Page 5 of The Knight

“Can’t blame a man.” Fox laughed.

Despite previous harrowing experiences with Raptor, Abbie had emerged stronger and found true happiness with Fox. She’d fallen head over heels for him, and he absolutely adored her.

“Let’s not diss everything.” A muffled protest came from their third team member, Zak Bychkov, over the comms, followed by what sounded suspiciously like crunching. “These mini sausages are essential for peak operator performance. And trust me, I need all the energy I can get for when I see Alina.” His tone shifted to something disturbingly suggestive. “If you know what I mean.”

“For the love of God, Zak.” Fox snorted. “If you don’t stop broadcasting your love life on an open channel, I’m reporting you for misuse of comms equipment.”

Abe muted his mic to muffle his chuckle as he swept the room’s perimeter. Romance had sparked between Alina and Zak during a Guardsmen Security detail, when they’d been assigned to protect her research team.

An uncomfortable sensation swept through Abe’s chest. Most of his team had paired off lately, finding their own slice of happiness.

He was genuinely glad for them—hell, he’d never seen Zak so content or Fox so at peace—but letting someone that close? That was one risk assessment he wasn’t ready to run again.

He refocused, cataloging exits, choke points, and defensible positions. The security cameras created an impressive web of overlapping coverage, but every system had its weak points. And in his line of work, one overlooked detail could cost everything.

The conference had been held to discuss developments in geothermal energy, but the only topic of conversation appeared to be the impending transfer of Raptor’s illegal data cache from the nearby Hellisheidi Power Station to Norway. For the past two days, Abe had been on duty, the scientific rumor mill had been in overdrive. As he wove through the crowd, he was alert for any useful intel amidst the buzz of conversation.

A woman in a jewel-green dress raised her over-plucked eyebrows and sipped pink champagne. “My sister works in logistics. The security they’ve arranged for the data transport to Norway is nothing like anything she’s ever seen. A total headache.”

Abe kept his face neutral, reaching for a tiny stuffed mushroom from a passing tray of canapes as he drifted closer.

The woman’s companion shook his head, his mouth a bloodless slash above his thick neck. “Doesn’t surprise me. That has Freya all over it. I worked with her briefly. Complete nightmare.”

Abe’s hand paused midway to his mouth.Freya. The name had popped up with increasing frequency over the past two days. The mushroom he’d picked up was so small he popped it in his mouth whole and chewed. Hmmm.Weirdly fishy and rubbery.He swallowed and looked around for a drink to take away the fermented fish taste that was permeating his brain and making his tongue curl.

A table was set up with jugs of iced water on the far side of the room. He headed toward the water, past another group, where a harried-looking man was speaking in low, urgent tones. “Allegedly, she measures the distance between lines on graph paper to make sure they’re exactly five millimeters apart.”

“You’re joking.”

“I wish. My cousin worked with her once. Said she’d rather defuse a bomb than deal withthat woman’sattention to detail again.”

“Abe. Sitrep?” Fox’s voice sliced through the gossip as Abe poured himself a glass of water.

Abe took thirsty gulps to take away the salty aftertaste, then poured a second glass. He prodded his teeth. His tongue was numb.What the hell was in that mushroom?“Nothing to report other than it sounds like a lucky escape that we didn’t bid to escort the data back to Norway.”

Abe fell into step beside Fox, who’d appeared with a plate of hors d’oeuvres balanced precariously in one hand.

Fox grunted in agreement, his eyes narrowing. “I’m glad to have nothing to do with Raptor for once.” He lifted one of the weird fish-mushrooms from his plate.

“Fox, I wouldn’t eat that if?—”

The mushroom disappeared into Fox’s mouth, making his cheeks bulge. “What?”

“Nothing.” Abe shook his head.

Fox chewed. He swallowed and frowned at the remaining mushrooms on his plate, then blinked and wiped his eyes.

“Water’s over there.” Abe pointed.

Fox nodded and made a beeline for the table.

Abe left him to it and headed to where the air was a little fresher, where open floor to ceiling windows allowed the cool evening air to wash in from the nearby harbor.

Abe took a breath. “Griff must be gutted he’s missing all of this.”

“He’s holed up with Jo in a five-star hotel in Paris for the weekend.” Zak’s voice buzzed on the comms. “Nakedis a better word that springs to mind.”

Abe smiled. Griff was a changed man since he’d met Jo. That had been several months ago, but even now the two couldn’t keep their hands off each other. But there was more to it than that. Around Jo, Griff was a calmer man, as if she soothed some raw part of his soul that no one else had touched.

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