to defend Salander. Then there??s the investigation at Nykvarn ?? three cold-case killings.

?? Inspector Modig woke with a start when her mobile rang at the other end of the bedroom
?? Inspector Modig woke with a start when her mobile rang at the other end of the bedroom. Cortez sat on the sofa in Eriksson??s office looking guilty.?? ??Are you sure??? She nodded. scaring the hell out of a couple and their kids.N. he had found her sitting in the chair by the window.?? ??Do you know him??? ??I certainly do.?? ??That was after Stig Wennerstr?m. That unnamed individuals in government circles had great confidence in him implied that he could count on their gratitude if he played his cards right.?? ??And how many hours a week do you do it??? ??Two hours a day. First. ??Around the entry wound you have all sorts of bone fragments.?? The next morning Edklinth was in his office at police headquarters. Red Audi.?? ??Good. She was content to confine her dealings with him to the Net. and that had to be prevented at all costs. The image was pornographic: a naked woman with exceptionally large breasts. a couple of days after Zalachenko and Salander had landed in Sahlgrenska hospital.?? ??What I mean is that you should go on with your life and not feel as though you need to entertain me. Cortez wrote feverishly. Then he put on some jeans and the maroon sweatshirt that needed washing. nothing.00 in the morning.

K. This caused the activists in Hacker Republic to devote a startling amount of energy for six months to hacking and destroying every computer owned by that company. The same is true of S?po. ??Forceps.?? Bublanski leaned forward. They had to decide what to do.?? ??I understand. Was I wrong??? one of the G?teborg policemen said.00. It depends on her rate of recovery. Her Palm had to be recharged only once every three days. Gullberg had objected to telling the government at all.?? Blomkvist had said. On the other hand. A man in advanced old age. And Blomkvist did not believe it. stamped top secret. It rang four times before Waltari picked up. to be honest. ??Take your time.?? ??The government does not cover up criminal activity. It was entitled [Read this first]. on the first of May. ??Are you going to examine me??? Salander said.

?? Ekstr?m looked as if he had just swallowed something very sour. ??Hardly. which meant he was thin and wiry. he has a plan. Sorry. ??Today is all about May 1. By signing this directive. jumped on the Katarina lift up to Mosebacke and took a circuitous route to Fiskargatan 9. say.v ?C 6.?? Bublanski said. Cortez frowned and followed Berger with his gaze as she cut across the hall from her office to the kitchenette. ??Good morning. She was no longer limping. You won??t win any points with the Trades Union Federation.?? ??Hmm. ??Black eye. National Security Agency. They were sitting at the same conference table at which Blomkvist had sat the day before. he had helped in the attempt to murder and bury her. and after six months they had put him on a flight to Spain. expecting that he would be asked to smuggle something in for her.?? ??Congrats. to shoot you too??? ??I have no way of knowing.

promising to make it up to him as soon as she could get home. The departing editor-in-chief. ??We??re the ones who don??t exist. Expert in complaining about taxes.A. He had given them a clear description of her injuries and the bullet wound in her head. I called him an imbecile and an incompetent fool. That is how the media work.P. feeling stressed. You might bear in mind that the beating that provoked Lisbeth??s attack put her mother in hospital for the rest of her life. Modig had to take the question. He stopped and looked about him.?? She lay quiet for a moment.* and the like. and examined her to check on her progress. could present a more forceful strategy. Every time she declined in a friendly but firm way.?? a highly placed Swede ?C or possibly other Scandinavian politician ?C who worked for the K. but on the blueprints from the city construction office she knew that it was on the other side of the building. of course. Documentation to the hilt. ??By God. ??In the kitchen.

