The woman at the car rental counter had an uneasy feeling as the sloppy looking blond filled out the rental agreement. She couldn't tell exactly what bothered her, but it did. Everything had checked out. The ID and driver's license from Florida was good, the insurance had all checked out. If something had been forged, she didn't know how, it was all perfect. The wear and tear was normal, and there were official holograms as well. Still, in her mind, it just wasn't right.

It also didn't help confirm her suspicions because there wasn't a nervous bit about the man. He looked her square in the eyes as she asked the usual questions. The man had beautiful hazel eyes and she couldn't tell if the dirty blond hair was long or short, the baseball cap on his head was pulled down too far. The cap had a strange logo, a name going up into a twister, but a bit of dirt blotted out bits of the letters. His clothes were slightly baggy and looked like they had come from Goodwill, but that wasn't a reason to judge anyone, and normally she didn't.

The only reason she didn't call her manager was that the man wanted to rent their cheapest truck. It was five years old and well used. It was normally rented by local farmers who needed a second truck to haul their small crops to the farmer's market on the weekends. The man only wanted the truck for one day. It was up for replacement within the month, so it wouldn't be tragic if he ran it hard or wrecked it. Why she thought of that bugged her too, but nothing she could do.

JoMo waited patiently, at least on the outside, for the lady to get the keys. Inside his mind raced, could this really be working so well? He shouldn't have worried, he'd paid a small fortune for the ID and driver's license a couple of years ago. That's why the wear and tear made it look more legit. He always carried them, hidden in his wallet as the forger had advised.

The woman returned with a set of keys, with a plastic yellow key tag. "Remember, if you return it with a full tank of gas, you get a fifty dollar rebate. Just one last signature and it's all yours, sir." She slid the clipboard of paper work closer for JoMo to sign.

JoMo signed the name on the paper like he'd signed it all his life, even though it was just the third or fourth time he'd written the name. He pushed the clipboard back to the lady.

She slid the keys to the man. She was still uneasy, but all had been approved. She had to let it go. "Your truck is out the door, to the left, third down, it's blue. The key return slot is by the front door. Thank you for choosing Delta Rentals. Have a nice day."

"Thanks." Morrison gave a nod and swiped the keys off the desk. He limped a bit as he walked out of the side door that led to the rows of rentals.

Morrison opened the truck and grimaced. The interior smelled of sweaty farmer, stale tobacco and old vegetables. He rolled down both windows, the heat only made the smells worse. He hoped his bags wouldn't absorb the smell. As he pulled out of the rental lot, he began to relax. JoMo had to go find a quiet place to think.

At the Radar On Wheels, Chris got up with a bit of a growl. "Don't tell, Adam. Please?" He unlocked and opened the door of the Row. "I just have to be able to hear the wind or rain, and I feel claustrophobic. I'll close it again when they start back." He looked at Seth in earnest.

Seth laughed. "Thank God. I can't stand having the door shut when we're parked. I won't say a word, I promise. But yeah, you'd better close it before Adam gets back." He gave Chris a wink and inhaled the fresh air.

"I know it makes the air con run a bit more, but that's why we have an extra power generator." Chris gave a return wink to Seth. The two weather watchers went back to their computers, the clouds were building rapidly.

At the Scout location, Roman had asked Shawn to take some thermal footage of the building towers of clouds. Shawn was happy to do as requested.

"ROW, this is Scout..." Roman made the call. Shawn said it was his duty as the leader.

"Scout, this is ROW, go ahead." It was Seth's voice that responded. Roman smiled at the sound.

"ROW, sending thermal live feed. Also need a check on the rear roof top GoPro." Roman replied to his lover.

"Stand by..." Seth answered. A few moments passed before Seth returned. "GoPro looks good, right on the towers. Send thermal when ready. ROW out." Seth ended the radio call. Roman couldn't see it, but Seth had blown him a kiss.

Roman hooked his radio back on his belt. He walked up the little rise of dirt where Shawn stood. Shawn had the camera aimed at the towers.

