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“Nope.”
He’s grinning just as hard as I am, which makes it impossible to stay annoyed.
“Our first Five, man,” he says. “It’s gonna be awesome.”
“Hell yeah.” I hold out my fist.
Colston bumps his against mine.
I laugh and look back at Ruth on the screen, shifting my weight because standing still suddenly feels impossible.
Des glances between us over the top of his glasses. “You two planning to fly it or just stand here celebrating?”
“We can multitask,” Colston says, still smiling.
Des shakes his head and turns back to the data. “Enjoy it on your way to the briefing. Sondra wants everybody in there now.”
That pulls me out of my excitement, and I straighten, grabbing my bag while Des closes out whatever he was looking at. The newest recon will be part of the brief anyway, along with the updated track, what the Air Force crew found inside the storm, and what Ruth’s structure has done since our original mission was planned.
Colston falls into step beside me as we head across operations.
The excitement is still there—I’m not sure anything could kill it right now—but this is where the mission takes over. Before we ever get near the airplane, we need to know what Des expects Ruth to look like by the time we reach her, where the worst weather is setting up, what NHC wants from the mission, and whether anything about the storm has changed the route we were already planning to fly.
Brian’s already in the briefing room when we get there, a cup of coffee beside his paperwork and his reading glasses sitting on the table in front of him.
I drop into the chair and look at the glasses. “Those yours?”
Brian gives me a flat look. “You got something to say?”
Colston pulls out the chair beside me. “He was holding the maintenance sheet halfway across the room when I got here.”
“Both of you can fuck off.”
I laugh, but Brian is already looking back at the paperwork in front of him, whatever maintenance flagged clearly more interesting than our shit talk.
Des comes in behind us and closes the door while Sondra brings the latest imagery up on the main screen.
Ruth fills the wall.
The room settles almost immediately.
Des starts with the newest Air Force reconnaissance, walking us through what changed on the last pass and what he expects Ruth to look like by the time we reach her. The pressure’s still falling. The eyewall has tightened up, the strongest convection has shifted, and there are a couple areas he wants us paying attention to on the approach.
“The northeast side is still the ugliest,” Des says, changing the image on the screen. “The last crew took the worst turbulence coming through here.”
Colston leans forward beside me. “Is she still building?”
“Yeah. And if she keeps tightening before you get there, I’d expect that area to get worse.”
By the time Des starts breaking down the newest data, I’m not thinking about what category this storm is anymore. I’m thinking about what Colston and I are going to have to deal with once we get in there.
Des moves between the satellite loop and the latest radar and recon data, pointing out what the Air Force crew found in the core and where Ruth has changed since our original flight plan was put together.
Colston taps one finger against the table. “Go back to the eyewall.”
Des pulls the image back up.
I’m looking at the same section. “What’d the last crew report going through there?”
