Then he jumps out of the car and confers with the uniformed police officers. All she hears is something about a ‘kidnapping’ and ‘possible hostage situation’, and then they leave.

‘I didn’t mention to my colleagues that we are probably chasing rogue government officials here,’ he tells Klara when he gets back into the car. ‘Better to have this sorted out before my bosses get any other instructions or understand what’s going on. People with a higher pay grade than me can figure out the legal details later. No time to lose.’

*

They roll past the commercial terminals quickly, through a gate that a security guard opens as soon as he sees the procession of police cars with flashing blue lights and screaming sirens.

Now they’re on the other side of the airport, in front of a large hangar with vaulted ceilings.

‘I thought Säpo and MUST were on the same side?’ Klara says. ‘And I certainly didn’t think that one of the organizations kidnapped citizens?’

‘Well,’ Bronzelius says, ‘we both want to keep Sweden safe, if that’s what you mean. But our methods… differ slightly. We’re just cops, like you said. We want to see people arrested and convicted and democracy defended. It sounds silly maybe, but I really do believe in it.’

‘A little pompous perhaps,’ she says. ‘But I understand what you mean.’

‘MUST likes to work in the shadows,’ Bronzelius continues. ‘Everything is just one long game for them. The exchange of information between countries, shifting alliances. The secrets themselves are the goal, not revealing them. That’s where we differ. I work in the darkness, but I want to bring it into the light. They just want to go further in.’

‘What happens when we drive into the hangar?’ Klara says. ‘Who has the right to arrest whom?’

Bronzelius looks at her with an eyebrow raised. ‘Who has the right to arrest whom?’ he repeats. ‘I thought you were a lawyer, Klara. Who has a monopoly on force within Sweden’s borders?’

‘The police,’ she says. ‘But is it really that simple?’

‘Is MUST the police?’ Bronzelius asks rhetorically.

‘They’re military, I suppose.’

‘Exactly,’ Bronzelius says. ‘They can think what they want, but what they’re up to is illegal. I’m with the police. It’s my duty to arrest them for kidnapping if that’s what they’re doing.’

There’s something reassuring about Bronzelius’s old-school attitude. She sees him hold up a hand and point to the closed-off area in front of them.

‘This is where government planes usually land,’ he says. ‘And they’re sending people to be tortured in dictatorships from here.’

He turns towards her. ‘But we’re fucking done with that.’

She nods calmly. ‘Yes, we are,’ she says.

*

She hears aircraft engines above the sirens. Through the windshield, she sees several armed guards in civilian clothing approaching the police cars and then being waved back to their car.