tonight on "nightline," tornado tourism. for the truly twisted, an extreme vacation. shunning the beach for thunderstorms, giant hail and dangerous tornadoes. we take to the heartland with a fearless crew of storm chasers and capture breathtaking images. stranger than fiction. a tale of intrigue and a woman denied. but this stieg larsson story is real. the author died before his novel became an international best seller. but is bad blood keeping his lover from his millions? and, hell on earth. unbearable heat, drownings and air so thick with smoke, you need a gas mask to breathe.

an extraordinary dispatch from apocalypse now. >> announcer: from the global resources of abc news, with martin bashir and cynthia mcfadden in new york city, and terry moran in washington, this is "nightline," august 6th, terry moran in washington, this is "nightline," august 6th, 2010. >> good evening, i'm terry moran. and we're going to begin tonight with a rag tag band of amateur adventurers that love nothing better than a vacation mired by rain, giant hailstones, especially a tornado. while everyone runs away from the storm, they run to it. thrill seekers looking for that next rush, and an up close look at the destructive beauty of mother nature. eric horng reports. ah, vacation. we all have our favorite memories. like that relaxing week at the beach. that fun-filled ski trip to the mountains. and, of course, that time we chased a big scary tornado

through the country side. >> let's go! quickly! we got to move. >> let's go. rotation up here. tornado! >> reporter: that's right. it may not sound like the most relaxes getaway. >> my wife made me do a will before i came out here last time. >> reporter: but for some, storm chasing in the heartland is better than any luxury cruise or european holiday. >> there's not place i'd rather be. >> i'm hooked. i got hooked the first time i did this. >> look at the green. it's amazing. >> reporter: roger hill runs silver lining tours. >> wow. never get tired of it. >> reporter: one of the growing number of tour companies bringing the full storm chaser experience to the masses. >> let's go! >> oh, my goodness. look at the storm. >> reporter: you try to get as close as you can to that event and enjoy it, photograph it, video it.

but keep your distance and know if you make one mistake it can kill you. >> don't run off. stay really close. >> reporter: hill has been chasing storms for a quarter century, and was introduced at the tender age of 9. in 1966, a killer tornado decimated his hometown of topeka, kansas, including his family's house. >> some people it could have scared them away, but kind of really peaked my interest. >> reporter: hill invimented us along on his final tour of the year, a ten-day, multi-state adventure into nature's underbelly. >> most amazing storms i have ever seen in my entire life. >> reporter: we were joined by a motley crue of weather june k junkies. three came from europe. >> we don't get the opportunity very often, at least, to see, you know, thunderstorms and such. >> reporter: we met the group in southeastern minnesota, and within minutes, our lunch break

became a lunch rush. >> we have one storm right to our northwest that's going to go severe and probably going tornadic. >> we knew it was an explosive day. >> please, nobody out of the van. just going to gas and go. quick. >> reporter: our pair of vans raced to the town of northfield, minnesota. >> about to get hit again. i'll always looking at data, always looking at doppler radar. we get headed north right to that storm. as soon as -- >> look at the rotation. on the ground! tornado on the ground. >> first tornado drops. >> right next to the road. >> holy crap, it's right there. >> reporter: the storm continues gathering strength, and is poised to drop even more twisters. >> this is going to be a huge tornado. >> tornado! >> reporter: we pull over on a dirt road to get a better view. >> right in front of us here. >> that is spinning hard. >> look at how fast -- i don't think i've ever seen it spin

that fast. >> everything came together and we were right there at the right moment. if we had been there five minutes later, we would have missed it. >> i hate to say this, but we're going to have to get down the road or we'll lose this forever. >> jump in, we got to move! >> reporter: but the celebration ends as we drive through northfield. our cameras capture this tornado. which damages several homes and overturns a semi. >> terrified people ran for cover. >> it came and went in an insta instant. >> reporter: one of our gimds has family nearby. >> my dad lives two miles down that road that we just passed. >> oh, my goodness. thank goodness it missed his house. some people think, well, we're just, you know, almost like ambulance chasers. we go and take joy in somebody else's misfortune, and that's not true. >> little different when it gets personal. >> oh, fur sure. >> reporter: hill says all eight of his tours this year have yielded or ttornadoes.

