Keeping Zita (Rescue Angels #3)

Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

Obadiah Engle, known as Obi-Wan to just about everyone, shook his head in amazement as he drove through the security checkpoint at the entrance to the movie set just outside Norfolk.

He was arriving for his first day on the job as military advisor.

It felt a little surreal that someone like him—a regular lower- to middle-class boy from North Carolina who grew up loving helicopters—was in this position.

He’d been hired for award-winning big-shot Hollywood director Henry Grubbner’s new film, about a helicopter pilot being shot down in North Korea.

Obi-Wan couldn’t say it was a dream-come-true job, as he was already doing that as a Night Stalker pilot for the US Army.

But it was certainly a high point in his life.

It was exciting and a change in his usual routine.

At thirty-three, Obi-Wan wasn’t exactly old, but he felt as if he was in a bit of a rut.

Doing the same thing day after day. Attending meetings on the naval base and being deployed to various places around the world to shuttle special forces teams to and from the various top-secret, highly dangerous missions they were assigned.

He loved flying. Was obsessed with planes and helicopters from a young age. His parents had indulged him, even encouraging his interest. He wasn’t super-close with his mom and dad, but he owed them for what he’d become today.

Butterflies swirled in Obi-Wan’s belly as he parked his Jeep Wrangler and headed for the large hangar that had been built for the movie.

From the itinerary he’d received, day one was mostly about meeting the staff he’d be consulting with.

He was excited to see how the rest of the morning would unfold and to get a feel for how things worked.

His Night Stalker team had given him a rash of shit for not telling them what he was up to lately, when not sitting behind the controls of his chopper and between missions.

But they were also intrigued. He’d signed an NDA, so he couldn’t talk a lot about the actual movie, but he was looking forward to sharing as much as he could about the new experience with his best friends.

Though, Obi-Wan also knew he’d be very busy for the next few months. He wouldn’t have a lot of down time. Between work for the Army and this gig, he’d probably be getting very little sleep, what with traveling between the naval base and the movie set regularly.

Making sure his badge was prominently displayed, he walked back by the security checkpoint, respectfully nodding at the men and women working there, and opened the door to the hangar.

To his surprise, it looked and sounded much like the hangar back at the naval base, with a lot of people milling about.

But unlike on the base, there were also cameras mounted on what looked like train tracks everywhere he looked.

Men and women wearing headsets scurried around as if loaded up on caffeine and stimulants… which they probably were.

Obi-Wan had no idea where he was supposed to go or what he was expected to do. He felt out of his element, which wasn’t a feeling he usually experienced when he was inside a hangar.

Just when he was about to stop one of the people rushing by, Obi-Wan noticed a woman walking toward him.

Everything faded into the background as she came closer.

He’d never seen her in any of the Zoom meetings he’d had with various producers and assistants.

He would’ve remembered if he had. She was shorter than his five-foot-nine height—he estimated she was around five-five or six.

Her auburn hair was pulled back into a bun at the nape of her neck, and she wore a pair of navy cargo pants with several items in the pockets on the sides of her thighs.

Her blue polo shirt had some sort of logo on the left breast. He couldn’t make out the color of her eyes yet, but would guess they were probably some sort of shade of green, just based on the color of her hair.

She was lean and obviously fit, her expression intense—and she was completely focused on him, which made Obi-Wan stand up straighter.

He had no idea who she was, but he couldn’t deny that he was relieved. It looked as if he wouldn’t have to wander around looking like an idiot, trying to figure out where he was supposed to go, after all.

When she got close enough, Obi-Wan saw that his suspicions were correct.

Her eyes were a deep shade of green. Like the waters he’d seen one week while vacationing in Maine.

Green with flecks of tan. Her lips were full and shiny, as if she’d just applied lip gloss or ChapStick.

She wore very little makeup otherwise—and she didn’t need it anyway, because her skin was flawless. She was beautiful just as she was.

His heart was beating faster than normal, and Obi-Wan had only a split second to be a little worried about the effect this stranger was having on him before she spoke.

“Hi! You must be Obadiah Engle, yeah?”

“Obi-Wan,” he corrected immediately.

“Excuse me?” she asked with an adorable frown.

