Page 13 of Rescued Duty

The guy glanced down at the firehouse emblem on Zack’s shirt. “I need to get back to my job. I don’t have time to answer questions. The last thing I need is to have my name muddled in with this mess.”

“Who can I talk to then?” Naya stepped forward, her pen poised. “Someone has to be responsible.”

“You can deal with our agency. Twenty minutes out of town.” Before giving anyone a chance to respond, he clobbered away in his boots with a dismissive hand wave.

“One failed lead, another to follow,” Naya mumbled under her breath. Still, her eyes glistened, and she tapped her finger against her bottom lip. Despite that guy being bigger than her, and grumpy, she hadn’t backed down.

Zack grinned. “More determined now, huh?”

Naya lifted her gaze and connected with his. “I suppose so.”

“You did the same thing with your finger when we were younger. Anytime you were passionate about something.” It had been cute then. Now she was a beautiful woman, who hadn’t lost the zeal for life she’d always possessed.

Zack could still picture them sitting on the floor in his grandma’s living room together, dreaming about the future. An idea would spark in Naya’s eyes, and they’d end up talking a mile a minute, solving life’s problems, until they were lying on the ground doubled over in laughter. His grandma would shush them from the other room, saying she couldn’t hear the game show on the TV, and if they didn’t quiet down, Naya would have to go back to her house.

“Right. I remember.” Naya’s tone dropped and she pursed her lips. “I’d like to say it was nice to see you again.” She left it at that and stepped back.

Zack might as well have been sprayed with toxic chemicals. “What is that supposed to mean? We were friends, weren’t we?”

“Were.” She crossed her arms. “Until you left and added more pain to my life.”

Her response ripped open the reminder of a past he’d worked hard to erase. In her eyes, he was still a troublemaking kid. The kid who got called into the principal’s office on the regular because he’d had some goofy, grand idea that backfired or because he’d gotten into a fight to protect a kid who was being bullied.

He wanted to explain himself. Tell her that the way they’d left things wasn’t how he’d meant for it to turn out. He’d never intended to hurt her. But he hadn’t had a say in it. The damage had been done. Now he’d have to work to earn her trust again. That was, if she even wanted him around. Zack rubbed his jaw.

Why did their paths have to cross again now? On top of being handed his parents’ case? It was a double whammy of the way his troublemaking streak had inflicted pain on others.

Who was he kidding? They weren’t friends anymore. They each had a life they’d built.

Separately.

Yet he wanted to hear how she was doing. How had life turned out for her since his disappearance?

Zack pointed at her shoulder. “How’s your arm doing?” The words tumbled out before he could stop them. Regardless of her view of him, she was still his sister in Christ. That was, if she’d kept her childhood faith.

“Better.” She moved her arm, but Zack caught her grimace.

“What were you testing with those?” Naya asked. Her deflection hurt, but at least she hadn’t hightailed it away from him.

“Water samples. Part of my hazmat training.” Zack lifted the litmus paper and frowned. “Interesting. It’s red.”

“What does that mean?” Naya flipped through pages in her notebook and clicked her pen.

“The water is acidic. I was going to compare it to the numbers the city released for the public.” Zack folded the strip and tucked it in his pocket.

“I’ll have to look up those stats.” Naya closed her pad then pointed behind her. “I need to get going. Time’s ticking on these leads.”

“Of course. Let me walk you to your car.” Zack fell in step next to Naya, who shrugged but didn’t protest further.

She dug out her keys, and the lights on her car blinked. A compact Impreza, a few parking spots down on the right side of the street.

“Oh no.” Naya groaned and hurried to the front windshield. She pushed her purse higher on her shoulder to keep it from falling and snatched the paper tucked under her wipers. “I can’t have a ticket right now.”

Zack stepped over to the meter and bent to check the time. “You still have thirty minutes according to this. So you can waive the charge.” Zack pulled out his phone and snapped a picture.

Silence greeted him. Naya’s fingers shook, and the piece of paper flitted in her grasp.

“You okay?” Zack put his hand on her shoulder.

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