PROLOGUE
THE NOBEL HOSPITAL, STOCKHOLM
Thursday evening, 6.vi
On the skyline she spotted two new
features on the top of northern Europe’s biggest prestige building project. The
hospital roof had been crowned with two helipads. Two! While the budget for the
overdue replacement of the plumbing at her own hospital, the Nobel, had been
halved.
For the third time in twenty
minutes, Fredrik knocked on the door and looked in.
“Isn’t it time now?”
Carlsson pushed her feet into her
high-heeled shoes. Straightened the gold pen next to the keyboard.
“Göran’s rung for the third time.
The situation’s chaotic. What shall—”
“What was the name of the doctor who
took care of the stabbing down there?” Carlsson interrupted in a calm voice.
Her secretary thrust his hand into
his pocket, took a piece of paper out of his pocket and read: “Tekla Berg. But
. . .”
Carlsson turned her attention back
to the screen. The clock up in the corner showed 21.43.
She looked out at the city. My God,
what was going on? First gang members with drawn weapons in A. & E., and
now this. Who on earth would want to be C.E.O. of a hospital?
She considered her alternatives. Let
her fingers play with the gold chain around her neck. The new burns unit had
cost the taxpayer 120 million kronor, and yet Uppsala was made the national
centre. It was like owning a luxury restaurant with a kitchen full of expensive
ingredients and a platoon of celebrity chefs standing around with no guests to
cook for. She knew what the solution was, she understood who the key person was,
she just did not know how to catch their attention. But she had an idea.
She took another liquorice monkey
and got to her feet. Her knees were hurting, but she was not going to take any
more painkillers today. Carlsson adjusted the belt of her trousers and buttoned
her jacket. Sauntered to the large oval window. Did it look like an enormous,
waking eye to someone in the houses on Ringvägen? One which never blinked?
Her mobile showed 21.48. Those five
additional minutes would surely have meant at least one new patient for the
burns unit.
Carlsson called out:
“Fredrik, you can sound the major
incident alert now. And make sure you put that Tekla Berg woman on it.”
Hell and High Water by Christian Unger (Quercus Publishing) Out Now
With 85% per cent burns to his body and a 115% risk of dying, it's a miracle
the patient is still alive. He only made
it this far thanks to Tekla Berg, an emergency physician whose unorthodox
methods and photographic memory are often the difference between life and
death. Convinced that the fire was a
terrorist attack - and that the patient was involved - the police are
determined to question him. Almost as determined as those who would silence him
at any cost. And while Tekla battles to keep him breathing, she can't shake the
thought that something about him is strangely familiar . . . Tekla has always
hidden her remarkable mind from her hospital colleagues, resorting to
amphetamines to take the edge off the endless whirl of lucid memories. But now
she'll need to call on all her wits as she's drawn into a mystery involving
corrupt police, the godfather of the Uzbek mafia, and her beloved but wayward
brother.
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