Page 169 of The Sleepwalker

Stina collapses onto all fours, spluttering for air.

The man with the tattooed face runs into the room with his pistol raised. There is a loud crack, and the bullet hits the brick wall behind Joona.

Dust swirls around the hole.

Joona pulls the knife out of Stina’s back and slams it into the man’s chest before he has time to pull the trigger again.

The man takes a confused step back.

Joona snatches the pistol from him and points it at the doorway just as a third man appears.

He immediately holds up his hands and backs away.

The man with the tattooed face slumps to the floor. Beneath the knife, his torso is slick with blood.

Joona keeps the gun trained on the doorway as he helps Stina to her feet. The man with the hairy shoulders is slumped over a Coca-Cola fridge, blood dripping from his mouth and around the fork in the side of his neck.

‘Olga, you’re coming with us,’ Joona tells her.

The young man is still sitting on the sofa, and he turns to Olga with huge pupils as she gets to her feet.

Joona leaves the room, secures the corridor and then waves for them to follow him.

They move as quickly as they can, past the control room and straight over to the door beneath the glowing emergency exit sign.

Behind them, there is shouting and heavy footsteps.

As they emerge from the building, Joona hears the roar of a helicopter approaching.

The bouncer with the semi-automatic rifle stares at them without a word.

They hurry across the yard, and Joona helps Stina up the staircase, dragging Olga behind him. Once they are inside, they pass the toilets and make their way through the rubber door to the crowded dancefloor.

The music is deafening.

Joona keeps the gun hidden by his side as he cuts across the dancefloor to the exit. A tall man blows him a kiss as he passes.

The metal detector starts beeping, but the doorman quickly moves out of the way when Joona points the gun at him.

They leave the club and head out into the cold air, past the long line of revellers.

Joona can hear the sirens from a large number of emergency vehicles approaching from several directions.

* * *

While the operation at the club continues, Joona gets into the back of the patrol car where Olga is being held.

The knife had punctured Stina’s right lung, and her lips had started to turn blue by the time the paramedics arrived to take care of her.

There are currently at least ten police cars and a command unit outside the club, in addition to four ambulances and a fire engine.

Their blue lights sweep gloomily over the dark brick facades, and a police helicopter hovers overhead.

Joona is thinking about the fact that he killed the man with the tattooed face, causing yet another raven to land heavily in the darkness of his soul.

He runs a hand through his hair and studies Olga’s remarkably symmetrical face and bruised eye. She has begun to come down, and her mascara is streaky, her breathing agitated, whistling softly through the piercings in her cheeks.

‘Jacek’s going to kill me,’ she mutters, not for the first time.