“No one calls me Obadiah. I go by Obi-Wan.”

“Oh…that’s your call sign, right?” she asked.

“Call sign, nickname, tac name, whatever you want to call it.”

To his surprise, the woman grinned. It was a mischievous smile, one that made Obi-Wan wonder what she was thinking.

She didn’t make him wonder for long.

“I can picture it now. A woman in the throes of ecstasy yelling out, ‘More, Obi-Wan! Right there, Obi-Wan! Harder, Obi-Wan!’”

Stunned, he was at a loss for words for a moment. Her joke was totally something his teammates would say. But before he could respond, the woman turned an intense shade of pink, then grimaced.

“Oh my God! I’m sorry. That was so rude and completely inappropriate.

I’m not usually so crass. I just…it’s been a hectic morning.

The first couple of days on a shoot usually are.

Can we start over? I’m Zita. Zita Darlington.

I don’t have a nickname, unless you count ‘hey you’ or ‘Doc.’ I’m not a doctor though, I’m the set medic.

I’m in charge of making sure things are safe, and if people get hurt, I’m the one who sees to them.

I’m pretty much invisible until someone breaks a hand or gets their nose bloodied.

Not that those things happen a lot, as Henry’s a stickler for safety on his sets.

But since we’re not filming yet and I have some downtime, I was asked to meet you this morning and give you a tour.

So, it’s very nice to meet you, Obi-Wan. Welcome to the set of Broken Wings.”

She was babbling now, and for some reason, Obi-Wan didn’t think it was as annoying as he might have with anyone else.

He was a get-to-the-point kind of guy who normally hated when people made small talk, always preferring for others to say what they wanted to say and move on.

Part of that came from needing intel fast and furious when he was flying.

And part of it came from the fact his mom could talk the ears off anyone and everyone.

The person checking them out in the grocery store, parents of his friends, his teachers during parent-teacher meetings.

His mom was friendly, but it always annoyed Obi-Wan when she felt the need to tell her life story—and his—to everyone she met.

But listening to Zita—he loved her interesting and unusual name—babble on and try to cover up her inappropriate comment about his nickname was hilarious.

“Growing up, some people called me Sage,” he told her.

“It’s my middle name, and around fourth grade I got sick of being picked on because of my name, so I decided to start using Sage instead.

It took a while to catch on, but after shoving a few kids when they called me Obadiah, they decided for their own well-being to go ahead and call me Sage.

I don’t usually condone violence, but changing my name made my life a whole lot easier growing up. ”

“Okay. Sage. That’s cool. Great. Um…look, I’m sorry about being inappropriate earlier.

I’m used to hanging around other medics and EMTs.

We have kind of a warped sense of humor.

We use it as a defense mechanism, I guess.

When things get intense or go bad on a call, we tend to make jokes rather than fall apart. ”

“You’ve seen some bad shit.”

“Yeah. You can’t be a paramedic and go on nine-one-one calls and not see some pretty horrible things. But thankfully, most of our calls are routine. Lift-assists, sick people, falls, things like that. I’m sure you’ve seen your share of bad stuff too.”

Obi-Wan nodded and said simply, “Yeah.”

“Now that I’ve totally embarrassed myself and put my foot in my mouth at the earliest opportunity, how about that tour I’m supposed to be giving you?

” She looked at the watch on her wrist. “You’re scheduled to meet Carmen and Logan, the main actors in the movie, which of course you know, at six a.m. That’s in about thirty minutes.

Although, we probably have more time than that, since Carmen’s rarely on time for anything.

And I’m not gossiping when I say that. Anyone will tell you the same thing.

She’s always told anything she’s involved in starts a half hour before it actually does, so she can be on time.

Come on, I’ll show you where everything is. ”

Obi-Wan found himself grinning. He nodded and fell into step beside the dynamo of a woman who instantly made him feel more comfortable in the unfamiliar surroundings.

As they walked both around the hangar and the areas immediately outside, and she pointed out different things, including the break room full of snacks, the smoking area—unnecessary for him—and trailers where the stars and the director hung out between takes, it wasn’t lost on him how many people greeted Zita.

She was friendly and outgoing, and everyone they passed or she stopped to introduce him to seemed genuinely happy to see her.