But they weren’t.
Another vehicle pulled up beside the truck and a television news crew got out. They looked as much in need of respite as the firefighters themselves.
‘Where’s the other truck?’ she asked as she went back inside. There were similar questions being murmured around the room as the realisation struck home that only some of the Wagtail Ridge firefighters had returned.
‘We got separated,’ Jake told the listening townsfolk. ‘Justin and his team were working further up the ridge when the fire jumped the road. They couldn’t get back down, so they’ve been deployed with the teams working on that front.’
‘Are they all right?’ Carol asked.
‘I’m sure they are. Give me a minute and I’ll see what I can find out.’
Jake walked over to the radio and spoke to the firefighter there. Carol heard a quick exchange on the radio, but couldn’t make out the words. Jake was frowning as he walked back.
‘What is it?’ she asked, her heart in her mouth.
‘It’s really nothing to worry about,’ he told the anxious group. ‘They just haven’t heard from Justin’s crew for a while.’
Carol’s breath caught in her throat.
‘But don’t worry.’ Jake put a comforting hand on Carol’s shoulder. ‘That’s not unusual. They might be in a dead zone or out of their vehicle. I’m sure they’ll be fine.’
The tense silence that followed was broken by the sound of heavy boots crossing the room.
‘You’re sure who’ll be fine?’
Carol closed her eyes. She knew that voice. She would have hugged her son, but Ben would not have welcomed it. Instead, she turned slowly to look at him. He was covered in soot and grime and he looked exhausted. But he was uninjured and her joy at that made her go weak at the knees.
‘We were wondering about our second crew,’ Jake said. ‘We got separated from Justin and his team, and we’re not sure where they are.’
‘I saw them.’ Ben glanced at his watch. ‘It must have been three or four hours ago. We were refilling at the same place.’
Relief surged through Carol.
But then Ben frowned. ‘I was expecting them to join us as we worked our way along the ridge, but they didn’t. There was a radio call later telling them to come back here for a break.’
‘We haven’t seen them,’ Bree said.
Ben looked at Carol and must have seen the fear on her face. She believed, as she knew both twins did, that they were somehow safer when they were together. The thought of Justin out there alone—Well, not alone, he had his crew with him. But not his brother.
‘I expect he’ll be along soon,’ Ben said, but to Carol, he didn’t sound as if he believed it.
Ben’s team had all come into the hall. They were getting food and coffee and finding places to sit down and the hall was getting busy. Carol could see help was needed to look after the firefighters, so she went to do her bit, clutching the hope that somewhere, in some other hall much like this one, someone was even now offering Justin similar respite.
CHAPTER
36
The mobile command centre arrived at the hall in the middle of the afternoon. Sitting outside the hall on a bench, Ben consumed the latest round of coffee and biscuits pressed on him by Deb. The air wasn’t exactly fresh; he could smell the smoke with every breath and knew he and his team would be back out there as soon as they’d had a chance to regain their strength. Until then, he didn’t want to watch the faces of the townspeople he’d come to know during his assignment here. They were scared and the arrival of the command centre would only add to that fear and leave them wondering if that meant their town was in the path of the fire. Were they going to lose everything? Ben didn’t know the answer to that, but for himself, he was glad to see the command truck setting up on the side of the road outside the hall. If there was any news of Justin, this is where it would come. Not that he was too concerned—Justin knew what he was doing. But this fire was proving to be a bear and it was always better when he and Justin were fighting the bear side by side.
He heard footsteps approaching from the hall and glanced up. It was Carol. Her steps were uncertain and she looked terrified. He didn’t want to talk to her, and would have asked her to leave, but as she came closer, he saw the tears in her eyes. He hoped that was because of the fire, not at the thought of approaching him.
‘Ben …’ Her voice was hesitant. ‘They told me he hasn’t called in for hours.’
‘He’s fighting a fire. He’s busy. He’ll call in when he can. He knows what he’s doing. He’ll be fine.’
‘You can’t know that.’
She was right. He couldn’t know that but he had to believe it. Because to disbelieve was to allow the possibility of something he didn’t even want to begin to contemplate. ‘I’ve fought dozens, maybe even hundreds of fires with Justin,’ he said. ‘He good. He’s the best of us by far. And he’s determined. He won’t come back here until either his men are desperately in need of a break or the fire is out.’
