Warrior For One Night. Nancy Gideon

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ

      Once closed in the elevator together, they stood shoulder to shoulder, both intently watching the floor numbers count down. Might as well get it over with.

      “Thank you.”

      No shift in expression betrayed that he’d heard her. Just when she was about to swallow down her pride to say more, she felt the brush of his fingertips against hers. Then the warm, firm squeeze of his hand. That was it.

      Enough said. She smiled faintly to herself as the doors opened to the lobby.

      The fact that he chose to sit up front with her said more. She hoped it wasn’t because he was afraid he’d have to be there to catch her if she decided to pass out.

      Once they were in the air and cruising, she glanced over at his immobile profile. When she lifted up the edge of his jacket, he turned to her in what was almost alarm.

      “Just wondering where you kept the superhero suit.”

      “What?”

      “I haven’t seen moves like yours outside of an afternoon adventure matinee.”

      A slight smile but no response. She prompted him with a lift of her brows.

      “Private school.”

      It was her turn to look confused.

      “I was that skinny, sensitive, geeky kid with glasses who used to get beaten up every morning for his café latte money. I was Alex Caufield III back then and I used to hide in the janitor’s closet until after the final bell so I could sneak into my seat without a bloody nose. There was no dignity in it but it was a lot less painful.”

      “So your folks enrolled you in martial arts classes?”

      “No. My mother didn’t believe violence was a solution to any problem. So I used my café latte money to pay our Korean gardener to teach me how to kick the crap out of anyone who got in my face. Classes are for earning trophies. Street fighting is to keep your glasses from getting broken.”

      “And now no one gets in your face,” she concluded, impressed but not wanting to show it.

      A small smug smile. No, she supposed they didn’t.

      “So why hire me when you can do your own crap kicking?”

      “Company policy. Liability purposes.” Catching her thoughtful look, he turned his attention to the scenery, ending the exchange of more words than they’d totaled for the past two days. She reassessed him with a leisurely look. A street fighter in Armani. An enticing contradiction.

      They traveled in silence for a time until he broke it with a soft oath. She followed his stare downward and understood his horror. They were approaching the fire zone.

      It was like flying over hell.

      A crackle of static on the radio had Mel quickly adjusting the frequency. And what she managed to pick up chilled her.

      “Firefighter down. Requests emergency extraction.”

      The signal was weak and breaking up. She put on her headphones to filter out the copter noise, but still the message was fragmented. She waited, breath suspended.

      “Come on. Somebody answer.”

      “What is it?”

      Alerted by her tone and tense posture, Xander pulled the earphone away so she could hear his urgent question. The look she gave him was stark with dismay.

      “One of our guys is down. He got cut off from his crew by a sudden backfire. He’s injured. I don’t know how bad.”

      “He’s down there?” Xander nodded to the inferno below.

      “Yes.”

      “Isn’t someone going in for him?”

      “I don’t think his call got out.”

      He followed her anxious attempts to contact the stranded firefighter who wasn’t answering. She put out a call to any nearby aircraft, but the closest was too far away to do the injured man any good. She cursed low and passionately. The nose of the copter dipped and they swooped down to skim the burning treetops. The heat was sudden and intense. Struggling to see through the thick haze of smoke, Xander finally called out, “There he is.”

      The situation was a worst-case scenario. They could see the single figure, prostrate on the ground with the fury of the beast rushing toward him. Mel tried the radio again. No answer.

      “There’s no place for me to set down and he can’t hook himself up to a harness.”

      “I’ll go down.”

      She must not have heard him right. “What?”

      “I’ll go down after him.”

      She stared at him, flabbergasted. “Are you crazy?”

      He never even blinked. “You’ve got a hoist back there, right? I’ll go down after him and you bring us both back up.”

      He made it sound so simple. Her heart started beating fast and furious. “You have no idea how dangerous—”

      “I’ve been rock climbing and base jumping since I was fifteen. I know how to rappel. Does that man have the time it’ll take for you to check my credentials?” His voice lowered, becoming rough, soft and persuasive. “Mel, you’re going to have to trust me. I know what I’m doing. And I’m going to have to trust you to pull me out of there before both of us are barbecue.”

      She continued to stare at him, expression frozen, eyes huge. Finally he unhooked his straps and stood. “I’m going to go rig up. You get in as close as you can. It doesn’t look like we’ve got much of a window of opportunity.”

      She gripped his wrist, holding hard, needing him to understand the gravity of his situation. “I don’t have any safety equipment on board. Once you’re outside, I can’t help you.”

      He covered her hand with his, pressing hard. “I’ll let you know when I’m ready.”

      She watched him work his way to the back, swaying with the rock of the Ranger as the rising heat created a vicious turbulence. She would have cursed again but her heart had bobbed up into her throat, choking her with desperate emotion.

      What kind of man dropped into hell in his shirtsleeves for someone he didn’t even know?

      The quick and competent way he fastened up the harness said he knew what he was doing. His expression was grimly focused. If he was afraid, she couldn’t tell. There was no hesitation in his movements. She could have been looking at one of the seasoned hotshots about to fly like an eagle. Except he was plunging into a furnace with no oxygen and no fire suit.

      “Here.”

      He caught the bandanna she tossed back.

      “Hold your breath,” she warned. She’d be holding hers. “I’m giving you thirty seconds and then СКАЧАТЬ