The conclusion was just as unpleasant as it was obvious. She was ice-cold and stiff. My father was a psychopath. In those days she was spending two hours a day pumping iron. Frank. I took down your registration and ran a routine check. ??No bones broken??? he said. or that she had taken revenge by tattooing a shocking message on his stomach. Malm lowered the camera. It takes more than that to do in Erika Berger. And for this job Ghidi would be paid 1000 kronor a week. I should probably also mention that there are some individuals in the police force who are actually on Lisbeth??s side in all this. which he never did. Someone. But she isn??t Zalachenko. born 1950. Magnus. ??No. ??You know who I am ?C so you don??t have to be afraid of me. Then he drove down to the Continental. ??He??s lodging a complaint with the police against Salander ?C for G. Kalle Bloody Blomkvist had somehow planted a mobile just outside her room. ??The book states only that the Prime Minister met with the chief of S?po along with a colleague to discuss general questions. it??ll be the second time it??s happened.

?? ??It??s a small monitor.?? She braked at the Klaraberg viaduct and considered the options. But I would be grateful if you would listen to what we have to say.?? ??Let me call you back. I??ve talked with the head of the legal department and fixed it so there won??t be any hassle there.?? ??He succeeded in getting a policeman killed tonight. or the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. and I??ve also been made a mentor for a couple of interns. Your career might be ruined.?? Silence. But I need somebody to tell me if I??m doing anything stupid. She wondered whether she could manage to get out of bed. I wrote it all by myself and sent it to everyone in the company.v Figuerola woke at 6. Greger Beckman. That meant that Blomkvist had about a month to finish writing and patching up all the holes in his text.?? ??And??? ??I asked what sort of medical expertise he thought he had to assess your condition and then I told him to go to hell. At a stroke she eliminated all employees in distribution.?? ??I understand. where she works ?? and anything else you can find.?? ??What did Vinge and Francke quarrel about??? ??They were just very different. they were surprised to see me there. Somalia was a much better place for that sort of attire. Jonas.

Zalachenko??s biography was still vague ?C all he had was what he had blackmailed Bj?rck to reveal. I want to have something that shows that Prosecutor Ekstr?m is today working with Teleborian in some inappropriate manner.?? She told Blomkvist to fasten his seat belt and drove over Slussen to ?stermalm and parked on a side street off Artillerigatan. Figuerola escorted Blomkvist out of police headquarters at 10.S. Finally. There was no reason to volunteer the information that Lundin had called her a whore or that she had bent down and picked up Nieminen??s P-83 Wanad and punished Lundin by shooting him in the foot. Yet he was not hungry. He stopped short when he saw a woman with short.06 in the evening. By signing this directive.?? Modig raised her eyebrows.?? ??There must have been some other purpose ?? a secret organization within the organization. A detective named Hans Faste from Stockholm. Lillian had cleaned it with alcohol and put a bandage on it. But you could do it.?? ??Let??s hear it. who examined her patient briskly and prescribed a powerful painkiller. Ellis liked living in Sweden.M. It took her 17 steps to reach the room. which was mostly figuring out what was going on on the other side of the Baltic. joining Holmberg at the kitchen table. ??Torsten Edklinth has been given the task of finding out whether we can confirm this.

I want you to know this: you are my patient.?? ??No. Thereafter the story became more sluggish. So he had decided to play it safe. / Mikael Salander read his letter twice.?? ??It??s about a man named Alexander Zalachenko.?? Fransson wondered whether she could somehow arrange to hand the entire business over to Prosecutor Ekstr?m in Stockholm. but he knew that some time in the future he would have to pay her back and erase the shame. And not quite right in the head. Zalachenko.T. Zalachenko would give his word.B. and Trinity.?? Nurse Agneta frowned. but it turned into a wearisome sort of arm-wrestling contest. Then the memories came rushing back to her. His other two reports had involved less significant evaluations: one was of an employee inside S. and that it was a question of gaining her trust.?? ??Whichever.?? a highly placed Swede ?C or possibly other Scandinavian politician ?C who worked for the K. Salander seemed at times to be in a deep depression and had not the slightest interest in dealing with her situation or her future. Blomkvist briefly explained what had happened and asked Cortez to pass the information to Millennium??s editor-in-chief.?? ??He??s dying.

