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“Exactly. But Titus was in the middle of a crowd, and I was able to walk right over to him without a clue what he looked like. I’m sure it will get me and Mrs. Sutton to you at the dock. What about her lunch? Does that happen at the meeting?”
“There are restaurants on the ferry. She has reservations. She’ll linger over her food. Once we’re docked, we’ll get her from Tallinn harbor to the airport. It’s only a couple of miles. We’ll take a cab for that.”
“All right.”
“We get her on the plane, and this afternoon, we’ll be out in the Estonian bog. It’ll be a first for me. But I hear you have bogs in your part of the world?” Thorn asked.
“There are bogs and fens on Snowy Mountain down in the southeastern part of New South Wales. I live—lived—close to Sydney. While I rock climb in the mountains, I’ve never explored that terrain. The bog will be new on me.” Halo tucked his chin. “Is there a specific reason for the bogs?”
“The corporate planner hired a naturalist to take the group on a bog hike excursion during their retreat.”
“Hike in a bog?” Halo scratched the side of his face. “These people are outdoor sports enthusiasts?”
“Corporate executives.”
Halo lowered his voice to a mere whisper. “Maybe what I’m imagining and how things play out here are different. But, from what I know of the bogs, that sounds problematic. How do you walk on a bog?”
“That’s what we’re about to find out with our trial hike. If this works out, you and Max will be on the team that treks out with them.”
Halo grinned. “A dog on the bog?”
“Ha!” Thorn returned the smile. “From our initial research, we think it’ll be important to have a dog alert the team to concerning wildlife.”
“Such as?” Halo crossed his arms over his chest, angling his chin.
“Bears, wolves, moose.”
“Moose, that’s an animal I’ve never seen in real life.”
“I haven’t either. I’ve seen videos of them running, though, fast. And at six feet plus to the shoulders, nine hundred pounds, huge antlers, I wouldn’t want to upset one.” There was a flush of the toilet inside the hotel room. An interior door shut. “I understand your dog is getting his snake aversion training,” Thorn said as he stepped to the side of the door. “Good thing. You can add viper to that animals list. This afternoon’s trek out to the bog is part of our due diligence. Our task is to keep everyone safe and comfy. We plan and prep for any scenario.”
“We’ll be following along the same route as with the executives?” Halo asked. Even the recent search and rescue of Mrs. Haze was a reminder that different routes meant different outcomes.
“Same naturalist even, a seasoned guide named Marilin with over a decade of experience. I'm sure the executives won't be problematic if she can get whole classes of school kids in and out. Today, she’ll point out the dangers and talk through the strategies for keeping everyone safe and happy. It turns out that just yesterday, Marilin was hiking a travel blogger through the area for social media pictures, and the land he was standing on sank under his weight. She saved him by the straps on his backpack.”
“Bigger question,” Halo said, “why couldn’t he save himself?”
“I guess that’s something we need to ask Marilin. In the meantime, we’ve got Nutsbe ordering enough hiking packs that everyone shows up properly equipped and secured with both hip and sternal straps.”
“Copy that,” Halo said as the hotel room door swung open. He took a pace backward so that Mrs. Sutton didn’t have two huge men looming over her as she came out into the hallway for their introduction.
Thorn reached for her suitcase handle. “Mrs. Sutton, with Margot ill, may I introduce your new security?”
***
Mrs. Sutton, dressed in a designer suit, balanced on pointy-toed stilettos that looked to Halo like torture devices. He was ready to lend an arm if she lost her balance or offer support if she started hobbling. Now, she was looking out of the office window, high above the famous Helsinki Senate Square, her gaze swept from left to right. “Lots of people out, enjoying the sunshine,” she said to Edvin Koskinen, the company’s vice president of finances, who was escorting her today.
From what Halo could gather, there was some kind of merger on the horizon. And reading from Mrs. Sutton’s body language, she very much wanted it to go through.
“We are all taking advantage of the sunshine and the mild temperatures,” Koskinen said. “In just a short few weeks, we will be in the dark and icy time of the year. It is very difficult on the psyche.”
“Oh?” Mrs. Sutton blinked at him. “But Finland is listed as one of the happiest countries in the world. The happiest, am I right?”
“We have that distinction, yes.” Koskinen smiled. “However, what an American hears when that phrase is offered is perhaps different than what is actually meant from that study.”
“What do people in Helsinki do when it gets dark and cold?” she asked.
“Many things. Come to this window over here.” He extended his arm to indicate the other side of the room. They moved toward it together. “You see there?” He pointed. “That building with the sinuous lines? This is our library. It is perhaps different from the ones you have. It is almost like a social center. There, you can check out not just books but tools for projects. There are sewing machine stations, 3D printers, sound recording booths, board games, video games, and many things to draw our people together. Otherwise, people stay at home and drink in their underwear.”
