Алисон Робертс – At His Service: Her Boss the Hero: One Night With Her Boss / Her Very Special Boss / The Surgeon's Marriage Proposal (страница 9)

Tama was an excellent teacher. He demonstrated the task to show her what the expected skills were and then he repeated the action slowly, pausing to explain exactly what he was doing and why. Then he showed her again, at normal speed, with just a few key words to remind her of what needed to happen.

‘Unclip here. Slide. Lift. Use your legs, not your back.’

Mikki did her best but had to growl in frustration when it came to the stretcher.

‘My legs are too short. I can’t reach properly.’

‘Bend from the hips to give yourself a longer stretch. Bring one knee up and support yourself on the floor. The knees of the overalls are padded so it’s safe to kneel even at an accident site.’

‘Hey!’ Mikki could reach and push far more easily. She flipped the locking mechanism over the stretcher handle. ‘That worked.’ She beamed.

Tama was watching with what appeared to be an equal measure of satisfaction. With her performance or his advice?

‘Your legs reach the ground,’ he said blandly. ‘Just the right length if you ask me.’

It was just a moment in time. A couple of heartbeats, but it was long enough to feel too long. As though something was being said that had nothing at all to do with the task in hand.

Or was she being over-sensitive again? Reading more into the interaction with her mentor because there was something about him that was so dangerously attractive?

Mikki dragged an unwilling line of vision away. Seeking distraction. She found it way above Tama’s head. ‘What’s that?’

‘What?’ Tama turned his head.

‘That … platform thing with the ladder.’ She pointed to the far corner of the hangar’s roof.

‘It’s a simulator. For winch training. That’s a skid and that pole thing that’s folded in at the moment is a boom.’

‘So you can hang from that? In a harness?’

‘You have to do some groundwork first. Learn how to use the harnesses and work with carabiners and what hand signals mean and so on. Then we start using the simulator.’

Mikki’s upward gaze was rapt. ‘Cool!’

‘Don’t get too excited.’ His tone was a warning. ‘Not everybody gets to do winch training and it’ll be a while before I’m ready to make a decision as to whether or not you’re a suitable candidate. Months, probably.’

Mikki just nodded. She didn’t want to catch Tama’s gaze and read a reminder that she hadn’t particularly impressed him with her skills so far. The silence that fell could have become awkward but the hangar door opened in the nick of time to admit the station manager, Andy.

‘HUET tomorrow,’ he informed Tama.

‘What? That’s not supposed to be on the agenda until next month.’

‘They brought it forward. Did you not see last week’s memo? The gear’s needed somewhere else next month. There’s no need to sound quite so unenthusiastic either. You knew it was coming.’

‘Yeah … but not tomorrow! We’re on duty.’

‘Relief crew’s coming in. They’re doing their training the following day. No excuses,’ Andy ordered. ‘You know how important this is, Tama, and you know it doesn’t happen very often. We go when we’re told.’ He smiled at Mikki. ‘You get to do it, too,’ he said. ‘You’re lucky. This only happens once every couple of years. We have to get the gear flown in from Australia for this and it’s a big deal. Great opportunity for you.’

Mikki had no idea what he was talking about but the enthusiasm was contagious. She returned the smile. ‘That’s great!’

‘Tell Tama that,’ Andy ordered, heading back to his office.

‘You have no idea what he’s talking about, do you?’ Tama asked drily.

‘No.’ Mikki caught her bottom lip between her teeth. ‘Hewy?’

‘H.U.E.T.,’ Tama spelt out. ‘Stands for Helicopter Underwater Escape Training.’

‘Oh …’

‘There’s a morning of theory in the classroom and then we get to go out to that sports complex where you did the pre-requisite. There’ll be a crane beside the diving pool and it has a cage that’s designed to replicate the fuselage and seating of a helicopter.’

Mikki could actually feel the sinking sensation in her heart. ‘And it goes in the pool?’ As if it hadn’t been a big enough ask, running up and down the steps beside that pool.

‘Yep.’

‘With people inside?’

‘Yep.’

‘Wearing clothes? And helmets? In harnesses and safety belts?’

‘Oh, yeah.’

