Page 58 of Butterflies and Hazel Eyes
“You haven’t heard? They’re calling for possible tornadoes tonight. I’m worried about Myrtle. I don’t know what you want me to do about her,” she explained. “I’m preparing the basement as we speak for the rest of our guests to ride it out.”
I sat forward in surprise. “I didn’t know this was tornado country.”
“They don’t happen often, but when they do, you don’t want to be in the path of one.”
I chewed on my lip for a moment. What do I do now? If I left Myrtle there, she could get flattened by a tree. If I tried to get out there and get back here, I could get flattened by a tree.
“The motor home is still locked up tight?” I asked, a tremor of fear in my voice.
“Yes, I’ve been checking on it every day. Lot of trees out at the site though.”
A piercing sound came over the line, and I held the phone away from my ear. “What is that, Laverne?”
“Storm sirens,” she yelled. “We’re out of time.”
“Be safe and don’t worry about me or Myrtle. If you need help, call me, and I’ll get help there immediately.”
The line went dead at the same time the door to Gulliver’s apartment slammed open. Simon, one of the security guys, blocked the doorway. He was easily six-two and two hundred pounds of muscle you didn’t want to mess with. He could lift me one-handed without straining. “We’ve got to go, now,” he called, catching the leash when I tossed it to him. He snapped it onto Mojo while I collected the three most important things in my life and ran for the basement as fast as my little legs would carry me.
When we got to the basement, I took Mojo’s leash from Simon. “Thanks for your help, Simon.”
“No problem. Just stay in the lab where it’s safe.”
Gulliver stood holding the door open for me and addressed Simon. “If it gets much worse, you get inside the doors,” he ordered, pointing to the ones at the end of the hallway. “You can’t be out there unprotected.”
Simon gave him a salute. “Will do. I’ve got my guys upstairs watching the doors and windows there. They know their escape route to the basement.”
Gulliver gave a nod and closed the lab door, the latch locking automatically once Mojo and I were safely inside. He kissed my cheek and took my computers from me. “I would have come and got you, but Simon can move three times as fast as I can, so I radioed up to him.”
“It never crossed my mind that you weren’t thinking about me, Gulliver.” I set the other bag on the table and sighed. “I was talking to Laverne when he burst in. Everyone there was gathering in the storm shelter for the night. She was asking me what to do about Myrtle when the sirens went off and the line went dead. I hope they’re okay out there.”
“They’ll be okay in the basement,” he promised, putting his arms around me. “I can’t promise Myrtle gets away unscathed, but at least you aren’t in her.” He kissed the top of my head for comfort then, and I sighed, leaning my head into his belly.
“If Myrtle goes down, she goes down. I can’t control Mother Nature.”
“What are you going to do if Myrtle bites it?” Gulliver asked, his head tipped to the side.
“I have no idea,” I admitted, “but I know that would force me to answer the question that I still don’t know the answer to.” I glanced around the room, desperately searching for a way to change the subject. “This is set up as a living space,” I said. “I haven’t seen this part of the lab before.”
There was a table sitting next to an efficiency kitchen with a fridge, microwave, and coffeepot. Along the other wall sat cots with pillows and blankets and several packs of water and pop.
“This is our break room for the researchers,” he explained. “It keeps them from having to leave the area if they need to take a break but are working on something timed. They can grab something to eat and go back to work. If they’re tired, they can lie down for a bit. The cots don’t get used much, but I’m glad we have them tonight.”
I lowered myself to one and bounced a little bit. “Comfy. Are we safe down here? Are the security guys safe?” I asked just as a crack of thunder raged overhead. Mojo whimpered and crawled under the cot in protest.
Gulliver sat and rubbed my back to soothe me. “We’re all safe. They have access to get down here if a tornado comes in. Otherwise, they’ll stand their posts and make sure if any windows are broken, they get boarded over quickly. I doubt anyone is going to try anything in this kind of weather, but better safe than sorry.” I nodded, swallowing hard. He noticed and grabbed a water bottle, handing it to me after uncapping it. “You’re okay. I’ll keep you safe.”
I drank from the bottle of water and slowly lowered it to my lap. “I know you will. I’m just exhausted from worrying about all of that...” I tipped my head at my computers rather than say more. “Now the storm is stressing me out because I can’t finish my work. We need to talk about it, but I’m not sure we should do that here.”
“Why not?”
“Bugs,” I said simply, “and not the six-legged kind.”
“Nope,” he answered, swinging his head back and forth. “This research area is swept regularly for them. We’re clear down here. Upstairs, I can’t say for sure, but here we can talk about anything.”
I blew out a breath of relief and nervousness. It was time to let Gulliver see the documents. “I should show you what I found then. I can’t make sense of any of it.”
I unloaded my bags down to the last item, my birthday gift, and held it close to my chest to protect it. Gulliver’s arm encapsulated my shoulders, and he held me to him. “I’m glad you didn’t risk leaving it upstairs,” he whispered before kissing the top of my head. He flipped the battery-operated light on and set it on the counter. The image of the northern lights lit up, and I let out a breath of relief.
