Page 70 of Rescued Dreams

Amelia back on Truck 14 in the lieutenant’s spot with him working alongside her as the LT of rescue squad? “I’m definitely interested.”

Bryce grinned.

“How is Logan doing?”

Bryce’s twin had recently suffered a health scare after being knocked out one too many times. He was grounded from smokejumping until he could recover or chose a new position to work in at the Midnight Sun base in Alaska, where the wildland firefighters lived.

“Andi and Jude just got back from a quick visit before she gets so late in her pregnancy she can’t fly.” He took a sip of his coffee. “Logan isn’t happy about what happened, but he’s all right. I think he’ll take a ground position at the base, and he and Jamie will live there for a while after they get married. Which I don’t think will take too long.” Bryce smiled.

“It’s good he’s okay.”

Bryce nodded. “Concussions are nothing to mess around with.”

“It’s a good thing for all of you to remember,” Trace said. The EMT sat down at the opposite end of the table, reading from a novel.

Ridge hadn’t even known he’d been listening.

Trace said, “Head injuries aren’t something you ignore. Or walk off.”

Eddie made a dismissive noise. Zack chuckled.

Trace shot them both a look.

Zack lifted his hands. “We know. We know.”

Ridge drank the last of his coffee. By end of shift this might be over, with the police already moving on intel Kane had passed to them from Elam. They could arrest the guy who’d targeted firefighters, and put this whole thing to bed. Amelia would be protected, and knowing Elam held no ill will toward her meant she could have a little bit of peace.

Standing beside her while she faced her brother had been one of the best moments of his life. He was so proud of her. The whole thing made his affection for her grow. And he was already mostly in love with her. Did she know?

She might not be aware of how far his heart was wrapped up in this thing. But with quiet ahead of them, they’d have time to spend together, and he could show her. Tell her. Prove she was worth it and at the same time that she hadnothingto prove to him.

High on the wall, the speaker blared to life. “Rescue 5. Truck 14. Ambulance 21. Structure fire. Possible victims.”

Chairs scraped back on the floor, and cups of coffee were left abandoned as the crew jogged down the hall, dispersing to their vehicles.

Ridge got his turnout pants and coat on and climbed into the passenger seat. Della took her spot as the driver, Izan and the floater, Warren Kaminsky, in the back.

Ridge pulled up the information on the dashboard computer. “Looks like it’s the company SparkTech. Don’t they make circuit boards and such?” He was pretty sure they were hardware, not software.

Kaminsky said, “They don’t make that stuff here. It’s transported down from Idaho, where they manufacture it.”

“Three stories, two hundred employees,” Ridge said.

Izan chimed in. “Most of them probably went home at five.”

Ridge scanned the information he had. “Whoever called 911 said there were up to thirty employees inside. They were having a dinner meeting.”

Kaminsky muttered, then said, “That’s a lot of people.”

“Makes sense both us and Rescue are responding,” Izan said.

Ridge kept reading. “And Westside. They’re sending their truck. We’ll have multiple teams on site for this.”

Della swung the truck around a corner.

Ridge spotted the glow above the buildings when they were within a mile. When Della turned the truck into the business complex, he scanned the structure. “Looks like the upper two floors are engulfed. We probably need to vent the roof.”

Izan patted the back of Ridge’s seat. “Let me go up the ladder. Please, please.”