"Look. Is it okay, Roman?" Shawn held out the screen that was in his hand. Roman leaned over to look.

"Perfect. Go ahead and send the feed, they know it's coming. GoPro is good, now all we need is the weather." Roman gave a bit of a wry laugh.

Shawn pressed the button to send the thermal feed to the ROW. It was another Seth invention. "Yep. More than half the season is spent waiting. They look promising. Come on, keep building, the spread out like good storm clouds." He spoke softly as he watched and filmed.

Hunter sat in the passenger seat of the Rover while Adam and Dean took pictures of the beautiful grasses and flowers in the buffalo wallow.

Adam laid on his stomach and focused his extreme close up lens on a white daisy with a lady bug on one of the stark, white petals. He took both digital and film, color and black and white. Adam wanted to hand color the black and white picture.

Dean was down at the bottom of the bowl. He did the opposite of Adam, he lay on his back in a clump of tall grass. Dean shot up at the sky, making sure the tall grass framed the sides of the shots. He too made the same film choices as Adam. He took his mentors advice and skipped the sepia tone film. Adam said the that brownish toned film wasn't meant for flowers. It worked better on buildings and people.

Both Dean and Adam perked when Hunter gave a short blast of the horn. It was the signal that it was time to start watching the weather. Dean waved to Adam and quickly packed up his gear. He just remembered to grab the tripod, Roman would have killed him.

Adam too, packed up his gear and waited for Dean to walk down to the Rover with him. Now was not the time to twist his ankle for a third time. By the time Dean got up to him, Adam was ready to go.

Dean let Adam put an arm around his waist. It wasn't a steep incline, but there was a lot of thick grass to get tangled in. Hunter watched as the duo headed back to the Range Rover.

"I think we'd better film from up on the left. I'll film from down here." Adam surveyed the darkening sky to the southwest.

"Sounds good to me, Obi-Wan. Should I set up now?" Dean looked from Adam to Hunter.

Both Adam and Hunter nodded. Hunter spoke. "Yeah, go ahead. Those caps are gonna break and when they do, we might get a good one." He shielded his eyes from the sun to get a better look. The clouds were white with dark gray, almost black mixed in. The sun would soon vanish behind them.

"Oh my way. Any special instructions?" Dean asked as he picked up his gear bag once again.

Adam settled on the edge of the back of the Rover. He had a much better view from there. "You concentrate on the upper levels, I'll do the lower levels. Of course, film the whole thing if anything develops. You know what to do, Padawan." He pulled his camera out of it's bag. He fiddled with a few buttons to get the right setting.

Hunter put the drinks cooler under Adam's feet so his ankle would have some support. He unhooked the laptop from its holder attached to the glove box. He joined Adam at the back of the Rover. He sat on a folding chair and the used the food cooler as a desk.

Dean went up the little rise to the left of the Rover. He first set up the still camera to shoot every minute. Dean would adjust the sped as the storm increased. He aimed his video camera at the clouds. He hoped to get a shoulder mount camera like Adam's by next season.

Chris and Seth had taken a short break. They stood outside and each sipped on a cold can of root beer. They watched the tops of the clouds. The caps had broken, and the once puffy cloud tops began to flatten out into the familiar anvil shape. It was a sure sign of a thunderstorm, at the least.

They were completely unaware of the old blue pickup that was half a mile up the road. Had Chris or Seth been facing north, they would have caught the glint of binoculars as they were raised, in order to better watch. The disguised paint ball gun across his lap.

JoMo had an evil smirk on his lips. The set up couldn't be more perfect. All he had to do now was stay out of sight. He was going to wait for the weather to break. Morrison knew, once the storm started, Jericho would be too busy to notice anything else.

All the revenge seeker had to do was pull up along side the semi truck, take aim through the open door, fire, and get away. JoMo was only slightly worried about the blond and black haired kid with Jericho. He counted on the kid being too worried about Jericho to worry about him as he drove away.

