The winds were too strong, the force too great. Her strength was gone. She lay there like a broken doll, each breath more painful than the last. She could sense the winds growing weaker. The roar had faded to a dull throb. The tornado had ripped through in a matter of seconds and was even now moving on and spreading its destructive path.
Her last conscious thought was that she had to get to Travis and Cammie. Everything they had was gone. Taken by the storm. Tears of frustration and pain crowded her eyes. She wouldn’t give up. Nothing on earth would make her cry defeat.
Her eyelids fluttered sluggishly. She tried to shake off the veil of unconsciousness. She had to get to Cammie and Travis. But blackness overtook her, pulling her into its snug embrace.
CHAPTER 12
DONOVAN stood in the war room on the KGI compound, palms down on the planning surface as he meticulously did a check of all the systems. His first priority had been in making sure his family was safe, but close on the heels of that was ensuring that the generators did what they were supposed to do in case of a power failure.
The sophisticated system had been designed so that when power failed, within a tenth of a second, the generators would kick in and no compromise in security would occur. They’d tested it many times but had never faced a real-time situation. Until now.
The tornado had blown through Dover, knocking down power lines and destroying homes and everything else in its path. His brothers and their wives and children had all taken shelter in their basements, something every single house inside the compound had.
They’d taken great pains in designing a compound that was safe not only from human attack but from the elements as well. They were too far inland to ever worry about hurricanes, but tornadoes were very real threats.
Just a few years earlier, tornadoes had devastated Jackson and Clarksville, and then on the heels of Clarksville’s recovery, they’d been struck by yet another one. Even Nashville hadn’t proved impervious to the killer storms.
Donovan’s main concern had been that a storm would compromise their security measures and make it possible for there to be a breach when they were at their most vulnerable. He was satisfied to see that the costly technology on which he’d spared no expense appeared to be doing its job.
“Everything checking out okay?” Joe asked.
Donovan glanced up at his brother, who stood by Swanny. His first call had been to Joe, since he lived outside the compound. Then he’d called his parents, frantic with worry over whether they’d withstood the tornado. Other than a tree down on their property and a few missing shingles, they were okay. Donovan’s brothers would go out as soon as it got light so they could assess any damage his father hadn’t been able to see.
One by one, other members of the extended Kelly family had checked in, and all were accounted for. Thank God.
“Yeah, it’s all looking good. My babies did their job,” he said with a grin.
Joe rolled his eyes. “You need to get out more, man. You’re developing far too close a relationship with your technology.”
“Pull the weather service map of the storm, Swanny. I want to see the path the tornado took.”
Swanny bent over one of the computers and a few moments later, the screens in front of Donovan lit up and showed multiple views of the tornado’s trajectory.
Donovan studied it carefully and his breath caught when he saw the exact path the storm had taken. A knot formed in his stomach and his fingers curled into tight fists.
“Fuck,” he whispered.
“What is it?” Joe asked sharply.
“We have to go,” Donovan bit out. “I need you and Swanny.”
“What’s going on?” Joe demanded. “Talk to us, man.”
“Eve,” he said. “God. I didn’t even think. I never should have let them stay there tonight. I knew the fucking weather was going to be bad and I knew that shitty trailer they’re living in provided no protection from the elements whatsoever. And Cammie is sick. Goddamn it, I should have hauled them out of there earlier.”
“You aren’t making any sense,” Swanny said in a calm voice.
Donovan’s fist came down on the countertop with a rattle. “They were right in the path of the tornado. That trailer would have never survived even the weakest storm, much less an F3 like this one was. We have to get over there. I hope to fuck we aren’t too late. If they were killed I’ll never forgive myself.”
“Shit,” Joe muttered. “Let’s go. Swanny and I are with you. Should we call out the others?”
Donovan shook his head. “Maybe Sean, though he’s probably up to his ears with all the other victims. The others need to stay with their own families. We’ll see what we’re dealing with when we get there. If we need help, we’ll call then. Right now I have to get the hell over there and make sure they’re all right.”
“Let’s roll,” Swanny said shortly.
Donovan hurried out to his truck. Joe got in the passenger seat and Swanny hopped into the extra cab. He roared out of the compound, scanning the sky for any sign of impending daybreak. It was lightening toward the east and within thirty minutes they’d have enough light to see what they were dealing with.
“There are flashlights in the back, Swanny. Under the seat. Pull those out and make sure they work. It’ll be light soon but we’ll be there in ten minutes and we’ll need them.”
“On it,” Swanny said.
There was rustling in the back and a few moments later Swanny said, “Got ’em. Looks like you have four.”
He handed two up to Joe and kept the others.
“Careful, man,” Joe murmured. “Keep it on the road. We aren’t going to be of any help to them if you wrap your truck around a tree.”
Donovan eased off on the accelerator, knowing his brother was right. But it didn’t quell the urgency he had to get to Eve and her siblings. Damn it, but he should have never walked away. He knew in his gut it was the wrong thing to do, but he’d consoled himself with the fact that he and Maren would be returning the next morning. He just hoped to hell his hesitation hadn’t cost them their lives.
“Christ, it’s a mess,” Donovan said as he dodged a fallen tree.
The entire way, he could see no sign of power in any of the houses they passed. But he hadn’t seen complete destruction either, something that bolstered his hopes that the trailer hadn’t been demolished.
But as he got closer to the road where Eve’s trailer was, the worse the damage was. Treetops torn off. Debris everywhere. As soon as he turned onto the road, he knew it was going to be bad. The very first house, well, it wasn’t even a house any longer. Only the foundation remained. And oddly, the furniture still sat where it had been situated inside the house. But the walls and roof were gone. He hoped like hell that no one had been inside when the storm struck or that they at least had a basement to seek shelter in.
“Did the rest of your team check in, Joe?”
Unease gripped him. Skylar and Edge roomed together in a house they shared rent on, but Donovan had no idea if they had a basement. Nathan, Joe and Swanny had helped their teammates move in but Donovan had never been to their house, a fact he now lamented.
“Yeah, they’re good. Tornado didn’t touch them. They barely even got any rain,” Joe said.