Arctic Rising: A Constable Maratse Stand Alone novella (Guerrilla Greenland Book 3) by Christoffer Petersen (books for 6 year olds to read themselves txt) 📗

the Jensen Karlsen clan,” Petra whispered as she tucked her phone back into her pocket. She finished her latte, ordered another, and waited.

What she knew of Inniki Rasmussen was mostly secondhand. A friend told another friend who told her that Inniki was a cranky old woman who was kicked out of Greenland for misbehaving. Petra recalled her conversations with Lauritz as she sipped her second latte, trying to remember his exact words – something about politically toxic. Whether he meant Inniki herself, or associating with her, Petra couldn’t remember, only that Inniki was toxic enough for Petra to say she was meeting friends at a yoga class, rather than tell her politician husband she was meeting Greenland’s most wanted.

Except she wasn’t. Not currently. And now a police constable called Maratse seemed to have stolen the title from her, before his voice suddenly disappeared from the airwaves.

“Caught you napping,” Inniki said, as she pinched Petra’s elbow.

Petra jumped. She spilled her coffee, then caught her breath as Inniki took a napkin and tidied up.

“You scared me.”

“Aap.”

Petra looked around the café, curious if any of the patrons were watching them. An older man in the corner, hidden behind a newspaper, snapped the pages as he turned them. The only other people in the café were the staff, chatting as they prepared take-away orders.

“Stop looking around,” Inniki said, as she tapped the younger woman’s thigh. “Let’s go.”

“We’re not meeting here?”

Inniki shook her head. She curled a thick grey strand of hair to one side of her head, tucking it into place, before taking Petra’s arm and guiding her out of the café.

“I’m late,” she said, once they were out on the street, “because I was being followed.”

“By whom?”

Inniki shrugged and quickened her pace. “It’s not important.”

“How can you say that?”

“Because it’s not.” She clutched Petra’s arm, disarmed her with a smile, and walked on, encouraging Petra to keep up with a gentle tug. “As long as I keep spotting them, I’m all right. When I don’t see them, that’s when I need to worry. Not before.”

“Why?”

“Because that’s the point at which things get interesting.”

“Or they’ve lost interest.”

“Naamik,” Inniki said, with another shake of her head. “They wouldn’t go to the trouble of showing themselves just to leave me alone. They want me to know they are here, and that they can take me whenever they want to.”

“What do you mean take you?”

“For questioning, or whatever it is they call it these days.”

Petra stopped and said, “You should go to the police.”

“Keep walking.” Inniki tightened her grip and pulled Petra into motion. “It’s not good to just stop. We don’t want to stand out.”

“But you said…”

“That I could see them. And I could. But right now, I can’t.” She turned her head to look behind them. “But unless they are helping that young couple move into the apartment across the street, I think we’re safe for now.”

“You never said who they were.”

“I didn’t?”

“No.”

Inniki smiled. “Isn’t it obvious?”

“The Americans?”

“Exactly.” Inniki patted Petra’s hand, then let go of her arm to light a cigarette. “You catch on quick.”

“Maybe I do. Maybe a little too quickly.” Petra waved at the smoke from Inniki’s filterless cigarette. “Lauritz thinks I’m at yoga.”

Inniki frowned. “Without a mat?”

“He wasn’t home when I left. The girls are with a sitter.”

Inniki took another look at Petra. “You don’t even have a change of clothes. You’ll have to do better next time.”

“Next time?” Petra shook her head. “I don’t even know what I’m doing or where I’m going this time.”

“You’ll see.” Inniki finished her cigarette and nodded at the school across the road. “Can you hear the drums?”

Petra laughed. “I think they can hear them in Sweden.”

“Good. Then you’ll notice when they stop. We’re going into the school, into the basement. The young man playing the drums is alone. He stops drumming to open the door and let people in. He’ll let us in, and then we’ll go to the mini sports hall in the basement.”

“Inniki…”

She held up her finger and said, “Listen. I’m telling you the procedure before we go inside.”

“Okay,” Petra said. “I’m listening.”

They crossed the road and Inniki led Petra through the gate and on to a small door on the side of the school building.

“When the drums stop, we wait. If the drums start again after twenty seconds, we can stay in the basement. That’s the length of time it takes for Mikael to unlock the door, let someone in, and return to his drums. If he is a second late, we walk to the fire door at the end of the hall and we leave.” Inniki stopped by the side door. “No exceptions.”

Petra took a breath, and said, “I don’t know why I’m doing this.”

“Yes, you do,” Inniki said, and pressed the buzzer on the door.

The drums stopped. Petra held her breath. Mikael opened the door. The young Greenlander’s eyes sparkled in the late evening light when he saw Inniki. He took her hand, pulling her inside and into a hug. Petra followed, closing the door behind her.

“Hugs,” Inniki said, pressing her hand to Mikael’s cheek before turning to Petra, “take longer than twenty seconds.” She introduced Mikael to Petra.

“Where are you from?” he asked.

“Nuuk.”

Mikael nodded. “Me too.”

“That’s enough for now. We’ll catch up next week,” Inniki said, with a nod to the stairs leading down to the basement.

“I’ll get back to my drums.” Mikael nodded at Petra and left them to it.

“He might be a grandnephew,” Inniki said. “I’m not sure.” She held the banister as she walked down the stairs. “He’s hoping for a place at the Royal Academy of Music. Percussion,” she added, as Mikael resumed his practice. “I think he will do well, don’t you?”

“Yes, of course,” Petra said. She followed Inniki inside the sports hall, blinking in the light as Inniki flicked the switch by the door.

“Exit over there,” she said, pointing to the fire door in the far corner. “We sit here, between the badminton nets.” Inniki walked across the court to a single