Hurricane Hannah by Sue Civil-Brown

Author:Sue Civil-Brown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HQN Books
Published: 2013-10-14T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

WHATEVER FUN the hurricane might have been passed abruptly when a bone-jarring crash reverberated through the hangar. Buck’s head snapped around and he saw a ten-foot-long dent in the far wall, probably the result of an uprooted and windblown tree. Buck glanced at his watch and saw it was 2:00 a.m. The worst was hitting right now, and people were looking as if they wished they were anywhere else on the planet. Buck couldn’t blame them. As well as he’d built this hangar, one crazy wind gust exceeding Category 4 force, and they might all be tumbling down the side of the mountain.

Buck considered going outside to verify the source of the dent, but the shrieking wind and deafening drumroll of rain convinced him otherwise. They were feeling the inner eyewall now, and he had no desire to tempt fate. Slowly, as if crawling up out of their holes after an artillery barrage, the people in the hangar gathered their breath and tried to quiet terrified children.

The tournament was down to the final table of ten. Buck had deliberately lost all his chips a short while ago because his competitive spirit had given way to fatigue and the realization that he didn’t want Ginny’s recipe. But Esther Dubois had been hankering after that recipe for years, so Buck had decided to lose to her. He went all-in on a bluff when he was as certain as he could be that Esther had a hand. And did she ever: pocket Aces.

She’d cleaned him out. He’d pretended to be disappointed, but the fact was, he just needed a place to stretch out and rest.

Unfortunately, with the storm raging outside, he doubted he could do more than catnap. Few in the hangar had been sleeping, and the crash against the hangar wall had awakened those few. Long since out of the poker game, they were sitting near family and friends, waiting as if they were on death row.

And maybe they all were. He deserved to burn in hell if he’d brought these people up here only to get them killed. If he’d overestimated the strength of this building. Merely having designed it to withstand this kind of assault didn’t mean it would.

He headed toward the small repair office, then drew up short when he saw Buster stretched across the doorway as if on guard. Hannah was still in there, he reminded himself as if he’d forgotten it for even a minute. Surprisingly, she hadn’t gone to sleep on her plane, but had instead encouraged a family with four small children to camp out there. Very generous of her, considering she’d been trying to protect that plane like a baby, and considering what four small children could do to a space, given the opportunity.

Overhead the lights flickered, and for a heart-stopping moment everyone looked up, wondering if they were about to be cast into the dark again. It shouldn’t happen, but it might.

This storm would be hell to take in the dark. It was bad enough as is.

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