Prairie Storm (Cowboys of The Flint Hills #4) Read online

  Ben spoke up. “We’re going to have to hike back by the road. I can drop the six birders at the lodge and go assess damage up at the Big House. If Brodie’s truck is drivable, you can take it to your place and check in there. Then swing back and grab us. If Prairie got hit, they’re going to need all the help they can get.”

  Axel scrubbed a hand across his face. “Take the girls too. The guys can come with me.”

  “No way,” Ashleigh shook her head. “Just because I’m a girl doesn’t mean I’m not strong enough to help.”

  “Me, too,” chimed in Jessica, the quietest of his interns.

  “Fine. Sorry.” Haley’d smack him for that slip-up.

  Together, the group scrambled up the hill, carefully avoiding branches and skirting the occasional downed tree. The air smelled funny, like a weird combination of freshly chopped wood and organic matter.

  Brodie and Jamey were waiting for them at the lodge, faces pinched with worry. Brodie look visibly relieved when he saw Ben. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

  “We need to get into town,” Axel urged. “As soon as I check on our place. Haley said the twister took dead aim on Prairie.”

  Jamey exchanged glances with Brodie. “How many coolers can you help me get ready with coffee and water? If the tornado went through Prairie, they’re going to need supplies.”

  Ben took charge again. “Why don’t you two get supplies together. Food, but also the equipment we use to pull stumps. We may need it to move things. In the meantime, Axe needs to take the truck to check on his family.”

  Brodie raised his eyebrows. “Oh?”

  “Smashed like Hulk.”

  Brodie flashed him a grin. “Sucks for you, man. Keys are on the seat.”

  At least they could still make jokes.

  “Axe?” Hope’s voice sounded watery. As if she was trying not to cry. “Keep me posted? Let me know… everyone’s okay?”

  He nodded, swallowing a lump of emotion. “Yeah. I will.” He motioned for the interns to follow and he climbed into Brodie’s truck, heart heavy. What would he find at home? Ashleigh and Jessica squeezed in the cab with him while Dustin and Brad hopped into the bed.

  The small stretch of paved road that separated their two properties was so covered in mud it looked like a dirt road. There were a few downed branches which they stopped to pull out of the way, but what was unnerving were the crumpled pieces of metal that looked more like twist ties than fencing. And the pieces of people’s homes.

  His friends’ homes.

  From the looks of it, at least, the tornado hadn’t come straight down the main road.

  Gunnar and his parents were standing just off the front porch when Axel arrived with his interns.

  His mom rushed up, tears of relief in her eyes. “Oh, thank heavens you’re safe. I was so worried,” Martha wrapped him in a huge hug. “Where’s Haley?”

  His mother’s concern for Haley touched him. “Don’t know. She sent me back here ahead of the storm to get everyone to safety.”

  Pops on the other hand, was plain pissed. “Where the hell did you disappear to?”

  “Glad you’re okay too, Pops,” Axel shot back. Of course, Pops would be angry. Axel had done something on his own.

  “What if that tornado had come closer? Over a million dollars of livestock would have been chewed up by the barn, and you off gallivanting God knows where. You had responsibilities here.”

  “Did you and Gunn get them out?”

  “No thanks to you.”

  Something inside Axel snapped. “People over horses, pops. That’s something I’ve tried to teach my interns. And why do you think they’re here? Because they get that. You’re right I have a responsibility,” he bit out. “To help my neighbors. To make sure my interns are safe.” His breath was coming hard and fast now. “What if something had happened to them? Would you have been the one to call their parents?”

  Eddie opened his mouth, then snapped it shut, the fight seeming to leave him. His father suddenly seemed much, much older. He toed the ground a minute before raising his eyes to meet Axel’s. “I… you’re right.” He scrubbed a hand across his chin. “I wanted you here where I knew you were safe, son.” Eddie’s eyes grew bleak for a moment. “I… I can’t lose you.”

  “You can’t keep me in a box either, Pops,” Axel threw back. “You’ve gotta let me be my own man.”

  You can’t put me in cotton on the shelf. Haley’s voice echoed in his mind.