Morrison closed his eyes. "Oh Drew, baby, please help me do this. It's all for you. You are… where you are because of that bastard. He deserves what he's about to get and so does that fuckin' bitch, Adam. He just took from you, bitch never helped promote you at work. Smartest thing you ever did was meet me. I love so much, my handsome Scotsman. I hope when Jericho dies, you will be able to torture him. Give me strength my love." JoMo whispered his prayer. It was carried across the prairie by the rising winds, up to the dark, circling clouds.

JoMo leaned back and sank lower in his seat. He pulled the baseball cap down over his eyes and closed them. He knew the thunder would wake him, he hated storms. It had taken all his courage to chase with AJ. But, it was all for Drew. He fell into a light sleep, with his finger on the trigger of the marked gun.

The first rumbles of distant thunder rolled across the skies as the tops of the sixty-five thousand foot high clouds flattened out at the top. The flatter the clouds became, the better the chance for a severe storm.

When they heard the faint rumble, Chris and Seth went back inside the ROW. Chris left the door open so he could clearly see the weather. Doppler Radar was fantastic, but nothing observed the skies better than the human eye, especially well trained ones.

Seth leaned over and turned up the volume on the NWS radio. The thunderstorm warning was very short. It only involved two counties, Cimarron and Texas that sat side by side in the Panhandle of Oklahoma. The ROW sat on the border, between the two counties. The storm was twenty miles north, northeast of Boise City, heading north, northwest toward Guymon. Chris had once again picked the prime spot. If the storm stayed on track, it should pass one mile to the west of the ROW.

Seth turned the radio down. "That's a very isolated storm. I remember from your Weather One-Oh-One class, that those kinds of storms can be dangerous." He made a few adjustments to the sensitivity of the radar as he spoke.

Chris smiled. "You always paid attention. Yes, they can be. And the reason is?" He wanted to know how well his student retained the information.

Seth laughed. "Always dreaded your notorious pop quizzes. Because there if there is only one storm, all the energy feeds into it. It isn't divided between two or more storms. Basic answer, I know, but did I at least pass, Dean Professor Doctor Jericho?" Seth teased Chris a bit with all his academic monikers.

Chris laughed in return. "I was gonna pass you, till you got sassy. No, seriously, pass, and your exactly right. Roman may get a lot of lightening his first day in charge of the study." Chris looked at the red blob on the radar screen. It had grown exponentially over the last five minutes.

Twenty-five miles to the South, Roman Reigns paced like an expectant father. Thunder rumbled, but so far the lightening was staying in the clouds. He wanted it to lash out and show itself. He unknowingly let out a growl.

Shawn smiled. "Is it possible to have thunder and no lightening? It seems to be non-existent." He wanted Roman to stop pacing, the boy was wearing out the grass. And to be honest, pacing was one of the few things that wore on Shawn's nerves.

Roman stopped next to Shawn. "Impossible. You can't have thunder without lightening. Thunder is a direct result of the lightening heating the cold air. You can, however, have lightening and not hear the thunder. Like heat lightening in the summer. You see the lightening, but you don't hear the thunder. Watch the thermal closely, then listen." Roman nodded to the device Shawn held in his hand.

Shawn saw a slight, brighter orange in the cloud formation, a rumble of thunder followed. "Okay, that's cool. This camera is great. Wait… is that base lowering?"

Roman looked to where Shawn pointed. There was a beaver tail, but only just. When the beaver tail grew out of the cloud, it appeared to have a spot that was lower. A gust of wind from the north blew so hard, Shawn rocked on his feet.

"It's rotating, Shawn! The cloud has started to rotate!" Roman spoke with excitement, as the tower began to slowly rotate at the lower levels.

Shawn focused the FLIR thermal camera at the base. The next blast of air rushed past the two men. In a few seconds, the base of the cloud showed the cold air as it mixed with the warm. When it did, the rotation became slightly faster. It was exciting to see new things with different equipment.

"I caught the blast going in! That was the cat's pajamas!" Shawn sounded like a child on the first day of summer vacation.

