“thewennerstr？groupissittingonsoewhereclosetotwohundredbillion。you’regoingtoaskwhyabillionaireshouldgotothetroubleofswindlingatriflingfiftyillion。”

“well；putitthisway：whywouldheriskhisownandhispany’sgoodnaeonsuchablatantswindle？”

“itwasn’tsoobviouslyaswindlegiventhattheaiaboard；thebankers；thegovernent；andparliaent’sauditorsallapprovedwennerstr？’saountingwithoutasingledissentingvote。”

“it’sstillaridiculouslysallsuforsovastarisk。”

“certainly。butjustthink：thewennerstr？groupisaninvestentpanythatdealswithproperty；securities；options；foreignexchange…younaeit。wennerstr？contactedaiain1992justasthebottowasabouttodropoutofthearket。doyoureebertheautunof1992？”

“doi？ihadavariable…rateortgageonyapartentwhentheinterestrateshotupfivehundredpercentinoctober。iwasstuckwithnieenpercentinterestforayear。”

“thosewereindeedthedays；”lindbergsaid。“ilostabundlethatyearyself。andhans…erikwennerstr？—likeeveryotherplayerinthearket—waswrestlingwiththesaeproble。thepanyhadbillionstiedupinpaperofvarioustypes；butnotsouchcash。allofasuddentheycouldnolongerborrowanyaounttheyliked。theusualthinginsuchasituationistounloadafewpropertiesandlickyourwounds；butin1992nobodywantedtobuyrealestate。”

“cash…flowprobles。”

“exactly。andwennerstr？wasn’ttheonlyone。everybusinessan…”

“don’tsaybusinessan。callthewhatyoulike；butcallingthebusinessenisaninsulttoaseriousprofession。”

“allright；everyspeculatorhadcash…flowprobles。lookatitthisway：wennerstr？gotsixtyillionkronor。hepaidbacksixil；butonlyafterthreeyears。therealcostofminosdidn’tetoorethantwoillion。theinterestaloneonsixtyillionforthreeyears；that’squiteabit。dependingonhowheinvestedtheoney；heighthavedoubledtheaiaoney；oraybegrownittentiesover。thenwe’renolongertalkingaboutcatshit。sk？l；bytheway。”

chapter2

friday；deceber20

draganaranskywasbornincroatiafifty…sixyearsago。hisfatherwasanarenianjewfrobelorussia。hisotherwasabosnianmusliofgreekextraction。shehadtakenchargeofhisupbringingandhiseducation；whicheantthatasanadulthewaslupedtogetherwiththatlarge；heterogeneousgroupdefinedbytheediaasmuslis。theswedishiigrationauthoritieshadregisteredhi；strangelyenough；asaserb。hispassportconfiredthathewasaswedishcitizen；andhispassportphotographshowedasquarishface；astrongjaw；five…o’clockshadow；andgreyingteples。hewasoftenreferredtoas“thearab；”althoughhedidnothaveadropofarabblood。

helookedalittlelikethestereotypicallocalbossinanaericangangsterovie；butinfacthewasatalentedfinancialdirectorwhohadbegunhiscareerasajunioraountantatmiltonsecurityintheearlyseventies。threedecadeslaterhehadadvancedtoceoandcooofthepany。

hehadbeefascinatedwiththesecuritybusiness。itwaslikewargaes—toidentifythreats；developcounter…strategies；andallthetiestayonestepaheadoftheindustrialspies；blackailersandthieves。itbeganforhiwhenhediscoveredhowtheswindlingofaclienthadbeenacplishedthroughcreativekeeping。hewasabl. comrovewho；froagroupofadozenpeople；wasbehindit。hehadbeenprootedandplayedakeyroleinthefir’sdevelopentandwasanexpertinfinancialfraud。fifteenyearslaterhebecaeceo。hehadtransforedmiltonsecurityintooneofsweden’sostpetentandtrustedsecurityfirs。

thepanyhad380full…tieeployeesandanother300freelancers。itwassallparedtofalckorswedishguardservice。whenaranskyfirstjoined；thepanywascalledjohanfredrikmilton’sgeneralsecurityab；andithadaclientlistconsistingofshoppingcentresthatneededfloorwalkersanduscularguards。underhisleadershipthefirwasnowtheinternationallyrecognisedmiltonsecurityandhadinvestedincutting…edgetechnology。nightwatchenwellpasttheirprie；uniforfetishists；andoonlightinguniversitystudentshadbeenreplacedbypeoplewithrealprofessionalskills。aranskyhiredatureex…policeenasoperationschiefs；politicalscientistsspecialisingininternationalterroris；andexpertsinpersonalprotectionandindustrialespionage。mostiportantly；hehiredthebestteleunicationstechniciansanditexperts。thepanyovedfrosolnatostate…of…the…artofficesnearslussen；intheheartofstockhol。

bythestartoftheniies；miltonsecuritywasequippedtoofferanewlevelofsecuritytoanexclusivegroupofclients；priarilyediu…sizedcorporationsandwell…to…doprivateindividuals—nouveau…richerockstars；stock…arketspeculators；anddot…highflyers。apartofthepany’sactivitywasprovidingbodyguardprotectionandsecuritysolutionstoswedishfirsabroad；especiallyinthemiddleeast。thisareaoftheirbusinessnowaountedfor70percentofthepany’sturnover。underaransky；saleshadincreasedfroaboutfortyillionsekannuallytoalosttwobillion。providingsecuritywasalucrativebusiness。

operationsweredividedaongthreeainareas：securityconsultations；whichconsistedofidentifyingconceivableoriaginedthreats；counter…easures；whichusuallyinvolvedtheinstallationofsecuritycaeras；burglarandfirealars；electroniclockingechanissanditsystes；andpersonalprotectionforprivateindividualsorpanies。thislastarkethadgrownforty