  She was right, too. He couldn’t. Not if he loved her. Keeping her from what she loved would kill her spirit.

  But he couldn’t think about that right now. Hell, he didn’t even know if she was alive.

  CHAPTER 27

  Haley sat clutching the steering wheel trying to get her breathing back to normal. “You’re okay. You’re okay,” she chanted over and over.

  The question was, was everybody else? She couldn’t shake the sick feeling in her stomach that people were hurt, or worse. In all her years of studying tornadoes, she’d never been that close to one that big. Sure, she’d been on air during the 2013 outbreak that took almost the same path of the one she survived in 1999, but there was something entirely different about facing a killer storm up close and personal.

  She’d have to use her emergency supplies today. No doubt about it. Her mission no longer research, but rescue. Resolve settled in her bones. She’d help wherever she could. No matter what.

  Haley’s mind raced as she pushed the T-REX into gear and pulled forward. The most important thing now was to stay out of the way of trained search and rescue. It was easy in the midst of chaos to try and be everywhere, be everything. But the training she’d received reminded the scientists over and over to ‘swim in their lane’. An emergency wasn’t the time to go rogue cowboy and play the hero. Everyone had a role, and people’s lives depended on first responders not being hindered by well-meaning citizens, including her.

  As she approached town, she slowed, driving around a cow that stood on the shoulder looking confused. Debris littered the mud-slicked road. Pieces of houses, fencing, pink insulation. Even this far from the actual funnel path, driving was treacherous. As awful as it was here, the worst was yet to come.

  She drove around a piece of a roof. A flash went up to her right… Downed power line setting something off? Propane explosion? It never occurred to her she might not be able to reach town. She had to reach town. She’d be damned if she sat helpless, stuck in debris.

  Never again.

  Haley pressed on, occasionally driving on the shoulder, or stopping to move branches out of the road. The closer she got to Prairie, the less she could breathe. She’d seen footage like this before. Had overlayed street maps on wreckage footage so FEMA and National Guard officials could better do their jobs. Given her expert opinion on top wind speed and vortex forces.

  She’d seen exactly this when she’d crawled out of what was left of Mama June’s home. Tree stumps with no bark or branches, tilted at angles, crumbled houses, imploded roofs, building materials scattered everywhere. Cars tossed and squished like they’d been made of play-do, not metal. Windows gone, wheels bent or missing. Some even piled on top of each other.

  There was something so awesomely horrific and unnatural, that still, even with all her professional training, the reality rocked her to her core. Haley slammed on the brakes. “Oh dear God.” She flashed back to 1999, and the memory of grabbing the firefighter’s hand as he pulled her out of the bathtub. She hopped out of the car, stumbling forward, not caring for the moment that she was in the middle of the road. “NO. Nononoooooooo.”

  She didn’t recognize Main Street. How could she? There was nothing left. The park across the street from the diner was nothing more than naked, spindly trees, looking like a macabre, real life version of The Nightmare Before Christmas. Some now with ‘leaves’ of blankets, insulation, or cardboard. Pieces of wall rose out of the rubble with curtains flapping in the light breeze. Mud, stone, and wood covered the
street. Parking signs stood bent and twisted like party straws. Wood creaked. And the sound that chilled her to her bones… voices crying.

  It would be a miracle if no one died. Had Travis succeeded in getting everyone to take cover in time? Where was he? Was he stuck? “TRAVIS,” she shouted, racing back to the car. She pulled it forward, driving over brick and glass, as far as she could, and then parked behind a mangled pickup truck with a limestone block crushing the roof.

  Haley raced to the trunk and rooted for her emergency kit tucked in the bottom. It wasn’t much. Just a small first aid kit, gloves, water, a box of granola bars, and a can of spray paint.

  “Haley, that you?” Travis hollered from across the street. “Stay where you are.”

  She vibrated with impatience as he picked his way across the rubble. “Thank God you’re okay.”

  He smiled grimly. “Not as quite as bad over by the station. But my vehicle is sitting on the front porch of Gloria McPherson’s house.

  “Here,” she shoved the contents toward him. “How can I help?”

  Travis looked from the contents in his hands to her, and back again, obviously confused.

