Luckily, we had not lost our passports, and we had not needed to book fresh return tickets since we could now travel free with SAS, which was free advertising for the airline anyway.

  Rolf and I had new suitcases and new clothes, Oleysa having brought some of Rolf’s old clothes after Ingrid had told her what to bring from the house, friends housesitting the place.

  Packed up ready, passports checked, and I had the Rasmussens group in the suite. ‘You could get the train back and … stay in Sweden and Denmark for the rest of your lives, no flying, we have the money and the businesses now, we could cope.

  ‘Seeing each other might be hard, I’d have to get the ferry across, and … future growth of the businesses would be stifled, the twins’ careers as models cut short.’

  The twins did not look happy at that prospect.

  Rolf began, ‘I am nervous, but we must do it, we must have a life, a good life, and put this behind us, and I want to see the twins visit many countries, as I did during my life. They deserve that chance.’

  I nodded at him. ‘Our plane was sabotaged, or … none of this would have happened, hand of God or otherwise. And, since it did happen, we can make use of it and sell some posters, make some money for when we’re old and grey.’

  ‘I am already old and grey,’ Rolf pointed out.

  ‘The twins told me that you were old and grey when they were young…’

  ‘Well, yes, I went grey at thirty-eight.’

  ‘The twins won’t go grey till they reach sixty plus, so we have a few years,’ I quipped, a glance at the twins and their blonde hair. ‘And I take after my father, who hasn’t gone grey yet.

  ‘This accident has been a setback, some injuries that might affect the two of us for years to come, but we’ve also been handed a huge marketing opportunity.

  ‘And when the film is released we’ll be even more famous, no one left around the world that doesn’t know us, apart from maybe North Korea.

  ‘So we should try and see this as a positive thing, for our business at least. Losing a plane full of passengers is not on my list of positive things, even to save the baby.

  ‘But this new charity with the Vatican might make a real difference around Europe, so I have that at least, lives saved and affected for decades to come.

  ‘But … we all had to deal with the publicity before this, and it was a pain at times, now it’ll be much worse, a few religious nuts out there wanting to kill us maybe. As well as some wanting to get close to us, so we’ll all have to be more careful, bodyguards for the twins in certain countries, maybe even in Sweden at times.’

  ‘We have the money,’ Rolf noted. ‘And it is tax deductible. We’ll put Carter on the payroll?’

  ‘I can find him a job with me in Britain, but first some work in Corsica as he recovers, and he might get back to fighting fit. If so he can travel with us. And even if he has a few twinges he can still stand guard duty and frighten people away, and in some countries carry a gun.’

  Rolf noted, ‘In Corsica he could probably be licensed.’

  ‘So we’ll have an extra security man and need local security less. Assuming that Carter wants to stay there. First he needs a few months to heal and to get fit.’

  Rita noted, ‘The hotel is a good place to recover, swimming and walking.’

  I nodded. ‘Wish I was there myself, but I need to check on things in Britain. So, are we … ready?’

  They exchanged concerned looks, heaved breaths and finally dragged their luggage out of our room, knocking on Carter’s door and wheeling him out. We thanked the hotel staff and posed for snaps, the contessa and Maria coming down to say goodbye.

  I offered to pay the hotel but our bill had already been paid. I almost felt bad, considering the soft room shoes I had stolen.

  Hugging Maria, I felt her arse, getting a coy smile and a pretend-annoyed look from her, soon hugging the contessa - but without grabbing her arse. Luka was tearful, the baby shrieking at me, and I assured Luka that if she had any problems I would come running. She had my phone number.

  Outside, there was a small crowd, plus a few snappers and a lone TV camera, the police keeping them back. We stopped to pose for snaps and to say hello to a few of the spectators, soon in the minibuses and on our way, a look back at the hotel and the wonderful lake valley.

  Forty minutes later we made it to the airport, soon surrounded by police officers as we headed to SAS Check-In. The staff all stood and smiled, and welcomed us, passports handed over, luggage taken but not weighed; we were not flying economy.

  ‘Exit seats?’ I asked. ‘Leg room for me.’

  ‘There are a few empty seats, sir, so we can do that.’

  In the Departures Lounge the other passengers all stopped to stare, or to smile, or to take snaps, but for the most part they left us alone – given the twenty police officers with us.

  When it was time to board, Carter walked himself on with a crutch for support, and we were near the central exits again, the other passengers all trying and failing not to glance at us.

  Moving away from the terminal, my heart started to race, but then I just accepted it, the risk of death. I turned my head to Rolf. ‘You OK?’

  Without turning his head, he answered, ‘Ask me that when we land.’

  The take-off was scary, but when we settled at altitude I was OK, peering down at the snow-capped Alps, and the time went quickly. Coming in to land we hit the clouds and were bounced around a little, but when Stockholm came into view below the clouds I caught Rolf smiling.

  The touchdown was smooth, which was good given that three of us had bad backs, Rolf looking relieved.

  Halted, we were asked to exit the aircraft first, police escorts waiting, and the police led us to a side room to wait for our luggage, the family chatting to the police in Swedish.

