Khan's Legacy

Chapter 2

Chapter 2Tromso Arctic Circle

Valgrind

The fierce wind carrying icy sleet cut like sharp knives through the man’s heavy clothes as he strode from the land-cruiser into Valgrind, his base and refuge in the frozen north. A powerful man in both stature and countenance he automatically attracted attention as he entered the building. Born a Russian he was used to the cold so the location didn’t faze him; in fact he preferred it; it helped him think more clearly. His cold, feral eyes gave the impression of a wolf ready to pounce, but this predator had become the prey. He had been a graduate of The Teacher’s academy, where the most fanatical and loyal supporters were indoctrinated. None of the other students had questioned their tasks, however outlandish or extreme, but he’d realised they were being brain-washed and had rebelled. It was an act of bravery, or idiocy, that no one but he, Jochi, had ever attempted. It was a precedent The Teacher would not allow to become established. He was now regarded as a traitor to the cause who must be eradicated and as a result he needed to be constantly on his guard.

His master had seen his exceptional potential, had re-named him after Genghis Khan’s first son and promoted him. The name had not been endowed lightly and Jochi had at first considered it a great honour and later a great irony; his namesake had also rebelled against his father. However, unlike the original Jochi, who had been hunted down and ruthlessly murdered by his father, he had so far survived. His opportunity to act effectively had come when The Teacher ordered him into active duty. He had used money and influence with three senior Elders who thought he would be a safe alternative to The Teacher. They were convinced they had bought his services, but he was beholden to no one.

He had succeeded in orchestrating a split in The Teacher’s ranks and at the same time a schism in the Elders’ organization. This had seriously damaged The Teacher’s power with the group and for that there would be no forgiveness. Both the Elders and The Teacher’s organisations were now in some disarray. It was a schism they could ill afford and The Teacher was struggling to stay in control of each. In another direction, he had subsidized Diane Oleson and become a partner in the business she had established at the site of Stig Olsen’s notorious experiment with breeding control, known as The Huldra Twelve. That had involved twelve girls selected to receive the gift of eternal life and, using stem cells, create a new master race. The project had been swiftly discredited and defeated. Still the base provided ideal cover. It was the last place his enemy would look for him while he planned the next stage of his activities. He was his own master now and had chosen his course carefully; all part of his break from the strict Islamic teachings that The Teacher was focused upon. Most importantly, he had the second Artefact, Drake’s Shield, safely stored at the base and a strong lead to the whereabouts of the next one. Literally from the roof of the world, he would launch his plan to acquire more Artefacts. He had declined the opportunity to steal the Sword of Islam and left it in its hiding place. It wasn’t part of the set of four Artefacts with Chinese script detailing directions, he believed, to finding the Khan’s Prophecy.

