Disclaimer: I do not own the Millennium Trilogy.
Thank you all for the reviews, this story is finished and the remaining chapters will be posted periodically. Again please read and review! I love reviews, basically those are my rewards lol
Chapter 27
Mikael was reading a newspaper article about world economy when Aaron ran into his office. Lisbeth who was glaring at the little boy followed him, "Aaron Blomkvist you do not get to run like that outside of the park. You are going to get hurt." The mother emphasized her warning by glaring at the father. Daring him to contradict her.
Mikael who was very aware of Lisbeth's temper and her tendency to seek retribution scolded his child. "Mommy is right, Aaron please behave we don't want mommy to be mad at us." Aaron pouted and gave his mommy the puppy eyes treatment. "I'm sorry mommy."
Lisbeth nodded, she came to Millennium to visit Malin who was getting married and surprisingly wanted her to be maid of honor. Eriksson came from a very traditional family and they wanted her to have a fairy tale wedding. Malin, whose dream also was to have that type of wedding, was grateful for her family's monetary support.
Lisbeth was hesitant and told Malin that she wasn't right for the maid of honor role. "Eriksson, I don't think I would be maid of honor material. People do not like me."
"I want you to be my maid of honor and that is final. I swear Lisbeth you will be there for me." Malin refused to take no for an answer and basically harassed Lisbeth until she accepted.
Mikael was talking to her; "Love, I thought we were having lunch at Palmgren's? I was about to leave."
"Change of plans, Holger is visiting some friends and cancelled on us. That was actually for the better; as it happens Malin, Lotta and I are going for dress fittings."
"That means Aaron is staying with me?" Mikael was uncertain, but it seemed unlikely Lisbeth was going to take Aaron with her.
"Aren't you a genius? Mikael Blomkvist now I know why I'm with you. Your astounding powers of deduction are just too sexy for me."
"har, har. I know you are with me because of my handsome face and my bedroom skills." He smirked when she gave him a dirty smile.
Aaron interrupted by asking, "Mommy can I go visit Erika?" Lisbeth nodded and the little boy left the office.
Mikael motioned for her to come closer, Lisbeth did and Mikael pulled her to his lap. "So tell me Lisbeth Salander, are you going to wear one of those pink frilly dresses?"
She laughed, "maybe, but I think Malin has enough sense to try that with me. I gave Malin my measures, I am guessing the designer has the dresses and we get to try them today. We will meet Mimi at the boutique and then have lunch, so you are on your own today Kalle."
Mikael playfully frowned and then gave her a kiss, he was teasing her; they knew they could not do anything more there. She bit his lower lip and was about to kiss his jaw and neck when Erika came in. "seriously you two, why do you insist on going at it in the office."
Lisbeth smirked and climbed off Mikael, of course she wasn't exactly friendly to Erika but they had come a long way since they met.
"Lisbeth did you know that Ari is telling everyone that you are with his daddy because of his bedroom skills." Mikael laughed and Lisbeth shrugged, it was true though.
"Where is he?" Lisbeth asked. She was still concerned that someone would take Aaron away from her.
"He is with Christer who is showing him pictures of the new Millennium issue."
Erika wanted to talk about some advertising sponsors and their contracts. Lisbeth left and searched for Aaron, she said goodbye and told Christer to drop the boy at his father's office when they were done.
Lisbeth knocked on Malin's door; the journalist greeted her and hugged her. Malin hurriedly grabbed her purse and ushered Lisbeth out of Millennium.
"You are not going to believe it, the dresses are beautiful. Do not worry they are not pink or lavender or those hideous pastel colors brides are fond of."
Lisbeth tried not to sigh in relief; "I guess I'll see them when I get there. Why didn't we wait for Lotta?" Lisbeth was indifferent to Lotta Karim but as far as she knew the other journalist was going to be a bridesmaid.
"Oh, she is already there. She met with Mimi and they are waiting for us. I keep forgetting these things, I even forgot to thank you for organizing the bachelorette party with the Evil Fingers."
