“Good.” He studied me. “You know, it’s incredibly unfair that no one subjects you to the humiliation of being called Rookie for your first year.”
I shrugged, grinning. “I never told anyone they couldn’t or shouldn’t.”
“Which only makes it more annoying.”
“Hey, you’ve been doing this two years longer than I have. If you wanna call me Rookie, knock yourself out.”
He studied me for a few seconds more, then sighed. “Nope, I can’t do it. It feels wrong somehow.”
I checked off the IV bags, then hopped out of the rig, facing Kaelan. “Wrong?”
“Rookie is for guys like me when they come in. You know, young and cocky. The type that needs to learn their place and maybe get brought down a few rungs in the process. But you’re…” He vaguely gestured at me. “You’re not like that, bro. You have this…this air about you that makes people sit up and pay attention.”
“Well, I’m glad to hear that my twenty-plus-year Army career has had some effect,” I said dryly.
“Twenty years?” He whistled between his teeth. “And you were an officer, right?”
“A noncom, a non-commissioned officer. I was a first sergeant.”
“I have no clue what that means.”
No one did unless they’d served. “The difference is that I worked for a living.” Seeing his confusion, I sighed. “Never mind. Army joke. The difference is that I started out as a privateand worked my way up. I didn’t go to some school, like West Point, to become an officer right out of the gate.”
“Okay, that makes more sense. So why’d you quit?”
“I didn’t quit.” That came out sharper than I had intended, so I softened it with a smile. “I’d served for twenty years, so I chose to retire from the Army and do something else.”
Do something else. That was definitely a charitable description for the utter existential crisis I had gone through. Was still going through.
“After twenty years, I can’t say I blame you. You must’ve seen hell.”
Hell…and then some. “Yes.”
“That’s why nothing ever seems to faze you. I mean, we encounter some batshit crazy people and shit, but you’re never flustered.”
I snorted. “I was definitely flustered when that lady ran out buck naked yesterday and all but launched herself at me.”
Kaelan burst out laughing. “God, you should’ve seen your face! I was dying.”
“So was I because I had no idea where to put my hands. She was naked, for fuck’s sake.”
“She sure was…and she had a very nice pair of?—”
“I’m gonna stop you right there. Trust me, I know. I had them pressed against me, okay? No need to rehash that.”
I was saved by the bell—literally in this case, as our alarm went off, followed by a message to our radios. “Attention, Engine 3 and Medic 2! Respond to a two-vehicle accident at the intersection of Turk and Lyon. Entrapped driver in an overturned car. Proceed with lights and sirens.”
“Medic 2, copy and en route,” I said into the radio, then slammed the doors of the rig shut as Kaelan hurried to the driver’s seat. The kid was one hell of a chauffeur with ballsof steel, always navigating us with almost careless precision through the heavy traffic.
Next to us, the guys of Engine 3 came running as well, but with only two people to wait for, we were faster, and Kaelan turned on the lights and siren as we tore out of the station.
It took us five minutes, which was longer than I liked but about as fast as could be expected considering the route. When we arrived, Kaelan parked on the sidewalk, and we both jumped out.
A bright-blue small car—I couldn’t see the make and model—lay turned over on its crushed roof. I winced when I took in the broken glass from the windows. That could cause some nasty cuts.
The other car was a pickup truck, a massive RAM that had squashed that little car like a bug. A guy was leaning against it, presumably the driver. “You check out the truck, I’ll do the overturned car,” I told Kaelan, who nodded.
I grabbed my med bag from the rig, then hurried to the blue car. A woman was kneeling next to the driver’s side. I hadn’t seen her at first, hidden behind the car itself. She’d been smart enough to throw some kind of blanket on the glass-covered ground, and she was holding the driver’s hand. “The paramedic is here, honey. I’m gonna let go of you now so he has access, okay? You hang in there, Amber.”