The winds from the north blew steady. It was if they were being sucked into the storm. The flowers and grassed bent toward the storm. Both the long pony tails of coppery blond and raven hair, whipped in the wind. Roman didn't know how, but the well worn, straw cowboy heat that Shawn always wore, stayed in place. Roman vowed to wear a baseball cap after this, as the ends of his hair stung the skin around his eyes.

Roman let out a yell. A bolt of lightening struck a power pole in the distance. Both men cast a wary eye around them. At the moment, they were the tallest objects, that wasn't good. The younger man looked at the elder.

"We'd better get back to the truck. Give the lightening a different target. Stand around the truck, we'll be protected by the lightening rods on the roof." Roman warned as he took the camera off the tripod and pulled it out of the ground. Shawn folded the small clam shell that held the screen and controls for the FLIR camera. He unhooked the cable so he would easily carry it all in one hand.

Shawn followed Roman to the flame red truck. Roman decided it was safe to stand on the driver's side of the truck. He'd put Scout between them and the storm, and there was a bit of a dip in the ground, which put the lightening rod even further above their heads.

"Next time we get a chance, I need to go to a hardware or plumbing supply store." Roman muttered to himself as he reset the camera in front of the truck.

Shawn plugged the cord back into the thermal camera. He looked at Roman with his head cocked in question. "What on earth do you need from a plumbing supply store?" He was used to things like that from Hunter's inventive mind, but Roman?

Roman chuckled. "Didn't realize I'd said that out loud. Yes, I want to get copper pipe. I can make lightening conductors. Maybe draw some lightening I can photograph. I can load them in Scout? I need six, eight foot sections. Six couplers and three copper balls. I can put them in a canvas bag. It only takes a few minutes to set up, and if we had to run, I could come back later and get them. Would you go for it? What about Chris?" He started to film again, he improved every time, but still, he wasn't Dean and certainly not Adam in skill. The rotation in the storm was now visible to the naked eye.

Shawn held the cross hairs of the thermal camera on the base of the rotation. "Of course I'd go for it. I didn't know you could build a portable lightening rod. Then again, we've never had a lightening expert in our midst. I dare say Chris will love the idea." He gave Roman a smile.

The two stopped talking as they watched the storm. Roman worked hard to catch the streaks of lightening as they struck out in fury. The thunder grew deafening. The wall cloud begun to develop a funnel that looked like a finger pointing towards the earth.

Fifteen miles to the northwest of the ROW, Hunter's team sat in the Range Rover. "ROW this is Rover." Adam picked up up the radio and called to his husband.

"Rover this is ROW, go ahead." Chris responded to his spouse. He had a smile on his face.

Adam also smiled. "Funnel cloud forming. Request permission to attempt rocket probe launch or set land probe."

"Rover, permission granted, but double check your exit routes. Will send Scout to track along with you. I love you." Chris spoke louder as a clash of thunder rolled across the sky.

Adam cringed a bit at the loud rumble. "We will, don't worry. Keep that door locked. Love you. Rover out." Adam hung the mic back up on the front of the radio.

Dean leaned forward from the back seat as Hunter pulled back out onto the road. "I'm glad you told Chris to close and lock the ROW. I don't like leaving them so isolated. Um… I don't want Seth around guns, but locking the door is good. Gives them a chance to get away if needed." Dean finally admitted how he felt about guns; especially around Seth.

Adam turned in his seat to look at Dean. "It was just a thought. Yeah, if they keep the doors locked, they can easily drive away. One good thing, all the window glass in the ROW is shatter proof. Anyway, I'll check for exits. Hunter?" Adam turned his focus back onto his computer, with a look to Hunter.

Both Scout and Rover kept an eye on the lowering funnel cloud. It was almost to the ground. It looked like the trunk of an elephant, but there wasn't a strong twist. It was unsure if it wanted to be a full blown tornado or just a menacing threat.

Adam and Shawn were in radio communication. If Hunter saw a chance to launch, Roman would go down a parallel road, a few miles to the east of the Rover. That way, Rover couldn't get lost again.

