The Girl in the Hard Hat (36 page)

Instead of responding, he took his shirt off the dryer and held the wet patch under the nozzle.

She watched him curiously. ‘Have you?’

The dryer continued its drone. He bent his head to his task. The muscles in his back bunched attractively as he turned the material over in his hands.

She cocked her head to one side, trying to play the card
he
normally dealt
her
– teasing voice, innocent smile. ‘You know, you’re always talking about how I have a chip on my shoulder. But you definitely have one. Plus a couple of notches taken out of your torso too. I hate to wave the word hypocrite around . . .’

He turned. ‘But you’re going to anyway.’

‘You know,’ she said, ‘you said to me once that if I were in trouble I could tell you and you’d help me. Well, same goes for me. I’ll help you, if you need it.’

He put his shirt back on. She was sure it must still be a bit damp but he didn’t seem to care. He looked down at her, his expression completely unreadable. No smile, no mask, no provocative twinkle in those bottomless eyes. Just a darkness she couldn’t fathom. A muscle clenched and unclenched just above his jaw like he was frozen in his own mental prison. ‘Thanks for the offer, Sarge. But I’m not in any trouble.’

‘I don’t believe you.’

‘You don’t know me.’

‘You’re right,’ she said bitterly. ‘I’ve practically told you my life story and it’s only today I find out that you’ve even got a sister. Why so secretive?’

He didn’t reply, merely closed what space was left between them to deliver a paralysing kiss that effectively silenced whatever questions she might have. She felt his thumb slide up her cheek and his fingers cross her hairline as he cradled her face. She knew it was a stalling tactic, but even so her body instinctively swayed towards his. He scooped her to him hungrily with his other arm and the air whooshed out of her lungs.

‘Knock, knock.’ They broke apart at the sound of another female voice. Wendy spun around, colour flooding her face. Sharon was standing just in front of the doorway, eyes wide.

‘Sorry, I didn’t realise. I –’ She put a hand to her temple and looked down. ‘Should I go?’ She shook her head and then said with more finality, ‘I should go,’ and began to back away.

‘No.’ Gavin’s voice was like a stranger’s. He stepped around Wendy, refusing to look at her as he sauntered towards Sharon. ‘This is the ladies’ room after all. I’m the one who should be leaving.’

He walked out without a backwards glance, leaving a lump the size of a golf ball forming in Wendy’s throat.

Sharon must have misinterpreted her expression. ‘Wendy, I’m sorry, I didn’t know. I just came to check on you guys, make sure everything was okay.’

Wendy waved her hand, wanting to reassure Sharon that she hadn’t done anything wrong. But her voice wouldn’t come, at least not without tears first. She bit down desperately on her trembling lower lip to keep from completely losing it.

Sharon was not fooled. She came towards her. ‘Wendy, what’s wrong? That arse hasn’t led you up the garden path, has he?’

‘On the contrary,’ Wendy hiccupped, ‘he’s been completely honest. Told me that he’s no good for me and kept his distance.’

‘Gavin, a gentleman?’ Sharon mused. ‘Who would have thought?’

Wendy rubbed her eyes, not trusting herself to speak. Sharon didn’t give her much time to recover, however, before asking a much more difficult question. ‘So if you and Gavin are not an item, what did I witness just now?’

‘Nothing.’ Wendy gritted her teeth. ‘It was a mistake. He was actually angry because I was getting too personal. It’s all on me.’

‘Things like this are never all on you, honey.’ Sharon rubbed her arm. ‘Trust me. Don’t beat yourself up. Just think of it as a bullet dodged.’

Wendy averted her eyes and her voice seemed to shrink even in her own ears. ‘Only I don’t think I’ve dodged it.’

‘What do you mean?’

Wendy hiccupped nosily, unable to hold back any longer. ‘I think I’ve already fallen in love with him.’

‘Oh, honey,’ Sharon said, immediately throwing her arms around Wendy’s sobbing frame. ‘I know how that feels.’

Despite Sharon’s obvious sympathy, there was little she could say to make Wendy feel better. The next day, Saturday, it became obvious the bus driver had made mention of the incident to Lena because the young engineer also tried to cheer her up by suggesting another girls’ day out the next day – their Sunday off – perhaps they could go see the famous Red Dog statue, just for a laugh? Wendy agreed, more to make Lena feel like she was helping than because she really wanted to go. With her disastrous love-life and the emotional chaos she’d left back in Perth she was finding it very hard to get enthused about anything.

