Page 64 of Through the Storms

“Oh, yeah, shit, sorry,” Oakley said.

Lana couldn’t help but smile at Oakley’s response.

Oakley pointed toward the car. “Meteorologists have been trying for a long time to get more information on tornadoes. We really need to know what’s happening inside the storm, but of course, that’s easier said than done.”

“But you’ve done it,” the reporter picked up on Oakley’s cue.

“I’m hoping.” If possible, Oakley’s smile got larger. “The Oakanator—the vehicle that’s currently in the ditch over there—allowed me to get close enough to the storm so I could shoot sensors into it.” Oakley craned her neck and pointed. “Ya can’t see it from here, but the Oakanator has a cannon for that. I had two shots loaded, but I was only able to get one off.”

The reporter’s eyes widened. Nice touch, Lana thought.

“Did you get picked up by the storm?” the reporter asked.

“Not exactly.” Oakley’s cheeks reddened, and she looked down toward the ground.

“Then what happened?” The reporter pointed toward the Oakanator, and the camera swung to it. A close-up shot filled the screen.

Lana tried to study the car, but the camera pulled back to Oakley. She thought about rewinding to check it out more thoroughly, but she wanted to hear what else Oakley had to say.

“Um, well, I’d punched the core and entered the bear’s cage.”

“Could you explain what that means for our viewers?”

“Ah, yeah. The bear’s cage is the area in the path of the tornado. Normally, just to the northeast since the tornado is coming from the southwest.”

“And punching the core?”

“That’s when you punch through the heavy precipitation of the thunderstorm. In this case, I punched through baseball-sized hail.”

“Don’t most storm chasers find that too dangerous to do?”

“Yeah.” Oakley nodded. “I wouldn’t recommend it.”

“But yet you did it.”

Oakley held up her hand and looked slightly rattled. Lana couldn’t help feeling a slight sense of satisfaction at her discomfort since the damned fool had done it without even telling her. Lana focused back on what Oakley was saying. There was time for her to be angry later.

“I didn’t do it just for the thrill. I needed to launch the sensors. Plus, I was in a state-of-the-art vehicle with plenty of safety features.”

The reporter motioned toward the overturned car, and the camera followed. “Yet it appears that the storm got the best of you.”

“No, ma’am. It was the curve in the road that got the best of me.” Oakley looked directly into the camera and gave a shy smile. “I thought the road went straight, but it didn’t. I shot the cannon and gunned the Oakanator. I escaped the storm just fine, but I missed the turn, ran off the road, and flipped over when I hit the ditch.”

“Oh, my.” The reporter put her hand on Oakley’s arm and smiled. Lana interpreted it as a flirtatious smile. “I’m just so glad you’re okay.”

“The safety features of the vehicle protected me from serious injury.” Oakley moved aside a piece of hair near her temple. “My only injury is a scrape right here. I think my helmet got me.”

“I’m so glad it turned out okay. Thank you so much for talking with me.” The reporter beamed at Oakley before she turned back to the camera. “This is Monica Stellar reporting from Kansas, where storm chaser Oakley Pierce just made history. Back to you, Samuel.”

Lana stared at the screen for several beats as another video loaded. She finally reacted when the next video began to play. She clicked it off and fell back against her chair.

“Pretty cool, huh?” Carol said, startling Lana, who’d been drawn into the screen.

Heat rose up Lana’s neck. “I can’t believe she did that without telling me.”

Carol pointed to the phone on Lana’s desk. “You said you missed a call. Maybe she tried.”

Lana glared at the phone as if it were the phone’s fault. “Maybe.”