Page 29 of The Knight
What?
Freya gave his hand a bone crushing squeeze. “Asta, this is—” but Asta was already in motion.
She whipped out what looked like a Geiger counter’s deranged cousin from a pocket in her worn, patch-covered dungarees. She began waving it up and down Abe’s body, muttering.
Abe shot Freya a concerned look, mouthing, “What the hell?”
Freya’s response was a tiny shake of her head and a look that said, ‘Just go with it’.
“Um, ma’am?” This was feeling like he’d stumbled into a low-budget sci-fi flick. “I’m?—”
“Quiet, please,” Asta studied the fluctuating digital display on her device. “I’m reading your electromagnetic signature. Fascinating…”
Freya shot Abe an apologetic look. “Asta, this is Abe. He’s a friend. He’s been helping me.”
Asta finished her scan, eyeing Abe as if was an interesting lab rat. “Well, Abe. All visitors must surrender their electronic devices before entering my property.”
Abe blinked. “I’m sorry, what?”
“Your phone, smart watch, any hidden communications devices,” Asta lifted the lid on a box next to the door with a theatrical flourish.
Abe peered inside, his disbelief growing. The lead-lined interior wouldn’t have looked out of place in a Cold War bunker.
“They all need to go in here.” Asta tapped the box with a silver-gloved finger.
The implications of surrendering his phone in their current situation rattled through his mind.Hell no. “Um, I’d rather not.”
“Abe.” Freya unclipped her watch. “It’s okay. We can trust Asta.”
This wasn’t the Freya of cold facts and sterile lab reports, but a woman willing to open herself to human connection. And even though he might surrender his sanity along with his devices, he liked what he saw in Freya’s eyes far too much.
With a resigned sigh, he placed his phone and watch into the box, acutely aware of the comforting weight of his gun tucked against his back. At leastthatdidn’t have an electromagnetic signature.
Freya did the same, her hand finding his again as soon as she was done. Unable to stop himself, he ran his thumb along the inside of her wrist. Freya sucked in an audible breath that made his heart stutter.
Was there more to this than his own crazy imaginings? Did she feel something, too?
Asta nodded approvingly, her eyes gleaming behind her mesh headgear. “Come inside, both of you.”
16
Air lockedin Freya’s lungs as the pad of Abe’s thumb brushed the inside of her wrist. A spiral of sensation shot up her arm, stealing her breath and short-circuiting her rational brain.
She’d never felt a touch like this before—a gentle, private connection that, even in public, remained hidden from everyone else. It was exhilarating and terrifying all at once, derailing her in a way that both thrilled and unsettled her. She felt like she was perched atop a roller coaster, teetering on the edge of the unknown, her meticulous control slipping away.
“Freya.” Abe’s voice was low, his breath warm against her ear as he pressed a steadying hand to her back.
The sound of her name snapped her back to reality.Right. Walk. Move.Her body remembered its functions, and she sucked in a sharp breath, her senses flooding back online like a rebooting computer.
“I’m good,” she muttered, trying to control her breathlessness as she followed Asta.
She had never been in Asta’s house, but she knew Asta—so she braced herself.
Asta, now free of her hat contraption, beckoned them down a narrow hallway. The walls were a riot of pink floral wallpaper overlaid with a shimmering, metallic material. Freya skimmed it with her fingertips.
High-grade EMF-blocking mesh.
She’d always known Asta’s research into EMF radiation was all-consuming—the woman had never married or had children—but she’d never fully grasped that Astalivedher research. It was her life. The realization was an inexplicable discomfort settling in Freya’s gut.