Читать книгу Beyond the Limits - Katherine Garbera - Страница 11

3

ANTONIO WAS OUT the door right behind Izzy. The gym was empty, but when they entered the hallway they saw a lot of the candidates spilling from the different training rooms. Everyone looked dazed. A smoky haze in the hallway made him worry about fire. The alarm was loud, and there was the sound of something crashing in the distance.

“Someone needs to take the lead,” Izzy said. “And then we need to sweep the rooms to make sure everyone is out.”

“I’ll take care of this group,” Antonio said. “You have more medical training than I do—why don’t you go see if anyone is injured.”

“Sounds good,” Izzy said.

“Listen up, everyone,” Antonio said. “We are going to stay together and leave the building. Bombshell is going to sweep the rooms to make sure everyone is out.”

“Is she nuts? We should all just get out of here,” one of the candidates from the NASA team said. Antonio wasn’t sure his name.

“There are only—” he broke off as he scanned the faces “—eight of us here. We know there are twenty-four candidates who could be in this building at any time.”

“I’ll help Bombshell,” Velocity said. He was one of the senior astronauts in the program and Antonio had a lot of respect for him.

“Sounds good. Be safe.”

Antonio looked at Izzy’s heart-shaped face for just a moment too long. He wanted to grab her and take her out of the facility, but she was well trained and would be fine. She gave him a nod before heading into the room closest to them. She was doing her job; it was time for him to do his.

“Let’s go. Follow me,” Antonio said in a loud voice to command their attention. “Everyone move out.”

He led the way down the corridor, keeping the group moving. He wished he could help Izzy check the rooms, but his focus had to be on getting the candidates to safety first.

“Cover your noses and mouths,” he said, pulling his own shirt up to do so. The smoke was thicker as they proceeded down the hall. The scent was odd, more chemical than woody.

He tucked that fact away in the back of his mind to analyze later. One of the candidates from Space Now made a sort of panicked moaning sound and started to run. Antonio stopped the man with a hand on his arm. He had to think for a minute to remember the candidate’s name.

Peter Jensen. He was from the UK and had trained with their space program before joining Space Now two years ago.

“Jensen, stay centered. This is nothing to worry about. We are going to get out of here,” Antonio said.

“I know... I know, man, but fire... It’s one thing I have nightmares about. I’m not sure I can—”

“You can. We’re all right here with you. And if we do this calmly and sensibly we can all get out of here together. There’s no reason to panic. I won’t leave you,” Antonio said.

Jensen nodded, causing the shirt he had tied around his face to slip. Antonio stopped walking and gestured for the rest of the group to keep moving as he retied the shirt on the kid’s head. “Let’s go.”

Everyone had stopped around the corner, and Antonio made his way to the front of the group to find debris that had fallen from the ceiling blocking their path. Three of their group were already working to shift it, and he and Jensen joined them. Antonio had a lot of training in working with people in emergency situations at home on the ranch in his native Argentina. And he knew from experience that giving people a task made them feel more in control of the situation.

So he gave a task to everyone who had hung back, getting the team to shift the pile of rubble and debris until they could all safely move through the hallway. Once again he found himself at the front of the pack, and as they neared the exit, he noticed that the smoke was getting thicker.

“Everyone down on the floor. We need to crawl,” he said.

Everyone reacted quickly, following Antonio’s lead. The smoke was thinner on the floor and he moved with as much speed as he dared, constantly monitoring the team by looking back over his shoulder and keeping a close eye on the floor ahead of them for new dangers.

They reached the exit and he touched the door with the back of his hand to see if it was hot.

It wasn’t.

He slowly lifted himself into a standing position and opened the door. Fresh air rushed in as the smoke billowed out, and Antonio motioned for the candidates to leave the building. He stood by the door, counting to make sure the six people he’d had with him at the beginning of the journey were all here.

Though Antonio had expected to see emergency vehicles, there were none, just the open Texas landscape under the early-evening sky. He scanned the area again and noticed Jessie Odell, the survival instructor, standing to one side with Ace, the commander, and Thor, Ace’s lieutenant for the mission.

He had a feeling this was a test and could only hope that he’d done enough to pass. Getting on the first Cronus mission was his goal. But he realized he was also worried about Izzy. He knew she could hold her own but if this were a test, who knew what might be waiting for her in the facility.

