Rebekka Franck - 03 - Five, Six ... Grab Your Crucifix (24 page)

Ole started banging on the door causing it to start cracking. A loud noise followed and a huge crack was made in the wooden door. The blade from an axe went through it, then disappeared until it returned after another loud noise and another crack was formed in the door.

I screamed. “He’s getting in!” I yelled and picked up my phone. “Sune, he is destroying the door with an axe!”

I fumbled with the phone again trying to call when Ole was able to stick his head through one of the cracks and peer through it.

“Here’s Johnny!” he screamed, impersonating Jack Nicholson.

Soon the hole in the door was so big Ole could manage to get his body in and pull himself up on the dresser. He smiled widely while he stared at us. We were trapped. Then he jumped into the room and knocked Sune over with the end of his rifle.

I screamed as I watched Sune tumble to the floor unconscious. I approached Ole but he hit me in the face and caused me to fall backwards. My phone landed on the floor next to me.

He walked slowly towards me with the rifle loose in his hand. Then he leaned over and grabbed my face clutching it between his fingers.

“I thought I would get my way with you some day,” he said. “I knew you would be back for me. I knew you liked it rough. Am I right?” Ole licked his lips. Then he giggled. He put down the rifle and began opening his pants. He pulled off his belt. Then he swung it and slapped it across my chest. I screamed. He kept beating me with his belt while laughing.

“Feisty one, huh? I like them feisty. Like the Priest in the forest. He liked them wild. I do too. I liked to watch him with them.”

Ole tied my hands with his belt, while I kicked and screamed. Then he began pulling his pants down and taking out his sex. He touched himself while moaning. “I’m almost ready for you,” he said. He looked like he was feeding off my fear.

I heard Bjarne yell from outside, but Ole never answered him. He started fumbling with my jeans. I tossed and writhed my body trying to kick him but it was no good. He was too strong.

Dear God please don’t let this happen. Please don’t let him do this to me.

I let out as huge scream but he covered my mouth with his hand and got on top of me. He pulled down my pants and stuck in his hand and started touching me. I groaned, tried to get my mouth free, tried to bite him, but had no luck. I moved desperately. I tossed and screamed, but nothing but a muffled sound came out.

I began crying, almost giving up when I saw movement behind Ole’s back. I watched Sune as he got to his feet, grabbed the rifle and hit Ole with the shaft so hard it made a cracking sound when it hit his head. Ole fell to the ground bleeding. Sune removed the belt and grabbed my hand and after I had picked up my phone he helped me climb the dresser. We sprinted to the stairs and jumped down the steps. When we reached the bottom, Bjarne came walking in the door, pointing the gun at us.

“Lose the rifle,” he said to Sune.

Sune obeyed. Carefully he bent to the floor and put it down.

“Now kick it over here to me,” Bjarne said.

Sune did as he was told. I felt rage growing inside of me. Exploding rage. Bjarne moved closer and picked up the rifle. He put it in the corner.

“Don’t you understand that I was only doing you all a favor?” he asked walking closer to us. “You should all be thanking me.”

I was breathing heavily while a million thoughts ran through my mind. I remembered having taken a self-defense class once. If only he would come close enough, I thought and stared at him while he walked. Just a few more steps. Bjarne kept talking about how they had all deserved it for doing what they did to that poor girl. Just one more step. As he came closer and closer he lifted the gun towards my head, ready to pull the trigger as soon as he was done talking. I calmed myself down by breathing steadily, thinking only of getting back to Julie. Then I lifted my hand as fast as I could, stuck out my pointer finger and jammed it as hard as I could directly into Bjarne’s eye. When he recoiled while whining I kicked him as hard as I could in the crotch. While Bjarne bent over and dropped the gun Sune managed to hit him on the jaw and the blow forced him to the ground, unconscious.

Then we ran to our car as fast as we could.

Chapter 53

We called the police from our car and told them to go to Bjarne Larsen’s house immediately. There was a dead police officer and two unconscious murderers. I told them we were going to the hospital and they could find us there for our statement later.

“There is something important we need to take care of first.”

Soon I heard sirens wailing in the distance and for the first time in many hours my heart calmed down. I just hoped they would get to Bjarne’s house before he and his son woke up.

