Jarkko Sipila - Vengeance

“Well, shithead,” Nieminen growled. “Here are your cuffs.”

He twisted Larsson’s arms behind his back, and forcefully slapped the cuffs on the man’s wrists. Nieminen knew the impact was painful, and would leave bruises for weeks, but the gangster should have complied in the first place.

“Anything else?” said Nieminen.

Though Nieminen was directly behind Larsson, Partio kept his gun aimed at the gang boss.

“I told him to get on his knees, but he didn’t.”

Nieminen pulled a telescoping baton out of his utility belt. With a quick snap, the spring steel club extended to about a foot and a half. Without a word, Nieminen struck Larsson in the back of the knees. The bald man fell to his knees with a grimace.

“Anything else?” asked Nieminen with a wooden expression. He glanced over his shoulder as the first squad car swerved around a distant corner with its lights flashing. He patted Larsson down, but didn’t find any weapons. Partio had no doubt that if Larsson’s gun had been in his pocket, rather than in the car, he would have tried to use it.

“That should be about it,” said Partio. Suddenly, he remembered the mugging victim in the back of the squad car. “That guy with the gash is still in the back seat.”

Nieminen still had the baton in his hand and he tapped Larsson lightly on the ear with it. “I’ll watch this piece of shit-you take him inside. Ask about Steiner while you’re at it. According to the doc, his oxygen levels were really low.”

The arrangement suited Partio, but he wondered if he should interrogate Larsson about the source of Steiner’s gunshot wound. But Partio let it go. They could leave that for the VCU-those guys had to earn their pay somehow.

He holstered his Glock and went to the back door of the cruiser, which couldn’t be opened from the inside. Partio pulled the door open to see the mugging victim curled up on the back seat. He looked up at the officer. “What the hell is going on out there?”

“Nothing to worry about. Just had to take care of some urgent police business first, but we’ll get you in line for some help soon.”

“Who fired?” the man asked as he scrambled to his feet.

“I did. Now get up, and quick.”

In three seconds, the man was out of the car. Partio pointed him toward the entrance to the clinic.

The approaching squad car killed its sirens a hundred yards before the hospital. As the cruiser came to a stop under the canopy, the roof lights went out too. Since the roof lights would quickly drain the car’s battery, they were used sparingly.

Two big officers stepped out, keeping their hands on the butts of their guns. Nieminen greeted them both, but kept the baton by Larsson’s ear.

“Who fired?” asked one of the officers.

“Partio.”

“At who?”

Nieminen waved his baton toward the hole in the side of the car. “Just the poor Audi. Unfortunately.”

“Aha.” The big officer glanced back at the kneeling Larsson and recognized the Skull. “Well, your partner should work on his marksmanship.”

TUESDAY, 6:30 A.M.

PASILA POLICE HEADQUARTERS, HELSINKI

Takamäki sat in his office and smelled the coffee. At this hour, it was either very fresh or it had sat in the pot overnight. Though it was still too hot to drink now, judging by the aroma, it was fresh.

The lieutenant was reading a report on his screen about the early-morning incident at the ER. It matched what he had heard from the night-shift lieutenant in a 5:00 A.M. phone call, though the report described the events in greater detail. Sergeant Partio himself had written it.

“Morning,” said Captain Honkala as he took off his overcoat. The NBI captain was wearing the same gray suit as yesterday and his short hair was neatly combed.

After the night-shift lieutenant had awakened him, Takamäki had phoned Honkala, and the two had agreed to meet in Takamäki’s office at half-past-six.

“Anything new?”

“Details, mainly,” answered Takamäki, and he relayed the main points of the incident at the ER.

“I wonder who shot Steiner, and where the shooter is.”

“No longer alive, I suspect. Larsson is in custody, but he hasn’t said anything. Steiner is in no shape to talk, yet.”

“What about forensics?”

“Just getting started, but they found some soil and sand on Steiner’s and Larsson’s shoes as well as in the footwell of the Audi, so they’d been somewhere in the woods. No GPS in the car, so it’s tough to say exactly where. I bet the shooting happened somewhere in Helsinki, since Larsson drove to the Töölö Hospital and not to one in Vantaa or Espoo.”

Joutsamo, dressed in a gray sweater, stepped into the office. “We got the results of the residue analysis. Larsson didn’t fire his weapon last night. Actually, the preliminary results show that neither of their weapons have been fired for some time. Steiner’s knife has traces of fresh blood, so we sent it to the lab.”

“Thanks,” said Honkala. “No surprise about the knife, but could it be possible that the bombing was intended for the Skulls after all? Seems like someone is after these two. What if Salmela’s behind all this? At least he’d have a motive, and that “rat” note on his dead friend has got me thinking.”

Takamäki didn’t comment, but turned back to Joutsamo. “Have you gotten a hold of Suhonen?”

“He’s not answering his phone.”

“Okay. He’s probably been working all night and turned off his phone to get a few hours of sleep.”

“It’s definitely ringing, but nobody’s answering,” Joutsamo added.

“Well, it could be on vibrate.”

Honkala brushed a piece of lint off the shoulder of his suit jacket. “I called Nykänen. He told me they’d been doing the rounds till about midnight before Suhonen dropped him off at the station and went home. Nykänen will get here as soon as he can.”

“Well, Suhonen will show up too, once he wakes up.”

Honkala was still standing in the middle of the room. “What about Larsson’s and Steiner’s phone records?”

“We put a rush on them,” Joutsamo replied. “The phone companies promised them by noon.”

“Okay,” said Takamäki. “We have to remember that we have three parallel cases: the bombing in Käpylä, Nurminen’s stabbing, and most recently, Steiner’s shooting. The car bombing is connected to the Skulls. We have no suspects yet in Steiner’s shooting, but in Nurminen’s case, we have Larsson and Steiner. That looks like the easiest case of the three.”

Joutsamo nodded. “Forensics has been cranking all night, but I haven’t heard any results yet.”

“They promised them by nine this morning.”

“And there’s a fourth case here, too,” Honkala noted. “The shooting at the Skulls’ compound. Of course, the state prosecutor will investigate police conduct in connection with the fatalities. The NBI techies have been scouring the building all night. I haven’t heard what they found.”

Honkala fell silent for a moment, “This calls for another meeting with the bosses so we can sort out who takes what.”

“I agree,” said Takamäki.

“Quite a case, but we’ve got plenty of time. Now that Larsson and Steiner are in custody, we’re in no hurry. How about nine o’clock in your conference room?”

“Sounds good,” said Takamäki.

“We should think about the press, too. And by that I mean what are we going to make public,” Honkala continued. “Yesterday, if memory serves, I promised to have a noon press conference at the NBI headquarters, but it’s probably better to have it here.”

That was the last thing on Takamäki’s mind.