Now I had her, and I knew that meeting her had happened purely by chance. It wasn’t like you could count on rescuing a gorgeous executive and have her take an interest no matter how heroic your job was.
I didn’t even know why she’d fallen for me. I sure knew it wasn’t just about the baby. But it wasn’t like she’d ever need me to swoop to her rescue again.
Except perhaps from boredom.
She texted me around one thirty, “I’m going to fall asleep at the table over here.”
I smirked and texted back. “I’m going to fall asleep at my post.”
“Aren’t we a pair.” A brief pause, and then she admitted, “Passed out a few cards, but most of the invited clients didn’t come. All the board’s here, and Ian’s gloating and being insufferable. You know, the usual.”
That made me laugh in the middle of the quiet station. Fortunately, no one else was around at the moment.
“I’d love to come steal you, but most of the team is dealing with that brush fire I told you about. If something else kicks off, I need to be here.”
“I know,” she replied. “We’ve both got potential fires to put out, mine’s just metaphorical.”
I frowned slightly. She was still treating this like she needed to repair her reputation.
“You’re fine, baby. Just play it cool and eat all their canapes. Love you.”
“Love you too. Give me a second, something weird has come up.”
I tensed slightly. “What is it?”
It took her almost a minute to reply. “It’s weird. The lights flickered, and now I think I smell smoke.”
I stood up from my chair, swearing under my breath. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah, I think so.”
“Okay, baby. Tell the staff and then get out of the building. Contact me when you have.”
I was already grabbing for the radio before I set down my phone.
Chapter 17
Naomi
I felt a little bad about it, but I didn’t immediately run out of the building after telling the head server that we had a possible fire. After watching her rush out of the room through a side door without saying anything, I knew I had to warn people—and unless I had something besides “I smell something funny” to show the stubborn idiots I used to work with, they wouldn’t move an inch.
I quickly checked around, sniffing and using my eyes. No issues with the cooking equipment. No weird smells coming out of the heating vents. So where was the smell of smoke coming from?
I would have to have a quick look around outside the room to see where the smoke was coming from. Not outside: the wind was blowing, and it was raining too hard now for anything to catch fire. Maybe deeper into the building? I walked over to the service door and pushed it open.
“What are you doing?”
I looked over to see Ian following me as I walked into the service hallway just outside the dining hall. The weird smell, like burning rubber and rotten fish, was stronger in here.
I lifted an eyebrow. “Aren’t you supposed to be back there drinking and gloating?” I grumbled. “I’m busy. Stop trying to tag along.”
“You seem to forget who in this situation lost to who,” he sneered, folding his arms across his skinny chest. He had a gravy stain on his tie. “Now tell me what you’re doing back here. I want to make sure you’re not sabotaging my party.”
Idiot. “You seem to think I give a shit about steering a sinking ship,” I snapped back, watching his eyes widen in shock. “Now shut up and pay attention. I’m smelling smoke.”
“That’s ridiculous—” he started, and then sniffed. Blinked. Took a deeper sniff. “What is that?”
I ignored him as I looked around, wondering if he had even the remotest idea what an ass he was. Then suddenly I noticed something.
Smoke was drifting up from the slits in a nearby power outlet.
Not good.
I pointed at it. “We’ve got an electrical fire. We need to get out.” Inside, I felt my stomach fluttering around in horror, but somehow I managed to sound calm.
“What are you talking about?” he grumbled—and then saw what I was pointing at and froze. His face went white.
A second later, the lights flickered again—and smoke started pouring out of every switch, outlet, and light fixture in the place.
“Electrical fire! Get out!”
I knew they should have upgraded the damn system!
Too aware of the baby in my belly, I gave Ian a shove toward the door and then hurried through it myself, calling out, “Fire! There’s an electrical fire in the building!”
Every eye turned to me. A couple of the board members started smirking—and then turned in horror to the door behind me as Ian stumbled through it in a cloud of acrid smoke.
“Get out!” I cried.
Not waiting to see how many of those old fools actually listened, I finally obeyed Ace’s request and hurried out the front door onto the gondola dock.
I was barely outside when the lights flickered again—and then showers of sparks fell from the ceiling inside as the light bulbs burst.
A chorus of screams rang through the room—and then I had to press myself against the wall as the doors opened and a stampede went for the gondola. It rocked slightly as they crammed aboard…but the doors didn’t close, and it went nowhere.
I stared at it in dismay. Shit.
“All right, calm down, calm down,” I shouted, feeling like the only grownup at a school outing gone wrong. I shoved my way through the crowd and pushed up to the control center—only to find the backup power indicator lit but the control screen black. When I got into the room and checked it, I smelled burnt capacitors.
The thing has power but no brains. Someone will have to direct it from the control room down at the resort.
Pushing back out of the gondola, I waved off several panicked questions from a handful of board members and got Ace on the phone.
He answered on the first ring. “I’m on my way now, babe!” I could hear the strain in his voice. “Five minutes away.”
