She continued, but Nina’s attention shifted to her husband as he reacted to Tova’s words, straightening in his seat. ‘Eddie? What is it?’
‘Nothing,’ he said, suddenly curt.
‘But you just sat up like you’d realised there’s a bomb under the table.’ She looked back at Tova. ‘What was that about poison?’
‘The Midgard Serpent’s venom is called eitr,’ Tova told her, surprised by the couple’s shift of focus. ‘It—’
‘It’s what killed Thor,’ Eddie cut in. ‘It’s supposedly the source of all life in Viking legend, but it’s also lethal if it touches you. Thor killed the snake, but he got poisoned by it and died straight after.’
‘That is right,’ said Tova. ‘According to myth, the first giant, Ymir, was birthed from eitr, and all other life came from him. But Eddie is right; it is also a deadly poison. Thor only took nine steps after killing the serpent before he fell.’
Nina looked askance at her husband. ‘How did you know about that?’
‘Learned about Viking legends at school,’ he replied. But his tone was still taciturn, and she recognised a subtle shift in his attitude that warned her he would not elaborate further without her risking escalating the discussion into an argument.
Right now, she had larger concerns. ‘You said the second runestone is in Norway?’ she asked Tova.
‘I believe so,’ the historian replied. ‘But I am afraid it will be impossible to reach. The site is at the bottom of a lake — it was flooded when a dam was built in the 1930s.’
‘Well, that’s the end of that, then,’ said Eddie, sounding oddly relieved.
‘Slow down, Mr Defeatist,’ Nina teased. ‘The IHA’s got the resources to take a look if we need to.’
Tova was a little taken aback. ‘You would explore the lake to find the other runestone? What is the IHA’s interest in this?’
‘It’s what we do. If Valhalla is more than just a legend, then it’s our job to protect it from looters.’
‘Hmm. That is the IHA’s official purpose, but…’ She gave Nina a calculating look. ‘I have heard stories that the IHA has something to do with global security.’ The American tried to keep her expression neutral. ‘Is that why you are here? Will finding Valhalla be dangerous somehow?’
‘It didn’t even occur to me that somebody might be trying to find Valhalla until you just told me,’ Nina answered, truthfully. ‘All I can tell you right now is that we possibly have a lead on who that somebody is. Would you be willing to help us?’
‘Yes, of course. I want to find out who did this, and why — but I have to admit that… I also want to find Valhalla.’ A slightly sheepish grin. ‘With a name like Skilfinger — there is a “Skilfingr”, without an “e”, mentioned in the Prose Edda — I suppose I have a connection to the mythology.’
‘Looks like it’s more than just a myth,’ Eddie said quietly.
Nina still wanted to quiz him further on his reaction to the mention of eitr, but decided it could wait. Instead, she told Tova: ‘That’s great. We’ll go back to the hotel and I’ll contact New York to make the arrangements, then we can start work. Hopefully we’ll find the truth.’
‘I hope so too,’ the Swede replied. ‘Are you taking a taxi?’
Nina stood and put on her coat. ‘Absolutely. I don’t want to walk in this weather!’
‘Wuss,’ said Eddie, shaking off his distracted air as he rose.
Tova picked up her own coat. ‘I will call one, then walk you to it. Since you do not like the cold, I do not want to leave you standing out in it for too long!’
She made a short phone call, then the trio made their way back through the museum. ‘So, if you were able to organise a dig, I guess you’re an archaeologist as well as a historian,’ Nina said.
‘I go both ways,’ Tova replied, prompting a snort of barely contained laughter from Eddie followed by an irked glare from his wife. ‘In an ideal world I would do both, but there was never enough time. Especially once I had children.’
‘You’ve got kids?’ Eddie asked.
‘Two boys. Well, men now — they are both grown up. It was hard to keep working once they arrived, but I managed thanks to my wonderful husband, God rest him. The past has been my passion since I was a child, so even though I love my sons, giving it up would have been like giving up a part of myself. Do you know what I mean?’
‘Yeah, I do,’ said Nina, suddenly wistful.
‘But you managed to keep your career and still have kids at the same time,’ Eddie said, with a pointed look at Nina. ‘So it is possible.’
‘Oh, yes. If something is very important to you, you will always find a way to do it — even if there are other things that are important too! If there is one thing I have learned about life, it is that.’
‘Hear that, love?’ He prodded Nina’s side. ‘Sounds like good advice to me.’
‘It’s something to think about, certainly,’ she replied, giving him a warm smile.
They reached the main entrance. Tova peered through the glass doors. ‘I think that is your taxi,’ she announced, seeing a dark blue Mercedes pulling up at the edge of the plaza.
‘Thanks,’ Nina replied. They stepped outside. ‘Oh, damn! Jeez, it’s freezing.’ She hunched more deeply into her coat.
‘You should visit when it is really cold,’ said Tova, amused. ‘You are not bothered by it, Eddie?’
‘Got a magic jacket,’ he replied with a grin. Ahead, a black Audi made an abrupt stop behind the taxi. Two men in dark coats and baseball caps got out of the back, a third emerging from the front passenger door. ‘Helps when I—’
For the second time that afternoon, Nina saw a sudden shift in his attitude. ‘Eddie? What…’
He had already taken up a defensive posture, right hand instinctively reaching into his jacket for a gun that wasn’t there before he arrested the movement. ‘Nina, Tova — run!’
But it was too late.
The approaching men also reached into their coats — but unlike Eddie, they had weapons concealed inside. Three pistols came up. One man shouted in Swedish. Nina didn’t understand the words, but the meaning was clear: don’t move! Two of the men kept their guns aimed at Eddie and Nina while the third grabbed the startled Tova, burying the muzzle of his weapon in her side.
A bystander saw the commotion — and the guns. She shrieked, alerting other people nearby. The taxi driver’s eyes bugged wide in shock as he saw what was happening, then he stomped his foot to the floor and set his vehicle fishtailing away as quickly as it could go.
‘Oi!’ Eddie yelled as the third man hauled Tova towards the waiting Audi S4. ‘Let her go!’
‘Shut fuck up, and get back!’ one of the others snarled, jabbing his gun at the Yorkshireman. His companion did the same to Nina, making her flinch away.
Tova screamed, her heels scraping through the snow as her captor dragged her across the plaza. The Audi’s engine revved, its driver signalling for his comrades to hurry up. The man holding Nina at gunpoint said something — Russian, she thought — to his companion and ran to help the third kidnapper manhandle their prisoner into the back of the car.
‘No fucking move!’ the remaining man ordered, swinging his gun back and forth between Nina and Eddie. He backed up, risking a glance at the car once he was sure the gap was wide enough to prevent Eddie from charging him. ‘You move, I kill you!’
‘Just let her go, and nobody has to get hurt,’ said Nina, more afraid for Tova than herself. If the Russians wanted her and Eddie dead they would have killed them already, but there was no way to know what they had in store for their victim.