With the continued instability of the atmosphere, the slow-moving system would likely spawn even more tornadoes than yesterday. Now it was just a matter of getting to the right area.
Thirty minutes later, rain was coming down in sheets, making the wipers pretty much useless. Gusts of wind swayed the SUV. Multiple large red cells filled her radar as thunderstorms triggered along the line. The radio updates issued severe thunderstorm warnings and, so far, nothing had indicated anything escalating—but that could change in seconds.
“Gayle. What the fuck?”
Counting to five, she reined in her patience with her partner. “What do you want me to do? The storms are everywhere. I’ve at least got us in the rain, right?”
Rick grumbled from the driver’s seat.
“You got something to say, say it.”
He turned his head toward her then looked back out the windshield. “Why this system? Why not a more isolated one? But no, we had to come to this one.”
Gayle counted—again—knowing he was only irritable from lack of sleep. Normally, he loved this. “I want to get off the interstate. There’s a big storm approaching from behind us, and I don’t want to get caught in traffic.”
It was one of her biggest rules. No interstate during a storm. Ever.
Rick glanced over at her for a second like he didn’t agree, but nodded and took the next exit, which brought them into a very rural area of Texas. This, she was comfortable with. This had escape routes. This wouldn’t lead to them being trapped bumper to bumper like a sitting duck.
Ten minutes passed—the air thick with agitation. Thunder crashed in the distance as the storm drew nearer.
“If we take this road coming up on our left, it will lead us to a main road a few miles down that goes into Cater. We need to stop and reassess.”
Another rumble of thunder sounded. She glanced back at Mac, who had been awfully quiet. Though his skin was slightly pale, he definitely looked better than he had yesterday driving through the storms. The car started to bounce. She snapped her head forward to see they had drifted off the road. Rick was shaking his head and doing weird squinting things with his eyes. “Rick!”
He jerked up straight, hands tightening on the wheel, and righted the car.
“Pull over, right now,” she ordered.
“I’m fine.”
“Pull over this damn second!”
Jaw clenched, he did what she asked.
She opened her door. “We’re done. I’ll drive, and we’ll find a place to stay for the night.”
“But—”
“We’re. Done.”
In something that could be unpredictable, she did her damnedest to be safe. She sure as hell wasn’t going to get injured or killed because her driver had fallen asleep. If Rick had known everything to look for, she’d have let him man the data, but he didn’t. For six years, he had been the driver while she did the maps, videoing, and everything else.
As soon as she stepped outside, she was drenched. She ran around the front of the SUV, passing Rick on her way, then jumped into the driver’s side. When he closed his door, she put the car in gear and pressed the gas. The tires spun in the mud, but the car didn’t move. A moment of disbelief had her pressing the accelerator again with the same results. She stared out the windshield, the reality of the situation crashing into her.
Stuck.
They were officially sitting ducks.
She slammed her hands on the steering wheel. “Damn it!”
Rick, who had already fallen asleep, jerked upright again. “What?”
“We’re stuck.”
“The hell we are.”
“The hell we’re not.”
Thunder boomed overheard and lightning suddenly lit up the darkened late afternoon sky.
Shoving open the driver’s side door, she hopped out, the torrential rain chilling her to the bone. Mac cracked his door open, and she shook her head at him. The what-the-fuck expression he gave her would’ve been comical if this weren’t a seriously bad situation. His door opened wider. She pinned him with a death stare that immediately made him recoil—probably because he had never seen this side of her.
“I’m the boss. Stay in the fucking car,” she yelled over the pounding rain.
The door clicked shut. Smart man.
Before she dealt with him, she had to figure out how much trouble they were really in. As she rounded the back of the SUV, she groaned, knotting her fingers in her sopping hair. The rear passenger-side tire was sunk axle-deep in the mud. Damn it. She never should’ve told Rick to pull over. A brain fart on her part from the shock of him falling asleep behind the wheel. These Midwest backroads became mud pits once the rain started. She’d seen tons of vehicles get stuck by running off the road or simply by pulling over. She knew that. God, this was a huge fuck up.
Being caught with storms surrounding them was a nightmare situation. What were they going to do?
Something hard pelted the top of her head, followed by another and another. Wincing, she looked up. The swirling grey whirlpool above her made her stomach plummet. Oh, God!