Page 10 of Burn Protocol

It takes Maya a couple of minutes before she comes out, and I realize that maybe she needed a break from me. Her shoulders are hunched slightly forward now and she looks at me timidly. Fuck.

“Alright, let’s make sure you stay safe as long as you are with us. Okay?”

“Okay.”

Her voice is soft and thin now. I really fucked up. I inhale deeply and soften my own voice now. It’s not her fault that the Chief forced me into this. Hell, if I met her in a bar, I would probably enjoy her company.

“So, when we are in the bays, try to stay to the sides. There is a lot of equipment there that we don’t want to damage… and even more importantly, we don’t want it to hurt you.”

I muster a soft smile and her cheeks flush again in reply. This time I can’t suppress my grin. Careful now, you might start to enjoy this.

“If we go out on the streets, you stay with me at all times and you listen to my every order. When I tell you to stay in the truck, you don’t go…”

“…and snoop around. I got it. Elena, I don’t have a death wish.”

I raise an eyebrow at that and actually laugh. The sound surprises her and her lips curl up instantly. It hits me how warm she looks when she smiles.

“Good. Just use your head and you’ll be fine.”

She nods once and smiles again. This time I find myself answering it.

My heart stops for a moment when Elena smiles back at me. Her harsh eyes turn soft and her lips part slightly. Suddenly she seems approachable.

The moment fades before I can respond to it, of course, and her face returns to the same professional mask it was before. Yet, something in her eyes seems to have softened.

Her brow furrows as if she is uncertain what to do in this moment, so I gently nudge her along.

“What now?”

The crease between her eyebrows disappears as she gazes at me. Her hazel eyes are sharp, but not unfriendly this time.

“Now I’ll introduce you to the crew.”

I can’t help but grin. Perhaps she will soften more around the people she feels comfortable with. People she can be herself around. And if I am really lucky, maybe they can even tell me some things about this enigma of a woman.

Elena is already striding down the hallway again, and I have to kick myself into gear. Shadowing somebody has never felt this physically intense before.

But her determination speaks to something in my soul. Something that admires it, maybe even envies it. It takes a special kind of confidence, no, knowing, to walk like that.

I lose track of where we are in the building after we walk through yet another hallway, but freeze dead in my tracks when I see it open up. Elena turns around and gestures for me to step in, a proud glint in her eyes.

The space is enormous.

The concrete floor shines as if it has just been polished. There are yellow lines on the floor, open lockers with gear to the side, and even a table with several chairs. But what immediately grabs my attention are the fire-red vehicles that stand proudly.

My jaw drops as we walk past the elongated truck with a ladder on top. I see Elena smirk from the corner of my eye. Something proud now in the way that she carries herself. I blink once and then turn to her, my mouth still half open. Her smirk grows.

“That’s our ladder truck, or Rosie as her crew likes to call her. She is about nine meters long, but can go twelve meters high.” She looks up at it, smiling softly. “And the ladder can turn 360 degrees.”

“Wow,” I murmur, my voice laced with surprise.

She nods solemnly but then scoffs once.

“Saved many cats.”

I blink again, stunned now. Did Elena Gonzales just make a joke? Before I can over-analyze the moment, I feel a chuckle fall from my lips. Her hazel eyes narrow for a moment, but they hold a playful spark. She tilts her head to her left and then starts walking again.

When we walk behind Rosie, another truck appears beside her.