The Serbian Dane

by Leif Davidsen

  ‘So that particular matter is of no political relevance,’ Vuldom said, glancing pointedly at her watch. Per let this pass. But he knew this was not true. With both journalists and politicians involved, he knew there was no chance of keeping anything secret. These people lived by leaking information and foisting things onto one another. Most politicians would sell their grandmother for a two-minute spot on the evening news. He suddenly realized what a real bugger of a job Vuldom had so elegantly dropped into his lap. He raised his head, but she beat him to it.

  ‘Well, I’m sure you’ve plenty to be getting on with,’ she said, concluding their meeting.

  Toftlund hung his jacket on a hanger in his office and called John Nikolajsen. John and he had worked together before on a number of big cases, and both had acted as bodyguards for the royal family and visiting VIPs. They trusted one another, and trust is one of the most essential elements of police teamwork the world over. Fortunately, John had not been assigned to the summit meeting. They would be allowed two more officers for the planning phase, so Per asked John to round them up for a meeting in one hour in the second-floor office they had been given as a temporary operations room. He called Politiken and made an appointment with Lise Carlsen. Her voice was soft and pleasant. Was there a trace of a Jutland accent there? Would she be kind enough to meet him at Café Norden at three o’clock?

  Then he started preparing for the meeting. They had a month. He had a feeling that was going to fly by all too fast.

  A little over an hour later he surveyed his team. It wasn’t big, but he liked what he saw. Besides John, there was Frands Petersen – maybe not the brightest spark on earth but a methodical and thorough sort who didn’t mind the long slow process of investigative and surveillance work – and Bente Carlsen: in her mid-thirties and a fine policewoman by all accounts. Per hadn’t worked with Bente before but had heard only good things about her. He liked policewomen. They tended to keep a cool head in a crisis and usually put everything they had into the job. Possibly because they had to fight that bit harder than the men to get promotion. What did he know? At any rate, there seemed to be more and more of them.

  It was a small team, but it would have to do for now. When the subject herself came to town he would have to get help from the Copenhagen Police Department’s surveillance unit. The room was a good-sized one, with two double windows through which the glorious August sunshine streamed onto some worn desks, a couple of computers, telephones and an overhead projector, by which Per was sitting. There was also a whiteboard. On the board, in red, Per had written: SIMBA. A coffee machine hissed in the corner, and steam was already rising from four paper cups. They were all in plain clothes: jeans and shirts, almost a uniform for anyone who had done their stint with the undercover squad.

  ‘Right then,’ said Per. He set down his paper cup of black coffee, stood up and placed an overhead on the projector. His hangover had diminished to a faint rumbling in his stomach.

  On the overhead was an en face picture of Sara Santanda: the round face, the little, lopsided smile, the short, black curly hair and a striking pair of earrings.

  ‘Here, my friends, is our subject,’ Per went on. ‘The writer Sara Santanda, whom I’m sure none of you philistines has ever heard of. But she has written a couple of books for which the mad mullahs in Iran have sentenced her to death. From now on the subject will be known as “Simba”. That is how we will refer to her amongst ourselves, in reports, memos and computer files. Comprende?’

  They nodded and smiled. They knew Per. He liked to show off a bit and pepper his speech with Spanish words and phrases. Some people found it pretentious, but John went along with it because he knew that this was Per’s way of bringing some structure to an assignment. It was as if he had to put his thoughts into words in order to sort them out and remember them later. He also had a thing about Spain and South America.

  ‘Where the hell do you get those codenames from, Per?’ John said with a laugh. ‘Simba! What’s next? Mowgli?’

  The others laughed too. Bente’s teeth were slightly crooked, and she brayed a little too loudly when she laughed, but it was probably just nerves. That would go once they found a way of working together.

  ‘It’s the name of a dog I had as a boy,’ Per said. This elicited more laughter. He let them laugh. There was nothing wrong with starting their first operational meeting with a good laugh. They would make a fine team.

  Per raised a hand.

