Page 15 of Koa’s Little Girl (Soldier Daddies #8)

T he loud ringing of Giana’s phone woke them at three a.m. Instantly, his little girl rolled out of bed and ran for the device plugged into the nearby charging station.

“This is Captain Mancini.”

Koa turned on the bedside lamp and watched his little girl’s usually expressive face. It was deadpan serious as she listened to whoever had called.

“Contact stations ten and thirteen. Ask them to respond to the scene with safety equipment for unfriendlies. Do not resume battling the fire until the police have the scene under control. I will be there in eight minutes.”

She disconnected from the call and raced into the closet. Koa slid out of bed and pulled on a pair of shorts. Giana emerged fully dressed, carrying her boots. “Can I borrow socks? I forgot those.”

“Of course.” Koa opened a drawer and found a pair of tube socks. Tossing them to her as she sat on the bed, he asked, “Can you tell me what’s happening?”

“There’s a big warehouse fire. Seems deliberately set with an accelerant. Two of my guys are down after being grazed with bullets. Thankfully, nothing serious.”

“Someone is shooting at them while the team is trying to put the fire out?” Koa asked in disbelief.

“A sniper. They can’t figure out exactly where he is, but the police are on the scene. I’m headed to liaison with them and support the firefighters.”

“Hank is our sniper. He’s an expert in pinpointing the location. I’ll have him meet you there.”

Giana hesitated for a minute, and Koa guessed she was battling how to separate work life from home. “If he’s available and willing, have him ask for me at the barricade. It’s a dangerous situation.”

“Got it. Be safe, Flame. I just found you.”

“I’ll update you when I can.”

Koa walked her to the door and watched her back out into the darkness. He was used to seeing danger from the other side. It gave him a better perspective of how military spouses worried at deployment.

Forcing himself into action, Koa ran back to grab his phone.

“Koa! What’s up? Did I miss a deployment call?” Hank sounded completely alert.

“No, Hank. It’s something personal. Giana received a call from the station. The firefighters are under attack from a sniper. The police are on the scene, but they can’t locate the source.”

“Text me the address. I’ll grab my scope and go help. Giana’s okay?”

“She’s fine. Two grazed by bullets. No serious injuries.”

“Either someone seriously skilled and trying to torment them or a novice who got ahold of a weapon. Either is dangerous.”

“I know.” Koa’s last attempt to prevent himself from worrying evaporated at Hank’s blunt assessment.

“Text me the address. I’ll update you when I can.”

Koa paced the length of his open living room and kitchen area. He had to stop himself repeatedly from grabbing his keys and racing his truck down to the scene. Okay, he’d already stuffed his keyring in his pocket, but he was still inside.

His phone buzzed with an incoming message. He looked at the screen to see a message from Hank.

Sniper located and in custody.

Thank goodness. Wait, was Giana okay? He was typing an answer back to his teammate, when another message appeared.

Turn on the morning news.

He snatched the remote from the coffee table and navigated through the screens to find the local news station. Giana’s beautiful face filled his screen. Relief flooded through him as Koa sank down on the couch to listen.

“…firefighters are now able to battle the blaze without risk of being killed. The delay in dealing with the fire allowed the flames to jump to two other buildings. I have called in three other stations to assist us. This will be a total loss for all three structures, but if we’re lucky, we’ll contain it there. ”

“Have the authorities identified the shooter or determined his motives?” a news reporter asked, shoving her mic into Giana’s face.

Giana put her hand over the device and pushed it away from her lips. Even from the video, Koa noted Giana’s lethal glare she used to target the offensive woman. “I will provide you with details as I address all the media sources. Do not jab this into my face.”

Focusing back on the group, she continued, “I do not have definitive information on the shooter at this point. The police will take the podium next. I would like to thank a Special Ops officer from the local base for assisting the officers and protecting the firefighters. His skill facilitated locating the culprit. Everyone will make it home to their families because of him.”

“What’s his name?” the same reporter asked again, rudely pushing her microphone too close to Giana.

His beloved fire captain plucked the device from the reporter’s hand and tossed it over her head to a fireman standing behind her. Koa recognized him. It was the one who’d glared daggers at him when Koa had appeared at the station. The man caught it easily and stuck it inside his protective gear.

Koa grinned at the screen. Take that, obnoxious reporter.

He enjoyed seeing Giana in her official role and understood why she’d achieved her rank in the fire department at a younger age than most captains.

She didn’t put up with any crap. It pleased him to see her firefighters supporting her without question.

“I understand you have a job to do, but I’m only going to warn you once before I eliminate the problem,” Giana said firmly. She continued with her briefing without skipping a beat.

He liked that his little girl was a badass at work. Koa watched the last of the program hoping to see Giana for an update. Now the live segments focused on the firefighters battling the blaze. He caught a glimpse of Giana coordinating from the sidelines several times.

A few minutes later, the footage brought him to his feet as he saw Giana scaling a ladder over a flare of fire.

Koa paced along the width of the house, following the next segment to make sure she was fine.

When the morning news coverage ended, he checked online to see if there was an update. Nothing.

The ringing of his doorbell made him jump. Koa shook his head as he walked to answer it. His nerves were usually rock steady.

“Hank?” Koa stared at his teammate. “What’s going on? Is something wrong with Giana?”

“She was fine when I left her. They’re going to be on scene for a long time, putting out that fire. We knew you’d be tense,” Hank said and waved a hand toward the rest of the team, who stood in his driveway. “Come on. We’re going on a run.”

“I thought we had the day off,” Koa said, staring at the group.

“We do. This is to save your sanity and for fun for the rest of us. You’ve got three minutes before we start, then you have to race to catch up to us.”