?? Edklinth took off his glasses and polished them thoroughly with paper napkin. I??m not.D. A man in advanced old age. a lieutenant in the Swedish army who later turned out to be a colonel in the Soviet military intelligence service.. political parties. it could be ruined. I can??t release her. She swung her legs over the edge of the bed and pulled the electrodes off her arms and chest. As the plywood was being put up. I mean. You could have switched places at any time. Then he stood up and put the muzzle to Zalachenko??s temple and squeezed the trigger twice.R. But more precisely.?? ??Thanks. You??re going to need a specialist. it??ll be the second time it??s happened. but to her surprise he crossed the street right in front of her car and turned down the hill towards Blomkvist??s building. As far as I can work out. She was irritated with Giannini. Infernal bastard piss rats. but it??s not his normal mobile number.

?? ??I don??t think so. and that in turn would lead to even more damaging speculation and perhaps yet more insistent investigation. She??ll have to choose between selling her share of Millennium and leaving our board ?? or in the worst case. but I was waylaid by you.O. essential that the scandal should not implicate the government ?C which is what would happen if the government tried to cover up the story. The conversation was in Kurdish. which meant that policemen would die and Niedermann probably would as well. and maybe a hundred other reporters had by now been briefed at police headquarters. it??s all speculation. as you know. I wish he had left a letter. He opened the evening papers and read everything that had been written that day about the search for Ronald Niedermann and the case of Lisbeth Salander.?? Blomkvist said.?? ??Micke. but that was because Berger had always managed to balance an extremely tight budget. That was good.K. They contained data. Pain stabbed through her shoulder. even though he was obviously not supposed to write it until after he had been given the opportunity to examine her. And then she lay back and stared up at the ceiling.?? ??Fourth. She should be able to send a text message to Blomkvist??s mobile ?? but it was tapped.

were of the kind that were never going to be proven. I can??t get a sensible answer from anyone. He had only one. a hospital nightshirt and a pair of plastic flip-flops that she had managed to borrow. forty-four. Peter. He glanced at Nystr?m. but it was always during subsequent treatment or for completely different reasons that had nothing to do with his interventions. For several weeks they had been hunting Lisbeth Salander. said a polite hello. ??He hung there for something like twenty-four hours before the hook gave way.?? Three inspectors gave Holmberg an astonished look. But I understand making newspapers. In her role as undercover officer her looks worked against her. he patiently but firmly explained that the man who had committed the murders in Stockholm was Ronald Niedermann. ??Hello.?? ??But that??s nothing new. there??s good reason for you to be worried. When his uncle heard that Saddam Hussein??s police were looking once more for Ghidi. I??ve thought about it. it must have a special meaning for her. One last operation. with the help of Berger??s account. You know what it??s all about.

but we think you have a good chance of making a full recovery.?? ??And if you did that. ??Now. Inspector Erlander woke at 7. But M?rtensson was still there. But we have him in the system and can call him in again for questioning. it is. ??Who is this woman. He went into Salander??s room and held out his hand to introduce himself. Editor-in-Chief Morander died at lunchtime. I??ve never heard mention of this ?? what you call the Zalachenko club.01.?? ??Eriksson??? ??Unless you want to be editor-in-chief ???? ??Good God. There is substantial documentation. ??Why in heaven??s name don??t you go over to my place and sleep if you have to sleep on the job. That bastard aimed at me. The ambassador finally relented and agreed to meet him at 10. She thought the most important thing was simply to stop the bastards. Berger had received twenty-three emails by the time she arrived at S. That??s why F?lldin sent me to see you.?? ??If that was all there was to it. But I can??t swallow the scenario that says she was the one who was armed. ?str?m had enlisted him to proofread and give Black/White some editorial support. An hour??s research turned up the information that M?rtensson held the title of business consultant and owned a private company whose address was a P.

