Chapter 40

A palpable silence lay over the manor. Simon remembered how soundly you slept when you’d been working without sleep for days in a row. The odour of sweat in the dorms. Sleep became so precious that you fell into bed without showering first. Sour puffs of bad breath came out with each snore.

It was cold for the end of April. A heavy spring rain had just ended; it had been replaced by a damp chill that crept under his jacket. He really hadn’t wanted to go out, but on this evening he had no choice. Duty called – or adventure did, depending on how you looked at it. The lights were on in the guards’ booth and he took a detour to be on the safe side. He stood still outside the gate for a while, wanting to make sure it wasn’t a trap. What was about to happen was huge, incredible. But the silence held, aside from the sound of raindrops falling from the trees. Then came a faint whisper from inside the wall, gentle as rustling leaves.

They had come.

As soon as he opened the gate, he saw them. They were only a few metres from Simon’s hiding place behind the oak. Simon took a step forward, and Bosse recoiled.

‘Shit, it really is you!’ he whispered.

Bosse was wearing only his uniform shirt, no jacket, and he had a small backpack over one shoulder. Simon could see that his eyes were full of worry. It wasn’t only the cold air making him tremble.

‘Are you really sure you want to do this?’ Simon asked.

‘Definitely. I can’t stand it any longer.’

Simon turned to Jacob.

‘What’s the situation here? How much time do we have?’

‘Everyone was allowed some sleep after a week without. The annexes have to be ready for guests in a few days. But everyone’s out cold for now. As long as you don’t set off the alarm, no one will see you. Sten’s in the booth, I’ll go distract him. Although he’s probably already snoring.’

Simon had the urge to simply pick Jacob up and haul him away. How could he stand this? Jacob seemed to read his mind.

‘Soon, but tonight it’s Bosse’s turn.’

They walked through the forest until they were out of sight of the manor. Simon noticed that Bosse was limping.

‘Did you hurt your foot?’

‘Nah, it’s nothing. Just twisted it a little.’

‘What happened?’

‘I tripped on the rocks before my ice bath.’

‘What’s an ice bath?’

‘It’s a new punishment for those of us who didn’t behave while Franz was away. We go to the cliffs and take a dip every day. Under guard.’

‘Jesus, Bosse. That’s incredibly dangerous. The water is cold as hell!’

‘Franz says even old folks can manage wintertime dips.’

‘Yeah, but they get to have saunas afterwards, and they’re allowed to sleep at night. He’s gone completely off the rails, can’t you see?’

‘Yes, I suppose that’s true.’

Bosse was practically paralysed for his first few days in Simon’s cottage. This bundle of energy, a man who had dashed around ViaTerra like a fanatic saviour, who had worked hardest of all, the most devoted member, sat around on Simon’s sofa, staring at nothing like a gaping fish. But Simon understood. There was nothing for Bosse to hold onto. He had no life beyond the walls. Simon was familiar with Bosse’s background – his parents had died in a car crash when he was four, and after that he’d been shuffled around to various foster homes. He’d become a bit of a thug in his teens. Oswald had plucked him up at a lecture. Later he’d said he fell for Bosse’s devoted gaze.

ViaTerra had been like a salvation for Bosse. He was almost like a personification of the cult, with his ambition and devotion to Oswald. He’d become Oswald’s right-hand man. But that was before Oswald started to become annoyed by him, a fate that befell everyone sooner or later. Simon knew Bosse had had to tolerate innumerable cruel nicknames and dressing-downs, and that Oswald had struck him several times.

Simon suspected that it’s always possible to free people, but that you must free them towards something, not just out into empty space – and for Bosse, there was no world beyond those walls.

Bosse, like Anna, spent almost all his time sleeping at first, and he ate unusually greedily. On the third day, he started talking nonstop. He said basically the same things Anna had, but he also told Simon what had happened when Oswald returned. Madeleine had been the first target, and she was followed by Bosse. The worst thing was probably how Oswald had forced them to sit still on chairs for twenty-four hours while someone watched over them and poured water on them if they dozed off. They were expected to spend the time reflecting upon the consequences of their irresponsibility.

It would have been so easy to tell Bosse that it was high time he realized that what he was describing, what had happened to him, was absolutely outrageous. But Simon knew Bosse still had doubts, and needed to come to this realization himself. It couldn’t be forced upon him.

He tried to get Bosse to walk around the pension’s property each day, to get some fresh air. But not even that was easy, because the search for him was in full effect. It lasted not just a few days, as for Anna, but a whole week: motorcycles driving back and forth on the road. Cries and shouts from the forest, where search parties combed in lines. Guards showing up at the pension again and again.

Inga patiently explained that she certainly wasn’t harbouring any runaways. But no one came to Simon’s cottage, a fact that baffled him.

Bosse’s ability to read and write was substandard, so Simon didn’t give him any books. Instead he let him use the computer and go online. On the fifth day, Bosse looked surprisingly alert when he woke up.

‘Listen, it’s actually insane that I tolerated all that crap. Where should I go? If they find me, it’ll be even worse than it was for Sofia.’

‘Speaking of which, tell me about the Sofia Bauman project.’