  Luggage collected, we were led out a side door to minibuses, soon at the house, and glad to be here, Rolf visibly relieved. He faced me. ‘It would not be that bad, being limited to just Sweden.’

  ‘And the winters?’

  ‘Ah, then I would want to travel south, yes.’

  Luggage dumped, kettle on, and Ingrid and the twins checked that everything was as they left it as I sat with Carter. We soon had cups of tea in hand.

  ‘How was it?’ I finally asked.

  ‘A bit nervous, the idea of landing with a bump and fucking-up my back, but I got used to dodgy aircraft in the Army.’

  ‘They accepted your resignation?’

  ‘Can’t stop it, but they want the final medical report for my pension, I might get a disability pension – it was active service.’

  ‘As soon as you’re ready, fly to Corsica, get a room and then start a regime of … healthy eating and living and getting back to fitness, daily swimming and walking.’

  ‘Looking forward to it,’ he enthused.

  ‘When you get there, talk to the manager about a local gun license, might be possible for you. And you can carry a shotgun on our land anyhow.’

  ‘Pump action shotgun will keep the idiots away,’ he agreed.

  ‘And Olga?’ I nudged.

  ‘She’s OK to see me now and then, but … it ain’t the romance of the century. Cold one she is, all about the career.’

  ‘If I was with Claudia, just her, I think I would shout a lot; she’s a cold one as well, also all about the career. She has improved some since I met her, and she needed a big dose of love, but she had issues from when she was younger.’

  ‘She made an effort with her father…’

  ‘She did,’ I agreed. ‘She’s getting to be more human, but she’s German, and that doesn’t help.’

  ‘You and Maria?’

  ‘She never got a massage,’ I told him.

  ‘She seems to have the hots for you…’

  ‘Yeah, probably does. Maybe she’ll get a massage someday soon, and I was tempted, she’s a hot babe.’

  At 5pm Oleysa turned up shortly before Henrick and Elsa and their teenage daughters.

  Sat with Henrick, he began, ‘Father is helping the studio man with research.’

  ‘Brad, yes, he flew yesterday. Is your father … OK?’

  ‘They were in shock, we all were, to think that your crash was linked to the Kolhman baby.’

  ‘And you, are you a believer in miracles?’ I pushed.

  ‘Normally, no, but this so odd, and in Copenhagen they talk of nothing else. A queue of people now to your grandfather’s house, and in the national museum is a section on the story, photos of documents. Many people go to have a look.’

  I told him, ‘Rolf thinks that the Danish people … want and need to be forgiven for anything they might have done wrong in the war.’

  He shrugged. ‘We did not cooperate so much, but … many local women married German soldiers. We helped the Jews to Sweden, two thousand five hundred, the Germans only got six train carriages full to deport.

  ‘Oh, they have a photo of the boat used to sail your grandfather to Britain, so very soon a man will try and sail it alone at night to Britain. Kolhman sailed in early October, so it will be recreated on that day.

  ‘There will now be a National Escape Day, people sailing to Sweden and England. Some asked the Jewish community if they wanted to take part, so far … not so much the interest for sailing at night in bad waters.’

  I laughed. ‘No, unless your life hangs in the balance why risk it.’

  ‘Some Israelis will return for the event, and sail across, as their grandparents did. That original voyage was eighteen hours for some.’

  ‘Eighteen hours in a small boat? I’d face the Germans instead!’

  He laughed. ‘Yes, me too.’

  Another award, another speech

  The next day was ceremony day, so I dressed in my darkest grey suit, a black tie borrowed, and our police escort took us to the main cathedral, the weather holding for today’s event.

  The first funerals were due to take place in a few days - even though there was not much left of the bodies to bury, DNA analysis used to identify what human matter was left from the fire.

  The huge cathedral was hushed as we walked in, most everyone already sat down, heads turning our way as we walked along being led by an usher, and we sat behind the Prime Minister and his team, nods given with thin formal smiles.

  The service was in Swedish, thirty-six coffins laid out up ahead, and I had to wonder about the others as I studied the coffins. Rita had suggested that many families had not wanted a church service but just a simple burial.

  The local bishop did his bit, in Swedish, the coffins blessed it seems, a few prayers and a few hymns, all in Swedish, soon a line of soldiers wheeling out coffins to a side door as people started to stand and leave.

  The Prime Minister asked that we follow him, and our minibuses took us the short distance to a civic building and large hall. We skirted the hall and moved around the side, thousands of people soon settling themselves in rows, TV cameras positioned in various places.

  The twins and Ingrid sat with Carter, who had borrowed one of my suits, and I stood waiting with Rolf - who would get a medal for his part in assisting the survivors. I caught our business magnate and his family at the front of the crowd and I waved at them discretely.

  The event began with an unknown speaker, and I had no idea what was being said. The head of SAS Airlines spoke, Rolf translating some of it for me, then the Transport Minister spoke, then the Prime Minister spoke for ten minutes with a sombre tone before I was nudged up with Rolf.

  Again, the audience stood and applauded us, which was embarrassing, and again I lowered my head to receive an award, stood back as Rolf received his own award. And again I was nudged towards the microphone.

