Chapter 51

51

Mathias stood mute.

In the silence, you could hear the thrum of the water outside as it came over a fall under the bridge. In the cold, you could smell the water, the metallic edge of it.

I watched his troubled face turn somber.

"That tattoo on your forearm, the anchor," I said. "You were a sailor somewhere?"

He nodded.

"Royal Norwegian Navy," he said.

"You ever been in a dangerous storm out at sea?"

"Yes."

"How did everybody on the ship react? Well?"

"No, there was a lot of panic."

"How did the captain react? Did he panic?"

"No, he was as cool as a cucumber."

"Exactly. That was his job. To lie and say, hey, everyone, everything is A-OK, even though it wasn't. We're in a storm now, Mathias. A real shitstorm and not everyone is as smart and seasoned or trained as you and me. Add fear, and we're looking at as many problems inside this place as outside.

"You think that Mario is going to be able to handle the truth? He's already falling apart. Instead he will try to kill the messenger, namely me. I've seen it before. We would be at each other's throats instead of against the bad guys. I want us all to get out of this. But you can't save drowning people if they're flipping out and fighting you and not even believing what you're telling them."

"I see," he said. "I get it. You were keeping up morale."

He shook his head sadly as he absorbed what I had told him.

"When I left for this job two months ago," he said, "my little girl was crying. To make her stop, I told her I would bring her back a present. A pink Red Sox cap just like the one her mother has. Her mother is from Boston, you see."

I watched his face, watched it fall. He passed a hand through his hair, gripped at his beard.

"I already bought the cap," he said very quietly. "I was supposed to leave today but I stayed for the party that my guys threw. Now this. Why didn't I just leave?"

I looked at him.

I pulled up my sleeve to show him the tattoo I had on the inside of my left bicep. It was a small one of the skeleton of a frog.

"You ever see this one before?"

His eyes lit up.

"Frogman. The SEALs! You are a SEAL?"

I nodded.

"I thought you said you were a cop."

"I was both," I said.

"So, what do we do, Mike?" he said with a sudden hope.

"Simple," I said as I lowered my sleeve. "Just follow the frogman."

"You have a plan?" he said.

"Just follow my lead, Mathias," I said, giving him a wink as I patted him on his big shoulder. "Start by getting your buddy Mario to listen to you. And when they come for us, just stay out of my way, all right? Let me take the lead. And if I tell you to do something, you do it quick. No questions, no bullshit. You do that—you have my back—your little girl gets her hat. You want that, right?"

"You think you can really get us out of here?"

"It's a done deal," I said brightly. "Especially now that I've got the Iron Swede on my side."

"Iron Norwegian," Mathias said with a smile.

"Aye, aye, Captain Norway," I said. "Batten down the hatches because if what I think they are about to do is coming, this is about to get bumpy."