Page 55 of Rescued Dreams

Well, as far as she was concerned, they were going to give her that paper whether they liked it or not.

She raced to the bottom of the wooden stairs of the training house and grabbed the rail. It swayed with the force of her grasp, but she ignored how precarious this might be and raced up the stairs.

Total focus.

“Go, Patterson! Go!” Izan shouted from over by the display monitors under the white awning. He even had a cup of coffee.

She entered the training house, which was considerably warmer than outside and thick with smoke so heavy it obscured everything. But she knew this place inside out and backward—unless Bryce and Izan had moved a wall again. That had been a fun day. She was pretty sure she still had that dent in her forehead.

Get the rescue dummy and get out. Efficiency.

No thinking about Ridge and the fact she’d blown him off yesterday. It was far better to get this lieutenant paperwork because she had passed the test. Again. Then they’d be on even footing, and she wouldn’t feel so off-kilter around him.

“Fire department! Make some noise if you can hear me!” Amelia searched the first room, sweeping through so she didn’t miss a corner. Or come up on a wall too fast. Nice and steady.

No surprises.

No thinking about kissing Ridge. Or wondering what his sisters thought about her. He’d obviously told them something, because they’d seemed to know who she was.Focus.She’d fought this battle all day yesterday, going for a punishing trail run just to get her head clear.

Blasting music.

Pounding out miles until she was too exhausted to worry about any of it. A couple of times, she thought someone might have been following her, but it had turned out to be Maria. Because apparently she needed an ex-CIA agent as a bodyguard.

No complaints on that count.

If Ridge wanted to make sure she was safe, that was his business. She slept a whole lot better now than she had only a week ago, thanks to him.

Amelia entered the next room, and someone tall brushed past her. “Hello?”

This had to be part of the exercise. Bryce was throwing her off her game.

“Fire department!”

Izan wouldn’t be able to see anything on the cameras, and it was too hot for heat sensing. The whole room would be a blurry mess. He was on comms though.

“Guys,” Amelia said into her radio. “Is there someone else in here with me? This wasn’t supposed to be a rescue.”

Her air tank yanked backward, pulling her with it. As if it had snagged on something and she was hung up with no way to get free without unhooking herself. Amelia spun around. “Who’s there?”

No one answered on the radio.

“Collins!” Why wasn’t Izan responding to her?

Amelia needed to get out of this house.

She backtracked out of the room she was in and turned right, down the hall. Two doors. She found the end and shoved it open, breathing hard like she had been chased all the way out. Ran down the stairs. Over to where Bryce stood.

He clicked the stopwatch. “You’ll have to be quicker than that, Patterson.”

She tore off her helmet and mask. “What was that? There was someone in there.”

Bryce flinched. “Izan!” He headed for the awning.

Amelia followed him.

“Did anyone go inside?”

Izan’s dark features drew together. “Only person in there was you, Patterson.”