Oslo

The day came early for Josh. It seemed like his head had just hit the pillow when the wake-up call came from the front desk. "Good morning Mr. Edwards, it's 5:00 AM." said the operator with a very heavy Norwegian accent.

Josh managed a simple thank you and the conversation ended as quickly as it had begun.

Thirty minutes later, Josh was at the curb waiting for George Montclair. The cool morning air felt good against his still throbbing head. Standing there in the bright morning light, waiting for the Excedrin to take effect, Josh attempted to remember exactly how many beers he had actually had last night. However, the arithmetic proved too difficult at this time of the morning, so Josh changed his thoughts to the upcoming day's activities. He had never participated in a demonstration as large as this and was a little uncertain as to the logistics of such a formidable operation.

Four separate marches would take place at one time, each starting at different ends of the city and converging at Karl Johans & Fredericks Gate precisely at 12:00 noon. The intent was to tie up traffic so effectively that Oslo would be brought to a virtual standstill during the busy lunch hour. It was designed to send a very strong message to the International Whaling Commission at the time when they were expected to be making their decision on lifting the current international whaling moratorium. Josh could only hope that the expected 20,000 to 30,000 demonstrators would really show up. He worried that if Greenpeace could not muster sufficient numbers of supporters, they would surely lose their clout.

Suddenly, Josh's attention was drawn to a man walking towards him, it was Peter Ashley, the Greenpeace coordinator from England. Surprised at seeing him, Josh asked, "What are you doing here? I thought you were going to meet us at Creesake's for breakfast."

"Obviously you didn't hear what happened last night," replied Peter.

Happen? What happened?" asked Josh.

Looking around suspiciously, Peter hailed a passing cab, motioned to Josh to enter and the two climbed in.

Josh questioned, "What the hell is going on?"

Peter moved his fingers to his lips, motioning for Josh to be quiet. Turning to the taxi driver, he told him to take them to an address just outside of town. As the taxi pulled away, they saw two police cars coming up the street. As the police cars with flashing lights but without their blaring sirens passed them, Peter's head turned following their movement, and instinctively Josh's head followed. They observed the two police cars filling the space in front of the hotel just vacated by the taxi.

"Boy, that was close," Peter said.

"What the hell is going on?" Josh asked again.

Peter put his finger to his lips, pointed to the driver and replied, "I will explain everything shortly."

Perplexed by the events that were unfolding, Josh couldn't help but see that Peter was very nervous and kept repeatedly turning his head, looking out the back of the cab. With nothing else to do, Josh attempted to take in the early morning activity outside the taxi window as Oslo awoke to a new day.

Because of their latitude the sun was well up in the sky even though it was only about 5:45 in the morning. Land of the Midnight Sun, Josh thought to himself. He wasn't sure he liked this situation where night was merely dusk and it occurs for only an hour. What perplexed him most as he sat there nursing his headache was that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't remember how dark it was when he left Lars last night. Surely, he thought, it had already been light, but no matter how hard he tried, he could not remember. He closed his eyes and let his head fall backwards against the seat. No sooner had he started to let his mind slip into the state of unconsciousness, when he was brought back into the real world by the sound of a siren.

Startled he sat up erect as the taxi driver pulled over to the curb and brought the taxi to a halt. A glance to his right revealed Peter looking out the rear window, sweat pouring down the side of his head drenching his cheek and sideburns. As the sirens drew nearer, Peter turned to Josh. Josh instantly recognized the fear in his friend, who quickly turned again in an attempt to identify the source of the approaching siren.

"Will you kindly tell me what the hell is going on here," demanded Josh.

Just then Peter saw the cause of the commotion. "Only an ambulance," he announced with an audible sigh of relief. He hesitated. "For a moment I thought it was them, I thought they had found us."

"Who found us?" Josh asked.

As the ambulance passed the parked taxi, the driver pulled from the curb and Peter again replied, "I will fill you in later."

Under normal circumstances Josh would have demanded an explanation or, in the absence of one, he would have gotten out of the taxi. But his brain just wasn't working yet, so he did the only thing he could think of, he rested his head on the back of the seat.

The ride to the address Peter had given the driver took about 15 minutes longer. Other than the few words they had exchanged during the siren incident, neither spoke the entire trip. As the taxi turned the corner of Karlsbaden Street, the driver pulled the cab to the curb, turned his head and announced that this was the address. Peter signaled Josh to get out. Josh exited out the left side of the cab and proceeded around the back of to the curb. Standing at the curb, waiting for Peter to pay the driver, Joshed looked around the area. At 6:00 AM there still wasn't much happening in what appeared to be a cluster of small shops with private homes above them, typical of outer Oslo. As Peter exited the cab, Josh looked at him and asked, "OK, we're here, wherever that might be. Now, what the hell is going on?"