“Are you in communication with the emergency team at the resort? I need contact with a body in the resort’s control room right away. The gondola has power, but its command center blew out. Someone will have to steer it down, pick the fire crew up, and bring it back.”
“Okay, okay!” I heard a truck door slam and a diesel motor start up. “I’ll get a message to them right away. What should I tell them?”
“Use the emergency override. Enter code 487, it’s on the list posted right next to the keypad. That’s the automated return.”
“Okay. I’ll get it done. We’re on our way over there, two of the guys just caught up with me.”
“You’re my hero. As usual.”
“How are you doing?” he asked worriedly.
“Not so much as a sniffle. I just want to get people out of here before the air fills up with smoke.”
“Okay, baby. I’ll call you back when I’m on the way up.”
I did a quick head count as people poured out to wait on the platform. I had seen almost all the board members, various clients, and the staff. But two board members were missing, and so was Ian.
Why the hell didn’t they listen when I told them to get out?
But I knew. They never listened to me.
Okay. One thing at a time. The fire isn’t too bad yet; they could still make it out.
I turned to the board member who was fussing at me—Don, I realized. He looked panicked.
“Why isn’t the gondola moving?” he gasped at me.
“Electrical arc. I just sent instructions for using the override down at the resort. Step inside, tell the others, and give us three minutes.”
I shooed him back into the gondola; he nodded frantically, and I turned back to the doors.
I watched two more people hurry by and frowned. Three still missing that I know about. What’s going on? Did Ian panic again?
Thirty seconds later, I heard a c
ollective sigh of relief behind me. The door lights lit up, and the door slid closed. Then the gondola lurched forward to the sound of cheers.
I took a deep breath and looked back inside, where a haze of smoke was starting to thicken.
“We’re still short at least three,” I muttered. Not good at all.
“Why do you care?” To my absolute shock, Don had stayed. “We threw you out.”
“You think that means I want any of you to die?” I snapped, and he blinked in surprise. “You can live with the consequences of your own actions. But I’m not going to let anyone die of smoke inhalation because they panicked.”
When I turned to walk back inside, Don shocked me again by grabbing my arm. “You’re pregnant!” he insisted. “You can’t go in there!”
So there was a human in there under all the bullshit after all.
I started tying my silk scarf around my face layer by layer, covering my nose and mouth. “We’re missing Ian and two of your colleagues. I think I know where Ian is. If you can get the others out—”
“I’m not going in there,” he insisted.
I rolled my eyes.
“Gondola’s on its way,” Ace texted. “We’ll be on our way up as soon as it empties out. What’s the situation?”
“Lots of smoke but no active fire yet. We have at least three missing.” If I told him I was going in, he would yell at me.
“Okay, baby. Just hang on, and let me know how many get out on their own.”
None did as I waited. I looked over at my unlikely companion, who hesitated on the platform like he had no idea what he should do next. I couldn’t actually blame Don all that much—this situation was insane.
Screw it, Ace can yell at me later.
Turning on my heel, I pulled the door open and hurried inside.
I made a beeline for the bathroom, remembering how Ian had taken refuge there when the gondola had broken down. There was no sign of anyone else, which really worried me. Both missing board members were in their eighties and probably had health issues.
The irony of the situation barely nibbled at me as I shoved open the door to the men’s room. “Ian?”
Nothing.
I hurried down the aisle of stalls, checking for feet—and finally found a familiar pair of wingtips in the end stall.
“Ian! You awake?” I stifled a cough. The air stank worse than burning plastic.
Finally, I yanked the door open—and saw him in a ball, eyes big, arms around his knees. He was terrified, in shock—and still very much alive.
“Okay. Okay. Ian, we need to get out of here—”
“Just leave me alone!” he screeched suddenly, sounding like a frightened kid.
“No!” I shouted back at him.
He blinked up at me, some of the focus coming back into his panicked eyes.
“Look, Ian. If you get up and walk with me now, you will live. If I leave you to sit here, you will die. It’s that simple. Now come on. You can do this—”
He was shaking his head mutely.
I squeezed my eyes shut against the acrid smoke. “Ian. Either you get your ass up and you walk out like a man, or I will embarrass the shit out of you by carrying you out. Don’s right on the platform out there recovering. Do you want him to see you like this?”
I opened my eyes and saw him blinking at me in confusion.
I reached out a hand. “Grab it. I’ll lead you out.”
My eyes were starting to stream; I coughed. Then he finally grabbed my hand and, relieved, I helped him haul himself to his feet.
We stumbled back into the room, which was shockingly dark and so thick with smoke that I immediately dropped to my hands and knees.
“Crawl!” I ordered and started doing so—only to see him freeze up again. “Come on, Ian! You really want to be shown up by a girl?”
He made it a few more feet before balling up again, shaking his head. “You go on!”
“What? No!” I grabbed his arm, but he shook me off.
“You go on! Get away from me, you dumb bitch, get out the door!”
