The Norse Directive by Ernest Dempsey

got knocked out of the tournament. A hit squad came to my hotel.”
    “And I saved his life,” she added with a subtle smile.
    Sean rolled his eyes. “I would have found a way out of there.”
    “Really?” She raised her eyebrows. “With a line of armed men behind you and in front of you?”
    Sean laughed again. “I coulda jumped through the window.”
    “Down onto the street? And that window was at least three inches thick.  You would have killed yourself just trying to get through it.”
    He turned to their guests. “She did save my life.”
    “You’re welcome,” Adriana said, her mouth hidden behind the coffee mug.
    The two older men laughed as they finished shoveling the food into their mouths.
    Silence pervaded the room for a minute before Sean’s phone suddenly started ringing. He glanced down at the screen. “It’s Tommy.” Hey, buddy. What’s up?”
    “We have some more information on that coin of yours.”
    “Awesome. Is it okay if I put you on speaker phone?”
    “Sure.”
    Sean set the phone on the counter and pressed the speaker button. “Okay, you’re on.”
    Tommy took his cue and began. “So, it took quite a bit of digging, but we were able to find out some interesting information about the face on the coin and on Francis Jackson. Tara and Alex stayed here until one in the morning working on it.”
    “And they’re already back to work, aren’t they?” Sean asked, already sure he knew the answer.
    “Yep. I can’t keep them away. Anyhow, the face on the coin was harder to figure out. We ran it through every piece of facial recognition software we could find. It took a few hours, but we’re pretty confident we have a match. Have you ever heard of a Danish warrior named Holger Danske?”
    Sean thought for a second and then shook his head and glanced at the other three people in the room. They all did the same. “Nope. None of us have ever heard of him.”
    “I figured. He’s not a prominent player in world history. Holger Danske is more of a local legend in Denmark, particularly the area surrounding Copenhagen.”
    No one said anything, so Tommy went on. “As the story goes, several hundred years ago, there was a great Viking king who roamed Scandinavia, pillaging, warring, and basically wreaking havoc.”
    “Doing what Vikings did,” Sean added.
    “Right. As a result, the king amassed a vast number of enemies. When he returned home from his travels and decided to settle down, the people he’d pissed off began to come for him. The Swedes were the most persistent and constantly invaded Zealand. That’s the Danish island where Copenhagen is located.” He wasn’t sure whether or not his audience knew that. “Anyway, the king sent out his mightiest warrior, a general who had led some of his foreign campaigns, to meet the threats.”
    “And that general was Holger Danske,” Sean interrupted.
    “Right again. Holger was, apparently, the Viking equivalent to Goliath, minus the debilitating gigantism. The legends say he was a massive man, and unmatched on the battlefield. Long story short, Holger defeated the enemies of Denmark every time he faced them.”
    Coop and Charlie listened intensely at the breakfast table, as did Adriana.
    When Tommy paused, she spoke up. “That’s a lovely bedtime story, Tommy. But what does any of that have to do with the coin Coop showed Charlie?”
    “Glad you asked. I’m getting to that. After sorting through the myths and legends, it’s hard to find any definitive ending to the tale of Holger Danske. Truthfully, most people don’t give the story any credence and pass it off as fantasy. We did find one interesting piece that might give us a clue as to the reason behind the coin’s existence.
    “When Holger had reached a ripe old age, he knew he would soon go to his eternal rest. The problem was that he had established such a reputation with the Danes that they had come to believe he was immortal. Even the king had declared Holger was sent