“I don’t care about a bagman for politicians who do business with gangsters. I don’t care about the twenty-seven billion euros. What I care about is that I have never had innocent blood on my hands. Now . . . thanks to you . . . my hands are dirty.”
“Sohlberg . . . why does everything have to be black and white with you? . . . There’s a lot of gray area out there.”
“There are also a lot of dirty hands in the gray area.”
“Are you kidding me? . . . We live in a messy dirty world. What’s illegal isn’t always wrong . . . and what’s legal isn’t always right.”
“I don’t follow the laws of man. They change with the prevailing winds of popular opinion. . . . What’s good for decades suddenly becomes bad . . . and what was bad is now good. . . . Like you say . . . the law is wrong or not right half the time. That’s why I follow my own moral compass . . . to keep me from falling into the gray area.”
“Nonsense.”
“I’m done here. I’m going back to Norway.”
“Ridiculous. You can’t go back. You’ve made tons of enemies up there.”
“It’s been sixteen years. People died and retired. They got promoted or demoted. Fired or transferred.”
“You’re very wrong if you believe that your sins have been forgiven in Norway.”
“Maybe. But after so many years my old police history is now a fossil record . . . ancient history . . . a curious relic of a time long gone . . . buried under the sediment of scandals and political upheavals and shocking murders.”
“Nonsense,” said Laprade. “Your sins have not been forgiven. Who has absolved you? . . . No one.”
“Don’t you understand? . . . My sins have been forgotten. That’s what I wanted to tell you. It’s time for me to go home.”
Laprade watched Sohlberg disappear into the gray sleet. The grizzled legionnaire disagreed with everything that Sohlberg did, said, and stood for. But he admired the man.
A man with morals and integrity.
A man who could not be bought or corrupted.
A superfluous man in modern society.
But at least Sohlberg was practical. The man understood that it was better for a few to be sacrificed for the welfare of many.
“The bill,” said the waiter.
Laprade laughed. For the first time he would have to pay for Sohlberg’s order. He already missed the Norwegian. Laprade stood up. He paid the bill without leaving a tip.
Later that evening Sohlberg started thinking about the three nuclear bombs in the USA and the $ 27 billion in cash sitting on 200 pallets at the Sheremetyevo Airport. But those ugly problems were no longer his to solve or worry about.
He had done the very best he could. And that was good enough.
THE END.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
Nuclear suitcases and backpacks are out there. See, “Russian Roulette.” Frontline. PBS. February 1999 (television documentary; and, online). See also, Kristof, Nicholas D. “An American Hiroshima.” New York Times. 11 August 2004; Op-Ed: online.
As of October 2013, the $ 27 billion in cash remains unclaimed at the Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow. See, e.g., Stewart, Will. “Is Saddam Hussein's fortune in a warehouse in Moscow? Mystery over £16.75bn piles of cash left at airport for six years” Daily Mail. 29 Sept. 2013: online.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Jacky Law, the courageous pharmaceutical journalist. Her exposé Big Pharma (2006) documents how the world’s largest drug companies are downright dangerous to consumers and patients in their blind pursuit of profit.
Source X, for giving me an insider’s look at how drug cartels and other organized crime organizations move and hide their wealth around the world thanks to their bankers—who reap billions in profits.
THE AUTHOR
Jens Amundsen is the pen name of an attorney whose literary anonymity protects him and his clients from the powers that be and want to be.
THE PUBLISHER
Nynorsk Forlag stays true to its roots as an independent publisher bringing the best of Nordic crime novels to the public. From its humble beginnings as an underground press, the company intentionally remains small so as to stay focused on its authors and readers.