In the Row, Chris and Seth were focused on the blue and red dots on the radar overlay road map. The funnel cloud was only a few yards from the ground. Chris and Seth could see a new blob forming. It was a debris cloud, kicked up by the twisting funnel cloud. It showed on the radar screen as a round, red and green mass with a clear circular hole, much like a radar image of the eye of a hurricane.

The Rover waited at a cross roads. They waited to see if the tornado would finish its descent to the ground or not. A cloud of dust, dead grasses and bits of trash swirled up to greet the funnel. The untrained eye would say the tornado was on the ground, but it wasn't. The debris cloud was deceptive.

Dean rolled down the back window on the driver's side. He leaned out of the window and fired off frame after frame of both digital and film, color, black and white as well as a few sepia. Hunter helped by taking each camera as Dean finished. It was a round robin of cameras but it worked.

Adam sat in the front seat, his video camera in hand. "Okay, Dean. Just stay with digital now. I'm going to video, you keep firing shots like it's a machine gun." He gave his directions, then rolled down his window.

Adam slid his lithe body through the window and sat on the sill. His feet were planted on the seat. Hunter rolled his eyes and made ready to grab Adam if he slipped.

"Rover, this is Scout. Hunt, are you moving? I want to see if we can get a visual on you with the binoculars." Shawn's voice crackled over the radio.

In the Scout truck, Shawn had mirrored Adam's actions and sat on the window sill of the trucks passenger side. He aimed his binoculars several miles to the west. Shawn had hoped with flat lands and no obstructions, he would at least be able to make out the flashing amber warning lights on the roof of the Range Rover. So far, he couldn't see anything.

"Rover to Scout. No, we are at the crossroads. Waiting to see what it does. You may get a shot for a land probe, will let you know. Rover, out." Hunter replied as Adam was too busy to answer, he still hung out of the window.

Shawn replied. "Scout to Rover. Ten-four, will wait for your instructions. We are about five miles to your east, pointed north. County Road one-oh-seven. Are you at one-oh-two?" Shawn pulled his head back in long enough to briefly look at the laptop with the map on the screen.

"Scout, this is Rover. Yes, we are at one-oh-two, pointed north… hang on..." Hunter's voice trailed off for a moment.

At the Rover, Hunter held the mic in hand as he watched the funnel snake downward. He called to Shawn again. "Touch down, we have a touch down. Weak rotation…. Stand by for further. Rover out." Hunter replaced the radio mic. He wanted to see what the tornado was going to do.

"Rover, this is Scout. Standing by. We also have visual on the tornado. Looks like a sleeper. Scout out." Shawn replied with a wary tone to his voice.

A sleeper was a tornado that seemed to stand in place until it decided what to do. It could do one of several things. Stay in place and return to the cloud, start to slowly move or like the last time, take off like a rocket. It made it harder to know what to do.

Adam chuckled when Dean's head, then torso popped up through the large sun roof of the Range Rover. "Was wondering when you'd figure that out. I can't tell you everything." He gave Dean a wink, then looked back through his camera lens.

Dean laughed. "Well, I'm slow. Is this usual? I mean, it's like every tornado waits for a bit before it does something?" He was curious, every tornado that he'd ever seen, lowered, then took off moving north, northeast.

Hunter answered. "Yeah, this has been a very odd start to the season. Usually there are only one or two like this per season. I don't like it. It's almost like the weather is getting… intelligent… trying to actually think..." His voice trailed off in thought.

Adam saw it first. "We've got movement. Hunt..." Adam gave Hunter a tap on the head to get his attention.

Lightening flashed and thunder crashed. All along the back side of the beaver tail, long gray curtains developed as the rains began to fall. Ahead of the storm, gray-green clouds dumped hail on the ground below.

At the ROW, Chris stood on the rooftop of the semi. He watched as the funnel touched down. He could barely hear Scout and Rover speak about the storm. He left it to them, his team knew what to do.

