Storm Warning (19 page)

“Vance,
” Adam hissed.

“
Let’s go.”
Gabe jumped in the
driver’s
seat of the SUV. Adam climbed in the passenger side and buckled up.

Frankie knocked on the window
with Billy at his side
and Gabe rolled it down. “Storm’s shifting,” he told them.
His usually quiet eyes were bright with nerves. “She wouldn’t have missed this.”

They’d
set
the equipment up in the parking lot, unwilling to leave without Tory.
Billy glanced up at the sky, then into the truck.
“Keep your radio on. It has a fifteen mile radius.
Call us as soon as you find her.
”

“
We will.
Thanks.”

“We can head the way they came in.” Adam pointed w
est and Gabe pulled th
e truck out onto the highway. “I wish she’d answer her damn phone
.”

“You think t
hey took her somewhere?” Gabe struggled for calm as he pressed the
accelerator further.

“What else? Tory would never have disappeared like this ten minutes before we head out. This is a big storm.” Adam dialed her number again.

Minutes down the road, the color around them changed from grey to green. Adam turned up the radio and listened to the computerized voice of the emergency broadcast system warning Tulsa County to take cover.

“Sweet Mother of God,” Gabe said, his heart jerking in his chest.

“What? Where is it
?” Adam jerked his head around
and judging by his own vicious curse, Gabe assumed he
saw it
, too
.

The sky was rotating.

Tears wouldn’
t help her now. She knew that much. But they kept f
lowing. The wind was picking up. She felt it coming
in
the painful thumps of her heart beating in her chest
. She kept
her eyes on the clouds. W
he
n she saw the rotation, she
bit her bottom lip.

She heard the faint sound
of bells. Was it bells?
s
he
wondered
,
unconcerned. She had be
en hearing it for some time now
. She shifted her body slightly to ward off an ache in her leg and the bells grew louder.

Her phone!

With
a gasp she jumped up and crouched back down. She
twisted
her hip so
that she
could
dig
her phone out. She hadn’t even thought of her cell phone.

“Hello, hello?”

“Tory!”

“Adam! Oh my God, it’s coming. It’s coming
for
me like I knew it would.” She blurted the
words out in a panic.

“Tory, it’s all right. It’s not coming for you. Tell me where you are.”

His voice sounded so calm, in control. There was s
o much she wanted to say and no time. The
sky was dipping, the ground rising up to meet it
. Tory swallowed a lump of fear.

“The storms progressed a hell of a lot faster than anyone thought it would. I know because I can see the twis
ter forming.” Her voice quivered, she cleared her throat.
“It’s going to be a big one. F-4 at the least.”

“Tory, where are you at?” Adam spaced his words apart trying desperately to break through her calmed-panic.
She knew it, but if she gave in, she would break.

“I don’t know.
Somewhere outside of town.
They put me in the back of
their stupid van. All I know is
that they turned left out of the
alley
I was in
, right about
twenty
minutes later
,
curves—like
the overpasses—
then right again soon after. That’s all I know.”

“Okay, that’s good. We’re coming, Tory.”

“Adam, I wa
nt you to know how glad I am that I’ve had you
. I never told you
,
but you saved my life
by coming into it
. I was so lost. I needed you and you were there and I didn’t even know you.” She swallowed as tears clogged her throat. “I love you.”

“Tory, I love you too. But you’re not going to die. Gabe and I are two minutes away. Can you see our dust? Look for us and tell me if you see us coming.”

Tory glanced around and saw nothing but the swift forming of a funnel and long stretches of grass and trees.
It was so calm, she thought, feeling calmer herself.
“I don’t see you. Do you see the funnel forming? It’s beautiful. Look how big it is, Adam.”

“I see it, Tory.”

“It’s coming
for
me like it did Mom and Dad. It’s my turn.”

“Damn it, Tory. No, it’s not. You’re going to be fine. We’re coming.”

She
sucked in a breath and watched as the massive funnel started picking up bulk. It was moving
slowly, so
that was to their advantage.
Her heart lifted when she saw a sign that she wasn’t alone.

“Adam, I see the dust from your truck. I see you! You found me.”

“Okay, what direction are we in from you?” Adam asked quickly.

Soon, Tory could see the truck. She dropped the
phone in excitement and couldn’
t reach it again. She fell back down on her bottom onto the ground and waited as Adam and Gabe jumped out of the SUV and ran to her.

Gabe reached her first and grabbed a hold of her. He
pulled
her body a
gainst his and all she could think was
finally
.
“Are you hurt?”
he asked.

“No, no.” Tory trembled in his arms. Relief flowed through her veins, if only temporary. She looked behind Gabe at the spinning force headed straight for them.

“We need to hurry.” Adam said, then ran back to the truck.

“Tory,
” Gabe said and
brought
her back to him. “God, I was so worried.”