2

tiesoverintenyears。latelyanewclientgrouphadarisen：affluentwoenseekingprotectionfroforerboyfriendsorhusbandsorfrostalkers。inaddition；miltonsecurityhadacooperativearrangeentwithsiilarfirsofgoodreputeineuropeandtheunitedstates。thepanyalsohandledsecurityforanyinternationalvisitorstosweden；includinganaericanactresswhowasshootingafilfortwoonthsintrollh？ttan。heragentfeltthatherstatuswarrantedhavingbodyguardsacpanyherwhenevershetookherinfrequentwalksnearthehotel。

afourth；considerablysallerareathatoupiedonlyafeweployeeswaswhatwascalledpiorp…in；ininternaljargonpinders；whichstoodforpersonalinvestigations。

aranskywasnotaltogetherenaouredofthispartoftheirbusiness。itwastroublesoeandlesslucrative。itputgreaterdeandsontheeployees’judgeentandexperiencethanontheirknowledgeofteleunicationstechnologyortheinstallationofsurveillanceapparatus。personalinvestigationswereaeptablewhenitwasaatterofcreditration；backgroundchecksbeforehiring；ortoinvestigatesuspicionsthatsoeeployeehadleakedpanyrationorengagedincriinalactivity。insuchcasesthepinderswereanintegralpartoftheoperationalactivity。butnotinfrequentlyhisbusinessclientswoulddraginprivateproblesthathadatendencytocreateunweleturoil。iwanttoknohatsortofcreepydaughterisgoingoutwith…ithinkywifeisbeingunfaithful…theguyisokbuthe’sixedupwithbadpany…i’beingblackailed…aranskyoftengavetheastraightforwardno。ifthedaughterwasanadult；shehadtherighttogooutwithanycreepshewantedto；andhethoughtinfidelitywassoethingthathusbandsandwivesoughttoworkoutontheirown。hiddeninallsuchinquiriesweretrapsthatcouldleadtoscandalandcreatelegalproblesformiltonsecurity。whichwaswhydraganaranskykeptaclosewatchontheseassignents；inspiteofhowodesttherevenuewas。

theorning’. comicwasjustsuchapersonalinvestigation。aranskystraightenedthecreaseinhistrousersbeforeheleanedbackinhisfortablechair。heglancedsuspiciouslyathiscolleaguelisbethsalander；whowasthirty…twoyearshisjunior。hethoughtforthethousandthtiethatnobodyseeedoreoutofplaceinaprestigioussecurityfirthanshedid。hisistrustwasbothwiseandirrational。inaransky’seyes；salanderwasbeyonddoubttheostableinvestigatorhehadetinallhisyearsinthebusiness。duringthefouryearsshehadworkedforhishehadneveroncefubledajoborturnedinasingleediocrereport。

onthecontrary；herreportswereinaclassbytheselves。aranskywasconvincedthatshepossessedauniquegift。anybodycouldfindoutcreditrationorrunacheckwithpolicerecords。butsalanderhadiagination；andshealwayscaebackwithsoethingdifferentfrowhatheexpected。howshedidit；hehadneverunderstood。soetieshethoughtthatherabilitytogatherrationwassheeragic。sheknewthebureaucraticarchivesinsideout。aboveall；shehadtheabilitytogetundertheskinofthepersonshewasinvestigating。iftherewasanydirttobedugup；shewouldhoeinonitlikeacruiseissile。

soehowshehadalwayshadthisgift。

herreportscouldbeacatastrophefortheindividualwholandedinherradar。aranskywouldneverfetthetieheassignedhertodoaroutinecheckonaresearcherinthepharaceuticalindustrybeforeacorporatebuyout。thejobwasscheduledtotakeaweek；butitdraggedonforawhile。afterfourweeks’silenceandseveralreinders；whichsheignored；salandercaebackwithareportdocuentingthatthesubjectinquestionwasapaedophile。ontwooasionshehadboughtsexfroathirteen…year…oldchildprostituteintallinn；andtherewereindicationsthathehadanunhealthyinterestinthedaughterofthewoanwithwhohewascurrentlyliving。

salanderhadhabitsthatsoetiesdrovearanskytotheedgeofdespair。inthecaseofthepaedophile；shedidnotpickupthetelephoneandcallaranskyoreintohisofficewantingtotalktohi。no；withoutindicatingbyasinglewordthatthereportightcontainexplosiveaterial；shelaiditonhisdeskoneevening；justasaranskywasabouttoleavefortheday。hereaditonlylatethatevening；ashewasrelaxingoverabottleofwineinfrontofthetvwithhiswifeintheirvillaonliding？。

thereportwas；asalways；alostscientificallyprecise；withfootnotes；quotations；andsourcereferences。thefirstfewpagesgavethesubject’sbackground；education；career；andfinancialsituation。notuntilpage24didsalanderdropthebobshellaboutthetripstotallinn；inthesaedry…as…dusttonesheusedtoreportthathelivedinsollentunaanddroveadarkbluevolvo。shereferredtodocuentationinanexhaustiveappendix；includingphotographsofthethirteen…year…oldgirlinthepanyofthesubject。thepictureshadbeentakeninahotelcorridorintallinn；andtheanhadhishandunderthegirl’ssweater。salanderhadtrackeddownthegirlinquestionandshehadprovidedheraountontape。

thereporthadcreatedpreciselythechaosthataranskyhadwantedtoavoid。firsthehadtoswallowafewulcertabletsprescribedbyhisdoctor。thenhecalledintheclientforasobreeergencyeeting。finally—overtheclient’sfierceob