  “Sometimes we’re first on the scene. We’re required to render aid where aid is needed.”

  He nodded and surveyed the street, face tight. “Fire station got dinged, but the boys should be crawling out soon. We need to start clearing these buildings. There.” He waved at the rubble across the street. We start here and work our way back to the diner.”

  Haley looked up the street. The diner. One wall standing, and the large walk-in.

  “Kincaid,” a voice called from down the street.

  Travis looked visibly relieved. “Parker. Everyone okay?”

  Haley recognized Parker Hansen, Axel’s cousin, picking his way through the rubble and carrying a backboard with a duffel slung over his shoulder. Axel would be relieved to know he was okay.

  “Three of us are fine. Two hunkered down with me at the fire station. I’m assuming the others are making their way in, but I haven’t confirmed.” Parker took in the rubble, shaking his head, then turned his attention back to Travis. “The equipment didn’t fare so well. Ambulance out front flipped.”

  “What about the truck?”

  “Part of the wall collapsed on it, but it could be operable.”

  “Good, we might need that ladder.” Travis looked back at Haley. “Watch your head. There’s still debris coming down.”

  And rain. The irony of a major tornado. As if the winds weren’t enough. The backside of a supercell almost always had significant winds and rain.

  A cry carried on the wind, flipping a panic switch. Haley started running, slipping and sliding, to the voice. “Travis, we have to help. Somebody’s in there.”

  Travis caught her around the waist mid-street. “Stay back.” His voice was like steel. “These walls may not be stable. You have to let us clear it first.”

  Suddenly, she was fourteen again, fighting to get out. Fighting panic. Scared to death that she couldn’t hear Mama June. “What am I supposed to do?” she shouted, trying to twist out of his grip. “There are people in there who need help. What if they’re hurt?” Haley’s voice rose in hysteria.

  Travis tightened his grip. “Then let the professionals handle it.”

  “I am a professional,” she cried. “Why do you think I do this? I know more about the potential injury that can be incurred than you do,” she gave a valiant tug, “Officer.”

  Travis’s grip was like an iron vice. He turned her around, giving her a gentle, but firm shake. When he spoke, his voice was as sharp as glass. “I don’t have time to sit here and piss on your log about how many bombed out buildings I’ve cleared,” he bit out. “Let. Me. Do. My. Job.”

  The authority in his voice stilled her. Momentarily held the overwhelming panic at bay.

  “Now. We’re going to start where the voices are. You wait here. We may need you for triage. Parker? Follow me.” Travis released her and motioned to Parker who followed him inside the broken building.

  Parker and Travis disappeared into the building. Was it the Five & Dime? Most of these old buildings had cellars and basements, so even if people were trapped, they were likely okay. Not like where she had grown up, where most homes were built on concrete slabs, and many, not even up to code. Dejectedly, she picked her way back to the T-REX. She could at least check in with Forte, let him know what was happening. She slipped into the driver’s seat and fired up the car, hoping to see evidence of a connection she strongly expected wouldn’t materialize. She was right. It didn’t. For the time being, she was on her own.

  She turned off the engine, and even though rain and debris were still coming down, she exited the T-REX. She couldn’t be in an enclosed space right now. After fifty-three paces back and forth in front of the car, and directing two more emergency personnel into the building across the street, a shout went up. Haley’s heart kicked into high gear. They’d found someone. A survivor? Hope surged through her. Oh please let them be okay, she prayed to no one in particular.

  A long moment later, Parker and Travis emerged with someone on the backboard. Haley rushed to the trunk and rooted until she found the emergency blanket. Whoever it was would want this. Stumbling across the muddy expanse, she met them in the middle of the street and gave a gasp of dismay.

  Warren Hansen’s brilliant blue eyes stared up at her from the backboard, glazed over in pain. She glanced from Warren to the two men, hoping to find some confirmation that he had only sustained minor injuries. Parker’s mouth narrowed to a thin line and he shook his head once.

  Oh God.

  She was going to puke.

  He couldn’t be hurt that bad, could he?

  “Hey there.” Haley reached out and squeezed Warren’s shoulder.