  ‘Settle down now. Simba will be arriving here in just under a month. She has chosen to show her pretty little face in Copenhagen after a year in hiding. The police in London are guarding her round the clock. She’s a writer, which means she’s probably mad as a hatter. She’s going to be surrounded by Danish writers and reporters – who are, as you know, a pain in the arse and don’t know the first bloody thing about security.’

  Bente cleared her throat. Per broke off and eyed her encouragingly:

  ‘Yes, Bente?’

  ‘We don’t have that many Muslim extremists here in Denmark. We’re keeping a careful eye on the Egyptian’s cells. We know the people he associates with. And I’m sure the majority of Muslims in this country would be only happy to help, so if we just keep the handful of extremists under surveillance…’

  ‘It’s not just the fanatics we’re up against.’ Per picked up a marker and tossed it from hand to hand. ‘Any true believer who bumps her off will go to paradise and sit at Allah’s right hand. That’s their drug. But the state of Iran is also allowing us infidels a crack at the whip. The reward for taking out Simba now stands at four million US dollars.’

  He enjoyed his colleagues’ reaction to this. They exchanged glances, whistled through their teeth. The mention of the sum involved would bring it home to them that this was a big job and an important one.

  ‘I know. Tempting, isn’t it?’ he said. ‘To the professional hit men and the amateurs. To anyone who can get close to little Simba.’

  Per turned to the board and went on talking while he wrote up a few keywords:

  ‘We have to look over some safe houses. We have to work out a route from the airport to the safe house as well as an alternative route and transport from the safe house to the press conference. We also need to find a nice secure venue for the press conference. And whether the reporters like it or not, there has to be strict monitoring of everyone who wants to meet Simba. Comprende?’

  ‘What have we got in the way of resources?’ Bente again, wanting to make sure that she was seen to be contributing right from the start.

  ‘Not enough. Not what we’d have for a state visit,’ Per said. ‘So what it boils down to is: keep Simba’s visit a secret. Into the country with the woman. Press conference. Out again. End of operation.’

  ‘Right,’ said Bente.

  ‘Way to go, Per!’ said Frands. He was a burly character who had trouble holding his stomach in. He looked like a man who was soon going to give up the fight and let his belly hang over his belt.

  Per laughed, straightened his shoulders and intoned with affected solemnity:

  ‘The Secret Service lost Kennedy. Reagan got hit. We’ve never lost anyone yet. And Simba’s not going to be the first.’

  John and Frands cheered and stamped their feet. Bente looked as if she found it hard to see what was so funny.

  ‘Yes, but remember, this is Denmark,’ she said.

  Per looked at her.

  ‘Exactly, Bente, and from a purely statistical point of view our luck’s bound to run out some time. So…vamos!’

  Per Toftlund found a parking space for his blue BMW down by the canal on Gammel Strand. He popped some coins into the parking meter and walked along the canalside. People were sitting with their legs dangling over the edge, drinking beer and cola. He was early on purpose. The heavy fug of summer hung over the city, a blend of exhaust fumes, sunshine and the smells of food and drink emanating from pavement cafés and kitchen doors. The arms and legs of people cycling past were every shade of red
and brown. He strolled to the café through the hot afternoon and found himself a table inside, in the far corner, from which he could keep an eye on the door. He fetched a cup of coffee from the bar and sat down with a copy of Ekstra Bladet in front of him, as arranged.

  He spotted her right away. She was obviously looking for someone, but he would have noticed her anyway. She had a pretty face and a nice body, but then so do a lot of women. No, it wasn’t just that. He liked the way she lifted her head and tossed back her fair hair, and her light springy step on the paving stones. She had good legs too under her filmy summer skirt, and she wasn’t wearing much make-up. He guessed she must be about thirty, maybe a couple of years older. She would probably still look like that at forty. If she wasn’t the stroppy type, it would be a pleasure working with her.

