Money Each Month

The money would come as cash each month in Norwegian kroners. Heinrich would lay it out across his coffee table and count it repeatedly, as if the amount might tell him something. There was no note, nor official form, just a return address printed on the envelope that gave the Norwegian headquarters for MENTRA in Oslo. He had called and written but never gotten through. He contacted the American embassy, certain that this was a hostage situation, or that this was a cover-up for murder, the company trying to pay him off. The embassy sent him an official letter that said an investigation was being made. When he contacted them again, they simply ignored him. When he called, they said, "We wrote you. Didn't you get the letter. An investigation is being made."

He pressured them. This isn't just some mix-up, this is possibly an international scandal. Stay calm, they said. Don't worry. Nothing bad ever happened in Norway, they said. It was basically a perfect country. They didn't say those exact words of course, but they implied precisely this. He is far safer here than in the US, they said. Don't worry. Everything is fine. Take a long walk. That is what we do. It made him nervous to mention the money, as he had been depositing it each month, so he left this part out.

It was this situation that made him first start snooping around at his new job. It was the same MENTRA. This he had confirmed. And so he started staying late, making excuses about extra work, and slowly working his way through the security network that seemed to block access to even the simplest pieces of information about the company.