Page 9 of Deadly Rescue
She was too curious for her own good. Curious and determined to figure out who this guy was and what the hell he might be up to.
Several more turns and corridors later, she heard a door open and close. Following the sound, she came to a large open bay area, one where trucks could pull in and unload. There was a door marked with an exit sign.He must have gone out this way.
Pushing through cautiously, she found herself blinking against sunshine on a loading dock located at the rear of the arena. The stalls were empty, though she caught the red and white lettering of an ambulance nestled in the narrow alley between the sports arena and their hotel.
It looked like both facilities used the same alley for supply trucks. A visual sweep of the area showed no signs of movement, but perhaps the man indeed moving the ambulance to the front.
She waited, leaning out as far as she could without letting go of the door—in case it locked from the inside—to see if she could see him in or near the vehicle.
Nada. All was deathly quiet. It was like the EMT had disappeared into thin air.
Uneasiness gripped her, echoing what she’d sensed the night before. Something wasn’t right, she would bet money on it. Not taking any more chances, she went inside and dialed Cooper’s number.
“Where are you?”
Celina winced at the edge in his voice. “I’m at the loading docks at the rear of the arena.”
“What the…?”
A stream of curses erupted, and she had to pull the phone away from her ear for a second until he calmed down. “Are you done?”
“You tell me. Why are you not in the gymnasium?”
Men. “I need you to come to the loading docks.”
“When you sayloading docks, you mean you’re just on the other side of the basketball court, in the designated hallways laid out in the plan, right? Because we were specifically toldnotto leave the training session areas once it went live.”
Celina sighed. “No, I mean the actual docks where trucks come in to load and offload supplies on the other side of the arena. See the doorway with the pink tape under the flag in the gymnasium?”
“What the hell, Celina?” he growled, though there was something new in his toneworry maybe? He knew she would never disobey a direct order, not unless she had a really good reason for it.
“Go through that door and I’ll fill you in as soon as you get here.” She quickly gave him directions, then went inside to wait, walking off the large bay area. A part of her hoped the EMT—or whoever he was—did move the ambulance to the front and all was well. Yet, as she went out and checked the end of the alley she could see, and the ambulance was still there, she knew all was not well.
I really am paranoid, thanks to this training session.Regardless, she hadn’t gotten where she was—survived what she had survived—by listening to that paranoia.
It wasn’t long before she heard Cooper’s long stride, and then he appeared, bio suit and mask gone, but still wearing his Kevlar vest and looking worried. Pissed and worried.
“Are you all right?” His eyes raked over her.
“I’m fine,” she reassured him, quickly bringing him up to speed about the guy she’d noticed in the bar the previous night and seeing him again today dressed as an EMT. The discrepancies in his story. “There’s something off about this, Cooper. I can feel it.”
Storm clouds gathered in Cooper’s eyes, and his jaw clenched. “And you didn’t think to tell me about this last night?”
“We were kind of busy last night, and I put him out of my mind, because really, what was there to tell?” Busy, as in by the time they went back to their room, she’d been too focused on getting his clothes off to worry about some guy in the bar.
He smirked, his eyes darkening at the memory of their night’s activities, but all too soon, they grew serious again. “Everyone here underwent intensive background checks, but let’s say you’re right. What’s he up to?”
“I don’t know but it’s quite possibly happening in…” She looked at her watch. “Four minutes. There’s an ambulance in the alley, but unless he’s hiding in the back and skipping the training session, he seems to have disappeared. At the very least, he should be held accountable for going MIA if he didn’t get permission from his boss. This is serious business for all of us, but especially the first responders.” Bottom line, she trusted her instincts, and right now they were screaming that something was off.
Cooper didn’t look nearly as convinced as she was, but he went out the door, telling her to keep it open while he checked the ambulance.
He looked in the windows, knocked on the back doors, and called to the guy. There was no response.
Back inside, he cupped her elbow, steering her toward the main arena again. “Let’s go back and find the other EMTs or his team leader and clear this up. Someone will know who he is and vouch for him.”
Celina stopped to stare at him. “You disagree that this is suspicious behavior.”
It wasn’t a question, and he hesitated, sighing softly. Gently, he pressed a kiss to the end of her nose. “I know that you think the guy is troube, and maybe he is.” He held up a hand when she opened her mouth to protest, silencing her with a long finger pressed against her mouth. “I also believe you’re feeling out of sorts without Via around and you might be seeing things that aren’t there. Let’s get back before someone notices we’re gone and our asses land in hot water for leaving the designated areas.”