  He noticed a certain hesitancy about her when she entered the café. Although she seemed like a typical café-goer, used to frequenting the hot spots of the moment in Copenhagen. Yet here she was, glancing round about as if unhappy about having to stand and wait for a total stranger. As if she wasn’t used to waiting at all. She looked like a rotten actor in a bad B-movie, he thought to himself. He let her sweat for a minute, then raised his Ekstra Bladet and gave the ghost of a smile. She smiled back, which did her face no harm at all. Then she walked smartly over to him and sat down. Per immediately started talking. He saw the look on her face turn to one of confusion, then of anger. In his experience, you had to take the lead from the word go. Show who was boss. It was always easier to work with someone once the pecking order had been established. Intellectuals always thought they had the right to call the tune, but that wasn’t on, not when he was in charge of security.

  ‘You’re late,’ he said.

  ‘I just had to finish something first.’ Her voice was warm and musical, and there was definitely a hint of a Jutland accent.

  ‘I don’t like it when people don’t turn up on time. It’s sloppy. Comprende?’

  She stared at him as if he had fallen down from the moon. He was about to defuse the situation with a joke, but her reply stopped him short.

  ‘Entiendo, coño,’ said Lise Carlsen quite coolly.

  Per leaned back in his chair with a laugh that sounded more supercilious than he had intended it to be:

  ‘Well, I never,’ he said.

  ‘Yes, thanks. I would like a coffee.’

  ‘Anything in it?’

  ‘Black.’

  He got up and went over to the bar. Lise followed him with her eyes. He was a rude son-of-a-bitch, that much she had discovered. And first impressions were usually right. Which was a load of crap, of course, but that was how she liked to put it. He wasn’t bad looking, though, if you went for the athletic type with designer stubble. He was a nice dresser. A bit on the classic, conservative side perhaps, but neat and clean. She didn’t know much about policemen or the life they led, but she guessed it wasn’t exactly the biggest brains in the country who chose a career that bore more resemblance to the army than to civilian life. But perhaps the air of confidence he had about him came from carrying a gun and having physical power over people. If she could hold onto that thought, she might actually have the germ of an article. Well, at least she had got them onto an equal footing right at the start. He’d given her all that Spanish crap, but she’d thrown it straight back in his face: ‘Understood, arsehole.’

  Toftlund reappeared and placed a cup of coffee in front of Lise with a ‘There you go’. Lise held out her hand, and Per almost knocked over his own half-full cup as he made to shake it. She introduced herself: ‘Lise Carlsen,’ she said. And Per responded, somewhat flustered:

  ‘Per Toftlund…arsehole. Me, I mean. Not you. As you said.’

  She laughed with him. He had a nice smile. Even white teeth and a dimple. A strong chin, brown eyes and dark hair that was thinning a little at the temples, although this he was making no effort to conceal. She liked that, she thought to herself involuntarily and suddenly felt a little shy.

  ‘So you speak Spanish,’ she said, lifting her cup.

  ‘Like Hemingway.’

  ‘Ah, yes. I bet he’s just the writer for you.’

  ‘I can even spell if I put my mind to it.’

  ‘Really?’

  He drank the rest of his coffee and regarded her. She forced herself to put down her cup, rummaged in her bag and pulled out her cigarettes.

  ‘D’you mind?’

  ‘Just keep it away from me.’

  ‘A hardliner, eh?’

  ‘Just sensible,’ he said.

  She lit up and blew the smoke away from him.

  ‘Now, where were we?’ she said.

  Per leaned across the table and spoke softly, as if they were lovers having a tête-à-tête.

  ‘We’re here to talk about a character by the name of Simba.’

  ‘Who?’

  ‘Sara S. Who from now on will be known as Simba. When speaking of her, we will refer to her as Simba. We two have to find a way to work together, so that you can present Simba to the public and I can keep Simba alive. All right?’

  ‘All right! But I do have a mind of my own, you know. And you giving the orders while I and the rest of PEN click our heels and say “Yessir!” like so many raw recruits is not my idea of working together.’

