Salander had not forgotten that Martin Vanger had a rifle somewhere, and she
stopped, holding the pistol ready to fire in front of her, as she came upstairs to the
passageway between the garage and the kitchen. She listened, but she could hear
no sound telling her where her prey was. She moved stealthily towards the kitchen,
and she was almost there when she heard a car starting up in the courtyard.
From the drive she saw a pair of tail lights passing Henrik Vanger’s house and
turning down to the bridge, and she ran as fast as her legs could carry her. She
stuffed the pistol in her jacket pocket and did not bother with the helmet as she
started her motorcycle. Seconds later she was crossing the bridge.
He had maybe a ninety-second start when she came into the roundabout at the
entrance to the E4. She could not see his car. She braked and turned off the motor
to listen.
The sky was filled with heavy clouds. On the horizon she saw a hint of the dawn.
Then she heard the sound of an engine and caught a glimpse of tail lights on the
E4, going south. Salander kicked the motorcycle, put it into gear, and raced under
the viaduct. She was doing 40 miles per hour as she took the curve of the entrance
ramp. She saw no traffic and accelerated to full speed and flew forward. When the
road began to curve along a ridge, she was doing 90 mph, which was about the
fastest her souped-up lightweight bike could manage going downhill. After two
minutes she saw the lights about 650 yards ahead.
Analyse consequences. What do I do now?
She decelerated to a more reasonable seventy-five and kept pace with him. She
lost sight of him for several seconds when they took several bends. Then they came
on to a long straight; she was only two hundred yards behind him.
He must have seen the headlight from her motorcycle, and he sped up when they
took a long curve. She accelerated again but lost ground on the bends.
She saw the headlights of a truck approaching. Martin Vanger did too. He increased
his speed again and drove straight into the oncoming lane. Salander saw the truck
swerve and flash its lights, but the collision was unavoidable. Martin Vanger drove
straight into the truck and the sound of the crash was terrible.