Page 19 of Natalie's Nighthawk

His eyes dartedto the house; she was losing him again. “Graham!” she shouted. “The steps! Picture your house in your mind and find the basement steps!”

“Right. Basement. Steps…There!”He pointedto an area in the middle of the house.

Okay,progress.But if they started digging to get to thesteps,they ran the risk ofmoving the wrong thing and having that wall come crashing down on top of them.

“I’ve got to get him out!” Graham was moving toward the house again.

“Graham!” sheshoutedonce more. He stopped abruptly. “Stopandthink! Slow your panic! I know you want to get to David as quickly as possible,butfast is not always best.You can’t help him if you are freaking out!”She wasdesperate to make him understand.

He stillwasn’tgetting it. He was too worried about David. Toodistracted. Natalie grabbed his face between her hands and forced him to look at her. “Slow.Your. Panic.” Sheenunciatedeach worduntil she could seethem sinkintohisunfocusedbrain.“You must think!” she reiterated.She used her hands to turn his face to the unstable wall.“That wall. It could collapseatany time.You’d be no help to your brother if you are in there when it does.”Shecouldn’thelp the shiver of fear that swept up her body at the thought of being crushed by that wall.

“Right,” Grahamsighed. “Right. What do we do?Ican’tjust wait here. He might be hurt.”He was trying so desperately to hold in his panic,Natalie’s heartwent out to him.

“I think…I think we need to find a way tostabilize it.Shore it up somehow.”Shethoughtshe remembered something about how todo that. Something about bracingpieces.

Natalie looked around her. Searching for inspiration. To her left,she spottedsome long two-by-foursthat must have come from someone’shome workshop. Those mightdo.She pointed at the boards, explaining her plan. Graham caught on quicklyand went to work. Finally having something for his panicked brain to concentrate onhelped to keep him focusedas they gingerly braced the damaged wall with the long planks.Natalie ignored the splinters and cuts as they worked quickly andefficiently. Once they were satisfied that the wall was stable, at least for now, they got to work on finding the steps to the basement.

After what seemed like hours but was,in fact,merelyminutes,they uncovered the hole to the basement.The stairs,for the most part,werestill intact.

“David!” Graham calledashe carefully placed a foot on the first stair. They were both unsure ifthe stairs weresafe or if they were damaged somehow,andifthe first weight that was placed on them would cause them to collapse.

“I’m here!” a voice called back. And suddenly,he was there. Standing at the bottom of the staircase.He smiled up at them, a lookof hero worship for his big brother.Reassuring themselves that the stairs were safe, David raced up and threw himself into Graham’s arms. The brothers hugged each other tightlyas Nataliefought the lump of emotion that had lodged itself in her throat.She washappy forthem,but shecouldn’trelax until shefoundher own family.

Present Day

Natalie’s words, as Graham had stated in that stupid interview, had indeed stuck with him. ‘Slow your panic’ had been his mantra all these years. Every search. Every rescue, every training mission, he recited those words. He wondered, not for the first time, if Natalie knew the lasting impact she and her words would have on him from that day forward.If she watched the interview, she probably figured it out,asshole.

His mind drifted back to that day after the tornado as he listened to Finch intone about tracking skills and sign cutting to a group of policemen from Grand Rapids. Yes, he and his family had lost their home and all their belongings that day, but they had each other. He and Natalie had managed to save David. And Graham was eternally grateful for her help. He was very lucky.

But Natalie, it seemed, hadn’t been quite so lucky. Losing his favorite skateboard seemed insignificant to all that Natalie had lost. Even though her house had suffered minimal damage, the tornado had shattered the Ghannon family. He regretted that he hadn’t been there for Natalie like she was for him. He wished with all his heart that he had been able to return her sister to her whole as she had with David. But it wasn’t until the early hours of the next morning that they’d found the mangled car and Maddie unconscious inside.

Graham had been too focused on himself and his own family to realize the turmoil and distress Natalie had gone through. Even all these years later, he still didn’t know the whole story. HowhadMaddie lost her leg? And he asked himself why their parents would leave Natalie alone to deal with it all. She seemed to have accepted their abandonment, but he felt compelled to be angry at them on her behalf. He couldn’t imagine his parents or David ever deserting him. Not for anything. The tornado had taught them all about how precious life was. Graham’s family lived life to the fullest every day.

The buzzing in his pocket brought Graham back to the present. He smiled as he saw it was a text from Natalie. She was asking him to call her. He excused himself from the training seminar and stepped out into the hall, dialing her number.

“Hey, Chickadee. What’s up?”

“How did it go last night?” she asked.

“It was good. We found the kayakers quickly enough. They had just gotten turned around and couldn’t find their landing spot.” The group of morons hadn’t thought to bring a compass with them. Or GPS. Or even their cell phones.Who does thatin this day and age?Idiots.

“That’s good. I’m glad they were safe.”

“Me too.”

“Umm … the reason I wanted to talk to you … and you can feel free to say no,” she rushed on to assure him. “My principal has asked me to ask if you would be willing to do an assembly for the kids. You know, general stuff, about what you do.”

It amused him that she was rambling. She clearly felt awkward asking him. He quickly answered to put her at ease, “I’d love to.” He’d done numerous assemblies for different schools. He mostly focused on teaching them basic survival skills like the ones Colin had learned in scouts. But sometimes, especially with the older kids, they got curious about some of the big disasters he’d assisted with, and they were always full of questions.

“That’s great! We were wondering if next Friday would work for you. Or if it’s too soon, we can schedule it for another time,” she sounded flustered again. “It’s just that we were going to have an award ceremony for Colin. We wanted to recognize his resilience and bravery. We thought if you could be there too …” she trailed off.

“Friday’s good. I’m free all day.” He could audibly hear her sigh of relief.

“My principal will be so relieved.” After finalizing the plans, he hung up and slipped his phone back into his pocket. As he returned to the training room, his thoughts again drifted to his little chickadee. Ten days. He could wait ten days to see her again. Couldn’t he?

No, he couldn’t. He stepped outside the room again and hit the phone symbol next to Natalie’s name, calling her back immediately.

She answered on the first ring. “Is something wrong?”

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