Viking Unbound Read Online Free Page B

to breathe, she eased past the man and the broken glass and focused her attention on the last of the security doors. The one she held the codes for.
    “Gods, no ,” Frey whispered as she got a closer look at the mangled and distorted metal that had been practically ripped from its frame.
    Knowing that she had to get even closer, she crawled forward and peered into the blackness within the holding cell. The motors hummed, keeping the air at well below freezing, but she had a sense that the Viking had forced his way out of there…
    This wasn’t good. This wasn’t good at all.
    She had to turn on a light and discover the truth. Her hands were shaking too much to make anything work. With a forlorn prayer to the Pavlovan Oracle and her Gods, she managed to illuminate the small screen of her FREN recorder and pointed it outward into the darkness.
    The ice block had disappeared and so had its occupant.
    Frey sat back on her ass and buried her face in her hands while she remembered how to breathe. She had to inform FREN that somehow their primitive Viking had self-defrosted and was now roaming the space ship obviously alive. And what the hell would he make of that? He could do untold damage and kill every one of them without even realizing what he’d done.
    She tapped in the emergency code, added a short message and fumbled her way back into the main lab.
    Her screen was already flashing an answer.
    KEEP HIM ALIVE AT ALL COSTS. USE PROTOCOL 3ZE.
    She stifled a hysterical giggle. That basically meant that she had control of the ship and the crew. She’d tried not to laugh when she’d been handed the secret protocols, knowing her chances of getting anyone to listen to her were fairly slim. But with a Viking marauder on the loose, would her companions change their minds?
    First and foremost she had to find the Viking and communicate with him. Once that was achieved, she might have a chance to save both him and the crew. Rising to her feet, she rummaged in her desk for some additional items the FREN team had provided her with in case of an emergency and added them to her utility belt.
    If she weren’t allowed to kill him, she’d have to shut him down somehow. Her fingers steadied as she slid the buckle home and tightened the belt around her hips. A whisper of something touched her mind and she went still. It definitely wasn’t Slavin’s now familiar telepathic signature. Was it possible that Vikings in the first century A.D. on Earth had been telepaths? Had she sensed him before?
    It was a bit of a leap, but it was all she had. Frey took a deep breath and centered her thoughts while allowing her telepathic senses to roam outward.
    There .
    Anger, rage, fear…
    Frey opened her eyes. If she could find him before the rest of the crew were alerted to his presence, she might be able to prevent further bloodshed. Focusing on her slight sense of him, she left her lab, took a sharp right turn and headed back to the kitchens.
    Einarr paused, his breathing ragged, his breath still frosting in the warm air. Nothing made sense. He’d thought he was free, but now he was encased in some kind of metallic humming maze. Had he been swallowed by a great beast? Was Odin demanding one more act of valor before he was allowed into the hallowed halls of Valhalla?
    He gripped the shaft of his axe more tightly and heard a scuttling sound to his left. Reaching out, he gently pushed open the nearest door and found himself in a space that smelled of food. His stomach grumbled loudly in the silence, convincing him that he was indeed alive and not completely immersed in the nightmare of his dreams. Two green orbs flashed at his shoulder level and he went to grab the creature, whatever it was, and encountered sharp claws and the hiss of fangs.
    “ Kottur .”
    He hastily withdrew his hand and sucked his fingers into his mouth. His blood flowed as sluggishly as a frozen river. Cats were beloved of Freyja. Perhaps this was a sign that he was not alone in