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

cover.
    More masked men appeared in the newly-blasted entrance. A new force, dressed differently to the Germans.
    Drake thought: French police?
    “ Canadians!” One of the Germans shouted in disdain. “Kill! Kill!”
    Drake covered his ears as a dozen machine-guns opened fire at once. Bullets ricocheted from human body, to wooden exhibit, to plaster wall. Glass shattered, and priceless displays were ripped to shreds and sent crashing to the floor. Kennedy swore loudly, which Drake was starting to realise was not exactly ‘fresh ground’ for her. “Where’re the fucking French for fuck’s sake!”
    Drake’s head was spinning. Canadians? What kind of twisted hell had they stumbled into here?
    The exhibit beside them exploded into a thousand pieces. Glass and bits of wood rained down on their backs. Drake started to crawl backwards, dragging Kennedy with him. The longboat was getting riddled with lead. The Canadians had advanced into the room by now and several of the Germans lay dead or twitching. As Drake watched, one of the Canadians fired point-blank into a German’s head, blowing his brains out all over a 3000 year-old Egyptian terracotta vase.
    “No love lost between looney relic hunters.” Drake winced. “And all that time I spent playing Tomb Raider - it was never like this.”
    “Yeah,” Kennedy shook shards of glass from her hair. “But if you’d actually played the game, instead of staring at her ass for seventeen hours you might actually know what’s going on.”
    “Ben’s forte. Not mine. Playing the game that is.” He ventured a glance up.
    One of the Germans was trying to escape. He ran right up to Drake without noticing him, then gave a start of surprise when his path was blocked. “Bewegen!” He raised his gun.
    “Yeah, up yours too.” Drake raised his hands.
    The man’s finger tightened on the trigger.
    Kennedy made a sudden movement to the side, causing the German’s attention to flicker. Drake moved in and elbowed him in the face. A fist came swinging towards Drake’s head, which he side-stepped, even as he kicked out the soldier’s knee. A shriek barely covered the sound of snapping bone. Drake was on him in a second, knees pressing hard on his heaving chest. With a quick flurry he ripped away the soldier’s mask.
    And grunted. “Uhh. Don’t know what I was really expecting.”
    Blonde hair. Blue eyes. Solid features. Confused expression.
    “Later.” Drake rendered him unconscious with a choke hold, trusting Kennedy to keep an eye out for his comrades. When Drake looked up, the battle raged on. In that moment, another German came barrelling around a falling exhibit. Drake shoulder-charged him to the side, and Kennedy kneed him in the solar-plexus. The man went down faster than a new boy-band on X-factor.
    Now one of the Canadians was dragging the Odinic sculpture away from the dead and bloody fingers of his enemy. Another German outflanked him and attacked from the side, but the Canadian was good, twisting and delivering three deadly strikes, then heaving the limp body over his shoulder and smashing it to the ground. The Canadian fired three close shots for good measure and then continued dragging the sculpture towards the exit. Even Drake was impressed. When the Canadian reached his comrades, they shouted and laid down a hail of fire before retreating over the still-smoking rubble.
    “ Upsalla!” The first-class Canadian cried, and raised a fist at the surviving Germans. Drake detected arrogance, challenge and excitement in that one word. Surprisingly, a woman’s voice.
    Then the woman paused and removed her mask in a gesture of absolute disdain. “Upsalla!” She cried again at the Germans. “Be there!”
    Drake would have staggered if he hadn’t already been on his knees. He thought he’d been hit by a bullet, such was the shock. He recognised this so-called Canadian. He knew her well. It was Alicia Myles, a Londoner, who used to be his equal in the SRT.
    A secret