"Evans,.Linda.-.Sleipnir" - читать интересную книгу автора (Evans Linda)

No more innocents in the way. Odin had another think coming if he
and his buddies thought they could stop me just by pulling the
ground out from under my feet. . . .

Well, it wasn't going to be the last time he'd try it. And he had at
least as much to lose as I did; maybe more. I swore aloud; then
grinned, although the wobbly effort felt a little sickly. I might be
shaken, but I must have managed to put a serious dent in Odin's
confidence. That counted for more than a little in the deadly game
I'd found myself caught up in.

And since the only score which mattered was survival, that left me
on top. So far, anyway. Somewhere at the bottom of this cave,
Odin must be spitting ten-penny nails.

Gary would've been proud. Well, maybe he would; then again,
maybe not. Gary Vernon had wanted me to go Stateside when my
discharge came, find myself a decent job and marry some freckle-
faced kid with a down-home Cracker accent. But if I had, I would
never have been able to look myself in the eye again. Gary Vernon
was the reason I was here, stranded on the lip of a bottomless
chimney in a freezing Norwegian cave. And no one-eyed, oath-
breaking, cold-blooded killer was going to divert me. Of course,
nobody'd ever accused me of having too many brain cells; but
Randy Barnes wasn't, by God, a quitter.

I can't speak for the rest of humanity; but having my life wrenched
inside-out by assholes really pisses me off. I never could tolerate
an asshole. (Despite a sneaking suspicion that I was one.) I let out
a bark of laughter. They do say the only creature on this green
earth stupider than an infantryman is a Marine. Not even a
leatherneck would have walked into this mess.

There were only two things I could see that I might have done
differently. I should not have opened my big, fat mouth and told
Gary Vernon to go to hell. And I certainly shouldn't have made a
pact with Odin.

Hindsight is a mother.

It's also a waste of time. I muttered something ugly into the
darkness and my words echoed oddly in the close air. I growled
out something even nastier, hopeful the curse followed my dead
guide all the way to Odin's ears. I'd learned the hard way that you
never knew whoЧor whatЧmight be listening when you cursed, or
took an oath, so I cursed away, because sure as worms eat little
green apples, nothing I said now could possibly get me in deeper
than I already was.

"Okay, Barnes," I muttered. "What next?"