“A storm surge. If the incoming storm driven waves hit the reef at the right angle it could top more than thirty feet by the time it makes landfall.”
“
If
it hitsâ¦it
could
cause. That's a lot of if's and but's. They won't believe you, not without Met Office back up, and they won't commit this early, you know that. Give it another twelve hours.”
“Angus would⦔
“Angus isn't in charge this morning. I am. Now go get some sleep.”
“Fine,” she said reluctantly. She downed the coffee. “Just promise me you'll keep an eye on it.”
“Go. Bed. Now.”
Kaylie sighed and put the cup on the desk more firmly than she needed to before heading down the stairs.
10
Rob sat at the bar, egg and chips in front of him and an empty juice glass to the side. Only ten o'clock, he'd called in for a decent breakfast before heading out. He covered the plate with salt, vinegar and ketchup, and paused to say grace. As he looked up, Frank refilled his mug with more coffee. Rob smiled. “Thanks. The weather is lovely out there again. No sign of this storm, which was the only reason I came back last night.”
“Maybe Kaylie got it wrong.” Frank wiped down the bar with a damp cloth.
“She said Angus never is.”
“Angus? There you are then.” Frank laughed. “He's never happy unless he's doomsaying about something or other. Especially this time of year. It's the anniversary of the vanishings today.”
“Anyway, I was going to head back out after this. I'll be home again at the weekend.”
“Any chance of first pick of your lobsters?”
Rob chuckled. Frank was partial to lobster. “Sure. Be there when I dock at 6:00 AM and you can have what you want.”
He finished his meal and headed out into the blistering sunshine. He'd burn to a frazzle in short order out there on the ocean. Taking the shortcut, he passed the cottages on the quay.
Lydia packed the last case into the car and smiled as he passed. “You off out, Rob?”
“Yeah, back Saturday. Are you going somewhere nice?”
“I'm going to stay with Sam and Adam. Sam's a little under the weather and Adam's worried she's over doing things.”
“Tori does describe her as a workaholic.”
Lydia closed the boot. “I think it's more she's in the family way, myself, but we'll see. See you in a couple of weeks.”
“Sure. Say hi to her for me. Have a safe trip.” Rob crossed the road and jogged the short distance to the office. The door stood open, the fan on the desk not doing much other than move hot air around the room. Rob pulled the clipboard from the wall and sifted through it to find his paperwork.
Travis glanced up. His face red, sweat ran down his neck and soaked into his shirt. “Wanna trade jobs?”
Rob laughed as he held out the signed sheets. “Nope. I'm off. I'll be back early Saturday morning most likely.”
Travis nodded. “OK. Have fun out there.”
“Always.” Rob headed down the jetty where he'd moored his boat. It didn't take him long to cast off and head out of the harbor. He smiled as he made the open sea. He hadn't seen it this calm in a long time, which made a nice change from the normally choppy exit from the bay.
The sky was a perfect blue as he passed the lighthouse, with just a few clouds high above. There was no sign of a storm whatsoever.
Angus must just be letting the anniversary get to him.
He checked the screens and then headed to the lobster pots. He needed to finish putting them out.
~*~
Just before lunch, Kaylie returned to the radio room.
Lucas sat there, face buried in a book, coffee mug in hand, paying no attention whatsoever to the displays in front of him. She took her shifts in charge really seriously, as did Angus. Why couldn't Lucas do the same?
“Did you sleep at all?” He glanced at her and then at the clock. “It's only been five hours, barely lunchtime.”
“Can't sleep. I thought you were watching this.”
“I am.”
She leaned over the radar screen, scowling. “The storm is bigger.”
“Met Office says it'll miss us. We may get the trailing edge of it, but nothing more than a force two gale, if that.”
She tapped the screen and shook her head. “Something doesn't feel right.”
“You've worked with Angus for too long.”
She scrunched her nose at him and jogged up the stairs to the lantern room. She grabbed the binoculars from the nail by the door, headed out to the gallery and scanned the horizon.
