Page 10 of Rescued Duty

“Food’s here.” Naya walked around the corner and held up the bag.

Ingram moved away from the counter by the copier and walked past Will. “We can finish this conversation later. I’m starving.” Ingram turned to Naya, and her tense features softened.Thank you.

“See you later.” Naya nodded to Will, who replied with a grunt.

“Let’s go out back.” Ingram led Naya downstairs and found a table outside at the back of the building. The brick patio-like area provided the best view of the rolling mountains and tree line a few miles away.

Don’t bring it up. Let her mention it.

“We should take a hike again soon. Catch up on life.” Naya unwrapped her sub, trying to act like everything was fine.

“How’re you doing?” Ingram pointed to Naya’s bandage.

“Grateful it wasn’t worse.” Naya pulled in a breath. “How’re you?” She clasped her hands on the table.

“You overheard, didn’t you?” Ingram propped her elbows on the table.

“Yeah.” Naya winced.

“Well, your girl needs to eat some calories first before thinking about burning them off. Although, getting away for a day sounds like a great idea.”

Naya smiled. “Fair enough.”

Ingram blessed the food, and they dug in.

In between bites, Naya said, “I take it tensions are high?”

“Mm-hmm.” Ingram chewed and said nothing else.

“The company thinks the problems will simply disappear?” Naya grabbed a napkin and dabbed at the sauce on her lips.

“Bingo. But when you’re a manufacturer and distributor of products that include fire extinguishers and firefighting foam forresidential and commercial properties, you’d think safety and the customer would be—” Ingram paused.

“What?”

Her eyes followed something behind Naya. She leaned in and whispered, “Don’t look now, but yourfavoriteperson is headed this way.”

“Fancy seeing you here.” Tucker’s voice filled Naya’s eardrums with an unwelcome cacophony, and she tensed.

“I could say the same of you.” Naya leaned back in her chair and lifted her chin.

“I have a source who asked to meet me here in ten.” He smirked down at her from the lofty heights of his own self-assurance. “So don’t let me interrupt your girl time. Unless you’re hoping to acquire details for your story from her. We wouldn’t want to add bias into what we write, now, would we?”

“Actually, I logged a story today.” Naya stood up.

He flinched. “You’re done?”

Naya gave him a grin of her own. “Firsthand account of the bridge collapse and the valiant actions of the fire department that saved lives.”

He glared at her.

“If I were you, I’d get moving with your leads. Don’t want to fall too far behind now.”

Naya wouldn’t let his intimidation tactics scare her. She might have a rival for this story, but that wasn’t going to stop her from showing up and finding the truth.

FOUR

“Pizza’s here! Come and get it while it’s hot.”

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