Page 107 of Through the Storms
“Roger that.” Oakley stepped out of the van as the others returned with their food. She stared off to the west where dark clouds had begun to roll in. “The sky’s getting a bit ominous here.” A thought raced through Oakley’s mind. “Hey, why aren’t you on air?”
“I put Shelly on it. For consistency. I’m manning things behind the scenes.”
Oakley’s heart dropped to her stomach.Consistency.Meaning that Lana would be leaving for the airport soon, so she wouldn’t want to disappear from in front of the camera, or it might make the viewers uneasy. “Makes sense,” Oakley said in her most casual tone.
“Hey, things are shaping up about ten miles from you,” Lana said.
Just as Lana said the words, another group of storm chasers sped past. “Jesus. Apparently, they’re hearing the same thing. TWISTY just flew past here like their asses were on fire.”
Asher ran from inside the fast-food restaurant. “We need to go,” he yelled.
“Was that Asher?” Lana asked.
“Yeah, somebody lit his ass, too.”
“Let’s go,” Britt called from the van.
“Hey, babe, it looks like we need to pull out,” Oakley said.
“Be safe.”
“I love you. More than you may ever know.”
“I love you, too, Oak.”
“Get your ass in the van,” Britt yelled.
“I’ll talk to you later, babe,” Oakley said before she ended the call.
Lana raced into the weather center and handed Shelly the latest warning coming from the Weather Service. “There’s a warning just outside of Edmond, get it on the air.”
Shelly hurried into the studio. Lana smiled. The young woman was a natural. She had the right mixture of authority and credibility mixed with compassion and likability.
Lana sat at the bank of computers in the weather center. The door behind her banged open.
“What’s the frenzy about?” Carol asked.
“We’ve got another warning,” Lana said.
“Fuck. How many does that make?”
“A lot. And there’ll be more where that came from.”
“Injuries?” A deep line creased Carol’s forehead.
“Nothing confirmed yet.” Lana rubbed her chest. “But the one that hit early this morning, I fear there had to be some lost lives.”
“They didn’t even know what hit them.” Carol’s eyes welled.
“Unfortunately, no.”
“I hate this weather.” Carol glared, and then her features softened. “Did you talk to Oakley?”
“I just got off the phone with her.”
“So you told her?”
“No.”
