Page 59 of Rescued Dreams
“So she met up with one of our surprises, that’s all.” Izan shrugged. “It’s Amelia in there, not a rookie.”
Bryce turned to Ridge.
“She asked you guys for help with lieutenant training?” Ridge didn’t know what to think about that. She hadn’t askedhimfor help, and why not?
“We need to make sure there’s nothing wrong in the training house.” Bryce grabbed his radio on the strap across his body and squeezed the sides. “Patterson, do you copy?”
No answer.
“Patterson, report in.”
Ridge dropped his duffel under the table to keep it out of the rain coming under the pop-up awning. “How long has she been in there?”
Izan lifted his phone to look at the screen. “Nine minutes.”
Ridge started off walking but quickly broke into a jog over to the exit door of the training house. In there for that long, she had to have made progress through the course. That meant she’d be closer to the end than the beginning.
Right?
He hoped so.
Ridge pounded up the stairs on the far side of the squat two-story structure. Underneath was mostly storage, but the upper level was a fabricated residence they used to put rookies through their paces. He was three steps from the top when the door swung out and Amelia fell through the opening.
She stumbled against the rail, tipped over, and fell to the ground level.
“Amelia!” Ridge jumped back down the stairs and rounded the bottom, moving to where she lay on the asphalt in her gear.
Face flushed. No mask or helmet. She still had her air tank on. Her radio was missing, her turnout coat open at the front.
“Amelia.” He landed on the ground on his knees, ignoring how much that hurt.
Ridge turned his head, about to yell for help, when he saw Bryce race over, followed by Izan. “She needs medical attention.” He took Amelia’s head in his hands and lifted her eyelids. Her pupils were dilated and didn’t react—maybe that was due to the dim light outside. The clouds were blocking sunlight. He checked her pulse even though he didn’t want to.
Thank You, Lord.
“She’s breathing.”
Bryce squeezed his shoulder, but the move did nothing to reassure Ridge.
He pulled the tabs on her coat, opening it so he could check for injuries. The red marks on her neck didn’t look good. “What…”
“She didn’t have those marks when she went inside.”
“They’re from someone’s hands.” A person in the training house, who had tried to strangle her to death while she was running the exercise. His gut burned.She could’ve died.“Who went in there?” Ridge held Amelia’s hand because he needed the warm reassurance to keep him from totally flipping out.
“No one,” Izan said, worry in his tone. “She was the only one in there. I was watching the monitors.”
“Go get the chief,” Bryce ordered. “Tell him I’m calling 911.” Bryce got up, his cell phone in his hand.
Kianna and Trace ran around the corner of the training house, carrying some of their gear. “What happened?”
Ridge sat back on his heels, still holding Amelia’s hand. “I have no idea.”
They crouched around her, listening to her breathing. Talking to each other in phrases that meant something to them and should mean something to him, but right now he couldn’t process any of it. His mind was a firestorm of fear he couldn’t control. Like the second when lightning flashed across the sky and everything paused for a moment, as if the world held its breath.
A sound cut through the haze, and he realized the HVAC unit under the training house had kicked on to vent the smoke inside. Ridge wanted to get in there and look for whoever had attacked Amelia, but he also didn’t want to leave her side.
“I’ll bring the ambulance over.” Kianna touched his arm. “She’s going to the hospital.”