Bosse was startled.

‘How did you know about that?’

‘Doesn’t matter. Just tell me.’

‘It was this project where the goal was to shut Sofia up. Harass her so she would never dare to attack Franz again.’

‘Did you work on it?’

‘Yeah, at first. It was Benny, Sten, and me. But Franz flew off the handle when he found out some of the things we did. I mean, we did go a little overboard when we painted “slut” on her door and stuff like that. That wasn’t really Franz’s style. Callini came to ViaTerra and chewed us out royally, and with that voice… well, it wasn’t pretty. So she sent Benny and Sten to Penance. Franz swore he would deal with me once he was free. And he did, of course, as you know.’

‘But what else did you do?’

‘Stuff online, mostly. From the guards’ booth. There was a hacker who worked with us. And then there was that dildo we sent to her neighbour, some old lady.’

‘Jesus Christ, Bosse, that’s disgusting! What about the dog?’

‘What? Which dog? The one Benny got?’

Simon let out a sigh of relief.

‘No, a different dog. Never mind, it’s not important. Listen, I think you should report this to the police.’

Bosse went pale.

‘Please, no, I could never do that. It would be like turning myself in, I was in so deep. And it doesn’t even matter now that Sofia’s in the US, does it?’

‘What? Does Oswald know she’s there?’

‘Yeah, Madde told him one day at assembly. She said Sofia ran off with her tail between her legs. It sounded like a victory, sort of. For ViaTerra, I mean.’

‘But she hasn’t heard from them at all since she moved.’

‘No, but Franz hasn’t forgotten her. You can be sure of that.’

‘Bosse, why is he so fixated on Sofia?’

‘Isn’t it obvious? The way she messed up his life.’

‘Yes, but it’s more than that. I can just feel it.’

Bosse thought for a moment.

‘Do you remember the time Sofia and Benjamin tried to run away?’

Simon did. Oswald had placed cameras in Sofia and Benjamin’s room, and had discovered them discussing their escape plans.

‘After that, Franz had a meeting with me. He said Sofia had to be put under extra surveillance, that she was never allowed to leave the property, and that she was an important part of his future plans. That’s all I know.’

‘Sure, but why would he completely drop it, just because she moved out of the country?’

‘I don’t know, Simon. Maybe he got tired of the cat-and-mouse game. He gets tired of everyone and everything eventually.’

Simon thought about Sofia, who had finally contacted him a few days ago. She hadn’t responded to his emails, and when she finally called he understood why. She’d gotten it on with that Mattias and, for some strange reason, she was ashamed to tell Simon. It was temporary, she said. She would work everything out with Benjamin when she got home. ‘It’s not like I’m your dad,’ Simon had replied. ‘You can do whatever you want.’ And yet he found he was annoyed with her.

The knowledge that Oswald was aware of Sofia’s whereabouts made him paranoid. He decided to change the subject with Bosse.

‘We have to talk about where you’re going to go, Bosse.’

‘I’ll do anything. As long as they don’t find me. Where can I hide? It feels like I’m taking advantage of you, but I don’t have any money. Where do I start? I think I need to find a job.’

Simon observed Bosse as he sat on the sofa. The colour had started to return to his face, and there was a new glint of life in his eyes. Yes, Bosse was a good worker. No doubt about that. Simon gazed out the window, where the pension’s property extended to the forest. Everything was turning green. The white points of the greenhouses pierced the pale spring sky. Simon turned back to Bosse; an idea had come to him although he hadn’t been consciously trying to come up with one.

Suddenly he rose from the sofa and went to the telephone to dial his old home number, on the farm. His mother picked up and was so happy to hear Simon’s voice that she started crying. Yes, they sure could use an extra set of hands now that spring was here, as long as this fellow could work hard. Didn’t Simon want to come home too?

‘No, I can’t come,’ said Simon. ‘But you have to promise me something. Not a single attempt to save him – no praying, no laying on of hands, no conversations about God’s Way.’

So it was decided – Bosse would travel to Småland and spend some time working on Simon’s parents’ farm.

The next day, Simon gathered up some clothes and put them in Bosse’s backpack. He went to the village that morning to buy a coat, toothpaste, and shampoo, and he got some cash from the ATM. Enough for Bosse to live on until he got his first pay cheque.

They sat on the sofa, staring at each other. Waiting until it was time to head to the ferry. Edwin Björk had promised to hide Bosse on the trip over. A melancholic cloud hung between them – Simon already missed Bosse; he wanted so badly for things to go well for him. As they sat there, there was a knock on the door. It wasn’t Inga; the knocks were too firm and impatient.

Those nutjobs figured out Bosse was here, Simon thought. Took them long enough. He glanced at the clock. Fifteen minutes until they had to leave, plenty of time to get rid of them.

‘Go hide in the bathroom,’ he told Bosse. ‘I’m sure it’s Benny or Sten. I’ll send them away as fast as I can.’

When Simon opened the door, he thought he was seeing things and was so startled he slammed the door. When he opened it again, he was sure he must have been mistaken, that he would find Benny or Sten standing there.

But when the door swung open, it was still Franz Oswald.