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,”