Whirlwind Read online

  An anguished mother loses her baby in a deadly storm…

  A kind stranger helps Jenna Cooper protect her baby boy when a killer tornado rips through a Dallas flea market. But in the aftermath, Jenna can’t find her son or the woman who’d been holding him.

  A journalist under pressure breaks the story…

  Upon discovering the tragedy, reporter and single mom Kate Page, battling for her career and trying to hold her life together, vows to determine what happened to tiny Caleb Cooper.

  A vortex of life-and-death forces

  As the FBI launches an investigation amid the devastation, Kate uncovers troubling clues to the trail of the woman last seen with the baby—clues that reveal a plot more sinister than anybody had imagined. Against mounting odds, Kate risks everything in the race to find the truth…before it’s too late.

  Praise for the novels of Rick Mofina

  INTO THE DARK

  “This is a one-day read (most likely a two-to-four-hour read,

  depending on how fast your eyes can soak all this in),

  but with the exciting plot and a conclusion that is a true surprise

  to one and all, this is one book that has to be seen ASAP.”

  —Suspense Magazine

  THEY DISAPPEARED

  “Mofina is one of the best thriller writers in the business.”

  —Library Journal (starred review)

  THE BURNING EDGE

  “Rick Mofina’s tense, taut writing makes every thriller he writes

  an adrenaline-packed ride.”

  —Tess Gerritsen, New York Times bestselling author

  IN DESPERATION

  “A blisteringly paced story that cuts to the bone.

  It left me ripping through pages deep into the night.”

  —James Rollins, New York Times bestselling author

  THE PANIC ZONE

  “Taut pacing, rough action and jagged dialogue feed a relentless pace.

  The Panic Zone is written with sizzling intent.”

  —Hamilton Spectator

  VENGEANCE ROAD

  “Vengeance Road is a thriller with no speed limit! It’s a great read!”

  —Michael Connelly, New York Times bestselling author

  SIX SECONDS

  “Six Seconds should be Rick Mofina’s breakout thriller.

  It moves like a tornado.”

  —James Patterson, New York Times bestselling author

  Also from Rick Mofina and Harlequin MIRA

  INTO THE DARK

  THEY DISAPPEARED

  THE BURNING EDGE

  IN DESPERATION

  THE PANIC ZONE

  VENGEANCE ROAD

  SIX SECONDS

  And watch for Rick Mofina’s next Kate Page thriller,

  coming soon from Harlequin MIRA!

  Other books by Rick Mofina

  A PERFECT GRAVE

  EVERY FEAR

  THE DYING HOUR

  BE MINE

  NO WAY BACK

  BLOOD OF OTHERS

  COLD FEAR

  IF ANGELS FALL

  RICK MOFINA

  Whirlwind

  To the memory of John Gradon

  The clouds poured out water; The skies sent out a sound; Your arrows also flashed about. The voice of Your thunder was in the whirlwind;

  The lightnings lit up the world; The earth trembled and shook.

  —Psalms 77:17–18

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Chapter 53

  Chapter 54

  Chapter 55

  Chapter 56

  Chapter 57

  Chapter 58

  Chapter 59

  Chapter 60

  Chapter 61

  Chapter 62

  Chapter 63

  Chapter 64

  Chapter 65

  Chapter 66

  Chapter 67

  Chapter 68

  Epilogue

  Acknowledgments

  BPA

  1

  Wildhorse Heights, Texas

  Death was near but Jenna Cooper was not aware.

  No one was.

  Like the thousands of other people at the Old Southern Glory Flea Market, in the southeastern part of the Dallas– Fort Worth Metroplex, she was hunting for bargains.

  Jenna liked coming here. With more than nine hundred vendors in buildings and open-air sections spread over forty acres at the Hawn and LBJ freeways, Old Southern was one of the biggest flea markets in Texas.

  Whatever Jenna needed, she could always find a deal on it.

  “Can I make you an offer on these?”

  Jenna touched the folded baby clothes she’d selected and piled on the vendor’s table. The fleece hoodie, the footed pajamas, a romper, T-shirts, bibs, the lace tops and the skorts, which were so cute.

  The vendor was wearing a Cowboys ball cap, rose-tinted sunglasses and a T-shirt that read: Verna’s Clothes for Kids. Jenna guessed her to be in her late sixties.

  “What’s your offer, dear?”

  Jenna figured the clothes would cost fifty to sixty dollars if she were to buy them new. But the items, as tagged on the table, would run about thirty-five dollars. She was not very good at negotiating, but these days she had no choice. For her, Blake and the kids, money was an issue.

  “Would you take twenty-five for all of them?”