a pervert and a rapist. Adamsson glanced his way.?? Figuerola said. had climbed on to a stool. Nieminen bent down and looked at the bodies. He turned to Wadensj??. the lamp hook in the ceiling came away and Bj?rck??s body fell to the floor. who was looking more and more hollow-eyed. It was 4. most often those on the extreme left or the extreme right. But what does a twenty-year-old do who wants to move out of the family home? They can??t afford to.?? ??Lars Faulsson. ??What happened??? he said. Good God. There were 223 employees. O. I??ll ask your advice and I??ll depend on your skill and experience. ??Will do.?? ??I??ll do my best. Blomkvist was the only one absent from the meeting.?? Figuerola said. to every word I say. ??The task of Constitutional Protection is to defend the constitution against what we call ??internal threats??.?? ??I got a tip this morning and took it to Holm.

and lastly Inspectors Modig and Holmberg from the Stockholm police.?? ??Excellent idea. a role that took on added significance in the wake of Wennerstr?m??s exposure as a double agent.?? ??I??ll make the decisions and do the surgery. She put down her pen and looked at the totals. as you all know. The citizens were information junkies and wanted a functioning Internet that they could hack. We have a younger talent who does some field work.??? Blomkvist said. He was about fifty-five and had worked at S. The situation is as follows: The police haven??t found your apartment and don??t have access to the D.?? ??What kind of job??? ??Do you trust me. but it will take only a minute of your time. On the one hand. Do you know if she??s at headquarters??? ??I doubt it. And Georg Nystr?m you know. I??ll go over the details with you.K. He thought about it for two minutes.?? ??You don??t understand the situation???? ??I??m tired of hearing that I don??t understand the situation. I??ll show you how it works in a minute. You and Bj?rck arrested Salander in 1991.?? She glanced at her watch. He used the term ??S.

Nieminen walked the fifty metres to the barn. ??Find out which room she??s in. but roughly half of all the calls that Ekstr?m made on his mobile from anywhere near police headquarters were monitored and recorded. On four separate occasions Gullberg tried to have Bergling removed. Clinton sank silently on to the chair that was offered.?? They brought the conference to a close by deciding that Modig and Erlander would together interrogate Zalachenko. Which means that there was some degree of contact between the two of them while Salander was on the run. Two of Figuerola??s team were going to keep working. the media regarded S?po as an excellent news source. ??This is how things stand. They were sitting at the same conference table at which Blomkvist had sat the day before. I??ve told him he can??t see you. ??The day after we publish this. ??Lie still. Everything pointed to the conclusion that Gunnar Bj?rck.M.?? ??I gather you??re still busy with excavations in Nykvarn. ??Which way is he facing??? Figuerola said. In real life he was a severely overweight and socially challenged thirty-year-old living on disability benefit in Sundbyberg. ??It is legal. layout artists and others. I??d like to leave these flowers for Karl Axel Bodin.?? Modig said. ??One of my colleagues recently went to see former Prime Minister F?lldin.

?? ??Shall we take it from the top??? Berger said. explaining her presence at the house and that she had been called in by Rosin. As the situation is now. a need had arisen for the Section to assign a trusted colleague to the operation who could reinforce its control.?? ??Hmm. If the situation had been reversed ?C if S. He and the whole of Sweden had seen her passport photograph on billboards outside every newspaper kiosk for weeks. She had no memory of seeing the folder that morning. ??Can you open your eyes??? Who was this bloody idiot harping on at her? Finally she did open her eyes. Welcome. As long as he had a licence. Salander used to train at a gym in S?der.?? ??Alright. Three others were members of the Democratic Alliance too. I should think. no matter how many times she tried to block it. Blomkvist wrote a note on a yellow Post-it.?? ??Fredrik.?? ??First thing is to locate all the copies ???? ??I??ve already done that. but Paulsson was not interested. Metro and Stockholm City.. ??Nothing??? Modig said. That applied to Gullberg and equally to Bj?rck.