Chris had also noticed the strange way the weather seemed to stop and "think." It wasn't, of course, but it was odd. Never had things been so… strange in the first two weeks of the season. It made for interesting data collection, but dangerous for chasing… and his team.

Chris went back down the ladder and took his seat in the ROW. Seth filled him in on the latest between Rover and Scout. "The storm is stationary, Hunter says they are too far for a probe and getting out a land probe is impossible. If it moves, they will see if they can try. You can see on the radar it's just wobbling over the same area. Thank goodness it's just grassland." He pointed to the radar screen as Chris leaned over to look.

Chris locked his eyes on the screen. After a few minutes he spoke. He picked up his radio mic, and flipped two switches. "Scout, Rover this is ROW. Tornado is moving, but extremely slow. It's going north, northwest, about two to three miles per hour. Repeat, it's moving north, northwest, away from you. It's not rogue, but it could be if it speeds up. It's very weak at the upper levels." Chris gave his report to both vehicles.

Hunter and Shawn each responded with a "Ten-four." There wasn't anything they could do but watch and wait. Maybe something would change.

Hunter opened his driver's side door and stood on the running board. "Damn, I wish there was a way over there." His hand shielded his eyes against the bright flashes of lightening. He sat back down in the driver's seat.

Dean spoke to Hunter as he stood with his upper body through the sun roof. "Well, there isn't, Professor. Please, don't make one. I don't want a repeat of the other day. I say that with respect, Hunter." Dean was very firm. He had the idea Hunter wanted to create a road to the tornado, and that was just too much for Dean.

Before Hunter could answer, Adam added to Dean's words. "I agree, Hunter. I know you, and I love you, but I am not in the mood to be a road builder. Insurance just paid a fortune to fix my baby. Please, Hunter? Besides, Shawn would kill you. And no, you can't sleep on our couch." Adam half teased, but mostly he meant it.

Hunter chuckled. "Okay, okay. I guess I didn't hide my thoughts very well. No road building, I promise. I just… the storms are so odd this season. We've had more storms than usual so early, but it's like they are… I don't know… teasing us. Maybe Shawn was right..." He let his thoughts fade. It was hard to speak over the wind and thunder.

Adam and Dean exchanged a glance of relief that Hunter had said he wouldn't make a road to the tornado. They were safe, for now.

Five miles to the east, Shawn sat on the side of his passenger window and aimed the thermal camera at the storm. Roman stood on the ground, the driver's door open, his new camera in hand. He used the video option, but he could also take stills. Roman didn't have the time to set his other film camera, but at least he got okay video of the zigzag of electricity as the lightening shot across the skies to strike the ground below.

Roman called back to Shawn. He had to shout over the symphony of the storm. "Shawn? Hunter wouldn't do anything… not smart, would he?" The young man had the same thought that Dean had.

Shawn shook his head. "No, he won't, Roman. He knows I'd kill him. I'm sure he thought about it. Hunter wouldn't do it without Dean and Adam agreeing and I don't see that happening. Not after Tuesday. If he damages Adam's freshly repaired baby… well… No, Hunt won't do it." His reply was firm. He knew his husband.

In the old rental, JoMo slowly sipped from the bottle of water he'd brought. He was in the process of gathering his courage, it was nearly time. The storm was loud and the wind blew. Morrison figured Jericho would be too occupied to hear the old truck approach.

JoMo put down the bottle of water and picked up the high powered rifle disguised as a paint ball gun. He quickly shouldered the weapon and aimed it. The bullet would go through the open passenger window, and right into the back of Jericho's head.

Morrison decided to remove the contact lenses he'd worn to match the eye color listed on the forged driver's license. JoMo placed the hazel colored lenses in the container he'd taken out of his pocket. He debated just throwing them out of the window, but decided against it. If he decided to fly out of the country, he'd need them for the disguise again.