Lisbeth nodded, it wasn't hard to organize. They met had some beers and went clubbing. Nothing extravagant really, they stopped in front of the boutique and went in. They met with Mimi and Lotta who were having a conversation about the latest fashion trend in boots.
"Hey Lisbeth, how's my little man." Mimi asked, she loved Aaron and was ready to talk to her ex-girlfriend about him.
"Aaron's doing well, he seems to think that you are his girlfriend. You should let him down easy." Mimi and Lotta smiled.
The designer arranged the clothes and the women tried on their dresses. True to her word Malin chose very stylish and modern dresses. They were a deep blue; Lisbeth's flattered her figure and showed some of her cleavage. Mimi's dress was the same blue but hers showed her back. Lotta looked great in her dress too.
Malin's dress was beautiful, even Lisbeth had to concede that it was indeed a very nice dress.
The women chatted and went their separate ways after lunch. Lisbeth was walking when someone grabbed her from the back. She was startled and was a little slow to react but she swung a fist to her attacker. He was a big man, and tried to get her into an alley. Lisbeth screamed and punched him in the nose; he covered his nose and backhanded her. Lisbeth fell and tried to gain her footing but the man kicked her. Lisbeth managed to crawl and knock the man down.
She ran, her sides hurt but she kept on running until she reached the tunnelbana. Lisbeth relaxed a little but her mind didn't stop. She wondered if that man was just trying to mug her or if he was trying to harm her with intent other than stealing from her. The second option seemed valid years ago but now there was nothing or anyone in close proximity that wanted to see her dead. It was unlikely that it was someone from her past. Zalachecnko's organization would have acted years ago; she rested until she got to the apartment. Mikael saw her bruised check and asked her immediately.
"Sally, are you ok? What happened?" Mikael was panicking, Lisbeth had bruises and was holding her left side, his Sally was injured. He went for the first aid kit and attended her bruises while she retold the events that lead to the bruised face.
"Can you describe him? I mean if we were to contact the police." Mikael started.
"Mikael, I don't trust the police. You know that, they won't do anything. All my life they have done nothing for me. We will not do anything, I am sure this is just someone who wanted my money.
Mikael nodded, he wasn't so fond of the police either. Fortunately she didn't have any broken ribs, her face healed in a couple of days and she was ready to go to Malin's wedding.
She was putting her dress on and Mikael zipped it for her; it amazed her that every time she dressed up and put a little make up he pounced on her. "I love it when you put on these dresses. You are always beautiful, but whenever you dress up I see all men and women looking at you. The men are in awe of you; they envy me. The women envy you, and I cannot believe my luck." He placed strategic kissed around her collarbone, and cupped her breasts. Lisbeth let him and moaned when he firmly grabbed them and started biting her earlobe.
"Daddy stop eating mommy, we'll be late." Aaron was about to stomp his foot. Mikael laughed and let Lisbeth finish up her make up.
"Let's go. He's been practicing carrying those rings for months, Malin would kill us if we are late." Mikael said after ten minutes.
They finally bought a car last year, even though they didn't use it as much, it was convenient to have it for occasions like these. Mikael drove them to the countryside house the Eriksson's owned.
The wedding went perfectly, Malin looked radiant and the groom looked so happy when Malin walked down the aisle. Aaron was the best ring boy. He smiled and looked adorable, even Lisbeth laughed when he blew kisses at everyone in public. Mikael carried a sleepy Aaron to one of the bedrooms; he was dead on his feet. She went back to the reception and enjoyed the adult conversation floating around.
"I just don't agree with you Erika," Mikael smirked while Erika just threw her hands in defeat.
She went on to discuss things with Christer, who was happy to oblige her. Mikael saw Lisbeth and motioned for her to join him at the table. He asked about Aaron, the couple joined Henry Cortes and Mimi in their talk about a movie that recently came out.
Mikael and Lisbeth had a great time together; they congratulated Malin and her new husband, they left at about 4:00 AM. Lisbeth drove them seeing as Mikael had a couple of vodkas.