  He looked at her.

  ‘Who knows about Simba’s visit?’ was all he said.

  ‘Tagesen – my editor-in-chief, that is. Me. The prime minister and his permanent undersecretary. Tagesen knows the prime minister personally and informed him, in order to get your lot involved.’

  ‘Right. Let’s confine this to as small a group as possible.’

  ‘You can’t keep Santanda under wraps…’

  ‘Simba.’

  ‘What a lot of nonsense! She has to get out and meet people. That’s the whole point, don’t you see…?’

  ‘No, that is not the point.’

  ‘Oh, and what is the point, then?’

  ‘To keep her alive,’ said Per.

  Chapter 4

  The Foreign Policy Committee is the Danish parliamentary body responsible for monitoring the government’s activities on the foreign policy and security policy fronts. It meets once a week and is presided over by a chairman responsible for drawing up the agenda. The prime minister, foreign minister and minister for defence can all be requested to appear before the committee to account for their actions. Or they may ask to attend a meeting in order to advise the committee of existing situations. The heads of Military Intelligence – FET – and Security Intelligence – PET – may also keep the MPs on the Foreign Policy Committee up to date on threats to national security and ongoing matters. The matters discussed by the committee are private and confidential, and its members are forbidden to divulge any of the information to which they are made privy behind the closed doors of the committee room, most of which has been gathered by Denmark’s two intelligence services or is based on top-secret reports from the country’s foreign ambassadors.

  Johannes Jørgensen MP knew all of this, but he was angry, so angry that he had decided that somehow this matter had to be made public. And if it meant breaking the Official Secrets Act in order to save good jobs in Jutland, then he knew where his duty lay, and to whom he owed loyalty. The voters, that’s who. Not some foreign heathen. He was the elected representative of the people, he had been for fifteen years, and he was in his element at Christiansborg. He was familiar with all the political and practical shortcuts through the corridors and recesses of the House. He had no wish to return to his dull law practice in Central Jutland. His brother was managing that just fine. Johannes Jørgensen was fifty-six years old. He was an accomplished spokesman and felt that he would soon be ready for an actual government post. But for that he needed to be re-elected, and in this country you could never tell when an election might be called. The slightest and most unexpected thing could cause the veneer of peace and stability between the centre parties to crack.

  So this matter
had to be made public. It was his duty; it was as simple as that.

  In any case, it wouldn’t be the first time that a committee member had made discreet use of information that he or she had acquired at its meetings. It wasn’t as if you had to advertise where you’d got your information from. But first he had to try to make the prime minister see reason.

  Jørgensen was a slim, broad-shouldered man. In his youth he had done a bit of boxing, and this had left him with a nose that was slightly off-kilter. At one point he had considered getting it fixed, but the voters seemed to kind of like the rather tough masculine look the nose gave him. He never made any secret of the fact that he was an ex-boxer and often used boxing metaphors when interviewed on TV. He had read law in Copenhagen and spoke perfect rigsdansk, but on television he auto-matically modified his speech, lacing it with a healthy dash of his original Jutland brogue. Not too thick, of course. But a grain of Jutland credibility tended to work like a charm these days.

  He let the other committee members leave the room ahead him. Most of them hurried off, intent solely on avoiding the little clutch of reporters waiting outside. A couple of the less well-known MPs seemed more inclined to dawdle, in hopes that the reporters might ask them for a word. But the television guys were only interested in the prime minister and his feelings about the latest developments in Bosnia: the reason for this extraor-dinary meeting of the Foreign Policy Committee during the summer recess. Everyone was talking about the Danish troops that were to be sent to the region under NATO command. And if the television people were interested in that, then you could bet your boots the papers would be too. Less experienced members of the committee would never dream of passing on the confidential information which the country’s prime minister had asked them to keep to themselves, after presenting them with it under AOB. Although they might drop a discreet hint or two in a couple of days, to a spouse, a lover or a mistress. To show that they knew something nobody else knew.