When ominous news hit Saturday afternoon, she began to wonder whether she should go out and get herself a rabbit’s foot or a four-leaf clover. Anything to stem the bad luck that seemed to be following her around like a stray dog.

It all started when Dan called just before four o’clock. ‘Good afternoon, Wendy.’ His tone was professional but not upbeat. ‘I don’t know whether you’ve been following the news . . .’ She hadn’t, not with everything else taking up so much space in her head. ‘But TCN has just received word from the wharf owners, and also from the Bureau of Meteorology. We are officially on blue alert.’

Wendy’s personal issues dropped off her shoulders like mud sliding off a pig’s rear. Her position and responsibility suddenly came into sharp focus. ‘What category?’

There was a pause. ‘Four.’

Four was bad. Not as bad as five obviously. But, at this stage, she wasn’t expecting a cyclone worse than three. ‘It’s not even December,’ she protested.

‘Yes, the bad cyclones are more likely late in the season. But it doesn’t mean they can’t and won’t occur now.’ Dan cleared his throat. ‘It’s still a tropical low off the coast but the bureau has started watching it closely. We might be lucky. It might change course or reduce in strength to a category three or two.’

‘Or it could get worse.’ Wendy shut her eyes and rubbed her temples between thumb and forefinger.

Dan’s voice grew gentle. ‘We will cross that bridge when we come to it. Don’t let this get you down, Wendy. Not yet. I’ve read your cyclone plan. Barnes Inc should be well equipped to deal with the next forty-eight hours. You just need to put into action all your preparations and we’ll get through this. Get a good night’s sleep because you’re going to be super busy tomorrow.’

Wendy opened her eyes and sat up straighter. ‘Thank you, Dan. I’ll let the project manager know and we’ll start rolling out prep for the cyclone.’ She put down the phone.

‘Did I hear the word cyclone by any chance?’ For once, Chub was not addressing her from his seat but had come to hover over her desk. She looked up at his worried face.

‘We’re on blue alert for a category four.’

‘I was afraid you were going to say that.’

She glanced at her watch. ‘We haven’t got much time left today but we should at least try to make a start on getting the word out. Can you get on the airways?’ she asked. ‘And draft a memo to all staff to put on notice boards and hand out to supervisors. I’ll start calling anyone who is on R and R and tell them they are not to come back to site until we are through this.’ She bit her lower lip. ‘But first, I’ve gotta go see Gavin.’

‘No worries.’

Wendy rubbed her cold hands together to stop them trembling as she made her way to Gavin’s office. She was very lucky to find him there when she walked in. She was worried she’d have to call him and wait for him to come back from wherever he was on site.

His eyes registered her with surprise. He pushed his chair out a little and put his pen down. ‘Wendy.’ His use of her real name was telling. No doubt, he was still feeling embarrassment from their last encounter. Not that she wasn’t. It just seemed to fade in importance to what she had to tell him now. ‘Hi, Gavin.’

He cleared his throat. ‘Yesterday evening at the pub I –’

‘If you’re about to give me the “it was a mistake” speech, save it.’ She waved his words aside. ‘I’m already fully aware and am not here to talk to you about that.’

‘O-kay.’ He raised his brows.

‘The client just called. We are on blue alert for a category-four cyclone.’

‘Right.’ Standing up, he put his hands on his hips and looked at the floor, brain already ticking over. ‘Have you contacted the people on R and R?’

‘Chub’s doing it.’

‘You’ll also have to cancel the R and R of anyone who was due to fly out Monday or Tuesday, including myself.’

She reluctantly made the offer: ‘You could go earlier before the airport closes. We all know you’re overdue.’

‘And leave you dangling in the wind?’ He grinned at her. ‘
Literally
. Surely you don’t think I’m that cold-blooded, do you?’

She shook her head.

‘No,’ he rubbed his chin, ‘all incoming R and R ceases now. All outgoing ceases tomorrow evening. We will stick with the cyclone plan.’

Wendy nodded. ‘We’ve got to get our evacuation centre in Karratha ready.’

‘But not yet. We’ve got a lot of prep to do before evacuation.’

‘Of course,’ she agreed. ‘I’ll call a meeting of the Cyclone Management Team for first thing in the morning, shall I? What time suits you?’