Peter looked at Josh and explained, "At around midnight, the police began rounding up the demonstration organizers. It appears they found out about our plans and are claiming that a demonstration organized by a non-Norwegian chartered organization is illegal."

Josh couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"It appears that the only reason you and I were not rounded up was because we were late signing on for this event and were at different hotels. Apparently it took them longer to find us."

"You mean those police cars we saw back at my hotel were after me?" asked Josh.

"I suspect so," replied Peter. Just then the two of them heard the door of the bakery across the street open. "Follow me," Peter said, and they both crossed the street into the bakery. After exchanging pleasantries with the girl behind the counter, Peter told Josh to select a pastry and to Josh's surprise, he then led him through a curtain into the back of the bakery, not back onto the street.

In the rear of the store, Peter's senses were overwhelmed with the sights and aromas in the working part of the bakery. Racks of bread, rolls, and pastries were everywhere. Some cooling, some waiting to go into the ovens, and still more being decorated. Josh also took notice of the two men dressed completely in white pants, apron, and shirts working around the ovens and tables. Observing their movements, Josh was unable to immediately tell their ages because they were both covered from head to toe with flour.

Walking over to the shorter of the two bakers, Peter caught the attention of both. Clearly they were expected. Peter was greeted as a welcome guest as the shorter and now apparently older of the two took meticulous effort to attempt to wipe all flour residue from his hands, prior to shaking Peter's. Peter then turned to the other baker who had approached him and the greeting was repeated.

All three turned to Josh as Peter introduced him to Hakan and his son Jon Rhyne. As handshakes were exchanged, both men continued their feeble attempts to remove the flour from their hands by repeatedly wiping them on the flour saturated aprons, the effect of which was only to produce a localized cloud of flour dust. Hakan brought over two stools, cleared an area on the marble slab table next to where they were standing. He then turned and walked to the other side of the room, returning with two cups and a pot of coffee. Pouring each a cup his eyes caught Josh taking a bite of the roll he had selected earlier. Watching him chew it, Hakan finally asked, "How do you like my baking?" Caught with a full mouth, Josh held up the roll with a chunk missing and in a muffled voice answered, "It was worth getting up at 5:00 in the morning."

"It had better be," laughed Hakan, "Jon and I get up at 2:00 AM to start making them.

Just the thought of starting work at 2:00 AM made Josh gag a little.

Taking a sip of his coffee, Hakan asked, "Do you know how many of the others have been arrested?"

Peter explained, "I only know of the people that Jon told me about during our phone call earlier this morning."

Hakan then reviewed the list as he knew it. "I believe that six people were taken into custody; Demuyser and Dekkers from the Netherlands, Delacroix from France, Bullions from Scotland, Harrison from England, and Burnham from the US."

Josh and Peter looked at each other, not believing what they were hearing. Josh asked Hakan if the Norwegian Police always acted in such a manner. Shaking his head no, Hakan attempted to explain, "Norway is a very open country and our people take pride in their freedom to express their views. We consider ourselves extremely civil. Peaceful demonstrations are not uncommon. We have them for strikes, other civil causes, but never has such a thing as this occurred. There have been arrests but they occur after demonstrations get out of hand, not before."

Jon then interrupted by adding, "But Papa, this is a very political issue with the government, they are under a lot of pressure from the fishermen to allow them their right to harvest the oceans." Turning to Peter and Josh, Jon added. "Whale hunting to many Norwegians is probably similar to Americans' belief that they have a right to bear arms."

After a short silence, Peter said, "Yes but we don't arrest people for their beliefs."

"We don't either, I can assure you of that," rebutted Jon. "This is highly unusual, someone high up in the government had to order this," he added.

"Well unusual or not, a lot of our friends are apparently in jail," replied Peter.

"Let's stop debating the pros and cons of our political systems and figure out what we are going to do," injected Josh. "First things first. How are we going to handle the demonstration today, and then we can decide how to best deal with the apparent arrest of our colleagues."

The other three men looked at Josh and concurred with his recommendation. Hakan turned to Jon and said, "Bring Peter and Josh up to speed while I continue the day's baking."

Jon nodded to his father and reached for the coffee pot. Without asking, he poured everyone another cup. Jon opened a drawer near the stove and retrieved a book. Re-establishing his position on the stool at the marble slab table, Jon slowly thumbed through the book until he found the exact page. Satisfied that he had found it, he reached for his coffee and took a long sip that was apparently designed to allow him to gather his thoughts.

