The last rays of sun fought against being swallowed by the sea as they approached the designated position off Dueodde. The captain lit his pipe and reduced the ship’s speed shortly after shutting off the engine. The silence was overwhelming. A solitary wind blew in from the southeast, and they were too far from the shore to see any seagulls. Holger took a deep breath and sucked the last bit of optimism out of the crimson glow on the horizon. For a moment, he forgot the gravity of the situation. But this was not a cruise, and he had no idea whether Lars Danielson had listened to his message. It could be a long, cold and uncomfortable night if they had to reach the shore on their own.
Holger had explicitly promised Lars Danielson to bring Kaare in. He could not just be found by anyone on land or by a boat. He had to uphold his side of the bargain with FE. Lars Danielson had made no bones about it; if he did not do that, he should not count on FE to stand by their promise to him.
Holger’s thoughts were cut short by the arrival of a couple of crew members dragging an inflatable, orange life raft. After a couple of attempts, they managed to haul the life raft overboard, holding onto it with a towline while another seaman threw a rope ladder 446over the railings. Once the lifeboat was ready, Holger thanked the captain. To his immense surprise, the captain gave him a bear hug. Kaare firmly gave the captain his hand as he climbed the railing agilely and slipped into the raft. Holger followed quickly, albeit not as elegantly.
‘Now, we just have to wait,’ said Holger as he saw the freighter disappear in the growing darkness.
Soon, the ship had already disappeared from view, and they looked up at the starry night sky without saying a word. The thought of almost being home was overpowering, and Kaare lay down flat on his back with his eyes closed. Holger tried to doze off, but he could not find calm. Thoughts just darted uncontrollably around in his head. To the captain, whose mission was far from over until he had reached a Swedish harbour without having attracted attention from the coastguard. He could still see Tatjana’s smiling face as he closed his eyes. The intoxicating feelings spread out into every fibre of the body as he relived their sexual encounter at the hotel in St Petersburg. His thoughts suddenly ventured to the law firm, and he realised that he had not given any thought to the business in the past couple of weeks. Do I miss the work? He missed the interaction with the clients and being consiglieri, being in the circle of trust. But too many bridges had been burned by his partners, and it would never be as it was. Louise then appeared in his mind’s eye. He had not dared think of her of late. The fear of losing had been too intense. But, by God, how I miss her. Now FE has to uphold their end of the bargain because soon, I’ll have delivered mine. I must have Louise and my life back, he thought, letting the weight of his eyelids get the better of him.447
Holger had no idea how long they had been dozing when the sound of a deep, powerful engine sharply woke him up. Kaare was also awake and scanned the horizon. He first spotted the boat’s small red and green lights and pointed it out to Holger. He instantly recognised the RIB’s profile against the starry night as the military inflatable boat was speeding towards them, cutting through the waves. Despite a dark night, the rubber craft headed directly towards them, and they both spontaneously started waving madly. A few minutes later, it docked at the side of the life raft with convincing precision. Behind the controls stood Hans with a smile from ear to ear, and in the boat was Kaare’s old patrol.
Once Kaare and Holger were in the boat, they embraced each patrol member one by one. Holger felt privileged to be part of the group and smiled when one of the soldiers shed a tear. It was a long-hoped-for reunion everybody had been crossing their fingers for, but one only a few genuinely believed would happen. There were no facades, no superfluous words. It must have been like this for the old Vikings, thought Holger as he sat down in the RIB. Although he was now a MOB Jaeger, he had proven himself fully worthy of the Jaeger tab. As the greetings came to an end, JK took out his knife and cut a couple of large tears in the life raft, and it started immediately to sink. Hans then started the RIB’s powerful diesel engine, steering them away from the sinking life raft at high speed in the direction of Bornholm’s coast.
‘Until you get something better, you’ll have to share an MRE,’ said Johan, throwing an olive-green package at Kaare.
‘Meal Ready to Eat,’ he explained for Holger’s benefit as Hans pushed the throttle to the maximum.448
The RIB swiftly cut through the water, and Holger relished the saltwater spray on his face. Freedom. We’ve made it; what a feeling, goddammit!
‘As if we haven’t just survived enough,’ Kaare laughed and bit into the olive-green plastic wrapping.
Kaare quickly located the peanut butter tube and gave the rest of the ration to Holger. But he was not hungry. He just enjoyed the wind massaging his face.