Running Blind / The Freedom Trap Read Online Free

street as the watching man drew on a cigarette.
    He worried me because I was no longer certain Elin was safe.
III
    We were both up early, Elin because she wanted to make a quick start for Akureyri, and I because I wanted to get at the Land-Rover before Elin did. I had some things to stow in the Land-Rover that I didn’t want Elin to know about; Lindholm’s gun, for instance. I taped it securely to one of the main chassis girders and well out of sight. His cosh I put in my pocket. It had occurred to me that if things did not go well I might be in need of weaponry in Akureyri.
    I didn’t have to go out of the front door to get at the Land-Rover because the garage was at the back, and so the watcher in the alley got no sight of me. But I saw him because the next thing I did was to take a pair of field glasses one flight up to a landing where there was a window overlooking the street.
    He was a tall, lean man with a neat moustache and he looked cold. If he had been there all night without a break he would be not only frozen to the marrow but starving. I made sure I would know him again if I saw him and lowered the glasses just as someone came downstairs from an upstairs flat. It was a middle-aged grey-haired woman who looked at me and then at the glasses and gave a meaningful sniff.
    I grinned. It was the first time I had been suspected of voyeurism.
    I enjoyed breakfast all the more because of my hungry friend across the street. ‘You’re looking more cheerful,’ said Elin.
    ‘It’s your cooking,’ I said.
    She looked at the herring, the cheese, the bread and the eggs. ‘What cooking? Anyone can boil an egg.’
    ‘Not like you,’ I assured her.
    But I was more cheerful. The dark thoughts of the night had gone and in spite of all the unanswered questions the death of Lindholm no longer oppressed me. He had tried to kill me and failed, and had suffered the penalty for failure. The fact that I had killed him didn’t weigh too heavily upon my conscience. My only lingering worry was for Elin.
    I said, ‘There’s a flight for Akureyri from Reykjavik City Airport at eleven.’
    ‘You’ll have lunch there,’ said Elin. ‘Spare a thought for me bouncing about down in Kaldidalur.’ She swallowed hot coffee hastily. ‘I’d like to leave as soon as possible.’
    I waved at the laden table. ‘I’ll clean up here.’
    She got ready to leave, then picked up the binoculars. ‘I thought these were in the Land-Rover.’
    ‘I was just checking them,’ I said. ‘They seemed a bit out of focus last time I used them. They’re all right, though.’
    ‘Then I’ll take them,’ she said.
    I went with her down to the garage and kissed her goodbye. She looked at me closely, and said, ‘Everything is all right, isn’t it, Alan?’
    ‘Of course; why do you ask?’
    ‘I don’t really know. I’m just being feminine, I suppose. See you in Akureyri.’
    I waved her off and watched as she drove away. Nobody seemed to bother; no heads popped around corners and no one followed in hot pursuit. I went back into the flat and checked on the watcher in the alley. He wasn’t to be seen, so I made a mad dash for the upstairs landing from where I could get a better view and I breathed easier when I saw him leaning against the wall, beating his hands against his arms.
    It would seem that he was not aware that Elin had left or, if he was, he didn’t care. It lifted a considerable load off my mind.
    I washed the breakfast crockery and then went to my room where I took a camera bag and emptied it of its contents. Then I took the hessian-covered steel box and found that it fitted neatly into the leather bag. From now on it was not going to leave my person until I handed it over in Akureyri.
    At ten o’clock I rang for a taxi and left for the airport, a move which resulted in some action. I looked back along the street and saw a car draw up near the alley into which my watcher jumped. The car followed the taxi all the way to the airport,