Arriving at the hospital I ran straight to the reception and asked for the Director of the SIS, Gunnar Moll. I pulled out my press-card. I knew he was there to clean the church members and check them for radiation exposure, I told her.

“He knows who I am. You can call him if you want.”

“Fourth floor, department 5432,” the receptionist told us.

We ran for the stairs, jumped them and burst into the hallway. A nurse tried to stop us.

“This is restricted area,” she said.

“I need to talk to Gunnar Moll immediately,” I said, panting from running up the many stairs. “It’s very urgent.”

“I’m right here. What’s going on?” I heard Gunnar’s voice behind the nurse. “Rebekka Franck? What happened to you?”

That was when I realized I probably looked like a homeless person. My clothes were torn, my face beat up by Ole.

“I don’t have much time. I might even be too late. Isabella Dubois. Where is she? We know who the killer is, who gave them the polonium, and we know she is his last victim. We need to stop her before she gets sick.”

“She’s in her room,” he said. “She has refused to participate in any of this. We haven’t even been able to wash her let alone take her blood test.”

“I need to see her,” I said. “I need to warn her.”

“Sure. I’ll show the way.” Gunnar Moll started walking. He stopped in front of a door. “She’s right in here. If you could get her to cooperate with us then I would be very grateful. She has this idea that she doesn’t need our help.”

“I’ll try,” I said.

Carefully I pushed the door open and entered her room. Isabella was kneeling on the floor with her head bowed. She looked pale and weaker than last time I saw her. Between her hands she was holding her silver crucifix. She lifted it and was about to kiss it.

“Stop!” I screamed.

I ran towards her. She turned her head and stared at me. “It’s on the crucifix,” I said breathing heavily. Isabella looked at her silver crucifix then dropped it to the floor. Gunnar Moll came in behind me.

“It just struck me now,” I said. “They all carry these crucifixes and they kiss it several times a day. Bjarne knew that, so he had Ole dip the crucifixes in the polonium 210 powder. That way he could control who was exposed to it. When they kiss it, it enters via the mouth when they lick their lips. Every day they received a small dose, just enough to one day make their bodies sick, but not enough to make it easy to trace.”

Gunnar Moll put on a plastic glove then picked up the crucifix. “We’ll have it checked right away,” he said and gave it to a nurse who sealed it and left the room in a hurry. Gunnar Moll put his hand on Isabella’s shoulder. She looked at him with fear in her eyes. “We need to have your blood checked immediately,” he said.

Isabella Dubois nodded heavily. Then she started crying.

Chapter 54

Only a few days later we were all back home in Karrebaeksminde again. Dad was feeling better and the doctor told him that the medicine, the Dimercaprol, seemed to be working on him. They still couldn’t guarantee that he wouldn’t eventually get sick from the exposure to the polonium, but so far his body seemed to be doing fine.

My dad accepted that and decided to live like every day was his last.

“Well I always do that anyway,” he said laughing on the way home in the car. “Cause when you pass seventy, every day could be your last, right?”

“I’m so happy to have you back,” Julie said and hugged his arm.

The house and the town hadn’t changed, we were happy to realize. We hadn’t been gone long, but it felt like forever, like everything had changed in us with all we had been through. If nothing else, then it had certainly brought us closer together. Even Sune and I who enjoyed each other even more than before. I decided to stop over thinking everything and just live life.

I talked to Jens-Ole as soon as we got home and had unpacked. I told him I had a great story for him, unlike anything he had ever published in his paper. He listened very carefully as I explained what had happened to the sect and the members.

He was in a state of shock when I was done, I could tell by his long silence.

“So do you want it or not?” I asked.

“Are you kidding me?” he answered.

I laughed. “Thought so. I’ll write it tomorrow. Today we’re unpacking.”

“That’s a deal,” he said.

Then we hung up. I stared at my wonderful family who were already playing some board game in the kitchen, very loudly discussing a rule that Julie and Tobias weren’t agreeing upon. Sune sneaked up behind me and hugged me tight. I closed my eyes and enjoyed it.

“It’s good to be back home,” I mumbled.

Sune kissed my neck. “Mmm,” he said.

