They can hear him pressing all of his weight into his seat. Then the woman’s radio crackles and she says something they don’t quite catch.

‘I’m climbing in,’ she says. ‘And you don’t move.’

They hear the driver grunt something and then the cop climbing up. Through the little gap they can see her flashlight bobbing around.

‘Move,’ the cop says.

‘Tell me what the reason is for this inspection,’ the driver says. ‘Or I refuse.’

‘Put that down,’ says the officer harshly.

‘My phone?’ he asks. ‘I’m not going to do that. What you’re doing is illegal.’

The police officer sighs and hops down to the ground again. ‘Drive to the side of the road over there. We’re not done here yet.’

Jacob hears the driver pulling the door closed and slowly rolling down along the road. ‘Yes,’ he quietly mutters in English. ‘We sure are.’

Then he accelerates, not towards the edge of the road, but up onto the highway as fast as his truck will go.

Klara has crept out of the sleeper cabin and back towards the seats again and Jacob hears sirens behind them.

‘I’m gonna stop at a parking lot,’ the driver says to Klara. ‘Someplace where you can disappear. Now, as soon as I can.’

The truck careens off the highway. ‘Here,’ he says. ‘There’s a McDonald’s up there. You jump off there.’

The sirens almost disappeared when they got on the highway, but now they’re louder again.

‘Okay,’ Klara nods. ‘We’ll take it from here.’

‘You only have a few seconds,’ he says. ‘They’re right behind us.’

Jacob feels George pushing him forward into the cab of the truck. ‘Get ready,’ he says. ‘Now’s not the time to fall into a coma.’

The truck slows quickly. ‘In ten seconds,’ the driver says calmly. ‘As fast as you can. I’ll stop so they can’t see you as they come off the highway.’

The truck stops and the driver shouts: ‘Now!’

Klara gets the door open and pushes Jacob out and they tumble onto the wet asphalt, with George at their heels. They stumble towards the entrance as fast as they can. From the exit they can see the blue lights flashing, hear the sirens approaching.

Behind him, Jacob hears Klara’s voice before closing the door of the truck: ‘I hope you contact your daughter,’ she says. ‘Ten years is too long, no matter what you’ve done. Believe me, I know.’

25 November

Malmö

Blue lights on the other side of the truck, doors being thrown open and slammed shut, voices raised as Klara pushes Jacob in front of her, in among the parked trucks next to the gas station near the McDonald’s.