* * *

IZZY HAD TRAINED with Velosi, aka Velocity, for the last six months at this facility. They’d both been close to winning the second-in-command position that had ultimately gone to Thor. A part of her was glad for the screaming alarms and smoke filling the hallway, because it was much easier to deal with an emergency than to worry about the aftermath of making love with Antonio.

His call sign was Playboy.

That should have been enough for her to have stayed away. Sleeping with him might jeopardize her chances of making the Cronus mission, but that didn’t stop her from remembering the way he’d felt inside of her with a delighted shiver.

“Want to split up?” Velosi asked. “You take the left and I’ll take the right.”

Focus, girl. This was what she was good at. She’d come so close the last time.

“Yes. Call out when you enter and leave a room,” she said. “Velocity in. Velocity out. Room clear. Does that work for you?”

“Sounds good, Bombshell. Let’s do this. I don’t think my wife will be too happy if I end up getting hurt while I’m training in Texas.”

Nor did she want to be injured and out of the game before they were even named for a mission. “I agree. We need to be quick and get moving.”

There were three rooms on either side of the hallway that led to the back of the gym. The smoke was getting a little bit thicker and Izzy took off her shirt and tied it over the bottom half of her face. She carefully touched the door to check for heat before she reached for the handle. Only after she was sure it was cool did she call out that she was entering the room, turn the handle and go in. She scanned the room first, just as she’d been taught in her first emergency training class and then walked the perimeter, confirming it was empty.

She exited and called out, then waited for Velosi. He rejoined her soon after, and they confirmed their rooms were clear. They cleared the other two rooms before returning to the gym and starting toward the exit.

They worked efficiently. The third room she entered was different. As soon as she stepped inside she saw the smoke was thick in one corner. She dropped to her hands and knees and slowly worked her way around the perimeter, finding someone slumped near the back.

She rolled the person over; surprised to find it was Molly—Ace McCoy’s fiancée and one of the people who liaised between the ranch and the training facility. The facility had been built on the Bar T ranch in the town of Cole’s Hill, Texas a little over forty-five minutes from Houston. Out here they had the space to do the training. She leaned over Molly to see if she was breathing and felt a reassuring exhalation. She ran her hands along Molly’s sides to make sure that there were no injuries or protruding bones.

Nothing broken, but she was unconscious.

She heard Velosi calling that he was clear.

“Woman down in here,” she yelled. “Lots of smoke, so you’ll have to crawl.”

She shook Molly’s shoulder, but she only made a moaning sound and didn’t wake up. There were first-aid kits in all of the rooms, and as soon as Velosi announced that he was in the room she instructed him to bring the kit.

She continued to try to rouse Molly, relaying the other woman’s condition to Velosi as soon as he reached her. She used the flashlight on her phone and found the smelling salts in the first-aid kit.

When she waved them under Molly’s nose, the other woman jerked upright. “What’s going on?”

Thank God. She had been scared for her friend. “You were unconscious. We don’t know if it was due to the smoke or something else. Do you think you can walk?” Izzy asked her.

Velosi had checked the room for anyone else. “Were you alone in here?”

“Yes. Just finishing up my paperwork. I should be able to walk,” Molly said.

“Good. Until we are out of this room you should crawl,” Izzy told her.

“Follow Bombshell,” Velosi said. “I’ll be behind you.”

Together they inched through the room and into the hallway. Izzy handed a bottle of distilled water from the first-aid kit to Molly while Velosi scouted up the hallway.

“There is a pile of debris that has been shifted and two more rooms. I don’t like the idea of either of us being left alone in the building. Molly, are you okay to move slowly with us as we clear the last two rooms?”

“Yes. I’ll be fine,” Molly said.

They walked past the debris, and then Izzy waited with Molly while Velosi checked out the room on the right and then he waited with Molly while she checked the right. The rooms were both clear and as they got closer to the door, they felt fresh air. Izzy guessed that Antonio had already gotten the rest of the candidates out.

She shouldn’t have been surprised so many of them were in the building on a Sunday evening. Even though some of the candidates would be enjoying time off in the neighboring town of Cole’s Hill, Izzy wasn’t the only workaholic in the group.

Izzy put her arm around Molly’s waist and Velosi flanked them as they stepped outside. She had expected to see an emergency team waiting but they were greeted only by the candidates and facility staff.

As soon as Ace saw Molly he ran over to put his arms around her. “What the hell were you doing in there?”

“Catching up on paperwork,” she said.