1989); An Assignment by Carl Lidbom (Wahlstr?m & Widstrand. and that over the years this conspiracy has committed what could be categorized as serious criminal acts. long before I went home at 6. Have you got a mobile on you??? ??A what??? ??A mobile. And. and that means you??ll once again be a pawn in their game. and ate a late but nutritious dinner.?? ??According to Blomkvist. He did not exist in any register or in any public document. Gullberg pushed open the door to room fourteen and stepped quickly inside.?? ??So you think there??s a single hand behind all this? I know Inspector Erlander. The police wanted to question him also in connection with the murders in Stockholm. To the bathroom with you. Salander seemed at times to be in a deep depression and had not the slightest interest in dealing with her situation or her future. Which was not very likely. and now. Zalachenko??s activities since then have nothing whatsoever to do with national security. but he was so exhausted that he did not have the strength or the means to get out there to fetch it. Lisbeth??? Go away. In Sweden you have to do it through a constitutional committee.00. he shouldn??t have had a clue that she was Zalachenko??s daughter; it??s not in any public records.?? ??I understand. She waited while he read her four pages.

She was attractive and dressed in a way that she knew made her more so. and he reckoned that the final book would run to 320 or 336 pages. At the last moment she changed her mind. We have no choice. Finally. It would take a very few seconds to stretch out her arm and break off the rim of the glass with a firm rap against the hard edge of the table.??s staff and finances. That gives us only two hours to make up for a whole lot of lost time. ??And we??ve only known each other a few days. could wander into a hospital with a bunch of flowers in one hand and a pistol in the other. the assistant editor. But she did not want to leave the car and start walking around the area. He and the whole of Sweden had seen her passport photograph on billboards outside every newspaper kiosk for weeks. You??ve got to decide for yourself. ??This is what I want you to do. As Blomkvist tried in frustration to manoeuvre his mobile out of the breast pocket of his jacket ?C it proved to be an impossible task with his hands cuffed behind his back.?? he said. ??The whole thing stinks.?? Only after she had finished her conversation with Armansky did Berger realize that she had overslept. the way you do when you haven??t seen someone for some time.?? Blomkvist said.?? ??But if things go well. he would stay in the intensive care unit for a few more days yet. We??ll do everything in our power to assist you with a lawyer and so on ?? but we need your cooperation.

who did the actual eavesdropping. He reached out his hand and mussed her hair affectionately. He had an office on Stureplan.?? Zalachenko felt elated and would have burst out laughing had he not been so trussed up.M.B.?? ??Could we stop going round in circles? Why do you think I arranged this meeting??? ??To find out what I know and what I intend to do with it. When it came to Agneta Sofia Salander. Something was eluding him. but she expressed in a thousand other ways her dissatisfaction with how things stood. almost made it on to the Swedish Olympic team. He looked concerned. the same in every A. ??I??ve got them. Nystr?m had first come to see him in the days following the murder of Karl Axel Bodin. we need to have clear documentation of all the measures we have taken. ??Can you explain what prompted her to do that??? ??You would have to ask my daughter. Unfortunately there was not much he could help with. First with Henry and Christer. But he could not get into the room and he did not have the strength to force the door. that I be informed of everything that has a bearing on the Salander case. depending on the state of Salander??s health. The document was stamped top secret and filed in the special protocol of S. Although.

but it was always during subsequent treatment or for completely different reasons that had nothing to do with his interventions. It was 6. She??s considering taking on Salander as a client. on the other hand.I. forty-minus. It??s not over. The next moment she saw a thin. This investigation is being conducted in great secrecy. You and your colleague are sources and you have complete source protection. She thought of Holm.H. ??Who??s going to take over the investigation of Salander??? ??I don??t know. though it might come to that. I??m only interested in the Zalachenko club. Gullberg considered various alternatives and then chose to steer Bjurman carefully out of the picture. had enormous resources and used a vast network in order to capture a large number of mobile conversations in a certain region simultaneously.?? Nystr?m said with a slight smile. after all. taken when he was sixty-six. There was no reason to volunteer the information that Lundin had called her a whore or that she had bent down and picked up Nieminen??s P-83 Wanad and punished Lundin by shooting him in the foot.?? Malmberg said. She??s at the hospital in Bor?s. He stopped in G?teborg to have lunch with an old friend before resuming his journey to Stockholm.

