Mikkel Birkegaard - The Library of Shadows

Jon nodded. 'I need to give this a little more thought,' he said.

'Of course. But don't wait too long. We can easily become impatient.' Remer gulped down the rest of his whisky and stood up. 'Shall we say three days?'

'Okay, you'll hear from me in three days.'

'Excellent. Talk to you soon, Jon.'

He didn't wait for a response but headed straight for the door and walked out of the Clean Glass without looking back.

Jon pulled up the collar of his jacket and bent his head.

'He's outside now,' he said into the microphone.

'We can see him,' said Katherina's voice on the other end. The sound of a car engine was audible in the background. 'I'll ring when we know where he's going.'

Jon rang off and set the mobile on the table in front of him. Even though it wasn't his, he felt reassured to be once again a member of the communication society. It would have been difficult to carry out their little surveillance action without mobile phones. At that moment Katherina and Henning were setting out after Remer, and they'd be able to report back to him in the pub or notify the other vehicles to take over the pursuit. So they hadn't been able to avoid playing amateur detectives, after all, much to Henning's dismay, but it was the best solution anyone had come up with at the meeting the night before. At least they weren't just waiting around for Remer to show up at twenty different places all over Denmark.

Four vehicles were participating, each with two people, one of whom was a transmitter, the other a receiver. It was a good way to break the ice, in Iversen's opinion, and besides, it might prove useful to have both sets of powers on the scene when Remer reached his destination. Jon hoped they had thought of everything, but they were still amateurs, and he was sure that Remer and his cohorts had much more experience in this line – which marked the difference between amateurs and professionals, as Remer had just mentioned. Their only advantage was that Remer might underestimate them.

Jon drank more of his beer. A month ago he would have seriously considered the type of offer that Remer had presented – being a consultant to one of the country's richest businessmen was a tempting proposition. As a promising barrister on his way up, he wouldn't have hesitated to change jobs if it would benefit his career. It was a matter of learning from the best and exploiting all available opportunities. Occasionally this meant making use of methods that some would find morally questionable. Not all barristers allowed themselves to take advantage of the errors in procedure made by their opponents, even though it might win the case or lead to a swift settlement. But Jon knew that wasn't all Remer had been asking him.

Jon grimaced. He sensed that he was no longer the same person, and at the moment he couldn't imagine he would ever be able to return to his former life.

The mobile on the table rang. Several of the customers at the bar scowled at him in annoyance and he hurried to take the call.

'It's Katherina,' he heard. 'We're in the Шsterbro district, near the embassies.' For a moment her voice was drowned out by traffic noise. '… but it looks like he's getting close to where he's going, whatever that may be.'

'Okay,' said Jon. 'Do you think he noticed anything?'

'We've done our best,' replied Katherina. 'We've kept him on a long leash, and we've changed cars a couple of times.'

'Good,' said Jon. 'I'm heading back to the bookshop now. Ring me again when he stops.'

'By the way,' said Katherina before Jon hung up. 'Do you know what kind of car he drives?'

Jon told her he didn't.

'A Land Rover.'

When Jon arrived at Libri di Luca, Pau was standing outside waiting for him. He had his hands stuffed in his pockets and his shoulders were hunched up around his ears. As Jon approached, Pau shifted his feet uneasily.

'Hi, boss,' he said, smiling with embarrassment.

'Hi, Pau,' replied Jon in a neutral tone. Whatever it was that Pau wanted, Jon had no intention of making it easy for him.

'Closed up a little early today, didn't you?' Pau said, giving a laugh. 'What's going on? Did you invent a new holiday or something?'

'Iversen is out,' replied Jon tersely, nodding at the sign in the window that announced the shop was closed.

'When is he going to be back?' asked Pau. It was obvious he hadn't counted on seeing Jon. Iversen was driving around after Remer somewhere in the city, and Jon couldn't answer Pau's question even if he'd wanted to.

'What can I do for you?' asked Jon bluntly.

Pau blinked and nodded towards the door. 'Could we go inside?'

Jon nodded and unlocked the door to the antiquarian bookshop, letting Pau lead the way. He followed and closed the door behind them, without turning over the 'Open' sign.

'Does Kortmann know you're here?'

Pau shook his head. 'He's a psychopath. The only thing he can talk about is how the receivers have ruined everything. Luring everybody over to their side and stuff like that.'

'It was my understanding you shared that opinion,' said Jon, trying to make eye contact with Pau.

'I still don't believe in that Shadow Organization story. But Kortmann is too extreme. He treats us like his private army, that he can order around any way he likes.'

'What about the others?'

'I guess they're going along with it, but I think they're staying mostly because they don't want to make Kortmann mad. Not so much because they believe him.'

'So what can I do for you?' Jon repeated.

Pau looked down at his shoes. 'I'd like to come back,' he said in a low voice. 'I'd rather be with all of you.'

Jon looked closely at Pau. He really did seem to mean it. Maybe they'd been too hard on him. Paranoia had got hold of them and they were seeing spies everywhere, not only from the Shadow Organization but also from Kortmann's rank and file.

'What do I have to do?' asked Pau. 'Do I really have to beg?'

At that moment a mobile rang. They looked at each other reproachfully, until Jon remembered that the unfamiliar ring tone was coming from Henning's mobile in his inside pocket.

'Just a second,' said Jon, moving away from Pau. With his back turned, he took the call.

It was Katherina.

'Remer did stop in Шsterbro,' she said. 'Outside what looks like a private school in the embassy area.'

Jon turned so he could keep an eye on Pau as he talked.

'How long has he been there?' he asked. The young man he was watching did his best to look as if he weren't listening, but his fleeting glances in Jon's direction gave him away.

'Since we last talked. About half an hour,' replied Katherina. 'Henning is scoping out the neighbourhood. He wants to find out if there's a way into the building from the other streets.'

'Were you able to pick up anything?'

'Very little,' said Katherina. 'It seems like… just a minute, a car is coming.'

Jon listened to Katherina's breathing, and he couldn't help holding his breath.

'A white Polo,' whispered Katherina. 'A man is getting out. He's about thirty, tall, black hair, wearing a suit. He's taking a good look around.' Her breathing stopped. 'I've seen him somewhere before.'

'Where?'

'Oh, no. Now I remember,' she said, aghast. 'It's Kortmann's chauffeur.'

Katherina was slouched down in the passenger seat so that she could just barely see over the dashboard. Parked fifty metres further down the road was the white Polo Kortmann's chauffeur had arrived in. Even though five minutes had passed since he'd disappeared behind the gates of the building Remer had also entered, she hadn't changed position and her heart hadn't stopped pounding. She could still feel how the man's eyes had scanned the vicinity, like a surveillance camera registering anything suspicious. Had his gaze lingered on the car where she was sitting?