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The winds were too strong, the force too great Her strength was gone She lay there like a broken doll, each breathweaker The roar had faded to a dull throb The tornado had ripped through in aits destructive path

Her last conscious thought was that she had to get to Travis and Caone Taken by the storm Tears of frustration and pain crowded her eyes She wouldn’t give up Nothing on earth would ishly She tried to shake off the veil of unconsciousness She had to get to Ca her into its snug embrace

CHAPTER 12

DONOVAN stood in the war roo surface as he meticulously did a check of all the syste sure his fa that the generators did what they were supposed to do in case of a power failure

The sophisticated systened 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 doer lines and destroying ho else in its path His brothers and their wives and children had all taken shelter in their basele house inside the co 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 orry over whether they’d withstood the tornado Other than a tree down on their property and a few o out as soon as it got light so they could assess any dae 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 outfar 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 storers 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 the 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 the any sense," Swanny said in a calm voice

Donovan’s fist caht in the path of the tornado That trailer would have never survived even the weakest storet over there I hope to fuck we aren’t too late If they were killed I’ll never forgive o 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 faet there If we need help, we’ll call then Right now I have to get the hell over there and ht"

"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 co daybreak It was lightening toward the east and within thirtywith

"There are flashlights in the back, Swanny Under the seat Pull those out and ht 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,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 Daut it was the wrong thing to do, but he’d consoled hi the nextHe just hoped to hell his hesitation hadn’t cost them their lives

"Christ, it’s a ed 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 co that bolstered his hopes that the trailer hadn’t been deot closer to the road where Eve’s trailer was, the worse the dae was Treetops torn off Debris everywhere As soon as he turned onto the road, he kneas 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 tearipped hiether 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 laood Tornado didn’t touch theot any rain," Joe said

"Did Steele check in?" Swanny asked

"Yeah He and Maren and the baby are fine Maren gave hi she won’t be co in the future"