“Because we’re going in the other direction,” she replied, as she tore the page out of the atlas and tucked it in her pocket.
He then watched as she returned the book to the shelf, though not as neatly as he had found it. Once more, he was impressed with her thinking.
“For somebody who’s not sure how smart those Wagner assholes are, you’re giving them a lot of credit.”
“You don’t think it will work?” she answered.
“I think it’s a long shot. First, they have to find the atlas. Next they have to notice the page is missing. Then they have to source another copy of the same atlas. I’m assuming it’s popular?”
The woman nodded. “Practically everybody in town has one.”
“Okay,” Harvath went on. “Next, someone has to notice the impression left behind by your pen. If this person knows anything, they’ll lay a piece of paper down and rub it with a pencil. That’ll let them know where you made your circle on the missing page. They marry that up with an intact atlas, and the wild-goose chase is on. Did I miss anything?”
Christina smiled at him. “Very well done.”
“You know that’s not normal.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The way your mind works. Most people don’t think two steps ahead, much less three.”
“Well, I’m definitely not normal, and absolutely not like most people.”
Harvath smiled back. “There is one problem, though. The snowmobile.”
“What about it?”
“There’s no way I could have covered the distance from the crash site to here so quickly—not on foot. I am assuming they found your uncle’s cabin and the snowmobile tracks, which explains why they’re here. This was the closest town.
“I am also going to assume that they know I have a GPS device and that’s how I got here. Their proof will come when they find the snowmobile in the shed behind your clinic. There’s an attachment on the handlebars for it.”
Christina hadn’t considered that. “You could leave the GPS unit here. Then the missing page from the atlas would be believable. Let them think you are going completely off the grid.”
“Or, better yet, that I believe the grid will completely be going off.”
Now he had her completely confused. “I don’t understand.”
“Your uncle’s GPS device isn’t a tracker. It doesn’t send out a signal telling people where it is. Therefore, there’d be no reason for me to get rid of it. It’s too valuable. But if the GPS system stops working, then it’s worthless. At that point, I would need a map.”
“I still don’t understand. When was the last time the GPS system ever stopped working?”
“Last year. During NATO training exercises in Scandinavia, Finland accused Russia of jamming the GPS signal in their northern airspace. If I was concerned that they’d do it to prevent me from escaping, or from being rescued, I’d want a paper map as a backup.”
“So then my plan is good.”
“It is,” replied Harvath. “I think we can make it better.”
“How so?”
“With an Internet search of the same area. Does your uncle have a laptop or a tablet in the house?”
She shook her head. “He didn’t like technology. Didn’t trust it. The GPS device was as far as he would go.”
“Then we’ll have to run the risk of overplaying our hand,” he said as he walked over to the shelf, pulled the atlas back out and then placed it on the table next to the ballpoint pen. “I don’t want to take any chances that they miss it.”
She didn’t disagree.
“So what’s the plan?” he asked.
“There’s a Sámi village about twenty kilometers west of here.”
Harvath did a rough conversion in his head. Twelve miles. “But if the roads are shut down, how are we going to get there?”
“That depends. How much stamina do you have left?”
“Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.”
“Good, because we’re going to have to ski.”
“Downhill or cross-country?”
She smiled at him again. “If it was all downhill, I wouldn’t ask about your stamina.”
“What about there not being enough reindeer skins to survive in this weather?”
“That was when we were talking about you going all the way to the border. Right now, all we have to do is get you to the village.”
Back out in the open, in the freezing cold, at night. Harvath wasn’t looking forward to it. “And then what?”
“I’m working on it.”
“What about gear? Skis?”
“You can use my husband’s equipment. It’s all here, in the garage,” she said, leading the way through the kitchen to a door in the back. Turning on the light,