Valkyrie (Kate O'Hearn) - By Kate O'Hearn Page 0,43

Then she reached for her dagger. She went out to the back yard, carrying her coat.

‘Freya, talk to me,’ Orus begged. ‘What are you doing?’

Freya stopped. ‘This is all about money and greed. I can’t fight that, not with my powers. We need a lawyer. And we both know a good man who is married to one.’

‘You’re talking about the man we met when we first arrived!’

Opening her wings, Freya launched herself into the sky. ‘That’s right. Curtis Banks offered to help and that’s just what we’re going to ask him to do.’

Freya headed into Chicago. It was late afternoon, but the sun was still bright enough that she needed the protection of her helmet.

They flew towards the building they’d visited when they first arrived in Chicago. Freya and Orus circled it a couple of times but did not see the window cleaner. Moving from that building to the next, they scanned it too. And then the next. Finally, Freya’s face brightened. She saw Curtis Banks on a suspended scaffold, cleaning a high-level window.

But he wasn’t alone. A young man was working closely beside him.

Freya soared up to the roof and landed. She stepped to the ledge and peered over. ‘How do we let him know we’re here without his companion seeing?’

‘Leave it to me,’ Orus said. He leaped off the building and headed down the side to the scaffold. Landing on the railing beside Curtis Banks, he started to caw.

Curtis jumped at the sight of the raven, while his companion cried out in surprise. The older man’s first instinct was to swat the bird away. Orus was thrown off the railing, but flew right back. He caught the man by the sleeve and looked up.

When that didn’t work, Orus flew up to Curtis’s shoulder and cawed loudly in his ear. Once again, the raven looked up.

This time it worked. Curtis reached for the controls and pressed a button that lifted the scaffold. Orus flew off his shoulder and returned to Freya.

She was still leaning over the side. ‘Curtis Banks! It’s me, the Valkyrie. I need to speak with you!’

At the top of the tall skyscraper, the winds were high. But not so high that Freya’s voice couldn’t be heard.

‘Did you hear something?’ Curtis’s workmate said, looking around wildly as they arrived at the top. ‘I swear I heard someone calling your name.’

Curtis shook his head. ‘It’s just the wind playing tricks. You get used to it. Just like you get used to some of the crazy birds that go after us. Let’s take a break.’

Curtis climbed out of the scaffold and pulled some money from his pocket. ‘Here, kid, go downstairs and grab us some coffee and maybe a doughnut or two.’

When he was out of sight, Freya pulled off her helmet. ‘I’m so glad I found you.’

‘Valkyrie, is that really you?’ Curtis asked, squinting at her.

When she nodded, he continued, ‘You look so different. Your hair, your dress . . . Where’s your armour and sword?’

Freya knocked on her breastplate. ‘It’s still here, just under my shirt. I’ve left my sword and gauntlets at home.’

Curtis shook his head and chuckled. ‘You know, I told my wife all about you. She thought I’d been drinking. Said I was seeing things. But you ain’t no apparition.’

‘Not quite,’ Freya said. She stepped closer. ‘Curtis, do you remember I told you why I was here?’

‘To help that soldier’s family?’

She nodded. ‘But it’s worse than I thought. I can’t do this on my own. I really need your help.’

‘What can I do?’ Curtis said.

Freya filled him in on how the soldier’s wife had been killed in a hit-and-run and that they suspected it was the developers. She told him that Alma, the girls’ only living relative, was dying of cancer and that their home was being threatened. ‘I can fight,’ Freya added. ‘I was raised on a battlefield. But this is a different kind of battle.’

Curtis shook his head. ‘That’s so much tragedy for one family, it doesn’t seem fair.’

‘I remembered you said that your wife is a lawyer. Could she take a look at the paperwork? Maybe there’s some way that she can help?’

Curtis looked around. ‘Look, my shift is almost over. Why don’t we head back to your friend’s house and let me see those papers? Then I can talk to my wife.’

‘There’s something else. They need money to pay off their house.’ Freya held up her dagger and pulled the blade from the cover. She handed over the heavily jewelled,