Connor File: The Rider Files, #5.5

By CB Samet

Rick Swanson loves his job as a firefighter, and when the intriguing ER doctor, Mackenzie Connor, catches his eye, the temperature rises. But his world is sent on a tailspin when an arsonist has an agenda of revenge. Rick needs to deal with this threat if he's going to get his life back on track. 

 

Mackenzie Connor is falling fast for fireman Rick, until he inexplicably distances himself. When she learns he's trying to protect her from a crazed arsonist, she won't be idle. And she won't back down from danger. She enlists the help of the elite Rider Security and Investigation team, but can she reach Rick in time to save him? 

 

**If you like action, adventure, and strong female leads, this is the series for you. The romance is medium with heat with some explicit language. Each novel shares characters, but they are also their own stand-alone happily-ever-after. This novella can be read in any order in the series. 

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: CB Samet
• Release date: Dec 20, 2022
• ISBN: 9798215811511

Book preview

1

G ood shift. Rick jabbed Pike lightly in the arm as they drove through the neighborhood. They’d responded to two medical emergencies, two car accidents, one fire alarm, and one apartment fire. Every call had run remarkably smoothly. 

Good shift. His friend nodded.

Thanks for the ride. My truck should be out of the shop tomorrow. Rick’s vehicle had developed a strange rattle when accelerating. He’d tinkered with the Ram to the extent of his knowledge, checking the valves, engine mount, and exhaust components. When he’d reached the limit of his mechanical abilities, he’d had someone more experienced evaluate the truck.

No problem, Pike said. Kim’s out of town, so I have a chance to enjoy your company for a few hours and wind down. I’ll have to limit myself to two beers in order to drive you home. His teammate was a full foot shorter than Rick and further contrasted with dark hair and dark skin with Rick’s light skin and eyes. Despite Pike’s height, his enormous biceps could out-bench anyone in the fire station, and Kim often joked they were the reason she married him.

I can rideshare if need be, Rick said.

Pulling into his driveway, Pike waved away his friend’s suggestion as his face lit with anticipation. I’ve got this new brew you need to try. No way you’re going to guess my secret ingredient this time.

Rick smiled, happy he had a friend in his unit whose hobby was brewing his own beer. Pike was proficient at it, and Rick didn’t mind being the taste tester. He had a knack for tastes and smells and could often guess Pike’s ingredients, so they’d made a game of it years ago.

Challenge accepted, Rick said. Few things were more enjoyable than a cold beer on a summer evening while relaxing on Pike’s back porch after a busy day.

Pike parked, hopped out, and headed for the door. Rick moved a little slower behind him. He’d tweaked a hamstring on the last call—an apartment fire on the fifth floor where someone had been smoking while wearing oxygen. They’d kept the flames contained to the one apartment and rescued the victim, though Rick didn’t know the woman’s likelihood of survival. She had extensive burns and probably smoke inhalation injury on top of her pre-existing lung disease. The paramedics had whisked her away to Regional Hospital, the nearest burn unit.

When he closed the car door, a scent hit Rick. Smoke. He sniffed his clothes. He’d showered at the station after his shift, so the smell shouldn’t be him. It was pungent, like burning plaster and upholstery. Like the apartment fire. The odor was distinct from a brush or forest fire, whose earthy scent he liked, and different from textile and chemical fires, which were more acrid.

He looked over at Pike’s house, catching a flicker of light in the windows. Small streams of smoke were barely noticeable against the dark sky. Alarm raised the hair on his neck and ratcheted up his heart rate.

Pike had already unlocked the door.

Pike, wait! Rick bellowed. 

As Pike swung the door open, the fire flashed outward, a great billowing red dragon that unleashed an angry roar and knocked his friend backward, down his porch steps.

Pike! Rick ran toward him, ignoring the heat and choking smoke from the house engulfed in flames. He had to reach his friend.

Mackenzie Connor sutured the central line in place below the patient’s collar bone. She needed the larger intravenous line to administer treatments to the critical patient. I’m done, Susan. Can you let x-ray know they can swing by for a portable? she asked the ER nurse.

No problem.

I’m going to make a few calls and get him a room at the inn, Mackenzie said.

The patient had septic shock. What had started out at home as the flu had progressed to bacterial pneumonia and respiratory failure. She’d sedated him in order to place him on a breathing machine, but he now needed an ICU bed and an Intensivist.

After pulling off her personal protective equipment, she discarded the disposable items in the trash and shifted her reading glasses to the top of her head. Around her, the ER bustled with activity and the intermittent beeping of monitors and machines that Mackenzie had learned to tune out after years of working in the emergency room.

She checked her watch–two more hours to go of her twelve-hour shift left. The day had flown by with a mix of patients, from the sniffles to raging blood sugar levels to a potpourri of trauma. She’d chosen the field of emergency medicine because each shift provided a variety of patients and a full spectrum of ailments she’d been trained to treat.

Dr. Connor, incoming trauma, Susan reported. 

Okay. Is bay two ready? 

Yes. Dr. Rider took the EMS call while you were handling the last room. Susan held up an index card and read off of it. Forty-year-old male. House fire and blast injury. Alert and protecting his airway. Hemodynamically stable.

Thanks. I'll grab the flexible bronchoscope in case his airway is singed. Delayed swelling and airway closure could occur, training and experience had taught her that, and Mackenzie wanted to be prepared in case intubation was needed.

Sounds good. Oh, and bed four is sobering up. Susan gave her a sympathetic shrug.

Oh, good. I'll get to see Mr. Johnson’s colorful, sober side before my shift is up. At best, the frequent flyer would leave against medical