  The woman took stock of Jenna’s daughter, who was holding on to the stroller where her baby brother was waking up from a nap.

  “How old are your little ones?” she asked, weighing Jenna’s offer.

  “Cassie’s four, almost five, and her baby brother Caleb’s five months.”

  “I bet they’re a handful.”

  “They are.”

  “All right, dear, for you and your angels, twenty-five.”

  “Thank you.” Jenna handed her the cash
from her wallet.

  While the vendor rummaged under the table for a bag, the old transistor radio hanging from her wooden sign that also read Verna’s Clothes for Kids, crackled faintly with an updated weather report.

  But few people were listening about the possible tornado watch.

  The sky was overcast with flashes of lightning on the horizon. It was hot and humid. Jenna pressed the back of her hand to her moist forehead then checked on Caleb. He was going to be hungry and she’d have to find a place to feed him. She gave Cassie a sip of bottled water, intending to finish shopping and get home before it rained.

  “Your little girl’s beautiful.”

  Jenna’s attention shifted to the end of the table, where another woman had stopped browsing to pay her the compliment. She was about Jenna’s age, mid-twenties, with short spiky red hair and a nice smile.

  “Thank you,” Jenna said.

  “And—” the stranger nodded to the stroller “—I overheard, your baby boy’s five months old?”

  “Yes.” Jenna beamed.

  “May I?” The woman stepped closer, lowering herself to Caleb’s stroller. “Oh, he’s brand-new! What a sweetheart!”

  “Here’s your bag,” the vendor said to Jenna.

  “Thanks.” She reached out for it.

  “Who does he take after?” The stranger stood.

  “His dad. He’s got his father’s eyes.”

  For the first time, Jenna noticed a man at the other end of the table. He seemed about the same age as the woman and by the way he was watching, appeared to be with her.

  “You’re so blessed. They’re beautiful children,” the woman said.

  “Thank you.” Jenna stowed the clothes in the stroller’s basket.

  That woman was right, Jenna thought, while making her way through the bustling market. Jenna was blessed, but this past year had been hard for her family. A week after she’d learned that she was pregnant, Blake was laid off from his ground-crew job at DFW International Airport. As weeks and months passed, Blake took any work he could find. He’d come home, hands callused from a long day on a construction site, or he’d fall asleep in front of the TV after a day making dozens of deliveries as a courier. But that was all low-paying, temporary work.

  Blake couldn’t find a good, steady job.

  Jenna was a part-time teller and worked as many hours as she could before she was due. They were burning through the little savings they had, and she feared they would lose their home, right up until six weeks ago. That’s when Blake was hired by American Journey Movers. It was full-time, and luckily there were health benefits, which helped when she had Caleb.

  The downside was that Blake was always on the road. He started in Florida one week then was in Minnesota the next. Thankfully, Jenna’s sister, Holly, came in from Atlanta for two weeks when Caleb was born, because the day after Jenna brought him home from the hospital, Blake was on the road again to Kentucky and Virginia.

  Now he was in Alaska.

  Jenna missed him.

  “You’ll tough it out, Jen,” Blake would tell her. “You’re not a quitter. We’ll get through this. Look at all we’ve faced so far.”

  He was right, and she was grateful. Things were turning around for them. She had a healthy baby boy and a beautiful daughter. Blake had found a good job. It was true, she was blessed. They’d kept their house and were clearing their debts.

  To help with their finances, Jenna was trying to get a data-processing job that would let her do extra work at home. She was also careful with money, never spending beyond their budget. That’s why she had buckled Cassie and Caleb into the family’s ten-year-old Ford Focus and come here.

  But before heading out this morning, she’d hesitated. The forecast had called for a slight risk of severe weather later this afternoon. Standing in her driveway, she thought the sky looked fine, and she planned to be home by early afternoon. Besides, she needed to get some things now, and this was the best time for her to go.

  They’d had good luck so far, Jenna thought, as she maneuvered through the crowded market lanes. Along with the baby clothes, she’d bought towels and bedsheets for a steal. They had factory flaws that weren’t even noticeable. Now she needed a desk lamp. She’d spotted one priced at two dollars. The same one in the store was going for fifteen.

  Caleb was starting to fuss. Jenna needed to feed him but wanted to get the lamp first. She was trying to recall the row where the lamp was when she felt the first raindrop.

  Then a wind kicked up some papers and dirt. Vendors began throwing tarps and plastic sheets over their wares, others unrolled canvas walls. Jenna unfolded the canopy on Caleb’s stroller, got Cassie into her rain jacket and opened her umbrella just as the downpour started.

  Hunched against the rain they hurried to take cover under the tent roof of a large picnic area. They crammed in with other shoppers just as hail in golf-ball-sized chunks smashed into the ground, pelting the roof with such ferocity Jenna feared it would tear through.

