Free The Bones Of Odin (Matt Drake 1) by David Leadbeater Page B

guy Milo sprinting back along the narrow ledge which most humans could barely walk along. Drake didn’t even have time to fire - the American was moving so fast.
    Damn! Why’d he have to be so good? The only other person Drake knew – apart from himself - who could perform such a feat was Alicia Myles.
    Landed myself in the middle of an approaching Gladiator competition here . . .
    He leapt forward, past the ships now, using his momentum to bounce from step to step, almost free-running from random mounds to deep clefts, and angle-jumping off the sandy walls. Even using the ships’ flexible timbers to gain momentum between jumps.
    “Wait!”
    The disembodied voice floated from ahead. He paused, seeing Kennedy’s vague shape, relieved to hear that American drawl. “Follow me,” he cried, knowing he couldn’t let Milo beat him to the end of the passage. They could be pinned down for hours.
    He broke past the final ship at a break-neck run, Ben and Kennedy lagging in his wake, just as Milo leapt off the ledge and cut past the front of the very same ship. Drake tackled him around the waist, making sure he landed heavily on his sternum.
    He wasted a second flinging the gun towards Kennedy.
    Whilst the gun was still in mid-flight, Milo scissor-kicked and twisted loose, flipped over onto his hands, and was up abruptly facing him.
    He snarled: “Matt Drake, the one and only. Been lookin’ forward to this, pal.”
    He struck with elbows and fists. Drake caught multiple blows on his arms, wincing as he backed up. This guy knew him, but who the hell was he ? An old faceless enemy? A shadow-ghost from a dark SAS past? Milo was in close and happy to stay there. Drake’s peripheral vision noted the knife at the American’s waistband, just waiting for a distraction.
    He caught a vicious kick on his own instep.
    Behind him he could hear the first clumsy movements of the advancing German force. They were just a few ships back.
    Ben and Kennedy watched in amazement. Kennedy had the machine-gun raised.
    Drake feinted one way, then twisted the other, spinning away from Milo’s vicious leg-breaker. Kennedy fired her shot, kicking up dirt an inch from Milo’s foot.
    Drake grinned as he moved away, made as if to pet a dog. “Stay,” he said mockingly. “There’s a good boy.”
    Kennedy fired another warning shot. Drake turned and ran past them, caught Ben’s arm, and pulled as the young man turned automatically towards the crumbling staircase.
    “No!” Drake shouted. “They’ll pick us off one by one.”
    Ben looked aghast. “ Where else?”
    Drake shrugged disarmingly. “Where’d you think?”
    He headed straight for the World Tree.
     
     
     
     
     

TWELVE
     
    THE WORLD TREE, SWEDEN
     
    And up they went. Drake had gambled that the World Tree was so old and strong that its limbs would be plentiful and sturdy. Once you accepted you were climbing a tree that was literally upside down, the physics hardly mattered at all.
    “Just like being a boy again,” Drake egged Ben on, urging him faster without causing panic. “Shouldn’t be a problem for you, Blakey. You okay, Kennedy?”
    The New Yorker climbed last, keeping the gun trained below her. Luckily, the World Tree’s extensive symmetry of branches and leaves concealed their progress.
    “I’ve climbed a few stalks in my time,” she said light-heartedly.
    Ben laughed. Good sign. Drake thanked Kennedy silently, starting to feel even better about having her along.
    Damn, he thought. He’d almost added: on this mission. Back to the old vernacular in less than a week.
    Drake climbed from branch to branch, ever upward, sitting or standing astride one branch whilst reaching for the next. The progress was quick, which meant their upper-body strength lasted longer than expected. Even so, about halfway up Drake noticed Ben was flagging.
    “Tweenie getting tired?” he asked, and saw an immediate doubling of the effort. Every so often, Kennedy cracked off a bullet down