She opened the case, revealing an assortment of specialized tools that she used to quickly disassemble the desk lamp, rewiring the device so that anyone touching the base of the lamp would receive a long and sustained electrical charge. Then she reassembled the lamp and replaced the tools—all except a long, slender wand topped with a thin needle covering a wire thinner than a single strand of her hair. The bell on the cabin door sounded, startling her. Moving quickly, Jewel replaced the wand in her tool case and stuck the container back in the drawer. She rose as the bell chimed again and hurried to answer it. Erik stood in the doorway with all his weight uncharacteristically on one foot. “Do you have a minute?” Jewel couldn’t fully suppress the urge to look back over her shoulder at her desk before she stepped back and let her lover into her room. She didn’t want to hide things from him, but there was no way she could tell him that her bioware chips were real. How could she explain she needed to turn the software back on to help her deal with Brüning, but would have to risk killing herself to turn it off again?
