‘That’s what we think,’ Nina replied. ‘That’s what we hope, anyway.’
Tova, standing beside them on the shore, had a concerned, apologetic expression. ‘Oh, I really hope I am right, Nina. You have organised this so fast! People, equipment, machines, all of this in just two days. It is a lot of money. And if I am wrong about the location…’
‘If we’re wrong,’ the American corrected, giving her a reassuring smile. ‘If we don’t find it, I’ll take the hit — you don’t need to worry about anything. This is what the IHA does. When we need to move, we’ve got the resources.’
‘Yes, so I see. I have to admit I am a little jealous!’ Tova waved an arm at the vehicles lined up along the lake’s edge. ‘But you have brought all this, even though we do not know if the runestone is even here.’
‘If it is here,’ Nina pointed out, ‘we’ll need to secure it as quickly as possible. The people who stole the other stone and murdered the security guard — and tried to kidnap you — are obviously desperate to get hold of it.’
‘If they’re the same people,’ Eddie said quietly.
‘Hmm? What do you mean?’
He shook his head. ‘Nothing. Just that if the first lot stole the runestone because they want to find Valhalla, maybe the Russians went after Tova because she was the next best thing to having the actual stone.’ He shrugged. ‘Just a thought. I’m probably wrong.’
It was not an idea that had occurred to Nina. ‘God, I hope you are. If there are two sets of bad guys after the stones, we don’t want to be caught in the middle if they start shooting it out!’
‘Well, wouldn’t be the first time.’ He gave her a sardonic smile. ‘So, we’ve got diving gear, we’ve got pumps, lights, drills, flotation bags, winches… everything we need to get a ton of stone up from the bottom. All we’ve got to do is find the bugger.’
Nina turned at the sound of more approaching vehicles. ‘Well, hopefully this is the man to do it.’
A long-wheelbase pickup truck was carefully making its way to the shoreline. Mounted in its rear bed was a crane, the arm rotated to rest over the cab. When it was turned the other way, it would extend several feet beyond the tailgate. Another, smaller pickup followed, a blocky object secured in the cargo area beneath a tarpaulin. Both trucks lined up alongside the parked 4x4s.
Nina, Eddie and Tova went to greet the driver of the second vehicle as he emerged. ‘Strewth and g’day, cobber!’ said Eddie.
Matt Trulli shivered, wrapping his coat tightly around himself. Its down quilting made him look even chubbier than he already was. ‘Was that meant to be Australian, mate? Sounded more like Welsh.’
‘I keep telling him he’s terrible at accents,’ said Nina playfully. ‘He won’t listen.’ Eddie sniffed.
‘Yeah, well, one of these days I won’t listen to you when you ring up and say, “Matt, there’s something underwater that we need. Can you bring one of your subs to the arse-end of the world to get it?” Especially when the place you want me to come to could freeze the balls off a brass monkey!’ Matt belatedly registered an unfamiliar face in the group. ‘Oops, sorry for the language,’ he told Tova.
‘That is… okay,’ she replied, her politely bewildered tone suggesting that she hadn’t understood him enough to be offended.
‘Tova, this is Matt Trulli,’ said Nina. ‘He works for the Oceanic Survey Organisation at the UN, but he helps the IHA out from time to time. Matt, this is Tova Skilfinger, a historian and expert in Viking culture.’
Matt’s face lit up. ‘Vikings, eh? Now there’s an interesting bit of history! Amazing shipbuilders and navigators for their time.’
‘Trust you to find that the most fascinating thing about them,’ chided Nina. ‘And all history’s interesting.’
That prompted mocking snorts from both men, which in turn roused looks of professional disapproval from the two PhDs. ‘Just taking the piss, love,’ Eddie reassured his wife.
Matt shook Tova’s hand, then regarded the lake. ‘So, it took me two days, but I’ve rounded up the gear you asked me for. What are we actually trying to find?’
‘A Viking runestone,’ Nina told him. She led them to one of the parked off-roaders, taking a photograph from a case inside. ‘It’s probably going to look a lot like this.’
The Australian examined the picture of the Valhalla Runestone inside Tova’s lab. ‘Fairly hefty. That’s why you brought all those IBUs, then?’ He glanced at the bright orange cargo of another truck.
‘IBUs?’ Tova asked.
‘Inflatable Buoyancy Units. Airbags, basically — they lift stuff underwater. Those look like two-fifty-kilo bags, and you’ve got eight of them, so it could be anything up to two metric tonnes?’
‘The runestone that was stolen weighs about nine hundred and ninety kilos,’ the Swede told him.
‘Stolen?’ Matt gave Nina a look of weary suspicion. ‘And let me guess, the guys who took it probably want to get their hands on its twin as well?’
‘Uh… yeah,’ she admitted. ‘They killed a guard at Tova’s museum to steal it, then tried to kidnap her as well.’
‘Right. Why am I not surprised?’ He shook his head. ‘One of these days I’ll learn to ask you about this kind of stuff before I bring all my gear out into the field!’
‘It, ah… sounds as if you have experienced this sort of thing before,’ Tova said, with slight worry.
Matt made a sarcastic sound. ‘Oh Christ, yeah. I’ve lost count of the number of times these galahs’ve almost got me killed! Let me tell you about it—’
‘No, don’t,’ Eddie cut in with a grin. ‘It’ll give her nightmares.’
‘It’s not nearly as bad as it sounds,’ Nina insisted, seeing that the older woman appeared about to re-evaluate her decision to join the expedition. ‘And I made sure the IHA’s security procedures were put in place. The number of people who know what we’re doing is very small, and they’re all aware of the need for secrecy given what happened in Stockholm — there shouldn’t be any trouble.’
‘Famous last words,’ said Matt.
‘Nobody knows we’re here. Tova and I worked out the location of the second runestone, and outside of the people here, only a couple of senior Norwegian officials, and Seretse and a few people at the IHA, know exactly where that is.’
‘Someone else might,’ Eddie suggested darkly.
‘Who?’
‘The people who stole the first runestone.’
‘Yeah, I was kinda hoping that wouldn’t come up. But,’ Nina went on, ‘their expert doesn’t have nearly the amount of local knowledge and experience that Tova does, or any more access to the IHA database.’
‘Wait, wait,’ said Tova. Now it was her turn to adopt an expression of dawning suspicion. She chose her words carefully. ‘You know who stole the runestone and shot Arvid?’ When Nina did not answer immediately, she continued: ‘You do know! Why did you not tell me?’
‘I… yes, I know,’ said Nina, shamefaced. ‘I didn’t tell you because it’s a security issue — an IHA security issue. One of the robbers — possibly even their leader — used to work for us, before we fired him.’
The Swede was outraged. ‘I cannot believe you did not tell me! Have you told the police?’
‘The UN told your government, and Interpol. I don’t know if they passed the information to the Stockholm police, although I’d certainly hope they did. But there’s no record of him entering or leaving Sweden, so he’s presumably travelling on a fake passport. We don’t even know if he’s still in the country.’
Tova stared at the icy ground, processing what she had learned before fixing the American with a stern gaze. ‘Who is this man?’