‘Early as possible,’ he answered. ‘Six am. This is our priority from now on.’

‘No worries.’ She turned to go but he called her by name again.

‘Wendy, we’ll be okay. Do you remember Cyclone Vance back in ’99? That was a category five and there was no loss of life because everyone did what they were supposed to do. We’re well prepared.’

As organised by Wendy, the Cyclone Management Team gathered first thing the next day in the main office meeting room. Dimitri looked petrified and his accent seemed more pronounced. Wendy imagined it was because he’d never really believed that he would have to do anything serious. She was glad to have him though. If Fish were around, no doubt he would be researching how the cyclone might adversely affect the movements of mud crabs rather than smart evacuation procedures.

Wendy looked around her table of infantry. The first line of defence against the beast coming in off the coast. Gavin, Lena, Chub, Dimitri, and Carl on speaker phone.

‘All right.’ Gavin stood up at the head of the table. ‘We have about thirty-four hours before the cyclone hits. We need to start preparing this site for gale-force winds. All other duties are to be abandoned in favour of cyclone preparation.’ He addressed his attention to the phone in the middle of the table. ‘Carl, I know you still can’t come on site but you can help Chub prepare our evacuation centre in Karratha.’

‘Glad to be fuckin’ useful,’ Carl barked.

Wendy looked at Chub and added, ‘We could be waiting out this storm for hours. So we need plenty of food and blankets, which can be moved from the camp with the help of the staff there.’

‘As for the rest of us,’ Gavin continued, ‘we need to start tying down and putting away. Lena, I want you in charge of everything on land. All plant and equipment is to be de-mobilised. Any task not critical or essential deferred. Dimitri, I want you in charge of everything on the wharf. Any at-height work locations are to be cleared of materials and equipment. Please make sure that anything that can be blown away is packed away.’

‘And what the fuck will you be doing, Gavin?’ Carl’s voice crackled on the speaker.

Gavin gave a slight smile. ‘You’ll be happy to know that I’ll take care of the big stuff. All the crane booms need to be secured and the vessels, like my barge and the tug boats, need to be relocated to the safe moorings within the next twenty-four hours.’

‘How long will that take?’ Dimitri asked.

‘All day,’ Wendy frowned, ‘if not longer, given a round trip to the moorings is about thirteen hours by tug.’

Gavin nodded. ‘I might not see you all again till tomorrow. In the meantime, Wendy, can you hold the fort here?’

‘Sure,’ she agreed and then looked around at the group. ‘We’ve all got our checklists. But I’ve got a master and I’ll be coming around to triple check everything about five pm this evening.’

‘What about our staff?’ Lena enquired. ‘Ever since we went on blue alert some of the men have been asking to be flown home.’

Gavin gritted his teeth. ‘I’d love to be in the position to fly everyone who lives out of town home, but you know that’s just not possible. Not just because the airlines might not do it but because there are just too many of us. So if we can’t do it for everyone we’re not going to do it for a few. It’s not fair. As long as everyone does exactly as they are told we should be safe at the evacuation centre in Karratha.’

Lena sighed. ‘I thought as much.’

‘Get your personnel lists ready too,’ Wendy advised. ‘Before we evacuate we’ll need everyone on the job to be accounted for.’

‘Sure.’

After taking a few more questions, Wendy returned to her office. She could already feel the adrenaline filling her veins. Shaking her tingling fingers, she forced herself to take a couple of deep breaths and walk to the kitchen instead of her desk. A cup of hot tea might help her think calmer and clearer. They were still in the early stages. Chances are this cyclone would get downgraded or it would move away from the coast. After all, it was only the last week of November.

Surely they’d be all right.

The next fourteen hours unfolded in a blur of checklists and monitoring. Wendy kept the radio on, constantly listening out for updates. And Bulldog also kept her apprised of anything new that came in from the Bureau of Meteorology and the Fire Emergency Services Authority. Most of the time, however, she already knew. The bureau and FESA’s websites were both very informative and she could monitor the cyclone position off the coast via an internet tracking map. The damn thing remained on course and continued to intensify.

She was still at work at seven that night. It was getting dark out and rather windy. There was nothing more she could do for that day and she knew she had to get back to camp, but she couldn’t seem to leave Cape Lambert until she’d heard from Gavin.

Even as she was considering the thought, the door to her office donga swung open and he walked in.