Morrison looked at his watch., the last thing Drew had given him. It was a goodbye gift, that turned out to be a literal goodbye. Drew had given him the watch when he'd told JoMo he'd be gone for a while, to get revenge on Adam. He'd hated the idea, but the gift made it bearable and when Drew came back, the Scotsman would be his, free and clear. Drew never came back.

The watch told JoMo it was five minutes to three. He decided at three, he'd start, by three-oh-five, Jericho would be dead, Drew would be avenged.

At the Rover, things began to pick up. Hunter got in the driver's seat. "Boys it's finally moving. It's still going northeast, but it could shift. I'd rather move than just sit here." He fastened his seat belt as he spoke.

Adam slid in from the window into his seat. "I agree." He spoke to Hunter, then to Dean, who was still filming through the sun roof, as he stood on the seat.

"Hey, Padawan? You okay with staying up there filming as we drive?" Adam looked up at Dean, brow arched.

Dean looked down at his mentor. "Sure, no problem. No trees or bridges to duck." Dean gave the roof at tap to let Hunter know he could go ahead and drive.

Hunter nodded for Adam to pick up the radio. "Tell Shawn, please. Then let Chris know. Oh boy, she is really going now!" Hunter put the Rover in drive and started to go.

Much like the last time, once the tornado decided to move, it moved. It also grew in size as the cloud of dust and debris got sucked further up in the twister. Rays of afternoon sun slivered through just enough to make the sky black and it gave the tornado a dark gray color. The debris cloud looked like cotton candy as it danced in mid-air.

"Scout, this is Rover…." Adam's voice called from the other end of the radio.

Shawn slid into the truck and picked up the mic. Roman had gone a few feet away to take a quick piss before they had to move.

"Rover, Scout. Go ahead, Adam." Shawn replied then began to buckle up. He figured the were going on the move now that the tornado was a dancer.

"Shawn, we're going to follow. We're staying on this road. We made Hunter promise not to make new roads. We'll contact you when we either get to the end of this road, or we stop. Have you heard from ROW?" Adam asked as the radio crackled loudly in concert with a close flash of lightening.

The radio static was so loud, Shawn's reflex was to duck. "Okay, Adam. We will follow and stand by. No, we haven't heard from ROW. With all this static, they may not be able. You know how it is. Stay safe, Scout out." Shawn hung up the mic just as Roman returned, and slid into the driver's seat.

"We off?" Roman asked as he fastened his seat belt and started the engine.

Shawn nodded. "Yup, just follow this road. They will call when they stop or change directions. Adam also said Hunter isn't going to be stupid, no road making." He gave a bit of a laugh, then spoke again. "I'm going back out, you want the thermal or video? It's too good to miss, good road for riding on the sill." Shawn asked as he looked at Roman.

Roman thought for a moment. "Thermal, please. Rover will have plenty of film. The thermal can be matched. Don't fall off, Shawn, I don't want Hunter in jail for murder. Speaking of, have you heard from Seth lately? Kind of odd they haven't called." Roman wasn't worried, just curious.

Shawn spoke as he prepared the thermal camera. "I'll be safe, just like riding a horse. No, I haven't. Adam asked the same. I'm not surprised though, the radio cracked bad with lightening. They may not be able to call just now. Also, Chris left it up to us. He does that sometimes. We know what to do and have better visuals, so no need for them to call. Okay, going out to shoot now." Shawn gave Roman a smile and slid back up on the window sill. He'd put the keypad and screen of the FLIR on the dashboard, so he wouldn't accidentally drop it.

In the Range Rover, Adam reached back and put a hand on Dean's leg. He was afraid Dean would lose his footing as they sped down the gravel road.

Adam's head bobbed and weaved as the tried to get a good look at the tornado. "What is with the weather this season? Now it's slowed down again." Adam just didn't know what to think One thing he did know, data would be very important, eventually there had to be some answers.

At almost the same time, Rover and Scout stopped. The tornado had stopped, roped out and vanished in seconds. There was nothing left to chase except a severe thunderstorm, with curtains of rain and pebbles of hail. The winds still blew strong, but the humidity had dropped, the air cooled by the hail. That meant there was no humid, moist air to feed into the dry, cooler air. The special mix a tornado needed was gone, just like the tornado.