When Koa hesitated, Caden called, “Time starts now.”

Koa didn’t wait to see him click the timer on his watch. He raced toward the bedroom, yanking off his slouchy clothes to grab training gear like the others wore. He knelt on the doorstep, tying his shoelaces as Caden took off with the others falling into step behind him.

“Fuck!” Koa secured his other shoe and sped off to join his team. At about mile three, his body released the tension that had built from worrying about Giana. That didn’t mean he forgot to check his phone for messages.

Jerico turned into a parking lot, and the other guys cheered. Koa glanced up to read the name of a climbing gym he’d always wanted to check out. “We’re going in here?” Koa asked.

“Caden arranged for us to challenge ourselves in return for some shooting instruction for the owner and a few friends,” Hank explained. “It seemed like a good time to come.”

“This absolutely rocks,” Koa said, eagerly following the others to the door. Just as he walked in, his phone buzzed. He looked down at the screen to see his little girl’s photo.

“Giana,” he called and walked back outside. “Hey, Flame. Are you okay?”

“Sooty and buried in paperwork. I’ll be here for several hours talking to the higher-ups and filling in forms,” she reported.

“I can handle having my own s’more,” he teased, feeling the last of his worry subside. Koa kept his voice light, not wanting her to know how much the danger in her job affected him. “Did you ever give that microphone back?”

“That reporter always does that. This was the fourth microphone I’ve taken from her.”

Koa could hear the aggravation in her voice and guessed that a massive eye roll had accompanied it. “I’m glad you’re okay, Flame.”

“Hank was invaluable. Thank him for me.” She paused as a big group emerged from the climbing gym, talking animatedly. “Where are you?”

“The team guessed I needed to let some steam off. We ran to the new rock-climbing place. I’m standing outside.”

“Go! You can’t let them get ahead of you,” Giana said.

He laughed. She knew him too well. The competition among the team members was fierce in training. They all pushed each other to the highest level. “You won’t be home for a while?”

“I’ve got at least two hours here. Probably three because I’m fielding phone calls as well.”

“I’ll meet you at home.”

“Sounds good. Go have fun,” she urged and hung up before he could say anything else.

Jogging inside, he found the team already scaling the wall in two teams. “A race?” he asked.

“You’re with us, Koa,” Jerico told him, pointing to the empty protective gear waiting for him.

In a flash, Koa donned the harness and strapped his helmet on. He studied the wall and watched Zale already in progress. When he reached too far for his next handhold, Koa yelled, “Go for the red peg, Zale.”

The team’s medic immediately took his advice and shifted to that one. He reached the top a few seconds before Jerico. “Gotcha!” Zale celebrated and scrambled back down to the floor.

As he stepped out of the way, Jerico attacked the wall. Koa scrutinized his style, noting his climbing strength. About halfway, Koa called to Jerico, “Grab the yellow to your right and then step on the blue.”

It would require great hip flexibility for Jerico to stretch a leg up that far, but if he was successful, Jerico could power upward, skipping two steps.

Jerico reached for the yellow and missed it.

Holding his breath, Koa watched Jerico adjust slightly before shifting his weight.

It took a couple of seconds more for the tricky maneuver, but Jerico powered up into the lead and tapped the ceiling.

As soon as Jerico stepped away from the wall, Koa scampered up, making it look effortless. He tapped the ceiling when Max had reached the halfway mark. Koa passed him on the way down and patted his back as the large man powered upward.

“What are you? Part mountain goat?” Max demanded.

“I think we’ve found our rock-climbing expert. That’s an excellent skill for the team,” Caden commented as Koa’s team high-fived each other.

“I grew up climbing rock faces in Hawaii,” Koa said.

“Can you give the rest of us some pointers?” Caden asked. “I’d love to see all of us increase our speed.”

“Of course. The key is capitalizing on our natural talents. For example, Jerico is nimble. He does best when he makes big moves upward—lifting his foot to a step at his collarbone level. That boosts him tremendously instead of taking smaller steps,” Koa explained.

“What’s your advice for me?” Max asked.

“You have massive strength in your shoulders. Reach as high as you can and power upward,” Koa suggested. “Try it.”

Max immediately returned to the wall and jumped to reach a grip with his left hand. He steadied himself with his right hand and then pushed off footholds to propel himself upward. Koa helped him choose suitable targets as Max tried the new system. He reached the top in a much shorter time.

“That’s impressive, Koa,” the big man said when he once again stood with the group. “I would have said I always use my arm strength, but you shifted my grip, forcing me to use my shoulders and back. That was more efficient.”

“Well, do me next,” Caden requested. “What do you suggest?”

One by one, Koa worked with everyone. Each member of the team reduced their time and gained new insight. They’d all done climbing with ropes or scaling flat walls. This was a new format for them to adjust to. Koa helped each make the most of their skills while dangling from finger holds.

By the time Caden called an end to their fun, Koa’s muscles quivered from the intense workout. As everyone moved arms and legs to stretch, Koa was sure he wouldn’t be the only one who would feel the effects of this afternoon. They were getting ready to run back to Koa’s when his phone rang.

“Giana? Are you headed home?”

“I’m actually in the parking lot. When I saw everyone’s car at your house, I thought you might want a ride,” Giana said.

“Giana’s here with her truck. Anybody want a ride?” Koa asked the group.

Everyone looked at Caden. The man in charge of their training was notorious for pushing them hard.

“It’s supposed to be our day off. I think we can hitch a ride,” Caden announced.

Everyone patted Caden on the back as they tromped out to the truck. Piling into the cab and the truck bed, the team filled the space. Koa made sure to be next to his little girl in the cab.