more than 80 twisters in all. >> wow! this is far from done. >> reporter: including this one in colorado that even had hill striking a pose. but in the past, not every trip has encountered this holy grail of storm chasing. >> you can never guarantee that a tour will see a tornado. you are almost always going to find severe storms. >> reporter: we spent hours every day just driving and waiting for storms to develop. >> we're averaging about 700 miles a day. >> plenty of souvenir stops. >> tornadoes today. i thought, well, let's have it. >> reporter: and more fast food meals than we could count. >> don't show my wife that i'm eefting this, all right? >> i'm looking forward to a real good meal. >> the better the chasing, the worse you eat. >> reporter: on one slow afternoon, we stopped at devil's tower in wyoming. but soon, storm clouds are gathserring nearby zbchlt that is trying to become a super cell. >> reporter: within minutes, the

storm explodes into a monster. >> one of us has got to get out of the way. it's not going to be the storm. >> reporter: we pull off into a field as the angry storm bears down on us. >> very, very potent hailstorm right now. >> reporter: and it headed right where we're standing. we have less than five minutes to snap photos before hill orders us into the vans. the storm is now chasing us. >> hang on tight. we're going to get whacked. >> reporter: the hail now the size of tennis balls. >> thought the windows were going to shatter. jackets and stuff up against the windows. >> the hailstones were shredding the leaves. so, you had some debris on theed radio. >> payback here. all windows intact? >> reporter: eventually, we outrun the storm. >> hate to be that motorcycle list. >> let you know, there's hail the size of baseballs back here coming at you.

>> how far back? >> three, four miles back. tennis ball to baseball hail. >> wow. >> reporter:windows held, but left its mark on the side of the van. has anyone gotten hurt? >> never. >> reporter: but danger is certainly part of it. for these tornado tourists, a long week of storm chasing is all the r and r they need. >> i love it, you know? i just love it. total excitement. >> reporter: it's vacation. >> yeah. to me, it's not really a vacation. it's an adventure. >> i would love to go to hawaii, england, alaska. but as long as there's storm chasing and i can really only afford one vacation a year, storm chasing is going to be it. >> you don't see clouds like that every day, either. >> you don't see clouds like that every day, either. awesome. >> reporter: this is eric horng for "nightline" in northeastern wyoming. >> that looks fun. our thank s to eric horng for

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that book and its sequels have sold more than 40 million copies. but the author, stieg larsson, he died before the books were published and never saw a penny of the loyalties. in an exclusive interview, his long time girlfriend tells her story of what's become of larsson's fortune, and she sheds new light on the mystery of whether larsson wrote the books himself. gloria riviera reports from stockholm. >> the journey has become an international sensation. meet the girl with the dragon tattoo. >> reporter: this is the bisexual, butt-kicking hacker at the center of "the girl with the dragon tattoo." heard of it? obsessed by it? swedish author stieg larsson's trilogy has sold 40 million copies world wide. last week in the u.s. alone, nearly a book a second. daniel craig is set to star in the hollywood film. larsson peels away sweden's idyllic exterior, exposing

corruption and the abuse of women. but he died before he saw success. his estate is worth an estimated $40 million and counting. he also left behind a heroine, victim and savior, fighting for her live and for justice. in real life here in sweden, there's another drama, also full of anger and accusations. at its heart, a woman who is a very real part of stieg larsson's life, and like the main character, she is also fighting for her rights. eva met stieg larsson when she was just 18. both were passionate and politically active. they lived together for 30 years until suddenly, he was gone. >> it was a horrible time. i was in deep shock. i couldn't make a pot of coffee anymore, because someone is missing to drink the other half. >> reporter: because they never married and larsson did not leave a will, according to

swedish law, she would inherit nothing. everything larsson had went to his brother and father, who eva says barely knew him. >> there wasn't much of a connection, really, not with the brother. i -- especially not with the brother. >> reporter: feud worthy of stieg larsson's fiction began. >> on the other hand, you've got this -- these people who say that they were close to stieg. and that they're doing what they think is right. like any infected family feud, taking sides is very dangerous thing to do. >> reporter: why didn't they get married? in the '80s and '90s, far right extremism and violence took hold of sweden. larsson spoke out against it and that put them both at risk. >> stieg was the figure in sweden, the one to kill. >> reporter: getting married would place them on public records. but they almost risked it.

1983, was it a proposal? >> yeah. we got the rings, we bought the rings. we went to -- >> these are the rings? >> reporter: these are the rings? >> yes, they are. that's mine and that's his and they are engraved with stieg and eva. >> reporter: when he died, there was nothing sinister about it. the elevator at stieg's office was out. so, larsson, a chain smoker with a terrible diet, climbed seven flights of stairs and collapsed. he died of a massive heart attack. eva says, at first, the family told her -- >> you are his wife. it's not our inheritance, it's yours. then, something changed. >> reporter: the family offered her $2.6 million and a seat on their board. she flatly refused. the larssons continue to live in town without any displays of their wealth. the larssons are contributing to the causes stieg larsson

supported, but declined our request for an interview. in 2008, joachim did describe eva as unwell. eva says she knows how stieg would have felt. >> extremely furious with the fact that his legacy is being handled like potatoes, chopped up into chips or anything that's sellable, leaving me in a position not to do anything. he would have been furious. he would have -- he would have gone to great extent to get revenge. >> reporter: there is yet another twist in this tale. speculation, practically a swedish parlor game, that stieg did not wry the books alone. that eva was key. a former colleague described his writing as childish. >> his writing was no good. it was -- syntax, the sentences, the spelling, in my view, he couldn't have written it. >> reporter: for others, the success came as no surprise.

