His yellow overalls looked tough and businesslike, his professionalism accentuated even more by the Air-Sea Rescue insignia on his arm. His hair hadn’t been combed this morning-it sort of flopped sideways, looking as if it had been raked by his long fingers over and over. His skin was tanned and weathered, and his eyes crinkled down at them, and he made her feel…
Stop it. Oh, for heaven’s sake, stop it, she told herself. Of all the times-and of all the places!-for her to feel the stirring of unashamed lust…
It was totally inappropriate. She turned away from him and gazed at Robbie, who was gazing straight at Grady. He’d clearly decided Grady was hero material, worthy of closer inspection.
‘Tell me some of the things you’ve done,’ he was demanding. ‘I’ve read about Air-Sea Rescue. That yacht race last year, was that you? When they had to winch all those people out of the water and the waves were sixty feet high and one of them got his ribs all smashed against the side of the boat…’
‘It was me,’ Grady said, grinning. He sank down on the bed as if he was a familiar relative rather than a man Robbie had never met. ‘Well, it wasn’t me who got his ribs smashed, but I was the one who winched him up. Robbie, I hope there’ll be time in the next few days for me to sit down and tell you everything about me,’ he confided. ‘But for now…Hubert says you know pretty much exactly what happened on the island yesterday.’
‘We watched through field glasses and then Chris’s telescope,’ Robbie admitted. ‘It was awful. Mr Hamm said if he was younger he’d be out there in his boat to get the people who were swept away, but he couldn’t go, so we figured that we’d stay up here and just watch the sea and stay close to the bell. We didn’t stop watching until dark.’
‘I think you were fantastic,’ Grady said gravely. ‘But the scientists tell us that the danger’s over.’
‘Another wave won’t come?’
‘It’s a really long shot, Robbie, and we have seismologists checking for earth tremors all the time now. If there’s another wave, there’ll be heaps of warning.’
Robbie thought about that and nodded. ‘I guess it’s not much use watching, then.’
‘No. But there’s other things we need to do.’
‘Like what?’ He was still very close to Morag.
‘Well, your aunt and I are needed at the medical centre. There are people who were hurt yesterday who need your aunt’s care. We have three doctors on the island now and we’re all needed.’
‘Might people still die?’ Robbie asked, and Grady looked gravely down at him.
‘They might, Robbie, but not if Morag and I can help it. But while Morag and I are working, I wondered whether you and Hubert would do something that would help Air-Sea Rescue enormously.’
Morag was feeling more and more dazed. This was so like being a hospital patient, she thought, lying in bed while the doctor stood over her, telling her the best course of action for her illness.
And maybe it wasn’t a bad thing. The events of the day before had left her shattered, and for her to stay in control now-to take on the responsibility for the entire medical mess-was surely too much. She could operate but only in a subservient capacity, she decided. The normally wilful and decisive Morag was more than content to lie here hugging Robbie while Grady took control.
‘What do you want us to do?’ Robbie asked.
And Morag thought, Yeah, me too. Count me in on that question.
‘We have media arriving,’ Grady told Robbie, professional to professional, without a trace of patronage. ‘There are reporters from all over the world headed here right this minute. Camera crews, photographers, reporters-you name it. Now, we can’t let them down near the harbour. It’s too great a mess and it’s going to upset everyone to have reporters close. So what we thought was that we’d direct them up here. They’ll be coming by helicopter so they can land like we did on the plateau behind this place. I’ll have someone rostered to direct them here. You and Hubert can give them a first-hand account of what happened-you realise you’re the only ones who had a bird’s-eye view of the whole thing? You can point out the whole island from here, and they can take long-range photographs.’
‘You mean…you want me to stay up here with Mr Hamm?’
‘If you would,’ Grady said diffidently, still as if he were asking a colleague for help and not a child. ‘If you can keep the reporters happy and out of our hair, it would be enormously appreciated.’ He lifted a radio from his belt and laid it on the coverlet beside Robbie. Morag blinked. This was a pretty impressive piece of equipment.
‘If you listen in on this, you’ll hear everything that’s going on with the emergency services all over the island,’ he told Robbie. ‘You’ll be able to keep the reporters up to date. We’ll keep you informed as to what’s happening.’ Then he hesitated, as if suddenly unsure. ‘Robbie, Hubert’s offered to do this for us, but he’s very old and his heart’s not so good. I’m hoping you can help.’
But Robbie didn’t need persuading. He was already pushing back the covers, the horrors of yesterday receding as he lifted the amazing radio to his ear and started fiddling with buttons.
‘I’ll be able to hear all over the island?’
‘All over the island.’
‘You don’t need me, do you, Morag?’
‘No.’ Not true. She missed him already. She missed the warmth of his little body against hers. Grady might be able to deflect Robbie’s horrors but he couldn’t deflect hers.
But it was time to move on.
‘I’m going to talk to Mr Hamm,’ Robbie said importantly. ‘We have to get organised. You go with Dr Reece, Morag. I’ll look after everything up here.’
Morag was left alone with Grady. She wanted to get up-she must get up-but she’d gone to bed in knickers and bra. Her clothes were on the far dresser.
She was a bit stuck.
As for Grady… She’d checked him out by now, and discovered that he’d already been out. His big black boots were wet. He’d already been down into the village, she thought, and she knew she had to make herself ask the hard questions.
‘What’s the latest?’ she asked, and Grady nodded as though this was the question he’d been expecting.
‘Fifteen confirmed dead. Three from the Koori settlement to add to the list from last night and some missing. But in the meantime, there’s some good news. We brought in three fishermen during the night. They were coming into harbour when the wave struck. Their boat was smashed but they were wearing lifejackets. One has a broken arm. The other two only copped lacerations and shock. We found them floating half a mile out to sea-there was no way they could fight the currents. Luckily the sea’s relatively mild at this time of year so we don’t have hypothermia to contend with.’
‘Lucky us,’ she muttered.
‘You have been lucky,’ Grady said seriously. ‘It could have been so much worse. If you hadn’t seen-’
‘I did see,’ she snapped. ‘And fifteen of my people are dead. Don’t call me lucky. Do you have a list of the dead?’
‘I have a list.’
She caught her breath, suddenly remembering the way he’d backed off a little at Robbie’s question.
‘Is Hamish still on the list as missing?’
‘Yes.’ He hesitated. ‘Hamish is listed as definitely missing. No one’s seen him.’
‘Oh, no.’
‘Morag, I have no more information than that,’ he told her. ‘But we’re still searching.’
‘How many are missing?’
‘Three now from the Koori settlement. Only Hamish here.’
She swallowed.
‘OK.’ She closed her eyes. Taking a grip. Moving forward. When she opened her eyes again she was in business mode.
‘You’ve been up for a while?’
‘I slept for four hours. I don’t need more. I’ve been organising.’
‘Finding spare radios?’
‘That, too.’
‘To keep Robbie happy?’
‘He’ll be useful.’
