Ragnarok Rising: The Awakening (Book One of The Ragnarok Rising Saga) Read Online Free PDF Page A

slid my .45 into its holster and headed out the.  I stopped at the front door and glanced around the living room before I shut off the light. I let the image sink into my brain because I had the feeling I might not be seeing it again, any time soon.  Then I locked the door and walked away.
    I climbed into my old beat-up Ford pick-up truck and headed for work. I stopped only long enough to fill up the gas tank and hit a fast food drive-thru. It was odd, but I couldn’t find any of my usual radio stations on the air. There was nothing but static on everything in the FM band. I could only find a couple low-power AM stations still broadcasting. It took the entire drive into work just to find something on the air.
    It was 0503 hours when I pulled into the parking lot and saw all the cars. I saw people in uniform from every shift heading inside. There were quite a few faces that I didn’t know. The parking lot was more crowded than I had ever seen it. I almost never found a parking spot. Grabbing my bug-out-bag, I slung it across my shoulder and downed the last of my drive-thru coffee. As I got out of the truck Kris Newberry came up to me, looking worried. Kris was a single mom with a teenage daughter.
    “Hey Kris,” I said, trying to sound cheerful. “Are you ready for another great day at the Justice Center?”
    I thought she was going to break down right then. Her eyes welled up with tears and she stifled a sob. Quickly, I reached out and put my hand on her shoulder.
    “Hey. It’s ok, Kris,” I said. “This’ll all work out.”
    “I’m worried about Amanda,” she said, nearly sobbing. “If this gets bad, I’ll be stuck here and can’t get to her. She’ll have nowhere to go.”
    “I sent Karen and the boys to the lake. Want me to call her and have her pick Amanda up on the way?”
    Kris looked up at me and smiled with a sudden look of elation on her face, “Yeah, if that isn’t a problem. That would be great!”
    “No, it’s not a problem at all. You call Amanda and tell her to get ready. I’ll call Karen and have her swing by and pick her up. She can stay with Karen and the boys until this all blows over.”
    I quickly called my wife while Kris called her daughter and set the plan in motion. With all of that settled, Kris looked a little more calm and collected. When Marty Cooper joined us, we all headed inside and went to our lockers to store our pistols, bags and jackets. Once we arrived in the briefing room, we saw the note on the dry erase board that said to meet in Booking. Booking had two large sunken areas called “pits” where people waiting to be booked were seated. It was the largest area for a meeting in the jail.
    It was 0515 hours when we cleared the main sliders and headed for Booking. Both pits had been emptied and there were black and gray uniforms everywhere. Even the Sheriff, both Majors and all four Captains were already there. I noted that they were all in uniform. That was rare for the Majors and the Sheriff. Mostly, they wore civilian clothes with their badge and gun on their belts. If they were in uniform, they were expecting trouble.
    I wandered over and got a cup of the dark black sludge that passed for coffee in Booking. It was always a toss-up whether or not you drank it or if it marched down your throat under its own power. It was so thick you could stand a spoon up in it. It wasn’t coffee, so much as hot black caffeinated pudding. You could measure the age of it by how long it took to eat through the Styrofoam cup. No amount of sugar could cut the bitterness.
    I looked over at Marty and Kris, then held up a cup and wiggled it from side to side, silently asking if they wanted one. Kris reluctantly nodded affirmative and Marty flipped me off with a disgusted look on his face, rapidly shaking his head no. I poured a cup for Kris and brought it to her. She made a sour face when she tasted it, but took another sip anyway. Then we all headed over to where the crew of eight-balls