‘And we have to escape and get to the surface so we don’t drown.’

‘More than once. We get to do it vertical a couple of times and then it goes in vertical and gets flipped on one side. And while it’s not compulsory, if you really want to get the most out of the training …’ Tama’s gaze was a steady challenge ‘… you can get turned completely upside down with or without blackout goggles.’

Good grief! This sounded like a lot more than she had bargained for in her training. The fear that might come from dangling from a winch line paled in comparison. Her heart skipped a beat and picked up speed but showing Tama how nervous the prospect made her feel was not an option.

She grinned. ‘Talk about being thrown in the deep end!’

Tama didn’t return the smile. ‘This is serious,’ he told her. ‘And dangerous. You won’t be forced to participate.’

‘Sounds like an opportunity I’d be stupid to miss.’ Mikki lifted her chin. ‘I’ll give it a go. Do we take turns?’

‘No. It’s crew training. We’ll all be in the crate together.’

Tama’s expression was controlled to the point of appearing empty but Mikki had no trouble interpreting what was going on behind those dark eyes. A female crew member who panicked and made the training even more dangerous for anyone else would be more than a liability.

She would be history.

Mikki swallowed hard, aware of goose-bumps rising on her arms. She had wanted a second chance to prove herself to this man. This may be bigger and scarier than any situation she would have preferred and it might not showcase any medical skills but this was it.

And, dammit, she was going to show Tama James what she was made of.

They were almost done.

A bedraggled knot of people—Tama, Josh, Steve and Mikki—stood on the side of the diving pool. They were wearing float suits, which were like their overalls with the addition of a special lining, but enough water had seeped in over the last hour to chill them and they all shivered occasionally as they listened to the man in charge of this practical session of their HUET.

‘You’ve done well,’ he was saying. ‘I’m impressed, guys. Especially with you, Mikki, given that you’ve only just started working with choppers.’

‘Th-thanks.’ The attempt to suppress a shiver failed but Mikki was smiling as she pushed back the sopping length of her braid that was still sending a trickle of water to drip off the pads of her life jacket.

Her dive mask was pushed to the top of her head and it made her face seem smaller. Her features were as delicate and perfectly proportioned as the rest of her body, Tama realised. He also had the thought that from any kind of a distance you would have considered this to be a child playing dressup. He was close enough to see the mature and steely determination in those blue eyes, however, and so far she had lived up to whatever standard she had deemed necessary.

Mikki had exceeded his expectations, that was for sure.

She’d sat quietly, strapped into the seat, as they’d been lowered into the pool for the first time. She had remembered to hold her breath until the bubbles had cleared and that had been the only occasion she had fumbled at all with releasing her harness. She’d stayed admirably calm on the next try, managing to open the door herself when she had a turn on that side of the ‘fuselage’.

Even having the crate rotated on their last attempt hadn’t fazed her, but the real test was coming. Now, when they were cold and feeling the kind of exhaustion that came after bodies were pushed to keep releasing high levels of adrenaline. The instructor was thinking ahead as well.

‘This one’s the biggie,’ he warned. ‘Upside down. You’ve got to hold your breath, release your harness, find the door and orient yourself before you swim to the surface.’ He was looking at Mikki. ‘This isn’t compulsory, any more than the blackout goggles are. It’s your call.’

Would she do it? Tama wouldn’t blame her if she declined. She’d proved herself already as far as he was concerned. Outstandingly quick in the classroom and gutsy as hell so far in the practical.

‘Mikki?’ The instructor had moved so that he towered over the shortest member of the crew. ‘You’ve probably done enough for your first HUET. Want to call it quits for the day and get warm and dry?’

Mikki didn’t hesitate. ‘No,’ she said.

Tama exchanged a meaningful glance with Josh and mirrored the raised eyebrows but hid his grin.

Go, the mouse!

‘I want to do it,’ Mikki added firmly. ‘I’d rather find out how tough it is in a controlled environment than in some lake or out at sea.’

It was ridiculous to feel so proud of her. Puzzling, in fact. Tama knew he was frowning as he spoke up.

‘I don’t want Mikki by the door. We need someone who’s confident of opening it fast.’