‘No, you’re not,’ Anna said. ‘I’m coming with you.’
‘So am I,’ Carol added.
‘No. I won’t put you in that sort of danger either. If anything happened, Justin would never forgive …’ His voice trailed off.
Anna knew what he was thinking. Justin would never forgive him—but only if Justin was still alive.
‘I will not be left behind,’ Carol said firmly.
‘If we don’t go with you, we’ll simply follow you,’ Anna said. She grabbed Ben by the arm. ‘We need to go. Now.’
He didn’t argue and moments later the three of them were speeding out of town in Ben’s RFS ute.
Anna stared out the window as the landscape around them changed from the subdued greens and strong browns of summer grass to blackened and charred, burnt-out pastures.
Ben held his phone out to her. ‘Take this.’
She took it and looked at the screen.
‘It’s the RFS app,’ he told her. ‘If there’s any news, it’ll be there. Keep an eye on it.’
She was also keeping a close eye on the new alerts on her phone, willing it to beep. Willing it to bring news. Good news. She was very aware of Carol in the seat behind her. The twins’ mother hadn’t spoken a word since they had started this journey. Anna could only guess at how she must feel. If she lost her son just as they were beginning to make a reconciliation …
Anna spotted flashing lights ahead. A police vehicle was parked at the side of the road. As they approached, the officer flagged them down.
Ben pulled over and leaned out the window. ‘Is the road passable?’
The officer shook his head. ‘I’ve been told to keep this closed. They’ve found an RFS truck and—’ He looked at the two women in the vehicle, neither of whom were wearing RFS uniforms.
‘I need to get to them,’ Ben said firmly.
‘Okay.’ The officer didn’t look happy, but Anna exhaled a small sigh when he stepped back.
Ben didn’t waste any more time; he put the car in gear and roared off down the road.
Within a couple of kilometres, the acrid smell of burnt bush was replaced by smoke, which thickened with every minute of their journey.
Anna saw the occasional fire victim as they drove. Animals, sometimes too burnt to recognise. She heard the sharp intake of breath as Carol saw them too. Under normal circumstances, neither of them would drive past without checking if the creature could be saved or put out of its pain. But this time, neither of them flinched. Their mission was more important.
‘We’re getting close to a hot spot,’ Ben told them, although the words weren’t necessary.
The news app on Anna’s phone pinged and she swiped fearfully.
‘What?’ Carol leaned forward and grabbed the back of her seat. ‘What does it say?’
‘They’re saying a storm system is moving in. There will be rain before morning.’
They continued on in silence, Anna hoping desperately that the good news hadn’t come too late.
CHAPTER
37
Ben drove so fast that Carol grabbed the door handle to steady herself. At last they entered an area where the fire had left its mark. There were few flames here. Any grass and undergrowth had long since turned to ash. A few fallen trees and stumps still glowed orange as they burned and gusts of wind blew glowing embers across their path. But the fire was done with this piece of land. Those stumps would eventually burn themselves out or be quenched by the rain when it came. The beast had taken what it wanted and moved on. But Carol knew that would change as they moved deeper into the hills.
She kept her eyes firmly fixed on the road ahead. Somewhere out there her eldest son was … missing. It was as far as she could take the thought. Out of contact. Nothing more. That burnt-out fire truck might not have been his, although from Ben’s reaction to the image, she struggled to believe that. Ben had recognised the unit as his brother’s, she was sure.
But just because the truck had been burned, that didn’t mean the fire crew had come to harm. It couldn’t.
