Valhalla Virus by Nick Harrow (best management books of all time TXT) 📕

but Arthur. Take me to him. I’m sure he’ll reward you for delivering his enemy into his hands.”

The jötunn eyeballed Bridget for a long moment. He pulled the hammer back on his ridiculous pistol and took a step forward. “If you’re lying,” Bogie said, “I’ll feed you to my crew. One screaming piece at a time.”

“I don’t lie,” Bridget said, glaring at the jötunn. “You’ll see.”

Chapter 23

GUNNAR WOKE FROM A dreamless sleep, the Valknut cold as ice in its socket. Something was wrong.

He bolted upright from where he’d slept on the plywood floor. A scrap of paper fluttered out of his hand, and he snatched it out of the air. The Valknut let him see the writing in the darkness. Every loop and curve of the letters burned into his memory as he read the message.

“This is the only way,” he read silently. “I couldn’t let you stop me. Come find me, and you’ll find Draupnir.”

The bottom fell out of Gunnar’s stomach. Bridget had sneaked out of their hiding place at some point. He didn’t know how long ago or where she was headed. The völva could be anywhere. He cursed and crumpled the paper in his enormous fist.

“What’s wrong,” Mimi asked from the bed beside Ray.

“Bridget’s gone,” Gunnar choked out.

“No way,” she said. “If the jötnar had come up here we would’ve—”

“It’s not them,” he sighed. “She left a note.”

Ray sat up. She blinked sleep from her eyes and peered blearily at Gunnar. “Did you say Bridget’s gone?”

The bodyguard gathered his clothes and sat down to shove his legs into his pants. “We have to find her. Now.”

The völva scrambled over to Gunnar and helped him dress. Mimi busied herself with his moccasins while Ray found his shirt and slipped it over his head. He grabbed his spear from where it lay next to the mattress. He wanted to rush out of their hiding place and find Bridget, but he had no clue where she’d had gone, or how long ago she’d left. A pang of guilt flared up inside him. Now he knew how Ray had felt. “Can you find her?” he asked the women.

His pulse hammered out a war march in his ears. The urge to storm out of their hiding place and tear the Strip down in search of Bridget blossomed inside him like a poisonous fruit. If anything had happened to her, the jarl would build a bonfire of jötnar that would reach the heavens.

Mimi and Ray exchanged uncertain glances. “Maybe,” Ray said. “It’ll be a lot harder with just two of us. We should head to the lodge. It’s a place of power. The visions are clearer there.”

Gunnar didn’t like that plan. He ground his teeth in frustration. “We can’t waste that much time. Bridget is out there, alone. We have to find her. Now.”

Ray put a hand on his chest and looked up into his eyes. “Babe, slow down. We’re worried, too. But if we go out there in berzerko mode, we won’t make it far before one of those trolls spots us and a war band shows up.”

The jarl didn’t care about danger. If an ocean of jötnar flooded toward him, he’d split it with his spear.

“You have to upgrade the lodge,” Mimi piped in. “Maybe there’ll be something there that can help us find Bridget. Then we’ll go cut off some jötunn dicks and get her back.”

Ray nodded in agreement. “The girl’s gotta point, babe. Let’s get back to the lodge and regroup. We won’t help Bridget if we go off half cocked.”

Gunnar blew out a frustrated sigh. He needed to do something to help the missing völva. But as much as he hated to admit it, Ray and Mimi were right. He did need to upgrade the lodge after activating the new blood rune, and he should check to see if Deke had made it there safely. “Okay,” he said. “Back to the lodge it is.”

While Mimi and Ray got dressed, Gunnar gathered up their weapons. The AA-12 had changed into a crossbow, and the MP5s were both hand axes now. The changes affecting Vegas were accelerating. It wouldn’t be long before they were back to swords and arrows.

The trio left through the casino’s garage exit to avoid the Strip. It was still early in the morning, but the jötnar were already stirring. Wordless shouts rose in the distance, and rhythmic metallic crashes, like someone banging on a car hood with a hammer or a wrench, answered them. Gunnar realized these weren’t just random noises. The jötnar were communicating with one another. He wondered how many gangs like the Behemoth’s were out there and realized just how lucky he and the völva had been that none of those creatures had taken up residence in New York-New York. They’d have to be more careful from now on.

The journey back to the lodge was slow and nerve-wracking. Jötnar patrols roamed the streets, searching for something.

Or someone.

Gungnir throbbed in Gunnar’s hand every time they spotted the monsters, eager to destroy them. And while Gunnar knew a lightning storm could take out any of the patrols, the noise would just attract more enemies. It would be a glorious death to go down slaughtering hordes of jötnar, but that wouldn’t save Bridget. That mission required speed and stealth.

Stealth he could manage, but speed had become a problem. The patrols grew denser as the sun climbed higher in the sky. Gunnar found they had to backtrack more often to avoid their enemies. That cost them time they couldn’t afford to lose, and the jarl worried the roaming monsters would box them in. He pulled the völva into the shadow of a home that had nearly completed its transformation into a timber-walled longhouse. “Mimi,” he whispered, “it’s time to shine. Can your powers guide us around the patrols?”

The völva looked off into the distance, her eyes narrowed in concentration. “I can, like I did in the Luxor. But we’ll have to be careful. If I