Page 59 of Whirlwind

“About a mile!” he yells back to me.

“Alright, this is it!” I clap.

“You really don’t want to come with us, Joey?” Finley asks.

A grin lights up his face as he glances between me and Finley. “Nah, this tornado is fucking epic. I wanna keep the drone in play longer without pulling it back. I’ll catch the next one. Have fun, you two!” Joey finger-guns us before heading toward the truck.

It’s funny how after last night, it seems the guys have easily accepted that Finley and I are together. Not that we’ve had time to discuss anything, but nobody made it weird. Well, minus Ezra giving me a thumbs-up earlier when Finley wasn’t looking and Hawk shooting awe’ll talk laterlook in my direction.

My gaze moves out to study the tornado again, and my ears pop from the pressure change. It’s getting larger and closer by the second. If we want to get the rocket in the inflow band and intercept it, we need to move Thor closer to the direct path. “It’s time to go, Finley. I’ll meet you in Thor.” She nods and jogs off as Hawk approaches me.

“Stay safe out there,” he says.

We have only a few seconds, so I give him a brief hug. This is as much his moment as it is mine. He’s been with me since the beginning. We designed the rockets together, tested them and failed so many times. We built and intercepted our first tornado in Thor together. We may not be brothers in blood, but we’re brothers in every other way that counts.

“You can still drive in closer and launch with us,” I tell him.

“I want to track the rocket and get the data, and I’ve got everything set to go. I feel it like you do. This is it. Go get that tornado, man. We’ll celebrate when it’s all said and done.”

“I—”

“Ryker!” Finley yells, stepping out of Thor. “We need to move!”

“Go, man!” Hawk pushes me.

I quickly put eyes on Ezra, who looks positively elated while recording a video of the storm. He catches my eye and gives me another thumbs-up before I glance at Joey. He’s launching his drone and smiling like the goofy and lovable idiot he is.

“Ryker!” Finley calls again.

With a final salute to Hawk, I run over to Thor while eyeing the tornado—it’s definitely over a mile wide now and still gaining strength. I jump inside the vehicle and make sure Finley’s settled in before I lower the doors.

“To successfully pull this off, we need it to cross the road in front of us,” I tell her as I hit the gas, gravel spitting behind the tires as we get onto the road. “If we get too far out of range, we’ll miss our opportunity for both the rocket launch and the subsonic sensor reading.”

Finley looks down at the computer on her lap. “Stop in exactly half a mile. That should be the perfect spot to launch.”

“Copy that.” My foot remains on the gas pedal as I look out the windshield. “Just look at her—the base alone…” I whistle low.

Finley bounces in her seat, her gaze following mine. “We’re going to be inside of that.”

“Hell yeah, we are!” I dare a glance at her as I start to ease off the gas. “Are you ready to make history?”

“Never been more ready in my life.” She smiles happily at me, and for a moment, everything around us freezes. I’d thought about Finley being on this chase with me this weekend, but never in my life did I think what we did last night would havecome before this moment. But now, I can’t imagine it any other way. This…this is perfect.

“Remember, we have to launch and then get out of there quickly to get Thor where we want for the direct intercept. When we’re back in the vehicle, the harness goes on. Understood?”

“Yes, Professor.” She grins coyly as I bring us to a stop.

A trill of laughter leaves my chest before I press the button that lifts the doors. When I step out of the safety of the armored vehicle, I’m met by strong rain and even harsher winds than before.

Not wasting any time, I hop in the back seat and lift open the hatch where I can reach the launch pad mounted on the hood. Finley stands outside of the vehicle and hands me one of the lightweight rockets that she grabbed from the back. I start to attach it, and she helps me when I ask since she can see the frontof the mount better from where she stands. When it’s good to go, she steps back and takes a few pictures of me with the rocket before snapping more of the storm.

I brand this moment in my mind, wishing I could take a picture of her right now against the backdrop of the green-hued sky. She looks like she belongs here in her jeans and team T-shirt with our logo on it—Ezra must have given it to her—her hair dancing around her face and cheeks red, skin and clothes getting wet from the rain.

“This tornado is incredible!” she yells, but I don’t miss the awe in her voice.

I study the large black funnel, the beauty whipping the debris of farmland and most likely barns and grain silos around with it. “It’s rotating hard and coming right in range!”

“Ryker,” Finley says, her voice high-pitched.

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