Page 25 of Into the Tempest

“Stay with him,” she said to me, nodding to Jeremiah.

“I plan to. Thank you for coming back.”

I also only just noticed that her fresh shirt hadread my lipswritten on it with a somewhat artistic image of a vulva on it. Yeah, there was no way they were showing any footage of that on the news. Not without a lot of pixelating.

“Gonna grab some shuteye. I’ll lock the gate on my way out, and I’ll be back at eight tonight.” She scooped up Bruce. “And Tully, I heard what you said to those leeches out the front. Good for you. If they come back, don’t be scared to swing that bat around.”

Oh. Yeah, I probably wouldn’t do that. But then I remembered how angry I’d been. Maybe I would...

Then, on her way out, she peered closer to the radar. “Yeah, he ain’t slowin’ down any. If you’re stickin’ around, how about boardin’ the place up a bit? There’s some pieces cut to size from last time.”

I nodded. “Sure. I’ll be here.”

“Good lad.”

And with that, she was gone.

Jeremiah all but fell into his chair. “You don’t have to stay,” he mumbled.

I lifted his chin and leaned down to peck his lips. “I’m not leaving.”

I pulled over Bruce’s chair and parked my arse in it, then studied the radar screen and in particular the very large, somewhat circular cloud band moving in our direction. “Sooo,” I said brightly. “This doesn’t look good.”

Jeremiah almost smiled. “Yeah. As Doreen said, it’s not slowing down any. In fact, it’s just gathering steam.”

“Still on track for here?”

He nodded. “Dead on.”

One of the other screens started to beep and he had to switch something over to something else and relay some data stream to another office, and for a guy who’d never seen a dash as old as this just a short while ago, he was all over it now.

“I should look and see what I can board your windows up with,” I said, gettin’ up. I went to move past him to the far end where all the ancient field equipment was—I was sure I’d seen planks of plyboard there at some point—and he grabbed my hand.

“Thank you,” he murmured. “I didn’t mean to sound ungrateful before.”

I squeezed his hand. “You didn’t.”

He sighed. “I should probably call my dad.”

My heart sank for him. “Okay. Want me to sit with you while you speak to him?”

He did smile then, somewhat sad but laced with gratitude. “No, it’s fine.”

“I’ll be here, just showing off my handyman skills.” I gently lifted his chin and kissed him. “I’m not leaving.”

He nodded, a little happier now. “Thank you.”

I left him to it. Albeit I couldn’t go far; the office was tiny and there really wasn’t anywheretogo. And the windows that needed boarding up were small. One in the toilet room and one long narrow one under the eaves. The office was basically a dark cave. But I found the plyboard Doreen had mentioned and a drill that was so old it needed to be plugged into a power outlet.

There was a steel ladder fixed to the back of the building, which was incredibly helpful, given all the aerials and satellites on the small roof area, though it was so hot in the Darwin sun, it almost seared straight through my hand when I grabbed it.

I went back in, grabbed Jeremiah’s keys and moved the Jeep over, and stood on the hood instead.

He had his phone pressed to his ear when I went in, though he wasn’t talking. I could hear the mumble of his father’s voice, and Jeremiah was frowning.

I hated that he had to live with this.

It wasn’t his fault. He’d done nothin’ wrong. In fact, he’d done therightthing by issuing a statement when asked of the dangers of the coming storm when that reporter had asked.

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