  He coughed and wheezed, and as Haley narrowed her focus, she could see his color was very grey, and his breathing, very shallow. Her stomach churned and sank to her toes.

  “Parker?” She looked to him for reassurance. Parker’s grim expression was all she needed to know.

  Warren groaned, and his eyes fluttered. He lifted a finger and struggled to speak. “’Sokay, son. I know I’m hurt bad. Worse’n when I got thrown from one of those bulls yer daddy raised.” He struggled to take another breath.

  Horror clutched at Haley. She recognized that deathly rattle.

  Warren coughed and gasped. “Give it to me straight, son. I don’t got much time for this world, do I?

  Parker’s face grew stony. “I need to examine you, Uncle Warren. But given the amount of debris we pulled off you – likely broken ribs, internal bleeding – possibly your liver…” he released a heavy sigh. “It’s hard to say.”

  “Surely, you can help him… can’t you?” What kind of Twilight Zone episode was she in, anyway? The one where you’re forced to relive traumatic events, only each time, more and more people you know and love, die?

  Parker’s voice was flat and frustrated. Steely, even. “He needs a CAT Scan, and likely a blood transfusion. But the closest facilities for that are at least ninety minutes away, in good weather. And we don’t have that kind of time. I can set up a fluid IV, and give him a shot to keep him comfortable, but we’re in the sticks. There’s not much I can do.” His face set grimly.

  “No. Nooooo.” Haley shook her head. NO. This couldn’t be happening. Not to someone Axel loved. “We have to save him. We can take out all the equipment in T-REX and lay him in the back.”

  “Haley. Stop.” Parker squeezed her arm, his voice hard.

  Warren coughed, and a speck of blood appeared at the corner of his mouth. “Hush, little lady. I ain’t got no regrets in my life, save one. If the good Lord sees fit to take me home today, just do me a small favor.”

  Haley dabbed at his mouth with a tissue from the first-aid kit.

  Warren’s eyes softened. “Well, maybe two.”

  Parker rooted in the duffel at his feet, prepping a syringe with a little vial.
r />   Haley smoothed back the older man’s hair and squeezed his hand. “What is it, Warren? Let me help you,” she whispered.

  Warren struggled, trying to prop himself up on an elbow.

  “Stay still, Uncle Warren,” Parker barked. “I can’t help you if you’re squirming like a fish.”

  Warren sagged back down onto the backboard, letting out a wheezy cough. “I didn’t visit Maddie Jane and – and Henry today.”

  Haley gave a gasp of dismay. She was barely holding it together, and now this? Hearing Warren’s last confession? In a flash, Haley replayed every moment of today she could remember. The excited, happy look in Axel’s eyes when he learned she was pregnant. The frustration and worry when she told him he had to go take care of his family. Oh God. Was he okay? How could she live with herself if she had sent him to his death?

  Warren shifted uncomfortably. “Seeing them was my next stop today. But then the sirens.” He took a shuddering breath. “And then that little rascal bolted. Scared as a rabbit runnin’ from a fox and lookin’ for his mama.” Warren smiled at her, eyes distant and warm. “I had to save him.”

  Who? Who had Warren saved? And at what cost?

  She shot Parker a questioning look.

  Parker nodded. “Elaine Ryder’s kid, Dax, was in there. Got scared and tried to run for the diner where she works. Warren tackled him. He’d have died for sure.”

  Tears pricked behind her eyes. Mama June had saved her. Was she worth it? Had she earned it? Earned the right to somehow be happy and just… live? Haley choked back a sob. “I’ll make sure people know,” she said tightly, grief closing her throat.

  “My grandson,” Warren beamed.

  In that moment, all the pain lines, all the age lines, all the everything – disappeared. For a split second, Haley saw the man Warren was on the inside. The young cuss who wasn’t afraid of anything.

  Parker jabbed a needle into his arm. “This’ll kick in soon, Uncle Warren. Hopefully it won’t hurt so bad.”

  “The only thing that hurts so bad is loneliness,” Warren wheezed out. He turned to Haley again, squeezing her hand. “Best feeling in the world. When your kin smile at you.” Then he grimaced, and the pain lines returned. “I don’t feel so good.”