The Iron Storm by CW Browning (classic literature books TXT) 📕

idiot ran into you in the market?” he asked. “I’m very sorry about that. It’s not much of a welcome for you.”

“Oh I don’t know. No harm was done, after all, and you seem very nice.” She smiled up at him. “You remind me of my brother.”

“Do I? Is he awkward as well?”

Evelyn thought of Robbie and couldn’t stop the laugh that came to her lips. “No, not at all. But you remind me of him just the same.”

“If this is your first day in Brussels, where are you going to first?” Jens asked after a moment of silence.

“Oh, I have no idea. I’m just wandering around and getting a feel for the city.”

“There are many places you should see, but I’m sure you’re aware of them,” he said with a smile. “There are also many wonderful cafés. One of the first you must try is not far from here, actually. Pierre’s. You won’t be disappointed.”

“Pierre’s?” she repeated. “I’ll remember. Thank you.”

“I’d take you there for lunch in apology for running you over, but I have to get back to work.”

“Oh? What do you do?”

“I’m a radio operator,” he said unexpectedly. “I work in the government offices. I was able to take a longer lunch break to pick up a package from the tailors, but I really must get back now.”

“A radio operator!” she exclaimed, stopping to look at him. “Really?”

“Yes. Why? Are you interested in radios?”

“A bit,” she admitted. “I had a very good friend in Norway who was a radio enthusiast. He made his own wireless radio that was portable and...” Her voice trailed off suddenly and Evelyn swallowed painfully. “Well, it doesn’t matter. I find it all very interesting, though.”

“Do you?” Jens looked down at her curiously. “Not many women do. Your friend, is he...I mean, with the German invasion, is he still able to have a radio?”

She forced a smile. “I’m sure he wouldn’t be able to, no. I don’t think the Germans allow that kind of thing.”

“No.” Jens looked at her for a long moment, and his lips twisted faintly. “I don’t think they allow a lot of things. How long are you staying in Brussels?”

“Only for a few days, and then I am going back to Paris.”

He hesitated for a moment, then cleared his throat uncomfortably. “While you’re here, you must let me take you to dinner and show you some of Brussels,” he said. “That is, if you would like to...”

Evelyn smiled at his stammered invitation. “I would enjoy that.”

“You would?” he asked, clearly surprised.

“Yes, I think so. After all, you live here. You must know all the right places to go.”

“Well, yes, I suppose I do.” He ran his hand through his hair nervously again, then looked at his watch. “I really must get back to work. Are you staying nearby?”

“Not far from here.”

“Would you like to meet for dinner tonight? There’s a nice little restaurant a few blocks from here called Marcel’s. Or, if you’d prefer, we can go to one of the hotels?”

“Oh, I don’t mind. You choose. You know the city best.”

Jens tilted his head and thought for a moment, then smiled. “I think Marcel’s,” he decided. “It’s not very large, but it’s always busy. It’s one of the best local restaurants, and has a dance floor.”

Evelyn smiled. “Marcel’s it is,” she said. “You can tell me all about your radios.”

Jens laughed. “Oh, I don’t think you’d like that. I can get very technical and boring when I talk about work. Shall we say seven o’clock?”

“Yes, all right.”

“Fantastic! I’ll meet you there.” Jens touched his hat and turned to leave. He’d only gone a few steps before he stopped and turned back. “You won’t forget?”

Evelyn smiled and shook her head. “I won’t forget,” she assured him.

He nodded and grinned, then turned and disappeared between two stalls selling vegetables, leaving her in the middle of the market wondering what on earth she had just agreed to. Dinner with a complete stranger who had bumped into her in a market in a strange city? She must be out of her mind.

Except she wasn’t, she reflected, turning her attention to the stall next to her and the array of inkwells displayed before her. She was learning very quickly that she had to seize opportunities as they presented themselves, and she wouldn’t get a better opportunity than another radio operator. And one who worked for the Belgium government, no less! What kind of luck was that?

Evelyn turned and moved along the crowded market, a heavy feeling falling on her chest. Peder had been another very friendly man who’d worked with radios. He had done everything he could to help her in Norway, using his radio to contact London repeatedly in their efforts to get her out of the country as the Germans advanced. His efforts had got her out of Norway, but they had also gotten him killed. Now, here was another young man who worked with radios. Was fate offering her a second chance to make amends for leading Peder to his death?

She supposed it really wasn’t that unusual nowadays to run into people who worked with them. They were becoming more and more common in homes, and they were an absolute lifeline and necessity in war. It wasn’t so strange, then, to be making a new friend who made his living with the machines. Jens Bernard certainly seemed harmless enough. He was about as far away from a threat as one could get, she reflected with a smile. The man tripped over his own feet, and then was so awkward asking her out to dinner that she almost had to agree. It would have been too painful to watch him try to recover from a rejection.

Not that a rejection was ever a possibility, not once she knew he worked in the government with radios. While there were hundreds of applications for radio use in every government, Evelyn knew that Jens had access to an array of information that could be useful