you to know what to do in the ten minutes before the car arrives from Fisksatra."
"Sounds good."
"We'll install the alarm this afternoon. Then we'll have to sign a contract."
Only after she had finished her conversation with Armansky did Berger realize that she had overslept. She picked up her mobile to call Fredriksson and explained that she had hurt herself. He would have to cancel the 10.00.
"What's happened?" he said.
"I cut my foot," Berger said. "I'll hobble in as soon as I've pulled myself together."
She used the toilet in the master bathroom and then pulled on some black trousers and borrowed one of Greger's slippers for her injured foot. She chose a black blouse and put on a jacket. Before she removed the doorstop from the bedroom door, she armed herself with the canister of Mace.
She made her way cautiously through the house and switched on the coffeemaker. She had her breakfast at the kitchen table, listening out for sounds in the vicinity. She had just poured a second cup of coffee when there was a firm knock on the front door. It was David Rosin from Milton Security.
Figuerola walked to Bergsgatan and summoned her four colleagues for an early morning conference.
"We've got a deadline now," she said. "Our work has to be done by July 13, the day the Salander trial begins. We have just under six weeks. Let's agree on what's most important right now. Who wants to go first?"
Berglund cleared his throat. "The blond man with Mårtensson. Who is he?"
"We have photographs, but no idea how to find him. We can't put out an A.P.B."
"What about Gullberg, then? There must be a story to track down there. We have him in the Secret State Police from the early '50s to 1964, when S.I.S. was founded. Then he vanishes."
Figuerola nodded.
"Should we conclude that the Zalachenko club was an association formed in 1964? That would be some time before Zalachenko even came to Sweden."
"There must have been some other purpose... a secret organization within the organization."
"That was after Stig Wennerstrom. Everyone was paranoid."
"A sort of secret spy police?"
"There are in fact parallels overseas. In the States a special group of internal spy chasers was created within the C.I.A. in the '60s. It was led by a James Jesus Angleton, and it very nearly sabotaged the entire C.I.A. Angleton's gang were as fanatical as they were paranoid - they suspected everyone in the C.I.A. of being a Russian agent. As a result the agency's effectiveness in large areas was paralysed."
"But that's all speculation..."
"Where are the old personnel files kept?"
"Gullberg isn't in them. I've checked."
"But what about a budget? An operation like this has to be financed."
The discussion went on until lunchtime, when Figuerola excused herself and went to the gym for some peace, to think things over.
Berger did not arrive in the newsroom until lunchtime. Her foot was hurting so badly that she could not put any weight on it. She hobbled over to her glass cage and sank into her chair with relief. Fredriksson looked up from his desk and she waved him in.
"What happened?" he said.
"I trod on a piece of glass and a shard lodged in my heel."
"That... wasn't so good."
"No. It wasn't good. Peter, has anyone received any more weird emails?"
"Not that I've heard."
"O.K. Keep your ears open. I want to know if anything odd happens around S.M.P."
"What sort of odd?"
"I'm afraid some idiot is sending really vile emails and he seems to have targeted me. So I want to know if you hear of anything going on."
"The type of email Eva Carlsson got?"
"Right, but anything strange at all. I've had a whole string of crazy emails accusing me of being all kinds of things - and suggesting various perverse things that ought to be done to me."
Fredriksson's expression darkened. "How long has this been going on?"
"A couple of weeks. Keep your eyes peeled... So tell me, what's going to be in the paper tomorrow?"
"Well..."
"Well, what?"
"Holm and the head of the legal section are on the warpath."
"Why is that?"
"Because of Frisk. You extended his contract and gave him a feature assignment. And he won't tell anybody what it's about."
"He is forbidden to talk about it. My orders."
"That's what he says. Which means that Holm and the legal editor are up in arms."
"I can see that they might be. Set up a meeting with legal at 3.00. I'll explain the situation."