>> stieg was a storyteller. he told stories very well. he was almost a nerd when it came to crime novels. >> reporter: but did he do it alone? eva, a published writer in her own right, defended the man she loved but leaves the door open. >> being together with someone for 30 years, large chunks of it becomes ours. he sort of held the pen, but just being able to be an efficient writer doesn't create any books. you have to have the thoughts. you have to have the rest, as well. >> reporter: and you were apart of those thoughts? >> yeah. >> reporter: she may also have a final card to play. there are reports larsson left at least part of a fourth book on his own laptop, and whispers that eva has it. so reports that there is a fourth book, true or false? >> there probably is the beginning of a fourth book, yeah, somewhere. i know what it is about, but i haven't read it. i probably could do it. i'm sure i could do it. >> reporter: millions of fans may hope so.

>> some of the things that elizabeth are doing are not totally morally right. >> reporter: in stockholm, there is a tour for those that can't get enough. >> it's interesting how sort of the intrigue that's happening with his death with the fourth book sounds like something he would write about, to a certain extent. >> reporter: but eva won't commit. >> i'm happy with the life. that's really the inheritance for me. i had a good life with that man. >> reporter: a man who left millions in suspense, and one woman who may hold the key to what happens next. for "nightline," i'm gloria riviera in stockholm. >> a lot of people over the world waiting for the answer. will there be a sequel? our thanks to gloria riviera for that. when we come back, russia is burning. a dispatch from the danger zone.

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[ bob ] squak! >> announcer: "nightline" continues from washington with terry moran. >> the pictures from russia tonight are astonishing. moscow, ringed by wildfires, is choked by a blanket of thick, heavy smog. >> announcer: "nightline" continues from washington with warned to stay >> the pictures from russia tonight are astonishing. moscow, ringed by wildfires, is

choked by a blanket of thick, heavy smog. warned to stay indoors, those brave enough to venture outside brave the polluted air and the heat wave there. now a top secret nuclear installation is threatened. by the fires. alex marquardt reports from moscow. >> reporter: onion domes shrouded in smoke. the kremlin just peeking through the haze. moscow awoke to an apocalyptic sight, a toxic blanket of smog covering the city. some of the worst the russian capital has ever seen. poor visibility caused planes to be diverted from moscow's main airports. despite the suffocating, acrid smog, tourists tried to go about business as usual. "it's awful," said this woman. "i have tickles in my throat. it's very unpleasant." air pollution levels spiked. health officials have made repeated warnings to stay inside and to wear a mask outside. "the situation is very dangerous for people's health, especially

for those with chronic diseases," said this health official. to make matters worse, the temperature friday was over 95 degrees, far hotter than it usually is, but just a typical day in this five-week-long heat wave. moscow's smog comes from here, the peat bog fires smoldering outside the city. they're especially hard to put out because the fires burn underground and require a lot of water to extinguish. these are just a fraction of the almost 450,000 acres of burning forest across western and central russia. fires that have burned down entire villages, killing at least 52 people and making over 3,000 homeless. they're threatening a top secret nuclear facility east of moscow, and officials are worried they could release radioactive particles from the 1968 chernobyl disaster. russia admits it needs help. "we need more equipment, more manpower and more water," said this firefighter. thousands of volunteers are

joining the fight, battling with anything they can find. these volunteers were on their way to help when their car was engulfed in flames. they narrowly managed to escape. but anger with local emergency response is on the rise. >> the fire just, like here, was very close to us. >> reporter: just 40 feet from your house. >> yeah, just like here, you can see burned ground. >> reporter: after repeated unanswered calls to the local fire department, anya and her family had to beat back the flames around their house themselves. >> if we just didn't do anything, we don't have our house right now. that's for sure. >> reporter: the worst heat wave in 130 years has sent russians flocking to any body of water to stay cool. and combined with the country's infamous drinking habit, there have been over 2,000 drownings in the past two months. "people don't follow the rules and swim in places they aren't allowed," this rescuer told us. "people overestimate their

strength when they're drink." it's already wreaked havoc on the country's farmers, crops have been destroyed, as well, a huge area. on thursday, the prime minister announced a ban on grain exports until the end of the year, sending wheat prices soaring to a 23-month high. with no rain in the forecast, and temperatures set to rise, when this hellish summer will end is anyone's guess. for "nightline," i'm alex marquardt in moscow. >> our thoughts tonight with the people of moscow. and our thanks to alex for that. and when we come back, the latest unemployment figures. that's the subject of tonight's "closing argument." first, here's jimmy kimmel with what's coming up next on "jimmy kimmel live." jimmy? >> jimmy: tonight, lisa ling, music from rhymefest. i'm going to attempt to look into zac e e e e e e e e e e e e

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