She was nearing Stockholm when she noticed that a grey car was following them. She remembered seeing it when they left Eriksson's house, she turned around and tried to elude them but it was impossible.
"Mikael, someone is following us, the grey car behind us. I remember seeing before we left the Eriksson's."
Mikael became alert immediately, "Lisbeth, keep driving. Do not stop." He called Bublanski and explained the situation; he tried to give him all the details about where they were. Their chase eventually ended when Lisbeth reached a dead end.
Mikael looked at her and said, "Listen to me love. I want you to take the cellphone and Aaron. See that alley, I need you to run with Aaron towards it at the count of three."
Lisbeth shook her head and tried to speak but Mikael shushed her. "We already called the police. They will arrive in no time, you have to keep calling."
Lisbeth wanted to protest more but Mikael unstrapped Aaron and gave him to his Sally. "One, two, three. Run" Lisbeth did so, she kept running, she made a left and reached a main street. She called the police and yelled for help, the sun was coming up and few people wandered the streets. A young man saw her and approached her, "what's wrong?" Lisbeth told him and they ran back to where Mikael was.
It couldn't have been more than two minutes when she heard the police coming. She ran to see what was happening and saw the two cars and Mikael who was on the pavement being checked by a paramedic.
"Mikael, what happened, is he ok?" she addressed the paramedic. Aaron who was on her hip was now crying. He was upset with all of the commotion, his mommy was yelling and daddy was bleeding.
"Lisbeth, I'm fine, these are just some bruises." Mikael tried to placate her, the paramedic talked to Lisbeth. "He seems fine, but we have to take him to the hospital. Just to make sure there is not any internal bleeding."
It was then when Lisbeth noticed the two handcuffed men.
"They are from Zalachenko's web, apparently they wanted to kill you Ms. Salander." Bublanski said as he approached them.
"We will escort you to the hospital, then we'll have to get your testimonies."
Lisbeth nodded and climbed into the police car, Aaron was calmer now. He was resting on Lisbeth's chest. The mother sang softly and caressed his hair with one hand and rubbed his back with her other hand.
Mikael was in the ambulance, she wanted to go with him, Bublanski tried to convince her, Lisbeth just glared at him and went inside the ambulance.
Lisbeth was directed to the emergency room where Mikael was seen. The doctor gave him a clean bill of health and prescribed analgesics and other medicines.
Mikael wanted to go home but Bublanski was relentless. Lisbeth was firm in her decision to change clothes and leave Aaron with Annika.
It was already 8:00 AM when the couple made their entrance to Säpo, Lisbeth was reluctant; she hated the police. Her mistrust for authority had not diminished in the slightest. "Mikael, I think we should go. These people were probably not even going after us."
Mikael grabbed her face and said, "You know they were after us Sally, they wanted you. One of those bastards mentioned Zalachenko's daughter. We need these guys to do something."
Lisbeth was not convinced, she started arguing her point when Bublanski came in and asked for Mikael's version of the events. "I need Mikael to come with me and Ms. Salander you will be going with another agent. I ask you to please cooperate and give him all of the information." Bublanski was aware of how difficult the girl could be.
Lisbeth glared at the agent; she felt how Mikael squeezed her hand, and winked at her. She left the room and went into another one. She waited for the agent to come in and answered all of the questions. It helped that the agent was polite and considerate.
In the other room Mikael was waiting for Bublanski to show up. He came in with another agent and proceeded to ask about the events.
"I told Lisbeth to take Aaron and run, after she left one of the men you caught pulled me out of the car and pointed at me with a gun. He asked about Zalachenko's daughter." The agent asked if the woman who ran was in fact Zalachenko's daughter.
"Yes, I said to the man that I didn't know what he was talking about. The man was enraged and ordered the other one to find Lisbeth. I took advantage and punched him. I managed to get the gun and pointed to the other man. They overpowered me and beat me."