Hunter picked up the radio. "Scout, Rover. Meet you at the end of this road, in about three miles. Rover out."

"Rover, Scout. Ten-four. Meet you there." Shawn's voice replied. The radio gave a crackle as a stroke of lightening lashed out.

A few minutes later, the two vehicles met at the ends of their roads, which turned out onto another east, west road. They got out and greeted each other. Hunter, Shawn, Roman and Dean kissed in greeting. Adam pouted, he didn't have anyone to kiss. He wanted his Lion.

Shawn gave a laugh when he saw Adam's expression. "Awe, poor Adam." He leaned over and kissed Adam's cheek. Hunter followed, then Dean and Roman. Adam flushed.

"Thanks guys, your too sweet. So, now what?" Adam asked his face still dusted pink.

They all looked to Roman. Roman rubbed his chin. "Well, nothing to do but go back to ROW. Nothing to chase. Should we call?" He looked to his elders, he wasn't used to being the leader in the field yet.

"No, let's just head back. You're right, nothing to chase. Roman you drive Adam and Dean, okay?" Shawn looked at Roman. He hoped to be able to talk to Hunter alone.

Roman nodded. "No problem. Come on, let's go. I'm hungry and our baby will be waiting." He went to the driver's side of the Rover instead of the Scout.

Soon the two vehicles were on their way back to the Radar On Wheels.

As soon as he could, Shawn spoke. "Hunter, listen to me. Drive, drive like you have never driven before. Something is wrong..." Shawn looked over at Hunter.

Hunter glanced at Shawn. He saw terror in the turquoise eyes. "Babe, what is it? Did you see something?" He was as serious as Shawn. He sped up.

Shawn let out a whimper. "Yes… Hunter… I… I… think they are dead. Hunter, just go..." He made the seat belt tighter as Hunter pressed the pedal to the floor.

Dean laughed as he pulled the sun roof closed. The dust from the speeding truck ahead kicked up. "Wow, Hunter must be hungrier than you, Ro."

Roman laughed, but Adam did not. Something was wrong. Hunter never dove like that, ever, not even when they had tried to escape the tornado. Hunter drove as if life were at stake…. Chris' life.

"Roman, follow him. Now!" Adam yelled as he too tightened his seat belt. Dean and Roman then knew something was wrong. Roman stepped on the gas and soon caught up to Hunter. All you could see was a massive dust cloud as the vehicles sped away.

The Scout and Rover made the nearly thirty mile trip in fifteen minutes. The were lucky there was no other traffic or obstacles along the way. When they got in sight of the ROW, Adam let out a pained gasp. The door was open… wide open.

Hunter stopped so fast, Roman had to slide or smash into the back of the Scout truck. Hunter also slid, but kept the truck under control. The five men all jumped out at once. They had slid to a stop in front of the ROW.

Hunter stopped everyone from rushing to the ROW. "Wait, just wait. Roman, come with me." Everyone but Shawn was stunned when a handgun suddenly appeared in Hunter's hand.

Cautiously, Hunter, followed by Roman approached the ROW. Hunter got to the steps. He went up two of them.

"Chris? Seth?" Hunter called out. He had his gun drawn, both hands on the grip, the barrel pointed up.

When there was no reply, Hunter turned to Roman. "Wait here." He spoke firmly with a stone face. Roman nodded with an equally stony face, his caramel skin a bit pale.

Hunter went up the steps. When he got to the sixth and final step, he froze. Both Chris and Seth lay on the floor of the ROW office. In the wind, the big daily calendar page on the wall flapped; the date, Friday, May 13th.

A pool of blood puddled out from Seth's head. It was too much blood. Chris and Seth lay as still as death.

Hunter paled and had to grab the frame of the door to keep from falling. His knees visibly quaked.

"Get Shawn! Now!" Hunter's voice had a sickening tone to it. Roman turned and ran for Shawn.