It was at that moment that someone kicked the front doors in, letting in a blast of air that set the smoke swirling and revealed a tall figure in firefighter gear striding toward us with a pair of oxygen masks in hand.
Before either of us could react, the figure walked over, yanked one of the masks over my head, and then turned to Ian and did the same.
Only when he grabbed Ian by the scruff and gently offered me a hand did I know my man had come to save me again. And I smiled behind the silk.
We weren’t actually that far from the door. Ace got us out, sat us both down inside the gondola, and then pulled his visor off long enough to check us.
“What were you doing in there?” he demanded.
“Nobody else knew where to find Ian,” I said apologetically.
He rolled his eyes but nodded.
“Stay put,” he demanded, then checked Ian over briefly. “Keep pulling on the air from that mask slowly and steadily until I get back out.”
I nodded obediently; he gave me another warning glare and put his visor back on, turning to walk back into the smoke.
I focused on breathing and getting that awful smell out of my nostrils as I waited. I’m in trouble. And all for this spiteful idiot.
I looked around; Don and a few others sat at the front of the gondola, as far from the burning building as possible. Don saw my look and reddened, quickly looking away. Can’t face your own cowardice, can you?
It didn’t really matter anymore. Ian was out safe. I was out safe. The others had a fighting chance now that Ace was there. It had to be enough.
“Ironic that that brute should be the one to save me,” Ian said next to me.
I turned to look at him: red-faced, eyes streaming, coughing now and again despite the oxygen, but finally coming back to himself.
“Twice,” I reminded him. “Ace has saved you twice. Because that’s what he does.”
“Why did you save me?” he asked.
I gave him a shocked look.
“Because I didn’t want to be the kind of person who just sits by and lets people die because they freeze in an emergency, or panic, or get lost. That’s not who I am.”
He sat there digesting this for several silent minutes as I watched the firefighters shuttle out a handful of coughing employees and two very grumpy, rumpled, red-faced old men in suits.
Then finally, in a quiet voice, he said, “Thank you.”
I looked back at him. “You’re welcome. Make sure you hit up a doctor once this is done.”
He nodded and was quiet for another minute. “They got a warning about their electrical system after the short last time, didn’t they?”
“Yes, they did, and they didn’t do anything.” Most of the time I was pretty impressed with the Orloffs, but today was not that day. Even if someone in middle management had made this call, it was too essential to ignore the need for an upgrade.
“I see.” He sighed. “I wonder if that’s why the Orloffs were questioning you?”
“They’re eccentric guys. I talked face-to-face with them and am still not sure what they plan to do.” I expected a lawsuit…but now, with this liability cropping up, it might not be the best idea.
“Mm.” He digested this, then looked up at me. “I think that I have been…wrong about some things. About you.”
Took you long enough to figure that out. “Yeah?”
“Look, I…I do have the board’s ear, and I know at least a few of them owe you their lives too. You showed leadership when I was huddling in a bathroom stall.” He smiled very thinly, clearly pained and embarrassed by his panic. “Maybe…maybe I should go back to the board and ask them to reinstate you.”
I blinked at him. Are you kidding me right now? After all of this, you suddenly recognize the truth?
The problem was, so did I. Archimedes Gears was no place for me. And as for Ian…he had made his bed. Now he could lie in it, and deal with
all the demands and consequences that would come with it.
“No,” I said after a half-second of considering. “No. You might have finally realized there was no need for us to be fighting, but they never will.” I looked over at the three huddled together like rumpled pigeons at the far end of the car. “I’m tired of being treated like the problem in this company. Just be aware—they might start doing it to you when I’m gone.”
They would definitely do it to Ian now that I wasn’t around to absorb the blame for every little thing. But I was being kind: in Ian’s case, he would deserve their blame at least some of the time.
But again: bed, made, lie.
“What about you?” he asked.
“Oh, I have some projects of my own to work on. And I’m not hurting for money. I’ll be fine.”
The relief on his face as he realized he wouldn’t have to give up his coveted position made me realize he had hoped it would be an empty offer. Typical Ian: even his wake-up call was marred by his greedy little ambitions. But that just wasn’t my problem anymore.
Two minutes later, Ace and his two teammates came trooping back up to the gondola.
“That’s it,” Ace called out to us all as he took off his visor. “We swept the place twice and you’re the last stragglers. We’ll suppress the fire and meet you down in the main complex.” He caught my eye at that, and I nodded.
Ian had gone silent again. As Ace stepped out and put his visor back on, preparing to go fight whatever fire was left, I watched him. Then the doors closed, and the gondola slid away from the platform, taking us down to safety.
Ace would be a while mopping up this mess. I sent him a text on our way down, so he would know where to meet me. “Grab me at the coffee shop when you’re done. The one where we met.”
I was going to have one of those great mochas again, and watch from the big windows as Ace and his guys put out the fire. We would meet up later and get some real dinner. And later tonight, together, we would celebrate our new beginning.
Chapter 18
Naomi
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