Thunder crashed as she raced to the driver’s door and yanked it open. “Get on the CB and see if there is anyone around here who can pull us out.”
The paleness of Rick’s face increased her agitation. She darted a glance at Mac, who was watching intently. Stay calm. Do not let on something is wrong.
She simply lifted her brows in a questioning manner at her partner as nickel-sized hail showered her back and bounced inside the car. Swallowing, Rick slightly nodded toward the laptop, which he angled toward her so she could see. At the kidney bean shape on radar, everything in her stilled. High precipitation supercell. She inhaled a shaky breath and swallowed. “We’ve got to get the hell out of here.”
Rick was out of the car instantly. She glanced at Mac. A lightning bolt streaked toward the ground in the distance. The thunder grew louder. It was time to see if he was really ready for this, because shit was about to get real ugly.
“I need you to get out of the car.” But he didn’t seem to be paying any attention to her. Seemed to be staring at her forehead. “Mac. I need you to get. Out. Of. The. Car.”
“Why the fuck are you bleeding?” he said between gritted teeth, eyes still locked above her eyes. She touched the area, wincing at the tenderness. As she brought her hand away, watery red coated her fingertips.
“I got clocked with a nice-sized piece of hail. No big deal. Now get out of the car.” A gust of wind blew her upper body farther into the interior. “We are in a deadly situation right now called the bear cage. A tornado can drop any second. Get out of the fucking car.”
Every bit of color leached out the man’s skin, but he moved.
The bear cage. No one but the chasers who drove armored vehicles went into the bear cage. There could be a tornado on the ground right now and she wouldn’t know it because of the amount of precipitation falling. With rain-wrapped tornadoes—worst case scenario, everything bad that could happen, happened.
And it was happening.
The wind whipped by her, the rain stinging as it hit her exposed skin. Hail bruised her body. Holding her hands in front of her face, she pushed to the back of the SUV. Mac and Rick were already trying to lift it out by the bumper. It wasn’t going to work. Rick should know that, but panic was driving him now. In lesser precipitation, the wheel would’ve been stuck. In this, it might as well be cemented in.
Water poured into her eyes and mouth as she frantically searched for something, a piece of wood, anything with traction. The ground was so muddy she slipped a few times, landing hard on her butt or side. Just as she made her second trip onto her rump, everything stopped. Like a switch flipping, the lashing downpour, the hail, the wind—everything cut off.
No!
“Run!” Terror squeezing her throat, she struggled to her feet. “It’s coming! It’s coming! In the ditch. Now.”
A churning rumble, sounding like a train in the distance, reverberated behind her. They had seconds. Seconds.
She sprinted past the two men, diving into the ditch a few feet away from the SUV, which was dangerous in and of itself. Lying flat, she covered her head. She felt movement around her, then a large body covered her, pressing her farther down. Strong arms wrapped around her head. Mac. His breath warmed her cheek as he shielded his own face against her.
The rumble grew louder as the wind became fiercer. From the drop in pressure, her ears popped. Debris swished by. One second the sound grew deafening and then it became fainter and fainter. And suddenly they were being deluged with rain and hail again.
Everything had happened in less than a minute.
Mac eased off her and collapsed back on the ground on his butt. Rain water sluiced off his nose and chin as he stared straight ahead, breathing heavily. He didn’t seem to feel the hail pelting his body.
She pushed up on her knees and reached out a hesitant hand, wanting to touch him but unsure if she should. “Are you okay?”
His gaze flicking to hers briefly before returning straight ahead, he gave a short nod. She glanced around and saw Rick, pushing up, soaked and muddy, but fine. Thank God.
Uncertain what to say to the man sitting unmoving in the driving rain, she rose and went to see if the SUV had been damaged. The vehicle was still stuck in the mud, of course. Thankfully, the antennas and Doppler were still intact. Which meant the tornado hadn’t been very strong and had most likely just sideswiped them. Man, talk about a close call with major luck thrown in.