Page 56 of Into the Tempest

“How will they know?” I asked.

“Other Bureaus will see this,” Jeremiah said. “I think. And they should realise what we’re trying to do. No comms means we can’t run alerts; we’ve lost all signal. The international office will see this for sure. They’ll be watching, they’ll have guessed by now that we’re down. Melbourne too, because Brian will be waiting to see if I fail. They’ll issue the emergency warning for us.” He swallowed hard and nodded. “I hope.”

And we stood there. Waiting. Watching.

Then, after another beat of silence, in the distance, a familiar and very welcome sound.

The cyclone warning siren.

Doreen launched at him, pulling him in for a crushing hug. Jesus, I thought she was gonna break him. “They got it, Doc. You fucking did it!”

When she let him go, he ran his hand through his hair before he braced his hands on his knees to catch his breath. “Oh wow. What a rush.”

I ran my hand up his arm, along his shoulder, and gave his neck a squeeze. “You did good,” I said. My heart was hammering, adrenaline pumping. Doreen went back out to find Suri, and I pulled Jeremiah in for a hug. “You did real good.”

“It was your idea,” he mumbled.

“I can assure you, it wasn’t.” I gave him a quick kiss. “Come on, you could use some air. While we can.”

I pulled him out the front doors and he squinted at the sunlight, and when he looked around, I could tell he found the quietness as weird as I did. It was cloudier now, becoming dark again, but not raining, no wind.

No cyclone.

“Did that old guy come back out?” I asked.

Suri shook her head. “I’ll go check on him,” Doreen said. “It’s old Arty. He knows me.”

Doreen went down the yard, slip-sliding a bit in the mud, and I gave Suri’s arm a rub. She was holding Bruce pretty tight, though he had muddy feet, so I assumed he’d been for a pee at least. “How you feeling, Suri?”

She gave us a weak smile. “Better. I’m sorry I freaked out before.”

“No need to apologise,” I said. “I freaked out too.”

Then I remembered...

I turned to Jeremiah. “We need to talk about the bird ordeal. You runnin’ out into thecyclone,” I said, like that word didn’t mean a damn thing. “Almost gettin’ us all killed. If the wind hadda come through these doors, it could’ve taken the roof off and killed us all. You do know that, right? And yes, the typing of the message was genius and you get all the gold stars for that, but I’m still pissed about the bird.”

He opened his mouth, then shut it again. “I didn’t think. I’m sorry.”

“You scared the shit outta me.”

His eyes searched mine, filled with sincerity. “I’m sorry. I just... felt like my brain detached. I can’t explain it. Like it wasn’t real. I’m sorry.”

I grabbed hold of his shirt and pulled him close enough that I could put my forehead on his shoulder. “No more doin’ shit that almost kills you, okay? You gotta start thinkin’ of me now, you hear?”

Doreen came out of Jean and Michael’s house and pointed to Arty’s house. “Just gonna grab his cat.”

Ah, jeez.

I noticed then, further down the street, two kids were out on the road. They must have been five and three years old. Unfortunately for them, Jeremiah saw them at the same time. “You two,” he yelled, pointing at them and walking down to the gate. “Get home. Go home now. Where’s your grown-ups? You need to be inside. The big storm’s not over.”

Did they listen? No. Did they go back inside? No. They ran up toward us. They were all smiles and very excited, so I didn’t think anything was immediately wrong.

“Big wind,” the younger one said excitedly, putting their arms up. They wore a T-shirt and a nappy, they had bed hair and had clearly had an exciting day. “Big noise. I cover my ears.”

They were at the gate now. Jeremiah stood with his hands on his hips. “You must go home. Which is your house?”

Doreen came out of Arty’s with a cat carrier. “They live three doors down,” she said. “Come on, kids, come with me. You can’t be out here. Where’s your dad? Is he okay?”

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