Table of Contents
BOOK ONE: LITTLE DID I KNOW; OR, DEATH OF A TRANSLATOR
Chapter 1/Én HEYRIEUX AND LYON, FRANCE: MORNING AND NIGHT OF THE DAY, APRIL 12
Chapter 2/To LYON, FRANCE: MAY 14, OR THIRTY-TWO DAYS AFTER THE DAY
Chapter 3/Tre LYON, FRANCE: MAY 15, OR THIRTY-THREE DAYS AFTER THE DAY
Chapter 4/Fire PARIS AND LYON, FRANCE: JUNE 12, OR TWO MONTHS AFTER THE DAY
Chapter 5/Fem MILAN AND VAREDO, ITALY: JUNE 13, OR TWO MONTHS AND ONE DAY AFTER THE DAY
Chapter 6/Seks PYONGYANG, NORTH KOREA: JUNE 13 AND JUNE 14, OR TWO MONTHS AND 2 DAYS AFTER THE D
BOOK TWO: THE TRAP
Chapter 7/Syv MOSCOW, RUSSIA: MORNING OF TUESDAY JULY 12, OR THREE MONTHS AFTER THE DAY
Chapter 8/Åtte ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA: WEDNESDAY JULY 13, OR THREE MONTHS AND 1 DAY AFTER THE DAY
Chapter 9/Ni RINGVASSØY ISLAND, NORWAY: SUNDAY JULY 17, OR THREE MONTHS AND 5 DAYS AFTER THE DAY
Chapter 10/Ti TROMS COUNTY, NORWAY: MONDAY JULY 18, OR THREE MONTHS AND 6 DAYS AFTER THE DAY
Chapter 11/Elleve LYON, FRANCE: MORNING OF TUESDAY JULY 19, OR THREE MONTHS AND 7 DAYS AFTER THE
Chapter 12/Tolv LYON, FRANCE: AFTERNOON AND EVENING OF TUESDAY JULY 19, OR THREE MONTHS AND 7 DAYS
Chapter 13/Tretten OSLO AND TROMSØ, NORWAY: THURSDAY JULY 21, OR THREE MONTHS AND 9 DAYS AFTER TH
Chapter 14/Fjorten TROMSØ, NORWAY: FRIDAY JULY 22, OR THREE MONTHS AND 10 DAYS AFTER THE DAY
Chapter 15/Femten PARIS AND LYON, FRANCE: THURSDAY JULY 28, OR THREE MONTHS AND 16 DAYS AFTER THE
Chapter 16/Seksten TROMSØ, NORWAY: JULY 28, OR THREE MONTHS AND 16 DAYS AFTER THE DAY
Chapter 17/Sytten TROMSØ, NORWAY: JULY 29, OR THREE MONTHS AND 17 DAYS AFTER THE DAY
Chapter 18/Atten TROMSØ, NORWAY: JULY 30, OR THREE MONTHS AND 18 DAYS AFTER THE DAY
Chapter 19/Nitten TROMSØ, NORWAY: JULY 30, OR THREE MONTHS AND 18 DAYS AFTER THE DAY
Chapter 20/Tjue LYON; BRUSSELS; LUXEMBOURG: JULY 30, OR THREE MONTHS AND 18 DAYS AFTER THE DAY
BOOK THREE: WHEN IT WILL COME
Chapter 21/Tjueen TROMSØ AND REINØYA ISLAND, NORWAY: JULY 31, OR THREE MONTHS AND 19 DAYS AFTER TH
Chapter 22/Tjueto LYON, FRANCE; JULY 31, OR THREE MONTHS AND 19 DAYS AFTER THE DAY
Chapter 23/Tjuetre LYON AND PARIS, FRANCE; AUGUST 1 AND 2, OR THREE MONTHS AND 20 AND 21 DAYS AFT
Chapter 24/Tjuefire MONZA AND COMO, ITALY; AUGUST 5, OR THREE MONTHS AND 25 DAYS AFTER THE DAY
Chapter 25/Tjuefem MEGGEN AND ZURICH, SWITZERLAND: AUGUST 5, OR THREE MONTHS AND 25 DAYS AFTER THE
Chapter 26/Tjueseks LYON, FRANCE: AUGUST 11, OR THREE MONTHS AND 30 DAYS AFTER THE DAY
Chapter 27/Tjuesyv LYON AND POUGNY, FRANCE: AUGUST 16, OR FOUR MONTHS AND 4 DAYS AFTER THE DAY
BOOK FOUR: NO DOUBT DESERVED
Chapter 28/Tjueåtte LYON AND CHALLEX, FRANCE: SEPTEMBER 23 AND 25, OR FIVE MONTHS AND 11 AND 13 DA
Chapter 29/Tjueni LYON, FRANCE: SEPTEMBER 27 AND 28, OR FIVE MONTHS AND 15 AND 16 DAYS AFTER THE
Chapter 30/Tretti LYON, FRANCE; AND SPRUCE PINE, NORTH CAROLINA: OCTOBER 13 AND 25, OR SIX MONTHS
Chapter 31/Trettien GENEVA, SWITZERLAND; FT. MEADE, MARYLAND; and, LANGLEY, VIRGINIA: NOVEMBER 15
Chapter 32/Trettito LYON, FRANCE: NOVEMBER 21, OR SEVEN MONTHS AND 12 DAYS AFTER THE DAY
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Sohlberg and the White Death Page 39