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The fire truck came down toward us and one guy got out. “Hey, folks,” he said. “Everyone okay here?”
“Uh, yeah,” Ellis replied. “This is my house... Or was... I wasn’t here when it struck.”
“Do you know if any of your neighbours were home?”
He told them about the Lims and how he’d thought the people across the road were staying, but the Lims had said no, the Wards had left yesterday. The fireman said they’d go check anyway but warned that none of the street was safe and we’d be required to move along.
“Excuse me,” I said. “Have you any updates on the power outage? Or the internet?”
He gave me an odd look, so I clarified. “I work at the Bureau of Meteorology and our power was cut. All my systems are down. I lost all comms. I’ll need to relay some data to Arnhem Land—”
He stared at me. “You work at the... Was it you who did that message?”
Oh.
Tully snorted and clapped my back. “Yes, it was him.”
The officer took two giant strides toward me and collected my hand, shaking it somewhat violently. “Well, I’ll be damned,” he said, grinning. Then he called out toward the truck. “Jimmy, it’s the weather station guy!”
Another fireman, who was at the house across the street, came over. He was maybe fifty, fit, and rather good-looking. “What’s up?” he said.
“The guy who put the message on the weather radar about the eye of the storm,” the first officer said, gesturing to me. “This is him.”
Jimmy’s chiselled face grinned. “Ah, the blue-eyed weather guy from the news. It was you?”
I heard Tully grumble beside me, but then he inhaled deeply, which I knew meant he had every intent to unload a mouthful. I tugged on his hand to let him know I had this one.
“Yes, my eyes are blue,” I said with a sigh, because that was the detail they took away from all of this.
I shouldn’t ever dare to not be surprised. Or disappointed.
“In othermore importantnews, do you have any updates on the power and internet outage?” I asked flatly. “I’d like to get my system up and running as fast as possible. The building’s intact, but I have no satellites or antennas. I’m sure you can understand the urgency. Flood warnings will remain in place, and I have no access to data or alerts to the east of us, where Hazer is right now.”
He straightened up. “The main lines are down. There’s optic fibre cable damage on the cable line that comes into Darwin. I believe they’re working on it. Could be days for all we know.” He glanced back at the truck and his colleague. “We don’t even have radio. Even the CB towers are down. They’re working on satellite comms but most of the dishes were destroyed, so guessing a timeframe is sketchy at best.”
Right. Finally some proper information. Not that it was great news by any stretch, but at least he was taking me seriously. “Thank you.” I turned to Tully. “We should go.”
“Look,” Jimmy said. “Sorry... about before. I didn’t mean any disrespect. What you did with the message on the radar was real smart, and it saved lives, no doubt about it.”
Given he’d said it with sincerity, I met his eyes and gave him a nod. “Do you know if the emergency response office is open?”
Tully pulled on my arm. “Yeah, no. Your work is done today. Let other people do their jobs.”
I pulled my arm free, annoyed. “There are still parts of the state—”
Tully held his hand up and raised one finger. “First of all, this is a Territory, not a state. You’re new here so I’ll let that slide. Second of all, you haven’t slept properly in two days. You saved enough people today, and you almost died twice.” He held up two fingers. “Twice I thought you were gonna die today, two separate times, which is more than enough, thanks.” He fired a filthy look at Jimmy. “And you still get disrespected. So you know what? You’ve done all you can do today; let other people do their jobs. What you need right now is food and sleep, and what I need right now is you. And my brother lost his house and everything he owns, and half the city is gone. So...” His bottom lip wobbled, and I knew then that Tully was well and truly at his limit.
I slid my hand around the back of his head and pulled him against me. “Okay. Let’s go.”
His mum came over and put her hand to Tully’s hair. “Come back to our place. Rowan’s cooking some meat on the BBQ. Get some food in your belly and then you can sleep.”
Tully looked about ready to argue, but I nodded. “We’ll be there, thank you.”
He pouted and went to the passenger seat of the Jeep, which meant I was driving. Ellis went with his parents, and they drove off first. “I just want to go home,” he said.
I was about to start the engine, but I didn’t. I turned to face him instead. “Spend time with your family.” I took his hand. “They need to see you, and you need to spend time with them. Especially Ellis. Especially today. It could have been a very different outcome today. If the cyclone had been just a few streets over, your entire family...” I dropped my head. “I know you’re tired. But just give them one hour.”
He didn’t say anything for a moment and I wondered if I’d overstepped, but when I looked up at him, he was smiling. It was a teary smile, a tired smile, but it was a grateful smile that made my heart knock against my ribs. “Okay,” he murmured.
