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Rain hammers the windshield as the airplane rolls hard enough to shove me sideways in the seat. I bring the wings back toward level, but another pocket catches us before I can completely level and drops us fast enough that the air leaves my lungs in a grunt.

Some of the tension leaves Colston’s voice. “Airspeed’s good. We’re coming down.”

The vibration under my feet intensifies and I frown.

“Brian, you feeling that?”

“Yeah,” he answers immediately, his voice crackling in my ear. “It’s definitely getting worse.”

Every bit of fatigue disappears as Brian confirms what I’m already feeling.

We need to get this airplane the fuck out of here.

Then an updraft catches us and starts pushing us higher, but it doesn’t have anywhere near the force of the one that nailed us coming in.

“Climbing,” Colston says.

“Let her take us.”

I keep our airspeed where I want it and let Ruth give us the altitude instead of fighting her for it.

Des adjusts our heading while Colston keeps feeding me what he sees, and little by little, the mess on the radar ahead of us starts thinning.

Come on.

I lean forward, watching for that opening while rain continues pounding the windshield.

Then it starts to ease.

The hits come farther apart, and the constant shaking through the airplane finally begins to back off with them.

The airplane steadies enough that my muscles finally stop bracing for the next hit.

“We’re clear of the eyewall,” Des says.

Thank fuck.

Colston flexes one hand and shakes it out before rubbing at his shoulder.

“You good?” I ask.

“Yeah.” He works his shoulder again and winces. “That’s gonna fucking suck tomorrow.”

“You’ll survive.”

He looks over at me. “Your concern means a lot.”

I snort and turn my attention back to the instruments.

Brian starts another systems check while I keep us moving away from Ruth. The engines are still running normally, and nothing new has lit up since the last time he checked.

The vibration is holding steady now that we’re back in smoother air, but the tail Doppler is still down.

So is the mission link.

Now that we’re out of immediate danger, my thoughts go straight to Goldie.

I have no idea if she’s glued to the Weather Channel or letting everybody at the house distract her and not paying attention at all.