The Bones Of Odin (Matt Drake 1) by David Leadbeater Read Free Book Online

headline - ‘FREED SERIAL KILLER CLAIMS TWO MORE.’
    Nasty, but not unusual for the front page of a newspaper. The thing that made him snatch a further look, as if his eyes had been burned, was the picture of Kennedy, in her cop’s uniform, within the body of the text. And the smaller headline beside her photo - Cop Can’t Take It - Goes AWOL.
    He linked the headlines to the almost empty bottle of vodka on the dresser, the painkillers on the bedside table, the absence of luggage and tourist maps and souvenirs and an itinerary.
    Shit.
    Kennedy was saying: “So these Germans and Canadians want to find this non-existent tomb for the glory maybe? For the riches it might bring? And to do this they have to assemble Odin’s Nine Pieces in a place that’s not a place. That right?”
    Ben pulled a face. “Well, a song’s not a song ‘til it’s been pressed into vinyl’ - as my dad used to say. In English - we still have a lot of work to do.”
    “It’s a stretch. ”
    “This is more like it.” Ben turned the laptop screen around. “Odin’s Nine Pieces are - Eyes, Wolves, Valkyries, Horse, Shield and Spear.”
    Drake counted. “That’s only six, kiddo.”
    “ Two Eyes. Two Wolves. Two Valkyries. Duh.”
    “Which one’s in Upsalla?” Drake winked at Kennedy.
    Ben scrolled for a while, then said: “It says here that a Spear was thrust through Odin’s side while he hung fasting on the World Tree, revealing all his many secrets to his Volva - his Seeress. Listen to another quote – ‘ near the Temple at Upsalla is a very large tree with widespread branches that are always green both in winter and summer. What kind of tree it is nobody knows, for no others like it have ever been found.’ That’s hundreds of years old. The World Tree is - or was - in Upsalla and is central to Norse mythology. It says nine worlds exist around the World Tree. Yada . . . yada. Oh, another reference – ‘the sacred tree at Upsalla. Odin used to sojourn there a lot, near an immense ash called Ygdrassil , considered holy by the locals. It’s gone now though.’
    He read on: ‘Scandinavian chroniclers have long held Gamla Upsalla to be one of the oldest and most important locations in Nordic history.’
    “And this is all out there,” Kennedy said. “Where anyone could find it.”
    “Well,” Ben said, “it all needs linking together. Don’t underestimate my powers, Miss, I’m good at what I do.”
    Drake nodded in appreciation. “He is, believe me. He’s helped me blag my way through a photographic career for the last six months.”
    “You have to piece together lots of different poems and historical Sagas. A Saga is a Viking poem of high adventure. There’s also something called the Poetic Edda , written by descendants of people who knew people, who knew the chroniclers of that time. There’s a lot of information.”
    “And we know nothing about the Germans. Not to mention the Canadians. Or why Alicia Myles is - ” Drake’s mobile started to ring. “Sorry . . . yes?”
    “Me.”
    “Hello, Wells.”
    “Sit down for this, Drake.” Wells had taken a breath. “The SGG - the Swedish Special Forces, and elements of the Swedish army have been recalled from all over the world.”
    Drake was momentarily speechless. “You’re kidding?”
    “I don’t joke about work, Drake. Only women.”
    “Has that ever happened before?”
    “Not that I recall.”
    “Do they give a reason?”
    “Usual bollocks, I’m afraid. Nothing definitive.”
    “Anything else?”
    There was a sigh. “Drake, you really owe me some Mai-time stories here, pal. Is Ben still there?”
    “Yes, and do you remember Alicia Myles?”
    “Jesus. Who wouldn’t? She with you?”
    “As a matter of fact, no. I just came across her in the Louvre, about an hour ago.”
    Ten seconds of silence, then: “She was part of that? Impossible. She would never betray her own.”
    “We were never ‘her own’, or so it seems.”
    “Listen, Drake, are you