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“An early detection warning for what?”
I met his gaze, my heart hammering. “A cyclone.”
CHAPTER THREE
TULLY
I stared at the radar.Jeremiah flipped some switches and made the beeping stop. “But that won’t reach us, right? It’s so far away.”
Jeremiah didn’t answer.
In the next few seconds, he had his phone pressed to his ear and he was searchin’ on one radar while reading data on another.
I should have known then.
Nothing scared him.
But he looked kinda scared now.
I looked at the radar that had been beeping, the same one Doreen had signalled to. She’d been watching something on it, was concerned enough to mention it...
On the blinking radar, a massive cloud band was moving across Asia. It was sweeping southeast, carried on a warm tropical low. A massive spiral rainband, with intense rainfall extending outward from the centre. And it was now projecting a path to cross land over Darwin.
“Yes, an initial tropical cyclone alert... Yes, I’m aware,” Jeremiah said. “If it continues to... That’s correct, official cyclone watch... No, sir... Yes, that’s correct, sir, I believe we’d be looking at a Category 5.”
His eyes met mine, and I felt the blood drain from my face.
Category 5.
Jesus fucking Christ.
He ran his hand through his hair, nodded, and spoke into his phone. “I’ll issue the CXML, but it’ll take some time... because the instruments here belong in a goddamn museum.”
He ended the call and tossed his phone onto the panel, then tapped the radar, his eyes meeting mine.
Grim.
“Category 5?”
He nodded. “If its trajectory doesn’t change. There’s nothing but warm air in its path and it’s just going to gain strength.”
Category 5.
He gestured to another screen. “It has perfect conditions. There’s nothing between there and here to stop it.”
“When?” I asked. “When will it be here?”
“Five days.”
“Five? That’s ages. Anything can happen between now and then. Why isn’t it on that radar yet?” I pointed to another screen.
“Because it’s out of Australian waters. This radar”—he pointed to the really old one—“is tracking. We share feeds with the International Committee...”
“But it might dissipate, right? It might lose momentum, change trajectory?”
His eyes caught mine, and I could see he was trying to understand why I didn’t believe him.
“It might,” he allowed. “And I really hope it does. But the probability that it will continue as projected is high. We have these measures in place for a good reason, Tully. It’s now an official cyclone watch. If it stays on track and reaches Australian waters, that will upgrade on day three to an alert. People need to know so they can make informed choices. Even if the cyclone downgrades, there will still be flood warnings, wind warnings, dangerous surf conditions. Severe storm warnings, rain, hail. If people want to evacuate, they can. Either way, people need to stock up on essentials and get prepared.”
