Johanson held the other man's clear blue eyes. 'OK,' he said. 'I might take you up on that.'

'SIGUR, SLOW DOWN, for God's sake!' Lund was running after him as he hurried down the path towards the car park. The research centre was surrounded by lawns and trees, idyllically placed on a hill near the cliffs, but Johanson wasn't in the mood for pretty views. He wanted to get back to his office.

'Sigur!'

She caught up with him but he strode on.

'Oh, come on, Sigur. Do you have to be so pigheaded?' she yelled. 'Do you seriously want me to chase you?'

Johanson stopped abruptly and spun round. She almost ran into him. 'Well, why not? We all know how quick you are. Quick to speak and quick to make promises. In fact, you're so damn quick that you make plans for your friends without even asking.'

'You self-righteous bastard. I didn't want to interfere.'

'No? Well, that's reassuring.' He didn't wait for a reply but continued down the path.

Lund hesitated for a second, then appeared at his side. 'OK, I should have told you. I'm sorry. Honestly.'

'You should have asked me.'

'We wanted to, for God's sake, but Skaugen charged straight in and you got the wrong impression.'

'I got the impression that you bought me from the NTNU, like a packhorse.'

'No.' She tugged at his sleeve, forcing him to stop. 'We were sounding them out, that's all. We wanted to know whether hypothetically, they would grant you some leave.'

Johanson snorted. 'That's not how it sounded.'

'It came out all wrong.'

Johanson glanced down at her fingers, which were still wrapped in his sleeve. She let go.

'No one's forcing you to do anything,' she said. 'If you change your mind, that's fine too. We'll deal with it.'

Birds were singing in the background, and the chug of distant motorboats blew in on the breeze from the fjords. 'If I change my mind,' he said, 'it won't look good for you, though.'

'I'll just have to live with it. I didn't have to recommend you. It was my decision, and… Well, I jumped the gun a bit with Skaugen.'

'What did you tell him?'

'That you'd do it.' She smiled. 'I promised. But that's not your problem.'

Johanson felt his anger ebb away. He would have liked to keep hold of it for a while longer to teach Lund a lesson.

'Skaugen trusts me,' said Lund. 'I couldn't meet you in the canteen earlier. He'd called me up there on my own to tell me about Stone and those hushed-up reports. It's all Cliffs fault. If only he'd been honest from the start, we wouldn't be in this mess.'

'No, Tina.' Johanson shook his head. 'He didn't think the worms could be a danger, that's all.' He was defending Stone, even though he'd never liked the man. 'He just wanted to get on with it.'

'If he didn't think they were an issue, why did he hide the reports?'

'It would've held up the project. No one would have taken them seriously but Statoil would have done its duty and the project would have been delayed.'

'But we are taking it seriously!'

'Sure, but only because of the size of the problem. There was only a small patch of them when Stone found them, right?'

'Hmm.'

'A densely covered patch, perhaps, but a patch all the same. I bet it happens all the time. Small organisms often appear en masse, and how much damage can a few worms do? No one would have worried about it, believe me. When they came across the ice worm in Mexico, they didn't ring alarm bells either, even though the hydrates were crawling with them.'

'Sharing the reports is a matter of principle. The project was his responsibility.'

'Yes.' Johanson sighed. He looked out towards the fjords. 'And now it's mine.'

'We need a scientific co-coordinator,' said Lund, 'and I wouldn't trust anyone else.'

'My God,' said Johanson. 'Are you feeling OK?'

'I'm being serious.'

'And I've said I'll do it.'

'Just think,' Lund beamed, 'we'll be working together.'

'There's no need to put me off. So, what's the next step?'

She hesitated. 'Well, you heard what Skaugen said. He wants me to do Stone's job. Long-term, he can't make that decision. He needs the go-ahead from Stavanger.'

'Skaugen,' mused Johanson. 'But I don't get it. Why gun down Stone in public? Why get me involved? To provide the ammunition?'

Lund shrugged. 'Skaugen's got real integrity. Some say a little too much. But he gets tired of people turning a blind eye. He's softhearted, though. If I asked him to give Stone another chance, he'd probably agree.'

'I see,' said Johanson slowly. 'And that's what you're thinking of doing.'

She didn't answer.

'How magnanimous.'

Lund pretended not to hear him. 'Skaugen's left it up to me,' she said, 'but the subsea unit. . . Stone knows a hell of a lot about it. Much more than I do. Skaugen wants someone to take the 'Thorvaldson and find out why there's no signal from the prototype. Stone should head the operation, but if Skaugen suspends him, it's up to me.'

'And the other option?'

'Like I said, Stone gets another chance.'

'To save the unit.'

'If there's anything left to save. Or to get it back in working order. Either way, Skaugen wants me promoted. But if he lets Stone off the hook, Stone keeps his job and goes on board the Thorvaldson.'

'Which leaves you where?'

'Well, I'd go to Stavanger and report to the hoard.'

'Congratulations,' said Johanson. 'Your career gets a boost.'

There was a short silence.

'Is that what I want?'

Johanson thought back to their weekend by the lake. 'No idea,' he said. 'But you can have a boyfriend and a career, if that's what you're worried about. If you still have a boyfriend, that is.'

'We… haven't seen much of each other since – since you and I. . .' She trailed off. When she spoke again, her voice was firm: 'Hanging out in cosy old Sveggesundet or taking day trips to the islands isn't normal life. It's like being on a film set.'

'But it is a good film.'

'It's like… Imagine going back to the place where you fell in love,' said Lund. 'As soon as you get there, it sweeps you off your feet. It's all so perfect, and when it's time to leave, you want to stay. And at the same time you can't help wondering whether you really want to live in the most beautiful place in the world. I mean, would it still be so beautiful if you lived there? She gave an awkward laugh. 'Sorry, I hate talking about this sort of thing.'

Johanson searched her face for signs of indecision, but saw only someone who had made up her mind. She just didn't know it yet. 'Maybe you should go and tell Kare that you love him and want to be with him forever.'

'What if it doesn't work out?'

'You're suspicious of happiness. I was like that once. It didn't do me any good.'

'Are you happy now^??'

'Yes.'

'No misgivings?'

Johanson flung up his hands in a despair. 'Come on, Tina, everyone has misgivings. I just try to be honest with myself and with everyone else. I like flirting, wine, having a good time and being in control. I don't talk much, but I don't feel the need to. Psychiatrists would find me deeply boring. I want my peace and that's all there is to it. My life suits me. But that's me. My way of being happy is different from yours. I trust mine. You'll have to learn to do the same. But you haven't much time. Kare won't wait forever.'

The breeze played with Lund's hair. 'If Stone goes out to the slope,' she said, thinking aloud, 'I'll have to go to Stavanger. That's OK, though. The Thorvaldson is ready to sail. Stone could leave tomorrow or the day after. The Stavanger job will take longer. I'd have to write a detailed report. So there'd be a few days spare for me to drive to Sveggesundet and … do some work from there.'