The Bones Of Odin (Matt Drake 1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

the Gods . And if that Tomb is ever desecrated . . . well, sulphur and brimstone and all Hell breaking loose is just the start of our problems. Notice I said Gods?”
    Drake frowned. “Nah. How can there be a tomb of the Gods? They never existed. Ragnarok never existed. It was just the Norse place for Armageddon. ”
    “Exactly. So what if it did exist?”
    “So imagine the value of a find like that.”
    “A tomb of the Gods? It would be beyond everything. Atlantis. Camelot. Eden. They would be nothing compared to that. So you’re saying that Odin’s Shield is just the start?”
    Ben bit off the top of his muffin. “I guess we’ll see. There are eight other Pieces to go for, so, if they start disappearing,” he paused. “You know, Karin is the brains of the family, and sis would love making sense of all this internet crap. It’s all in bits and pieces.”
    “Ben, I feel guilty enough involving you. And I promise nothing’s gonna happen to you, but I can’t involve anyone else in this.” Drake frowned. “I wonder why the bloody Germans kicked this off now though. Surely the other eight parts have been around a while.”
    “Less with the football analogies. And they have. Maybe the Shield was special in some way? Something about it made everything else worthwhile.”
    Drake remembered taking close-up snaps of the Shield, but they could save that investigation for later. He tapped the screen. “It says Odin’s ‘Horse’ sculpture was found in a Viking longboat, which is actually the Louvre’s chief exhibit. Most people wouldn’t even notice the Horse sculpture itself whilst walking around the Louvre.”
    “The longboat,” Ben read aloud. “Is a mystery of its own - it’s constructed of timbers that predate known Viking history.”
    “Just like the Shield,” Drake exclaimed.
    “Found in Denmark,” Ben read on. “And see here,” he pointed at the screen, “it focuses on the other Pieces of Odin I mentioned earlier? The Wolves are in New York, and the best guess is that the Spear is in Upsalla, Sweden, having fallen from Odin’s body when he climbed down from the World Tree.”
    “So that’s five.” Drake settled back into the comfy seating and sipped his coffee. Around them the internet cafe buzzed with restrained activity. The pavements outside were filled with people zig-zagging their way through life.
    Ben had been born with a steel-lined mouth, and downed half of his hot coffee in a single gulp. “There’s something else here,” he tapped away. “Jeez, I don’t know. It looks complicated. About something called a Volva. Which means - Seeress. ”
    “Maybe they named the car after her.”
    “Funny. No, it seems Odin had a special Volva. Wait - this could take a while.”
    Drake was so busy switching his attention between Ben, the PC, the stream of information and the bustling pavement outside, that he didn’t see a woman approach until she stood right next to their table.
    Before he could move she raised a hand.
    “Don’t get up, boys,” she drawled in an American accent. “We need to talk.”
     
     
     
     
     

FIVE
     
    PARIS, FRANCE
     
    Kennedy Moore had been evaluating the pair for a while.
    At first she’d thought it harmless. After a while, analysing the younger man’s scared but determined body language and the older dude’s vigilant demeanour, she’d come to the conclusion that trouble, circumstance, and the Devil had snagged these two in an unholy trinity of danger.
    She wasn’t a cop here. But she was a cop in New York, and that relatively small island with its big concrete towers was a tough place to grow up. You developed cop’s eyes before you even knew your destiny was to join the NYPD. Later, you honed and recalculated, but you always had those eyes. That hard, calculating stare.
    Even on vacation , she mused bitterly.
    After an hour of sipping coffee and surfing aimlessly, she couldn’t help herself. She might be on vacation - which sounded better than