  “Mommy I’m scared!” Cassie slid her arms around her.

  Jenna pulled her closer and tightened her grip on her stroller. She bit her lip watching the storm and lightning, regretting not leaving earlier.

  “Mommy, I want to go home!”

  “Me, too, honey. It’ll stop soon. Then we’ll get you a cookie, I’ll feed Caleb and we’ll go home, okay?”

  Jenna felt Cassie’s little face nodding against her as the hail relented.

  “What! Baby, I can’t hear you!”

  Jenna’s head snapped to a man in the gathered crowd with his cell phone pressed to his ear. “Baby!”

  Others under the canopy turned to a woman as she said, “For real?” into her cell phone.

  “Baby.” The man was staring helplessly at the sky, then at his phone. “I can’t hear you!” Then to the rest of the group he said, “My wife’s east of Lancaster. She said a tornado hit, then her phone died.” He flipped up his hood. “I gotta find her. Y’all better take cover!”

  As if on cue, a siren wailed. Jenna knew that sound. The city had about a hundred warning sirens throughout Dallas and tested them once a month.

  Only this one was not a test.

  The steady signal was an alert to seek immediate shelter.

  “Mommy!”

  Jenna was transfixed.

  A massive wall of black cloud in the shape of a wedge had suddenly risen in the west where the sky had turned an otherworldly shade of green. All the saliva in Jenna’s mouth suddenly evaporated as she fought to contain the wave of panic rising in her gut.

  “My God!” an old man said, adjusting his glasses as he pointed to the sky. “That’s a school bus spinning up there, hundreds of feet in the air!”

  Crushing Cassie to her, Jenna whispered a prayer.

  2

  Wildhorse Heights, Texas

  Jenna’s heart was racing.

  Numbed by disbelief, she stared through the rain at the towering wall of black cloud swirling toward the market.

  Vendors were scrambling to protect their goods; people hurried in all directions. The siren’s cry underscored the panic vibrating among those huddled under the tent; some ran off to the nearest building. Horns blared.

  Beyond the rows of tables, Jenna saw the cars gridlocked in a futile struggle to leave. She calculated her chances of getting her children to their car in the distant parking lot before the storm hit.

  We won’t make it in time.

  “Mommy!” Cassie covered her ears with her hands. “I want to go, Mommy! I’m scared!”

  Caleb was crying.

  We have to find a safe place, now!

  The nearest building was their best hope. She’d keep Caleb in his stroller; that way she could move faster with the kids. Quickly, she tightened th
e straps holding him, then she hoisted Cassie onto her hip, carrying her with one arm while steering Caleb’s stroller with her free hand.

  As they headed into the rain, the tent canopy blew away behind them.

  “Hang on to me, Cassie!”

  Jenna bent against the wind, determined to make it to the building some forty yards off. She saw the scores of people clogging the entrance and prayed that she could get her children inside.

  There’s no turning back, nowhere else to go.

  Items from the market started shooting through the air around them, a lawn chair, a bookcase and a folding table, ricocheting off the ground, trees and structures.

  Above the siren and all the noise Jenna heard a scream, turned and saw an older man knocked down by a flying piece of lumber. People who’d stopped to help him were suddenly in the path of a large Dumpster, tumbling at top speed before it hit them like they were bowling pins.

  Jenna agonized over stopping to help when Caleb’s stroller began shaking and lifting slightly as gusts tried to wrench him from her grip. She fought to hold on to Caleb and Cassie and kept moving to the building, praying with each yard she covered until she made it to the entrance where she joined the others inching their way inside.

  “Please hurry, please!” Jenna pleaded over the rushing winds.

  Known as the Saddle Up Center, the large square building had been constructed decades ago in a pole barn design with a concrete floor, wooden frame, metal walls and a metal roof. It housed rows of vendors’ tables displaying clothes, furniture and collectables. Hundreds of worried shoppers were jamming into it.

  Foreboding filled the air. The warning siren was accompanied by the furious, staccato bombardment of debris striking the walls and roof. The building shook as if under artillery attack.

  People with working cell phones shouted out reports.

  “A lot of injuries in Lancaster!”

  “Transformers are blowing, fires everywhere!”

  “A tornado is heading this way!”

  There was a loud bang; a streetlight pierced the roof, its large arm swaying perilously above the crowd.

  The center’s lights began flickering as debris hammered the building and the wind howled.

  “She ain’t gonna hold much longer!” a man shouted.

  As Caleb cried, Jenna stared at the roof. The wooden trusses supporting the roof began bending and cracking. She craned her neck, searching for someplace, anyplace, to go.