His major breakthrough had been when The Teacher’s trusted associate, Sabine, had confided to him that a piece of paper had been discovered that would lead to a diary written by a cabin boy on Captain Cook’s journey, that was the next Artefact. She had inadvertently told him it was located in an old antiques shop down by the waterfront in Gothenburg. For his partner, Stefan, it had been relatively easy to acquire the paper and it did indeed give a clue to the diary’s location. Unfortunately the damned piece of paper had gone missing; it was intolerable. There must be a traitor operating in Valgrind who had to be found and dealt with, which was why he was here now. He took off his coat and shouted for his attendant. He would find the damn thing if it meant turning the place inside out.

~~~~~~

Despite her age of fifty years, Diane Oleson had a striking figure which helped run her ex-husband’s health and beauty resort. The spa was marketed not only as being able to heal the body but, with the bracing air of the Arctic, healing the mind too. Her motivation was partly a fierce determination to succeed and emerge from her husband’s shadow, and part philanthropic to help the survivors of its unsavoury past as a Nazi-style breeding camp. She had provided employment to some of the unfortunate victims of her husband’s horrendous experiments in Aryan purity. However, finances were a constant problem due to low numbers and the remote location. After much soul-searching, she had accepted Jochi’s offer of help, help he had assured her would be in the form of a partnership and was purely to help the girls. It was an offer that having accepted, she was now bitterly regretting. It had put her under his control and the effects of it felt like a vice clamping ever tighter as he exerted greater domination.

The product of a violent childhood herself, she was determined not to give up; she knew the girls were psychologically damaged and would not find it easy to reacclimatize to the modern world, so she employed them at the spa, giving them the chance to restart their lives. After nearly a year, she felt they were reaching a tipping point that made her think about her own future. She had advertised the spa as being the ultimate in providing relaxing, luxury breaks that featured the spectacular Northern Lights. Initially demand had been good, but recently it had fallen away dramatically, forcing her to re-assess the business and conclude she had no chance of survival. She had been supported in her venture by Lorna, her stepdaughter; they had formed a strong bond through suffering mutual tribulations. Fortunately they had a solution in the form of an offer she had received from the most unlikely of places. Together it would take them away from Jochi and his bullying ways; all they needed was a little time and a considerable amount of money. That remained a problem since her dead husband’s estate had been impounded to pay his victims. She received Jochi’s call to meet him in his office with some trepidation.

Her fears were confirmed when she saw his face. She stood and stared back at him across the wide desk. “The page, where is it?” he demanded, seeking to intimidate her from the beginning. Diane spread her hands. “We’ve looked everywhere; with all these workmen on site it’s impossible to know who has it.”

“I won’t tolerate this Diane, you are responsible for security.” He leaned across the desk and fixed her with a hard stare. Diane was unmoved and stared back at him. “We are doing what we can.” she said firmly.

“Seal the base. You have until tomorrow to find it or I will take action.” He leaned back in his chair, his face a mask of fury.

“What sort of action?” she asked and felt full of foreboding at his reply.

“You’ll find out, now send me one of the girls.”

“I don’t approve of that,” replied Diane coldly,” “besides there’s only Lorna and Soraya here.”

“I want a massage, that’s what they do isn’t it?” he snapped.

He rose from his desk and stormed off to his private rooms slamming the door of the office behind him. Diane groaned to herself; the man was a monster and her only male support was a retired police officer called Rochembach who physically would not last five minutes against this man.

“The girls hate him,” her friend Soraya told her angrily when Diane recounted what had happened. “He scares them.” One of the survivors of Oleson’s experiment, she had stayed on to help with the administration. “Not for long,” Diane assured her, “we’ll soon be out of this mess, besides you know how to cope with him, get him drunk and he’ll fall asleep before he can touch you.”

“It’s very dangerous for Soraya,” Lorna said as she entered the room. “We need to get rid of him; hopefully this Stefan can moderate his behaviour a little.”

“First time here, came from Germany,” replied Diane, “but he’s probably just as bad.”

“Probably,” snapped Lorna in disgust, “they’re after only one thing; Jochi has been after it from me ever since he came here, and to think he saved me from rape in Prague last year, what a change in him!” A tall slim and striking Nordic blond with piercing cold blue eyes, Lorna dominated any situation she was in. Her father’s death had been a Nirvana moment for her as she came to terms with what he had done. She had been spoiled by him as a child and later by awestruck male admirers. Her mother and father had parted; her mother Jacqui going off to live abroad with Leila, her sister, she had chosen to remain with her father.

She had eventually seen through him and had been about to join her mother and Leila when they both suffered a horrible death, her mother Jacqui drowned, her sister was murdered. The subsequent violent death of her father and realization of what he had done made her determined to make up for his misdemeanours. The girls were under her care and she was fiercely protective of them. She was here despite the appealing attentions of Guy Tresanton; it was chance to make good her past, was her own cleansing ritual and the reason she’d come back to this freezing, remote part of the world. Until now she hadn’t regretted her decision but she had a deep sense of foreboding at the behaviour of Jochi.

“He needs controlling.” she said firmly.

“I can’t do that,” Diane confessed.

“I can, and I will.” Lorna scowled, brushed back her blonde hair and stared defiantly across at Diane. “Then we move on, Stephy.” She used the pet name for her stepmother when she was trying to make a point and smiled.

“How is the next batch of bookings?” asked Diane.

“Mostly Russians, which means fat old ladies where it’s hard to tell where the flesh ends and the body starts,” smiled Soraya. She’d shared many experiences with Lorna on Oleson’s other project, a floating health farm, and their bond was exceptionally strong, another reason Lorna had come back to help.

“Are there any new ones?” asked Diane.

“Only a couple; it’s time to move on Diane, the cruiser idea will work. I did a rough market survey and it’s clear there is a strong demand for the concept of a floating health farm. I have total ownership of it and from what I’m told it is now seaworthy, albeit not fully fitted out for work yet.”

“How long is it to completion?”

“About two months to be totally ready but possibly earlier if I can find the money. As I said it’s seaworthy but you know what my father did to it so the money is very tight. As you know it’s a significant size and had six diesel engines that have been refurbished plus a gas turbine. It’s an impressive sight when ready to sail.”

“Exactly why we have Jochi,” replied Diane. “We need to generate some cash while we wait for the ultimate in floating health clinics to be made ready. The possibilities are huge, and will be our tickets to the big time so please stick with him for now.”

“If he tries to attack me, it will be all over. It’s a good job Soraya knows how to handle him; one day one of the other girls will get badly hurt.”

“How much more money do we need?” asked Diane.

“A million euros,” replied Lorna quietly. “It’s taking all the money I was left plus maxing out on my credit limits against this place; we have to face facts, we will need help. They’re going to take it on a major sea trial and look for a commission whilst they slow down the refit. I’m told there is the possibility of a big cargo commission on the horizon which would give us the necessary time and money.”

“We’ll find a way,” agreed Diane, “but now we need to find that damned sheet of paper.”

“Diane, I hate to tell you but Rochembach was the last to see it; he said he would check that it was authentic for Stefan.”

“Then we do have a problem,” said Diane in horror. As she turned, her old friend entered the room, his sad eyes confirming the worst. “I’m so sorry Diane, I did take it but I have a reason, a very good reason but I must keep it to myself.”

“Keep it to yourself?” Diane exploded. “Have you any idea what trouble this is causing? I must be told where it is, who has it and why you gave it to him.” Stefan spread his hands and shook his head. “I can see all that but I can’t tell you until tomorrow. I promise I’ll tell you then.”