Realization flared in Izzy, and so did her anger. “Good thing your people are so well trained,” Izzy remarked. “Otherwise this training exercise could have ended in unforeseen tragedy.”

* * *

ACE AND DR. TOMLIN took Molly to the side to examine her. The smoke had affected her, and some of the other candidates, too. Thor called for all of them to meet in an hour for a post mortem in the common room in Bunkhouse 1, which was where Antonio’s rooms were located.

The candidates dispersed, but Izzy headed toward Thor with Velocity behind her. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that the alarm was a test. Antonio noticed Jessie Odell making notes and he followed behind the other two to confront Thor.

“This is our day off,” Izzy said. “I don’t mind tests—I think they keep us all sharp—but on our day off? That’s not right.”

“Normally I’d agree,” Thor said as Antonio joined the threesome. “But Cronus isn’t like other missions. There are so many variables to be considered. Emergencies in a long-term mission might happen on your downtime.”

Izzy put her hands on her hips and shook her head. “I get what you’re saying, but that means that we can never let our guard down. That we are all effectively training 24/7.”

“That’s a big ask, Thor,” Velocity said.

“I don’t agree,” Antonio added. “Some of the candidates are fresh recruits who have never been on a mission before. This test shook some of them and it’s better to find out on the ground if someone can’t cut it.”

Izzy gave Antonio a hard stare over her shoulder. He had forgotten how fierce she could be when she was challenged.

“That’s exactly why we are running these tests. You three are more experienced, but there are some candidates here who, frankly, are a gamble. We don’t know yet what they are made of. They all passed rigorous qualifying tests, but stuff happens. Things go wrong. We need to know how each person will react. You three showed your mettle today,” Thor said. “Now go and clean up and meet the team in the main area of Bunkhouse 1 at 1600 hours.”

Thor walked away from the group and they all turned to head to the bunkhouses together. Velosi was in Bunkhouse 3, a new addition to the facility now that there were more candidates coming in. Velosi and Izzy had been on the Bar T Ranch for over six months. He’d volunteered to switch to the new bunkhouse in order to mentor a few of the newer mechanical-engineering candidates.

Antonio wanted to touch her and make sure she was okay. Pull her away from the others and hold her for a few moments. The emergency hadn’t given them a chance to regroup after they’d made love.

“Izzy—”

“Don’t. I am not ready to talk about anything,” she said. “Except, why didn’t you have my back when we were talking to Thor?”

What had happened between them had been hotter and more rare than a comet snaking past Earth, and she wanted to discuss a difference of opinion? Fine. He could do that.

“One of the guys in my group freaked a bit as we were leaving. It made me realize how inexperienced some of these candidates are. We were lucky to have our training before coming to this program,” Antonio said. “Which is exactly what I said to Thor.”

“Sorry. Finding Molly like that put me on edge. She was slumped over on the floor. That was so scary,” Izzy said. She stopped walking and turned to face him, her gray eyes full of conflicting emotions. He reached for her, but she shook her head.

“No. We can’t do the personal thing. We had sex. That’s it,” she said. “We’ve seen how intense it is here, and I’m pretty sure they aren’t going to be too happy if we start something.”

“That’s it? Don’t I get a say in this?” he asked.

“Sure,” she said. “But I don’t think you want to risk your chances of going on this mission. You know there are no guarantees for who will be chosen. And no matter how incredible we are together, we’ve both worked our entire lives to be on a mission like this.”

She was stubborn, but he’d already known that. And she made a good point. The hot sex they’d shared had served to whet his appetite for her, but maybe it had cooled hers for him. Maybe that one time was all she needed.

It didn’t seem possible that she could feel nothing for him when he wanted her so much. “I think Ace was freaked, too,” Antonio said at last, following her change of subject. Retreat wasn’t really his style, but if she needed time to process things he’d give it to her. He put his doubts aside. One time wasn’t going to be enough...for either of them. And work was easier to discuss.

“He was,” Izzy admitted. “She’s not a candidate and doesn’t have the training we do. I’m glad we got to her when we did.”

“I agree,” Antonio said. “I think it proves Thor’s point that you can never be prepared for anything. They planned this drill but didn’t know she’d get caught in the middle of it.”

“Probably. It’s just that we follow so many procedures and regulations with the program,” she said. “We’re in the same bunkhouse, right?”

“Yes.”

She gave him a sideways look. “Why haven’t I seen you in the common room?”

“That answer is complicated,” Antonio said.