“Case is closed,” I said while enjoying his kisses and touches. “Ole and Bjarne are in the hands of the police now.”

He stopped and looked out the window. “I do still wonder what happened to the body of Edwina, though,” he said.

“Yeah. Me too,” I answered.

We both went quiet for a little while. Sune was staring out the window at the snow that was still falling slowly from the sky. It had been snowing all day, it felt like it wasn’t going to stop. They had just managed to clean the roads enough for us to be able to drive home. By the next morning they would be blocked once again if it continued.

I thought about Isabella for a second. The doctors didn’t know if she was going to make it or not. She had been exposed to a big dosage of polonium, the test results showed, but how severe it was they didn’t know when we left the hospital with my dad. Time would show if she could survive it and if she would be healthy enough to be prosecuted for what she had done.

“Say, do you still want that baby?” I asked. I was surprised to hear the words come out of my mouth so I really couldn’t blame Sune for being astonished as well.

He froze completely. Then he looked at me. “Why are you asking this now?”

I shrugged with a laugh. “Don’t know. Guess all this made me think.”

“Think about what? Having babies?” Sune looked at me like I had gone mad.

“No. About how short life is, silly. About taking the chances life gives you.”

“Ah, a little like ‘Life gives you lemons so make lemonade,’ is that it?”

I pushed him gently.” I’m serious here,” I said. “Maybe we should do something. Maybe we should embrace our love by making our family bigger.”

Sune grabbed me and pulled me closer. “I have an idea,” he said.

I kissed his arm holding me tight. “Mmm?”

“How about we try and move in together first? Then see what happens from there? What do you say to that?”

I smiled widely, then I kissed him on the lips. He closed his eyes and tasted the kiss for long after it was over.

“I say it is a wonderful idea,” I whispered while our faces were still close together.

Sune kissed me again. Then Tobias called him from the kitchen. Sune kissed me one last time then went in there to help him. The kids were discussing wildly. It made me chuckle. I looked at my phone. I had changed the picture to one of my dad holding the kids. Still having him in my life was truly a gift. I sighed and shut off the phone when someone suddenly knocked on the door. It was a heavy knock, not a gentle one and made me jump slightly. I looked through the peep hole then opened the door.

“Peter?”

Peter smiled and gesticulated. “I’m back,” he said. “In a better shape than ever.” He sighed deeply with a wide smile. I felt confused, startled. He looked great.

“I’d like to see Julie if I may?”

Epilogue

Esther Petersen was walking through the forest. Why she didn’t know but she knew she was searching for something, maybe even someone. It was pitch dark between the pine trees yet she knew how to find her way. She followed a trail on the ground. It looked like small footsteps, made by someone with small feet, maybe a child. They were glowing in the dark night, casting a green light for her to follow. Deeper and deeper she went into the dark forest. She felt scared when she heard an owl in a tree and when she thought she heard a dog bark in the distance. It was full moon and every now and then she could see it through the moving clouds in the sky, and every now and then it would peek through the trees and light her way. She didn’t know why she knew she was supposed to follow these glowing footprints, only that she knew she had to. She had this urgent feeling that this was very important, it was crucial even - that she followed them till the end.

Now Esther Petersen was an elderly woman but she had always kept the old body in great shape. Even though, she was quite impressed with the endurance that she displayed almost running through the pine forest. She felt something she hadn’t done in years, she felt light on feet, and filled with an energy that seemed to never run dry. She ran through piles of snow, through almost impassable paths, she ran but couldn’t even hear her own heartbeat or her panting breath. She stayed focused on the footprints in front of her and where they led her until she finally reached the end of the forest. Then she stopped. She was standing in front of the fjord. It was right beneath her and the hill she was standing on. The glowing footprints continued all the way into the water and she followed them as far as she could, down the hill and into a small rocky beach. Then she froze. A huge spot in the dark water in front of her was glowing green. Something was in there. She leaned over and gasped. A small face was looking back at her. The face of a little girl. Two green eyes were staring at her from underneath the water. She had seen the face before and knew those eyes and the crooked face. The girl smiled, then she laughed, causing the water to bubble. Esther backed up, falling over small rocks as she watched the girl elevate from the water and walk towards her pointing at her with a glowing green finger.