"It was then when the police came in and managed to take over. That is all I know, now I want to know who this people are and why are they after my Lisbeth."
Bublanski remained quiet and motioned the other agent to leave. "I will have Ms. Salander come to this room."
Mikael nodded and waited for her to come, he was nursing a cup of coffee. Lisbeth came in and sat next to him. One of the officers came in and told them, "Bublanski will be with you in a couple of minutes."
"This was a bad idea Mikael. They are not going to do anything for us, I say we take Aaron and go away for a while." She saw Mikael's reluctance and added, "Just until things cool off here."
"We are waiting, I want to know what is going on. Don't try to downplay this or distract me into leaving. We will stay Lisbeth, our lives are here and I won't let these bastards disturb our peace." Mikael looked at her and she understood that he would not back down. She of course would stay with him; leaving Kalle Blomkvist was not an option anymore.
Lisbeth nodded and sipped from his cup of coffee. Mikael was about to leave the room and ask when would Bublanski come and give them answers. He was sure Aaron was already fussing at the Gianninis.
Bublanski came into the room with Curt Andersson and Monica Fucking Figuerola. Lisbeth wondered why were they there. This was getting more complicated by the minute.
"A pleasure to see you again Mikael." Figuerola said. She nodded to Lisbeth's direction.
Mikael politely greeted Monica and proceeded to ask Bublanksi, "not that I'm not glad to you Monica but what is she and this other agent doing here?"
Bublanski sighed and dropped the news. "We believe Camilla Salander was assassinated last night. We also think that this attack was a failed mission to eliminate Ms. Lisbeth Salander."
"We are ninety percent sure, we found Camilla Salander dead in her London apartment. A member of Zalachenko's group shot her in the head. So far we have ten captured criminals from Zalachenko's web. We needed four more; we captured them last night, two in Sweden and two in The U.K."
Bublanski proceeded to show Lisbeth the pictures taken by the English police. "That is not Camilla. This woman looks like her but Camilla has a birth mark on her left shoulder."
Monica spoke, "Ms. Salander, your sister's neighbors correctly identified her." She used a very condescending tone. The agent was used to relatives denying her loved ones were dead.
"That is not Camilla, you can declare her dead if you want but she is alive. She is not in London. That I know for a fact."
Mikael was not surprised; Camilla sent Lisbeth an email the year before. "Don't feel safe in Europe, I am moving to America. Do not contact me, we do not have anything to talk about."
Lisbeth was puzzled by the email; at the time she didn't know her sister was trying to warn her. It made sense now; Camilla tried to let her know that Zalachenko's men were after them.
Mikael looked at Lisbeth as if trying to gauge whether Lisbeth was going to offer that bit of news.
"How would you know whether Camilla Salander was living in London or not. As far as we know you do not have any relationship with your sister."
"I just know. Camilla being dead or alive is none of my concern, now why are these people after us."
Bublanksi finally explained everything, "We have been investigating Zalachenko's web and as I said before we have ten identified members who were captured. We only needed two more suspects who were in fact the men chasing you this early morning."
"About a year ago we received information about Zalachecnko's criminal partners. We have been working with other European authorities to bring these criminals to justice. Säpo was notified about possible attacks on Zalanchenko's progeny. I am sorry to tell you that two of your sisters are dead and that one of your brothers is in jail for crimes against human rights and human trafficking."
Figuerola was stating the facts of the case; she was being very aggressive and used an accusatory tone to her. "Did you know about the web Ms. Salander, or about your sibling's possible involvement?"
"No, if I had known about it I would have done something about it." Lisbeth answered, she felt a little guilty but she honestly thought that without Zalachenko or Neidermann the web would dissolve. It eventually did but she thought I would have taken less time.
"Agent Figuerola, I think this is unnecessary. Ms. Salander was cleared of all suspicions. Her and Camilla Salander have been potential victims since the beginning of the investigation." Bublanski stated.
"Wait what, Lisbeth has been targeted by Zalachenko's men for about a year? What type of police are you, this is incredible. Why didn't we know, was this all a plan to get these men in jail?" Mikael furiously asked.