“Believe me now, do you, lassie?”
Kaylie jumped. “Oh, Angus, you scared me.”
“I told ye the place was haunted. Especially this time o'year.”
“I don't believe in ghosts.” She turned back to the horizon, refocused the binoculars and frowned.
Angus stopped his teasing. “What?”
Kaylie handed him the binoculars. “Take a look for yourself.”
Angus scanned the entire horizon. “Cloud line.”
“Yeah. So much for this storm missing us.” She turned to head back inside.
Angus caught her arm. “What did ye say?”
“I picked it up on the radar this morning, but the Met Office hadn't issued an advisory and Lucas said to leave it twelve hours. Well it's been less than five and look at it.” She headed to the radio room.
Pulling out all the charts, she spread them on the table.
Lucas raised an eyebrow. “What are you doing?”
“How far would you say the horizon was on a clear day like today?”
“Between forty and sixty miles maybe. Why?”
“You can see the leading edge of the storm.” She picked up the radio. “I need you to call the Met Office on the sat phone. I need those figures and I need them now.”
Swinging his feet down on the desk, Lucas grabbed the phone, his whole demeanor changing in an instant, and began punching in numbers.
Kaylie thumbed the mic and turned the dial to the correct frequency. “Wolf Point Port Authority, this is Kaylie Wells at the Wolf Point Lighthouse. Are you receiving? Over.”
“Kaylie, this is Bryan, receiving. Over.”
“We've got a massive storm system coming in,” she said without preamble.
“It's sunny.”
“Trust me. We can see the leading edge on the horizon and the radar here is lit up like a Christmas tree. It has been for hours. If it holds its course, we've got problems.”
“One sec. Over.”
Kaylie rolled her eyes. “Don't you put me on hold, Bryan. I don't have time for this. Check your radar.”
Lucas hung up. “The Met Office says the storm will make landfall in about five hours. Winds of up to ninety miles an hour, gusts over one hundred in places, rain, thunderâ”
“And let me guess,” Kaylie interrupted. “It's gonna clash with the high tide.” She tried the radio again. “Bryan?”
“Yeah, I see it,” came the reply.
“Good. The Met Office now say five hours until landfall. Which will coincide with high tide. When that volume of water hits the reef ten miles out, it'll create a surge that'll create a heck of a lot of damage and kill hundreds of people unless you evacuate them inland now.”
“We've had storms before and surges that bad have been predicted but never once made landfall.”
“This oneâ”
“We'll take it on advisement. Over and out.”
Kaylie groaned as the radio went dead. “The stupid idiot will get people killed.” She took the sat phone from Lucas and called the fishing office. “Hi, Travis⦔
“Rob isn't here, Kaylie,” came the immediate reply.
“And hello to you too, Travis. What do you mean he isn't there?”
“He went back out about four hours ago. He's due back Saturday sometime.”
Kaylie groaned. “You need to get everyone inland as far as possible.”
“Why?”
“This storm system will collide with the high tide. It'll result in a surge that could top thirty feet.”
“And if we send everyone inland and you're wrong?”
“Then you can say I told you so, and I'll move away to avoid being teased. I need to contact Rob. Just pack up and leave. Out.” She picked up the radio again. “
Seascape
this is Wolf Point Lighthouse, are you receiving? Over.”
There was no response. Kaylie repeated the call several times, but each time static greeted her. She tossed the mic down, sending up a silent prayer for Rob's safety as she picked up the sat phone and dialed the council offices. “Hi, this is Kaylie Wells, duty keeper at Wolf Point Lighthouse. I need to speak to the Mayor Griffiths or Councilman Davies urgently, please.”
There was a short pause. “This is Phil Davies. How can I help you, Ms. Wells?”
Kaylie explained again. “The surge will be driven by winds of up to ninety miles an hour,” she finished.
“We've had storms before, and this one will also be nothing to worry about.”
“I beg to differ as tidal conditions mean the surge could be up to thirty feet.”
