Page 85 of Catching Fire

As she looked up, Jo saw the grin and the mustache. Conrad Phillips. C-shift. Asshole.

Should she call back, “My name’s not JoJo”? No. That would only provoke him. Instead, she offered a sweet smile. “You like it? What are you driving, Connie?”

If they were playing the “stupid names game” she could at least fire back.

His lips tightened and she kept a neutral expression. She was glad she wasn’t on shift with him and she told herself it was good to know where the hits were going to come from.

She stood next to her silver performance model, watching as he crossed the lot. Every time she came in, she’d pass him, so she wouldn’t give an inch now, even though she wanted to go inside and start her shift.

A-shift had to be better than Conrad Phillips, didn’t they?

Aside from acting like fools that Jo was a woman, they’d been fine. Two of them had treated her with kid gloves and two had dismissed her. But the chief was nice, and she knew she’d have to prove herself like anyone else.

As long as they let her.

Phillips took his sweet time getting in the car, so she started to walk away. But, as he backed up, he went too fast and stopped just inches shy of her bumper … and her legs.

Fuck him.

She had her bag in one hand, just like everyone else in the lot, so she used her free one to slap the trunk of his old Camry. Maybe she wouldn’t get one, after all. “Hey! I hope they don’t let you drive the rigs.”

She grinned, though it was forced and not funny at all.

He flipped her off as he peeled away.

Day One.

She kept her head down and walked through the open back doors with the other firefighters coming onto shift. She’d tried to memorize their names.

Sebastian Kane, the blond surfer-looking guy, was polishing the already-shiny bumper of the ladder truck. Kalan Smith was at his locker, his nearly bald head reaching the top edge, black skin moving with a strength and efficiency she admired. Ronan …something-Irishcame out the door and grinned at her. He was the happy-go-lucky one on the crew. They told her he made the coffee and she wasn’t to touch the pot.

“Hey, Jo!” he called out, “Chief wants you in his office.”

She frowned. Jesus, she’d just walked in. “What could I have possibly done wrong already?”

She’d tried to say it as a joke, but it tugged at her guts. She couldn’t fuck this up.

“I think it’s something with paperwork?” But Ronan …Kelly!was already walking past her.

Jo tried to hide her sigh as she walked into the chief’s office. But another man sat with his back to her. His khaki shirt and olive green pants told her he wasn’t another firefighter.

Chief Taggert stood up from his seat, “Jo! I wanted to introduce you to—”

The man stood up, too, and Jo couldn’t help the words that fell from her mouth. “Leo Evans.”

“You two know each other?”

“She came with Ivy to help find Seline,” was all Leo said.

Jo guessed that everyone here was on a first name basis. It already felt weird.

Taggert motioned them both to sit. “Evans is our local search leader. When something happens, you’ll be working with him.”

Jo nodded. Of course, he was. She’d made the mistake of telling Evans she was search trained and he’d brushed her off back at Seline Marchand’s house. Jo had let it slide,not her monkeys, not her circus. Though it sounded as if Taggert was now telling her itwasher circus.

He turned to Leo. “Huston here is one of the top USAR trainees from Dallas.”

Leo Evans only nodded slightly. “We don’t even have USAR out here.”

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