Page 16 of The Knight
Freya fought to right herself, pushing up against him and swiping the dust from her eyes. She found herself nose to nose with Abe, the hard length of his body beneath her. Her heart raced, and for a long moment, she forgot to breathe.
“Freya?”
Her lungs restarted with a whoosh, and reality crashed back around her.
What the hell?
She rolled off Abe to her knees, avoiding the power of his gaze.
“Fucking stun grenade.” Coughing, Abe pushed up to sitting beside her.
Stun grenade?She blinked, a sharp intake of breath punctuating her shock. “Where’s my laptop?” Her words sounded odd, ricocheting in her head.
“Are you okay?” Abe gave her upper arm a gentle squeeze. It felt like the only real thing amid the madness, and for the first time, she was grateful he was there.
But her own safety didn’t matter right now. Couldn’t he see that? “My laptop?—”
“Freya.” He grasped her chin, forcing her to look directly at him. “This is important. Are you hurt anywhere?” His brown eyes bore into hers.
She swallowed a mouthful of dust. “I bruised my knee.”
“Anywhere else?”
“No.” She winced in pain, shaking her head, her lungs struggling against the cloudy, gritty air. Ignoring the discomfort, she stretched out trembling fingers, feeling for the missing laptop. “Abe?—”
An intruder dropped from the ceiling in a predatory crouch. Through the haze of dust and adrenaline, Freya registered his impressive build.
Nowshe spotted her laptop. It lay obscured beneath debris, having skidded across the floor to rest against a cabinet door on the far side of the room.
Behind the intruder.
He tracked the line of her gaze.
Oh God.
She looked away, but it was too late. His head swiveled, tracking the path of her betraying glance with unnerving precision.
Abe surged to his feet with a growl, but the intruder was a blur of motion, launching himself toward the device, dodging Abe’s grasp by inches.
“Stop!” Abe drew his gun and aimed at the thief’s back.
The thief jerked a glance over his shoulder as he snatched the laptop case and dropped it into a sleek backpack.
Abe fired. Freya’s hands flew to cover her ears again, the retort deafening in the confined space of the lab. Crimson bloomed on the intruder’s arm, but if he felt pain, there was no sign of it. He pushed to his feet and sprinted for the exit.
He has to go past me.
Freya lunged, a moment of savage triumph surging through her as her nails raked down his arm. But her grip failed to find purchase.
The man pivoted on his heel and delivered a punch to her belly. The impact of his fist was a sledgehammer. Agony erupted within her, bright starbursts dancing across her vision. The pain was all-consuming, radiating outward in sickening waves.
Abe regained his footing, his stance rock-solid as he sighted down the barrel of his weapon.
He’ll hit the laptop.
“Don’t!” She surged to her feet and barreled into Abe. His gun barked twice in rapid succession, white puffs of pulverized wall exploding close to the intruder’s shoulders. The thief fired at the lab door. Glass shattered as he tumbled through and away.
Freya gasped, the air thick with dust and the metallic tang of spent ammunition, her eyes blurry with tears.