~~~~~~

The base was deathly quiet as a hooded man surreptitiously left the compound at three o’clock the following morning, taking great care to keep to the shadows. He made his way across to the vehicle compound, the overnight blizzard had eased enough to enable him to get a snow mobile moving. He wasn’t used to the biting cold and had taken a big risk by taking the assignment from his superior at Interpol. It meant he was unable to tell anyone, even Guy and Rose or his beloved niece, Jemina, all so he could get ahead of The Teacher and find the third Artefact. Bringing him to justice was now his life’s major task and he couldn’t have picked a harder quarry, one where extraordinary nerve and determination were necessary.

Chief Inspector Brian Montcalm had been nearing retirement when his world had been turned upside down by the arrival of Guy and Rose. Not that he was bothered by that, on the contrary they had given him a new lease of life, a sense of purpose that had become a personal journey for him. He had taken extended leave of absence from his posting to work in secret for Interpol and an Inspector Jakeman had taken his place. But his recent efforts had been a strain on his constitution and he realised he was getting too old for this sort of activity.

He had by chance listened in to a conversation in Aruba between Sabine and Jochi. They had revealed the clue and the need to act quickly. His superior at Interpol had immediately agreed they should take precipitate action in what was a growing crisis. He had approached his old colleague, Kurt Rochembach, on his arrival who had arranged for him to enter the complex in the guise of a contractor and had given him the precious piece of paper sought by Jochi. Now, with the net closing rapidly, sparked by Jochi’s unexpected arrival, he had to get out whilst there was a break in the weather. Thanks to Rochembach’s trust in him, he had remained under the radar screen for two days before grabbing the chance to escape. During his time at the base he had discovered, to his dismay, the local police were on Jochi’s payroll, so what should have been a straightforward run to police headquarters had become impossible.

He gritted his teeth against the cutting wind and accelerated the snow mobile, heading out into the dark night anxiously hoping he hadn’t been seen. He drove north to Tromso because there was nowhere else to go and as he drove he reflected on his assignment. The International Community was faced with a challenge that needed precipitate action. He had to take the fight to The Teacher or they would be beaten. It was an intricate game of chess where the defensive player was making a daring raid to the opponents’ back line. Rochembach had been reluctant to give him the piece of paper but had eventually done so. He hoped the man wouldn’t be persecuted but wasn’t in a position to help even if he was. He was now himself a hunted man, a novel experience for a copper made worse by not being able to call on the local police for help. He took a final look back and slammed the accelerator down hard just as a bright beam of light suddenly sliced through the darkness. He ducked down and veered off northwards into the night, praying they wouldn’t catch him. Something whistled through the air and the snow sprayed up to his right; bullets! He ducked instinctively as all hell broke loose.