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I can already picture what that’s going to do to her.

Another hard shudder runs through the airplane and jerks my focus right back where it belongs.

I can worry about Goldie freaking the fuck out after I get us through this.

Right now, I need to make sure I get home to her.

“Anything else?” I ask.

Brian takes a few seconds to check. “Tail Doppler’s down too.”

“Shit,” Des mutters.

I glance toward the radar display we still have. “Nose radar?”

“Still up.”

Okay.

Losing the mission link means nobody on the ground is getting our data right now, but we’re still collecting. Losing the tail Doppler means we’ve lost another piece of what we came out here to collect.

But the nose radar is still giving us what we need to see ahead of the airplane.

For now, I can work with that.

Another hard pocket throws us sideways, Colston’s shoulder slamming into mine before we both straighten again.

That’s when I feel a new vibration through the rudder pedals, one that shouldn’t be there.

It’s subtle at first, more of a low buzz under my boots than anything else, but it’s enough to get my attention.

“Brian.”

“I feel it,” he says in the headset.

“Any idea where it’s coming from?”

“Not yet. I’m checking.”

Then Ruth starts beating the shit out of us again.

The turbulence gets rougher, every hit knocking us around before I can get back my equilibrium from the one before it. Colston keeps feeding me what he’s seeing while I work to keep the airplane where I want it, and somewhere in the middle of all of that, the rain starts to ease.

I barely register it at first.

The pounding against the windshield gets quieter.

The turbulence evens out.

The airplane finally stops fighting me.

Then we break through the inner edge of the eyewall and into the eye.

The airplane goes steady around me, but the vibration is still there beneath my feet, stronger now that everything else is calm.

Beside me, Colston lets his head fall back against the seat for a second.

“Holy fuck,” he says.