  The vast audience settled, but this time I had no interpreter. ‘Thank you, Prime Minister, for the award, and here in Sweden it does mean a lot, this place feels like home much of the time, and I have a natural fondness for the Swedish people and for Stockholm.

  ‘The sabotage of the aircraft came as a shock to many here in Sweden, where such things are very rare thankfully. We were reminded that people can be very cruel to each other, and we were reminded that air transport can be a dangerous business.

  ‘On that note, I intend to study air crash safety and past aircraft crashes, aircraft that crashed for whatever reason, and then shout about making a few improvements to air travel. We’ve already seen many airlines insist on two technicians working together, and that their work is checked before a plane takes off.

  ‘That means a small extra cost for the ground maintenance company, but that cost is a lot less than the hundreds of millions of Euro that’s paid out when a plane crashes. In simple economic terms, and ignoring the loss of life, if makes sense for both the airlines and the ground teams to tighten-up on procedures.

  ‘As someone who has now survived a plane crash I have an affinity with those that also survived, as well as those that died, and I will fight hard to see that future families do not suffer the same grief, police knocking on the door with bad news.

  ‘In England I shall be making use of an expensive simulator to test pilots on their rest days, and hoping that the airlines cooperate. If the airlines refuse to cooperate … then I shall attack them in the newspapers and on the TV, till they decide to cooperate.

  ‘If a particular airline does not cooperate, I shall publically ask for people not to fly with them. All pilots have many rest days, and it helps everyone if those pilots sit a few crash simulations a few times a year. I am not asking for anything unreasonable.

  ‘On a different note, I have heard that the Danish people will create a National Escape Day, to commemorate the escape of Jews from Denmark to Sweden in small boats, and I ask that the Swedish cooperate, a fun day out sailing and an important history lesson for the current generation all at the same time.

  ‘And I take this opportunity to thank the Swedish people for accepting and housing those Jews, or my Roskov relatives here in Stockholm would have never been born.’

  They applauded loudly.

  ‘When I look at their daughters … it’s hard to think why anyone would want to harm them just for a differing religious view, but we only need look at Bosnia to know that the world is made up of factions based on beliefs … and on languages spoken. And that it is very easy for our politicians to turn one group against another.

  ‘I referred to the Danish as the sleepy Danish, a reference to their low crime rate. But the people of Sweden and Denmark need only look at Bosnia to know how just lucky they are.’

  The audience clapped again.

  ‘I flew here from Milan on an SAS flight, a little nervous I admit, but I do not blame the airline at all and I shall continue to use them when needed. They are not to blame for an act of terrorism.’

  Again I received an applause, so it seemed that the people here supported their local airline.

  ‘Air travel is safer than driving in your car, and I encourage anyone that is now nervous to get back on a plane and to not let your life be diminished by a fear of flying.

  ‘As to the families of those who died … I think that the government here needs to create a Victims Support Group, and I offer to meet with the victims on a regular basis and to assist all I can.

  ‘Wives will have lost husbands, elderly couples will have lost sons and daughters that might have supported them in their old age, children have lost parents, so we need to look after them and their needs, and I’m sure that it will be handled well here in Sweden.

  ‘Some of the surviving relatives will cope, some will not, so we need to meet with all of them to assess their needs, and the strong and the rich should help those less fortunate. Myself and the Rasmussens will assist where we can, as we did at the hospital in Milan.

  ‘Fortunately, we’re still together as a family unit, whereas others have suffered great losses, so we will help where we can, and I ask the government here to identify for me any members of the families of the victims that are not coping well.’

  The audience applauded loudly.

  ‘Any victim that needs to get away for a while … I have a hotel or two that they can stay at, people to talk to the victims and … to listen. I will give up my own time as well for that purpose.

  ‘But the victims here are fortunate that they have Swedish social services to care for them, in Britain they would probably be left to sleep in a shop doorway, our social workers over-worked and underpaid, and not treated well by our government, former Prime Minister Thatcher’s legacy being a cruel cold winter on the streets for the homeless.

  ‘When I visit Demark and Sweden … I am reminded of the differences to my own country, and the lack of care that we British get from our own government. You Swedes pay higher taxes, but when you fall you are caught, and you are not left to sleep in a shop doorway and freeze to death in the winters!’

  They applauded loudly, and I worried that I was going off topic some and might be criticised here.

  ‘Finally, and trying to avoid any political controversy, I would like to thank all the Danish sailors of the small boats that sailed the Jews here to Sweden.

  ‘Perhaps their names could be collected, a memorial wall created where the boats landed here in Sweden, and I ask that the Swedish people join in and celebrate Denmark’s National Escape Day – since that escape was to these safe and welcoming shores.

  ‘My grandfather was sailed to England in October on a cold wet night. If there are any expert Sweden sailors that can handle the same type and size of vintage boat, please join those sailing to England in October.

  ‘And finally, Germany. For God’s sake, the war was finished a long time ago! Move on, and come join us in the damn celebration!’

  They all stood and applauded loudly as I left the stage with Rolf after shaking hands with the Prime Minister, the applause reverberating around the huge chamber.

  Rolf noted, ‘The favourite son of Denmark and Sweden just became the favourite son of Germany as well.’