.

  “For fuck’s sake,” Eric said and handed over the cup. “Give me the bottle.”

  Holding two cups in his hands, Theo waited for Eric to drink the bottle empty.

  Eric opened the window and threw the bottle out. He pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. “You should be crucified.”

  “I take that as a compliment from a good friend.”

  Eric’s eyes widened and rolled in their slots. “I wouldn’t. Jesus H. Christ…”

  They stared out of the windshield and spoke nothing in a minute.

  “Eric,” Theo said. “I still need one favor.”

  “How about that. A friend who speaks like an eloquent gentleman—yet has no intention to get permission—wants to do as he pleases. What can I do for you? Find you a whore house so that you can indulge in a final act of lust before you leave?”

  “Actually.” Theo paused to consider his words. “There’s this Santa’s Little Hideout I would like to clean up.”

  Eric blinked.

  “There’s a secret laboratory I would like to seal.”

  “Cleaning up the crime scene where you produced your weapon? It’s here?”

  “Don’t look so surprised. Surely you had done the math already.”

  “Who the hell do you think you are? Bringing some fucked-up presents. I have no fucking clue about any secret laboratories.”

  “Even though you have your personnel working in there?”

  “Do I look like a football manager? Like I keep an account of my players, who parties and fucks whom and where?” Eric leaned his head closer to Theo. “Who?”

  “Ruut Stark.”

  “She works below the level meant for tourists in the Santa’s Cave. I know all about that, and their current progress.”

  “Give me clearance to go down there. And below.”

  “Below the secret level? There’s nothing.”

  “If you say so.”

  “Fuck! If you want to hit your philosophical bedrock with your dick and expect a new majestic discovery, please do that.”

  “I will.”

  Blood pressure rose red hig
h on Eric’s face. “I recognize that fake-friendly look. You are not ready yet. Russia was never the actual target, was it?”

  “Viktor Vodyanoy was a top priority.”

  “My God.” Eric erupted in ugly laughter. “You’ve got balls! What are you truly up to?”

  Theo took a deep, satisfied breath. “We have the balls of the world’s leaders in a tight squeeze, why stop now?”

  Eric’s nostrils flared. “Whatever I try to make you rethink or disagree, you say: ‘Think of the children.’ You can’t blackmail me.”

  “We are in this together, setting up the guard rail for the path of humanity.”

  Eric quickly took back the steel of posture of his bent spine. “Then I want in. If you’re truly ready to sacrifice your career for this, I want to know exactly your next move.”

  “It’s not how this game is played.”

  “What if I went to your home in the US and slept with your wife, and you would know nothing when you came back?”

  “You’re comparing sex to war?”

  “One simply can’t exist without the other,” Eric said. “If you’re going to fuck with people’s minds, you’re not going to do it without me.”

  “Eric. You have no pressure points to apply pressure.”

  Eric signaled his weapon holster on his hip. “I can still put a bullet in your head in a blink of an eye.”

  Theo tilted his head. “Do you honestly think I didn’t take that option into account?”

  Eric’s eyebrows collapsed. “You. Touched. My. Weapon?”

  “Sure.”

  “I have had this with me all day. You’re bluffing.”

  “You obviously don’t know how skilled Ruut is. Let’s discuss more when we get back to your base.”

  “My. Base.”

  “And your country.”

  “Do not forget that.”

  “Or you’ll rip my head off?”

  Eric said nothing and sped the car away from the Santa Claus Village.

  38