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I laughed and got out of the Jeep to set the camera up.
Hell yes. This is what I was here for. This—the thrill of a storm, the rush, the elements so close you could almost touch them.
I could definitely smell it. I could taste the ozone, the copper on my tongue.
It was so close.
More thunder boomed and lightning crackled along veins in the clouds, and I hurried to make sure he’d anchored the tripod properly, to make sure the camera was facing the right way.
The anemometer was spinning faster now, the wind tousling my hair. “Open my laptop,” I yelled out to Tully. But I looked back to see he already had it open on the dash of the Jeep. I liked that he knew what to do, that he was as into this as me...
Lightning cracked with a boom of thunder right at the front of the clearing.
“Holy shit! Did you get that?”
“Yes!” I wasn’t sure how, given the thrill, the pure adrenaline rush, was making my hands shake.
The skies were dark as the storm rolled toward us, a curtain front of rain marching through the clearing like an armoured battalion.
Another crack of lightning split the sky.
“Get in the fucking car!” Tully yelled. “Jeremiah, now!”
Like it was all the warning I needed, I made it into the passenger seat just before the wall of water rolled across us. Wind howled, tousling everything around us. Thunder rumbled constantly, low and threatening, with the occasional booms for emphasis. Lightning danced above us, around us, in an amazing display of power. Intra-cloud, cloud-to-ground, sheet lightning illuminating the otherwise darkened sky.
Tully peered out over the steering wheel, looking up and out. The flashes of lightning a strobe effect in the Jeep, showing me flashes of his face, of his smile, of the look of wonder. How he laughed every time lightning jittered through the clouds, through the sky.
It made my heart race for a whole other reason.
Maybe it was the storm. Maybe it was the thrill, the adrenaline, the power of it all, and maybe it was because I was experiencing it with him...
I was beginning to think I didn’t need an internal warning system to know I could be in trouble.
I think I already knew.
CHAPTER SEVEN
TULLY
It was gettingon dark by the time we got back to camp. Jeremiah went straight to work, plugging in his laptop and seeing what data he’d collected.
The storm had been a good one, and I was glad we’d made the effort to go stand in its path.
But something was different about Jeremiah. During the storm and after it.
Getting to sit with him in the Jeep, in such a confined space, while the storm put on a helluva show was insightful to say the least. Something about him changed when there was lightning. It wasn’t excitement or exhilaration like I’d have thought. It wasn’t some studious don’t-miss-any-data attitude either.
There was a calmness to him. Serenity, almost. Like he was tryin’ to drink it in through his skin.
He checked his smart watch, writing down all kinds of things in a notebook, separate from his laptop data. I’d noticed him doing that after last night’s storm too but hadn’t thought much of it.
“Whatcha writing down?”
He glanced up at me, the pen in his hand forgotten. “Oh, this... this is just for me. It’s not really work, as such.”
I looked at his watch. “Do you measure your vitals during a storm?”
He opened his mouth, then closed it and raised his chin. “It’s just for me. My data, not for the bureau or for any public record. I’m just interested to know, as a side note. That’s all.”