?? Blomkvist ran into Cortez at the entrance to the Millennium offices. Where exactly this boundary was seemed to vary from one person to another. when some operation went into a critical phase and they had to work around the clock. He stopped at a rubbish bin and tore up the photocopies of his letters. ??The biggest industry in Sweden by far is construction. Don??t do anything until we can agree a strategy.?? ??How do you mean??? Sandberg looked so nervous for a second that Zalachenko had to smile. ??Is it something personal between the two of you??? ??You could say that. That bitch Salander. Bj?rck had not acted alone. He??ll be leading the Section??s operations department until the present crisis is over.?? Salander said. and Jonasson could not imagine that this would be some sort of tomfoolery. He and Malm had thought of a paperback edition.?? Giannini was both tired and irritated on Wednesday evening as she boarded the X2000 at G?teborg Central Station. An intelligence agent who let his cock rule any part of his life was obviously not a good intelligence agent.?? Modig tilted her head to one side. It revolves around this Zala ?? Alexander Zalachenko. Torsten. a work of art. She had 200 kronor in cash from Annika Giannini to pay for sweets from the hospital snack shop. She followed him to the kitchen and filled a large glass with cold water.?? They said goodbye. ??The matter has gone to court.

given to her by Giannini and hardly used. It was a plain wooden pencil. She had accepted Blomkvist??s reasoning that she had already been so savaged in the Swedish media by such grotesque libels that a little sheer nonsense could not possibly further damage her reputation. But it definitely does mean that some individuals within S.?? They exchanged hotmail addresses. and had probably saved her life. He had had the feeling before and had trained himself to interpret it as an alarm triggered by instinct. In 1963 Gullberg was transferred from Counter-Espionage to personnel control.Tuesday. we were fast asleep moments after we got here. only to me. but asked questions until he was satisfied.?? ??And what happened??? ??His nearest competitor was a Swedish wholesale outfit called Vitavara Inc.?? ??So what happened??? ??Well ?? F?lldin left office.A. rigid drill sergeant type.?? ??And how are we supposed to give her the proper care here if we can??t have access to her records? The medical responsibility for her right now is ours. Two patients.?? ??If I were to tell you that this story is untrue. He??s over two metres tall and built like a tank.?? Edklinth said with a faint smile. For us it??s important to bear in mind that this is a case of criminal activity perpetrated by a small number of individuals. She exercised so often that the endorphins her body produced functioned as a drug that made it tough for her if she had to stop training.?? They brought the conference to a close by deciding that Modig and Erlander would together interrogate Zalachenko.

?? Salander heard footsteps in the corridor. and how empty it was going to seem without Berger. But someone with Niedermann??s distinctive appearance is not going to go unnoticed for long. Or that he could.?? ??We didn??t agree on the angle in the article about the government??s tax proposal. you listen here???? ??Imbecile. Henry.S. it is. She closed her door. After the meeting at Milton Security the previous evening. and he has backing from higher up in the bureaucracy. She introduced herself and her colleague. As long as he had a licence. If I run into him sometime. How should I deal with it??? ??I don??t have the energy to think that through right now. Policemen possibly excepted. and what we believe to have happened. He had a very deep gash across his face and another just below one kneecap.?? Gullberg said. The K. ??Why not give it to her lawyer??? ??Because Lisbeth is the only one who knows how to get at the evidence. and if we make a smaller newspaper.00 Jonasson came up to the ward just as Dr Endrin was about to go home.

I have let it be known that our Zalachenko documents are gone. of course.I. She was a threat to his entire future and well-being.?? ??Barring the unforeseen. and he has a very painful facial wound.P. ??We??ve got a deadline now.. He had the face of a model and looked weak. but that was no longer possible. At the age of seventy-nine. There were photographs from various parties. Ricky. but her face was otherwise expressionless. but again in vain. you. is Niedermann still hiding out somewhere in Sweden?; two. The revolver was a present he had received from British Intelligence twenty-five years earlier as a reward for an invaluable piece of information: the name of a clerical officer at M. You stay here and sit down. 11.?? Blomkvist weighed the situation for a moment. and I??m the one paying her to defend Salander. Then there??s the investigation at Nykvarn ?? three cold-case killings.