“It’s PIN locked,” Jonas said glumly.
The boys sat in the van’s cabin. With the engine running and the heater turned up, it was comfortably warm. They had laid Kolberg down in the back.
Their first instinct had been to call the police on Kolberg’s phone, but when Jonas swiped the screen, it demanded a four-digit code to proceed.
“I thought you could make emergency calls on a locked phone?” Beck asked.
“Sure, but you can also disable that feature. My father did — he got tired of accidentally pocket-calling the police. And it looks like this guy did too.”
In frustration they held the screen at different angles under the driver’s light. Beck knew that the finger marks on a screen will often show where the owner usually taps. They could maybe work out what the four digits were, and then work their way through the possible combinations. But they couldn’t make out enough to help, and neither of them fancied working their way through the 10,000 four-digit options available.
“We could call from the lodge — if we can get back there,” Jonas suggested.
“Yep. Only… do we want to go back to the lodge?”
Jonas stared at him.
“Why wouldn’t we?”
“Because we know…” Beck jerked his head towards the back of the van to indicate Kolberg. “…had at least two pals — the two guys in our room. So, we don’t know who’s a friend and who isn’t. Well, there’s Anna-Britt, Dr Winslow… but they could easily be outnumbered. The bad guys might see us first and we’ll just put the good ones in danger.”
Jonas’s stricken look almost made him feel guilty about introducing his friend to the harsh realities of such low life. But it had to be done, and neither of them had asked for this.
“Okay.” Jonas breathed out slowly and gazed ahead, down the road and into the darkness. “So we drive to Riksliden instead. That’s the only alternative.”
They studied the van’s instruments, wheel, gear stick… Adults always made it look so easy, Beck thought.
“Can you, uh, drive?” Beck asked.
“Um. I’ve driven my uncle’s tractor on his farm.”
“I think you just volunteered, then.” Beck drummed his fingers on the dashboard, thinking. “Do you know the way?”
“Oh, the way is easy. Only one road and fifty kilometres — we could be there in less than an hour.”
“And we go straight to the police,” Beck agreed with a gush of relief. The thought of being able to hand the problem straight over to adult authority was a nice feeling. Now they just had to get there.
“Absolut.” Jonas scooted himself to sit behind the wheel. “Put your seatbelt on…”
The first job was to turn the van around. It was still pointing up the mountain track, but Kolberg had stopped at a point where the track widened into a passing space, so Jonas just had to let the handbrake off and let the van roll back gently while the turned the wheel. He reversed safely towards the side of the mountain and away from the drop down to the glacier.
There was a crunching sound as the van rolled backwards into a million tons of rock.
“Oops.”
Jonas pressed one of the pedals down and pushed the stick into gear. The engine made a noise like a rusty concrete mixer as it revved under his foot. He bit his lip and let the brake off. The van lurched forward, straight towards the edge.
Beck might have yelled — he wasn’t sure. It was drowned in the screech of the gears. The van only went about one metre before the engine stalled and it came to an abrupt stop, throwing both boys forward so that their seatbelts tightened around them.
“That’s one idea.” Beck forced the words out of a dry mouth. “Take a good run-up to the edge and we fly to Riksliden. Much quicker.”
“Ha ha. Okay, more gently…”
This time Jonas turned the wheel hard over before he tried to make the van move, so that if it lurched again, at least it would head down the track. With the engine revving overtime he managed to coax it forwards and down the mountain.
After that, Beck didn’t feel much like talking.