“Me too.” She squeezed him and held on.
“It’s coming right toward us,” s
he whispered in a raw, aching voice.

“It’s okay, baby. We’ll get out of here.” Gabe turned slightly, still holding her and studied the hand cuffs. “These should be easy enough to break.” He glanc
ed up when Adam reached them with a pair of pliers.
He
pried a link in the small chain apart
and she was free
.

Before Tory could speak, Gabe swept her up in his arms and they bolted for the truck. Gabe laid Tory down in the back seat
and climbed in beside her. I
n
stantly,
his arms
came
a
round her and
he
pulled her to him again.

Adam revved the engine and gunned it. He took the first left and then another left and pulled over
when they were
out of the path of the storm.

He grabbed
the
microphone.
“Billy, we got her. She’s safe.”
He spouted out their approximate location and gave his guess
at
the size and speed of the twister.

“Thank God,
” Billy replied over the radio
and read off data
.

In the back seat, Gabe’s eyes were locked on Tory’s face. His wide palm
lay
on her cheek
as
he ran his thumb up and down her skin.

“Are you okay?” h
e asked again, softly.

She nodded. “Just hold me, please.”

Gabe obliged her and pulled her
back into his arms. She
shudder
ed hard
and then the sobs came. She took short, fast, desperate gulps of air as the worst of the tremors subsided.

“S-sorry.”

“
You have no reason to apologize,
” Adam said from the front seat.

“It’s my fault.
I shouldn’t have gone out on my own. But they were just there and
I couldn’t get away.”

“Yeah,
well we’ll deal with those shit-
heads soon enough. Right now, I’m going to get some pictures of this tornado.” Adam stepped out of the truck.

“He’s angry,
” Tory murmured.

“Not at you.”

“
I thought they’d hurt you. They told me they did. But you’re okay?”

“I’m fine.”

She nodded.
She should have known the bastards had lied.
“
It’s almost over. It’s losing intensity.”

“Yeah.”

She closed her eyes.
“Gabe, I’m sorry for t
he things I said to you before—”

“Don’t do this now,
”
he said in a gruff voice. “We
came this close,” he held up his fingers in an open pinch to demonstrate, “to losing you.”

“Give yourself more credit than that. It was more like this close.” She held up her fingers with a wider gap.

“Shut up,” h
e suggested witho
ut heat. “You drive me crazy.” But h
e linked her fingers with his.

They watched, quietly holding each other as the clouds consumed the darkness and debris fell everywhere aro
und where the tornado had vanished.

Chapter
Thirteen

Gabe waited for Tory’s breathing to settle before he
rose
carefully from the bed. He dressed in brooding silence
,
knowing they’
d said all that needed to be said the day before.

They’
d driven back to the hotel room when the storm had passed. The team had been there to meet Tory. She had been con
sumed in back breaking hugs,
spun in circles
, and had cheerfully filed a police report on the Johnson brothers
before she and Gabe managed to make it back to their room.

Still shaken, they’
d made love fast and furiously all the while thinking o
f how close they had come to lo
sing each other. They didn’t speak of their fight and they di
dn’t speak of the future. That—to Gabe—had
said it all.

A clean cut would be easier on her pride and easier on his heart. Gabe always considered
himself a man accustomed to taking what he wanted. But the only thing he wanted right now was Tory. And he knew that was a losing battle.

She may have said the things she said to him out of the heat of the moment. He had made her pretty angry. But that didn’t make the words any less true.
Gabe jerked his shoes on and tied them.
She didn’t need his protection. She didn’t need him.

Gabe wondered thoughtfully what Tory would say if she were to wake up.
Would sh
e ask
him to stay? Would she finally
give her heart to him? He
shoved a shirt into his suitcase and zipped it shut. She would be sorry to see him go. Gabe wasn’t blind
, he knew she felt
something
. But she would let him go.

If she would have ever indicated she had more feelings for him, he would have stayed just for the pleasure of being with her. But
his
love was selfless and
Gabe wanted Tory to have everything she wanted—e
ven if that meant he had no place in her life.

S
oundlessly
, he
se
t his bags beside the door and made his way over to the bed. The sight of Tory sleeping reminded him of the first night he had met her when he carried her from the truck to her hotel room. Her dark mass of tangled hair was spread out over the pale pillow. Her lips, still swollen from his, were parted and curved slightly in sleep.

He s
tood beside the bed for a while—
memorizing everything. He drank in the way her dark brows arched, the way her thick lashes curled, casting shadows down her cheeks by the pale moonlight seeping into the room.

With the lightest touch, Gabe trailed his fingertip along her smooth jaw
line. She stirred slightly, murmuring
his name
,
and
he
ached. And even as his heart was breaking, he placed a
kiss on her lips, then her brow—t
hen walked out of the room
,
closing the door soundlessly behind him.