"My English is not the best, " he explained, "so if you have any questions, just stop me."

They agreed and Jon began to lay out the following plan. "Last night when Milton Moberg called to inform us of the arrest, we called the key organizers in Oslo and began to formulate a secondary plan. Our plan assumes that someone has gone to the authorities, what you call a whistle blower, I believe."

Both looked at each other in disbelief, but after a moment they realized Jon was correct and nodded their concurrence almost in unison.

Assuming that the person told the authorities our complete plan, we developed an alternate or evasive plan. We have kept this meeting between only a few trusted members of the Norwegian Greenpeace movement. Members we know are totally committed to our cause. Key to throwing off the authorities is to let them believe right up to the last minute that nothing has changed."

"We will meet up as intended and begin our march as planned, but instead of joining up at Karl Johans & Fredericks Gate, as we believe the authorities know we were planning, we will march to four different targets and carry out four separate demonstrations. After much deliberation, we felt that the authorities would probably have most of their forces positioned around the meet-up point, and a sudden change in plans will make it very difficult for them to move their forces to other positions."

Laying a map of the city on the table, Jon then began to explain the details of their new plan to Peter and Josh.

At precisely 8:00 AM, Lars called Chief of Police Fowler. After a brief wait, the Chief's secretary came back on the line saying, "I found him. I'll pass you through now, Mr. Neilsen." Lars, holding the phone to his ear, pictured the well endowed blonde, sitting there with her mini skirt and tight blouse, probably bra-less, his inner mind added. I wonder if she wears panties, he then thought to himself.

The Chief answered the phone with a pleasant, "Good morning Mr. Neilsen, how are you today?"

Shocked out of his daydream, Lars responded, "Forget the pleasantries Chief. All I want to know is did you round up all the Greenpeace leaders?"

"All except two, Mr. Ashley and your friend Mr. Edwards."

"You didn't get Edwards!" Lars screamed into the phone. "How could you not get him? Why, why I kept him drinking with me until after 1:00 AM. Surely your men could have waited in his room until he stumbled in."

"They did Mr. Neilsen, but the Mr. Edwards whose room they waited in, was not your Mr. Edwards, but a different person. You see, when we saw a Mr. Edwards in the hotel register with the other Greenpeace members we just assumed it was the right Mr. Edwards. By the time we figured we had arrested the wrong person, and then tracked down your Mr. Edwards early this morning, he had already left his hotel room." The Chief groped for more words. There was a long pause.

"What about Mr. Ashley?" asked Lars.

We don't know where he is staying. We have checked every hotel in Oslo, but no Mr. Ashley," explained the now nervous Chief. There was a long pause.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Neilsen," said the Chief, "My men have been up all night trying to locate those two." He hesitated, and then continued, "Perhaps had you given us more notice, we could have planned better and assured that we rounded up all of the men."

"Yes......yes Chief your men did fine. Now let's get down to the issue at hand; are you prepared to assure that whatever demonstration takes place today, that it minimizes the impact on Oslo?" asked Lars. "Remember, I don't want the press making a big deal out of this issue."

"I believe we are prepared," replied the Chief. He then went on to explain that his men would be positioned to prevent the marchers from converging as requested, thus hiding from the press, gathered at Karl Johans & Frederick Gate, the true magnitude of the demonstration.

"Good," replied Lars. "Now remember that I am depending on you. This commission decision is very important to Norway."

"You have my department's full support, Mr. Neilsen," replied the Chief. Lars was satisfied as he held the receiver to his ear for a moment, weighing if there were any additional instructions he needed to give the Chief.

Convinced that everything was going as planned, Lars mind quickly changed subjects and a smile came over his face. "Chief, I believe all is ready. Please transfer me back to your secretary."

They exchanged pleasantries and soon Susanne Olsen was on the line. "You wished to speak with me Mr. Nielsen?" she asked.

"Yes, I did, Miss Olsen. I trust you are doing well today." he said.

"Why, yes I am," she replied.

"Susanne, I trust I may call you Susanne," without waiting for a reply he continued, "I have two tickets to the opera tonight and was wondering if you would like to join me." Taken back by his sudden request, Susanne hesitated for an instant. Recognizing this delay, Lars added. "Of course I would pick you up early and we would have dinner first, say about 7:00.

"How can I refuse such a generous offer?" Susanne replied. "I would be delighted to join you."

After writing down her address, he bid her good bye and returned the receiver to the cradle. Lars leaned back in his chair. He could feel his hormones running through his body. Pleased with himself, Lars raised his arms and placed his hands behind his head. I think I'll determine tonight if Miss Olsen wears panties, he smiled.