“This one’s an F-3, Joe. Fuck, look at that. That car is in the goddamned middle of the living room!”

Ryan sat next to me as we went over the footage. “It touched the ground three times, all within a half mile. And there were half a dozen more, before the day was out. Almost as powerful, and clustered… here… and here…”

He gestured to an area in southern Oklahoma. “Choctaw County’s getting hit hard, way harder than usual this year. It’s only a moderate risk area, and yet…”

I looked over dozens of still shots of the damage. “The storms seem to be focusing here,” Ryan went on. “They haven’t had an F-5 since the eighties, but Sheila’s saying this could be the year. She’s predicting at least one storm over an F-3, and right around here…”

“Sheila’s a hell of a meteorologist, Ryan. I hired her because she’s good… it’s almost like she’s got a sixth sense,” I said. ”But the prediction center isn’t overly concerned. And these goddamned funnels,” I shook my head, trying to shake a growing sense of unease. “These things are so unpredictable, even in the best of circumstances…”

“Thirteen minutes, from the warning ‘till it hits,” Ryan said, taking a sip of coffee. “It’s never enough time, no matter how close to shelter these people are. I remember my first time. It sounded like a train heading straight for us.” I nodded, unable to take my eyes off the footage. I remembered, too.

I’d been fourteen, and Ryan had only been six. Maggie’s family hadn’t moved into the guest house yet, and Mom and Dad were still alive. The warning had come over the television and we’d been in the basement within minutes. I remembered the sound, too. It isn’t something anybody ever forgets. But we’d been lucky. The storm had skipped right over the house, destroying half a block south of us and reducing it to rubble. I flipped past a few images, and stopped at a photograph of a small girl with dark eyes, clutching a man’s hand…

I thought about the team Maggie was putting together, and her heartfelt drive to help people just like that nameless child. While I was damned proud of TexStar and its reputation in the news world, it was crises like this one that made me itch to get out of the fucking office and back into the gritty reality of being at ground zero. I had been there, years ago before Dad had died. I’d been in the center of floods and wildfires. I’d taken video and stills of some of the worst disasters the South had suffered. And I also knew how it felt to put the camera down and reach out to help someone who had just lost everything and everyone they loved.

“I want to talk to you, Joe… about Maggie…”

I blinked, suddenly aware of Ryan’s eyes on me. “What about Maggie?” I asked sharply. “She’s home, and she and Dean seem to be working on their relationship.” I realized how little I’d seen of Dean since she’d come back. He’d called me a number of times to get together for lunch, but I’d let the calls go to voicemail, or put him off with an excuse about work. It had simply been easier to avoid him. The way I’d tried to avoid Maggie.

“They are,” Ryan said. “I’ve never seen Dean acting so much like a big brother before. We all had dinner a few nights ago, and he was giving her a hard time about the guys she dated at school. I guess she never figured he was interested enough to tell, until now.”

“She talked about boyfriends?” I asked, not daring to look up from the computer screen. I had firsthand knowledge that she was a virgin, but that didn’t mean she was innocent. The thought made my guts tighten, and I pressed my lips into a thin, hard line.

“Nobody special,” Ryan said casually. “She dated a lot, but it didn’t sound like she’d ever met Mr. Right.” He glanced at me, but I didn’t meet his look.

“I wanted to talk to you about her assistance foundation, Joe. She’s got a good group of people together and more joining every day. I believe in what she’s doing, and I’d like to be a part of it.” He cleared his throat. “I’m asking for a leave of absence. There’s something about the kind of fire inside her that’s inspiring, somehow. I want to be part of the solution. It isn’t enough anymore, just to report on what’s happening out there. I want to be part of it, Joe.”

I looked at the earnest expression on his young face and smiled. I knew exactly how he was feeling. Maggie’s passion had struck me just as hard. And maybe it would be good for her to have Ryan working alongside her. They were so close.

“She gets under your skin, doesn’t she?” I asked softly, more to myself than to my brother. “I’ve already arranged for her to receive an anonymous donation that will far exceed RemedAid’s financial goals. I had to do something, too…”

“Why not come with us?” Ryan asked. “You haven’t taken a day off since Dad died. Two years is a long damned time to lock yourself in an office with nothing but responsibility to keep you company. Why not get out there again? You were one of the best damned photojournalists in the country before you had to take over running this place. And there’s no telling how much it could benefit Maggie’s work. More news attention means more volunteers. More money means more full-time positions. Maggie’s goals are big, Joe…”

“That’s one girl who just doesn’t know the meaning of the word limit.”