Lisbeth was not disappointed; she knew the police was not looking out for them. She was however amazed those criminals targeted her and she didn't even know.
Bublanski calmly answered, "we have been monitoring the Zalachenko web and we discovered that the ring leader was eliminating Zalachenko's offspring. For some reason they feared that a son/daughter would take over the organization. Your brother, the one we captured was manipulated into giving them information about his possible siblings. Eventually they discovered you and Camilla."
"We knew that the organization leader would act any moment, we were supposed to intervene when you received that beating two weeks ago but you defended yourself from your attacker." Figuerola sarcastically said.
"You are saying that you once again let her life be in danger for your gain. Did you bother to know that there was a child in the car? Our son was in the car, he's fucking three years old." Mikael was mad, and Lisbeth was shaking in silent fury. Mikael only felt this rage two years ago when that American backhanded his Sally.
"Mikael, Lisbeth I ask you to forgive us. We thought your son was going to stay with Annika Giannini." Bublanski was ashamed of his actions, he had completely forgotten about the little boy. His contact with Blomkvist was always strictly professional.
"I don't fucking care, if something had happened to my son you would be dead now, both of you. I can't believe you would agree to this Monica." Mikael raised his voice.
"We are leaving now, I don't want to hear from you or anyone from this fucking place." Lisbeth interjected, she looked at Mikael who glared at the agents.
"I can't believe these fucking people. What if something went wrong? What if I had stayed, what would have happened to Aaron?" Lisbeth was seething and finally letting it all out. Mikael at this point shared her rage and wanted revenge against Säpo.
"Let's leave, we'll go away. The three of us, far away from this." Lisbeth tried once again.
Mikael replied, "No, our lives are here. We will stay and face this, we know for a fact that they captured some of the men. We will find out if there are more men out there. We will research this Lisbeth, we won't publish anything but we will have peace once and for all."
Lisbeth was hesitant but accepted, "We will have to be very thorough and no matter what we find you will not publish a word of our findings."
Mikael nodded. He wanted to breath easier and this whole Zalachenko affair was affecting him.
The couple started working right away, for about three months they worked relentlessly to find everything about Zalachenko's web. They found that the police reports were accurate; the different European authorities had successfully managed to seize all of the major heads of the criminal organizations.
Lisbeth travelled, to London, Prague and Belarus, those were the major criminal bases of the Zalachenko web. She took Aaron with her, Mikael stayed home working furiously investigating the lives of the captured criminals.
Lisbeth was carrying a sleeping Aaron; she knocked on the door hoping that Mikael was home. Mikael opened the door; he looked terrible and had a cup of coffee on his hand. He openly smiled when he saw them. Lisbeth entered her home and placed Aaron on his bed.
"I thought you were coming back tomorrow. What did you find? I finished with the captured men. They are all fairly harmless, unless they manage to escape jail, which is unlikely."
Lisbeth sat on the couch and gave her report to Mikael, "nothing dangerous. The web is still active but those who took over are keeping a low profile. The leaders want to keep away from the last heads. They want to establish their deals without the shadow of Zalachenko and the others."
"But the web is still active. I mean human trafficking is still their primary means of profit."
Lisbeth assented, "I already distributed the new leader's information. The web will be dismantled again, in a couple of weeks we will hear again how European authorities managed to stop crime while cooperating with each other."
Mikael sighed, he promised Lisbeth that he would not publish his findings and he was going to keep his word.
"I am relieved, this is finally over. I want to stay here and never hear about anything related to Alexander Zalachenko or his fucking organized crime web." Lisbeth was tired and cuddled to Mikael, who kissed her cheek and hugged her to himself.
"Come love, let's go to bed and sleep this nightmare off. Maybe when we wake up we can have our life back to normal." Mikael tried to stand up but Lisbeth was already sleeping. He carried her to the room and undressed them; he pecked her on the mouth and fell asleep after caressing her belly.