“Rubbish. I've lived in this town for fifty years, and the weather has never been that bad. I am not evacuating the town on a hunch brought on by hysteria. We all know it's the anniversary of the vanishings today, and you can't let something like that spook you.”
“I'm not.” She pushed down her irritation. Why wouldn't anyone listen to her? “I hadn't even considered that. Look, phone the Met Office or drive out and check the tidal gauges for yourself and have someone do the maths. But the tide gauges are already higher than they should be.”
“You guys get a grip and enjoy this lovely sunny day.”
The line went dead, and Kaylie tossed the phone to the bench in sheer exasperation. She looked at Lucas. “What is it with people today? They think I'm panicking because of some stupid anniversary. Just because Angus gets all worked up over it, doesn't mean the rest of us do.” She tried Rob again only to get no answer.
Angus came into the room with coffee. “Anything?”
Kaylie jabbed at the radar. “It's bigger and no one will listen to me.”
“Get yer data together, lassie, and go ashore. They canna argue with the data.”
“It'll take too long in the rowboat.”
“I've called the chopper. It'll be here in ten minutes. I want the pair of ye out of here.”
Kaylie shook her head. “I'm not leaving. There should be at least two of us here. Lucas you go.”
“No one knows the data like you do,” Lucas insisted. “You're more convincing than I am, and you know what you're talking about. Besides, you shouldn't even be on duty this week.”
“Then maybe I'm here for a reason,” she argued. “And I haven't been very convincing so far. Besides, you have a mother in the village who needs you. Take the data, put your mother in the car, and get as far inland as you possibly can.”
“What about you guys?”
Kaylie and Angus exchanged a long look.
“We'll see you in a couple of days,” she said.
“Aye, there's no sense all of us sitting here,” Angus added.
Kaylie typed rapidly and compiled all the data to a CD. She handed it to Lucas. “Go.”
“I feel like a rat deserting a sinking ship.”
“We're not sinking,” Angus told him. “This lighthouse is two hundred years old. It's seen many a storm, and we'll see ye bright and early the day after tomorrow.”
Lucas nodded and ran down the stairs to the helipad.
Kaylie moved to the window and watched as the chopper came in and picked him up. She looked at Angus. “It'll be bad, won't it?”
He nodded. “Let's make sure all the hatches are battened down and then ye can try that fisherman o'yours again.”
“Go on, and I'll be right there.” Kaylie picked up the sat phone and rang the council again. This time she couldn't get past the receptionist. Hanging up, she thought for a moment, then rang the local radio station which was playing from the radio in the kitchen.
Within a minute, she was on air.
“And our next caller is Kaylie from the lighthouse off the shore of Wolf Point. I can see it through the station window.”
“Good idea, lassie,” Angus called up the stairs.
“My producer said you're concerned about the weather currently headed our way, Kaylie.”
“Yes. There's a huge storm building off the coast. We've been picking it up on radar for several hours now. It'll coincide with the high tide.”
“Are we just talking wind and rain here?”
“No. The tidal conditions could cause a storm surge⦔
“You're talking a tsunami?”
“A storm surge is caused by the weather rather than an earthquake, but, yeah, it's essentially the same thing. A huge wall of water that will come straight for us. It's not a certainty, but it's looking more and more likely.”
“No warning's been given. How come you know this and the Met Office don't?”
She sighed. “I have a colleague headed over there with the figures now. The waves are already getting bigger here. The main storm edge won't hit us for another three hours or so.”
“What can we do to prepare?”
“Leave,” she said bluntly. “Just put the kids and cat in the car and get as far inland as quickly as you can.”
There was a pause before the host spoke again. “That's a little excessive, isn't it?”
“If I'm wrong, they'll probably sack me. But I'm not. The wave may miss the town, but I can't take that chance. People all along the coast have to head inland now.”
“Thank you for calling.” The line went dead.
Kaylie put down the phone. She just had to pray that she'd done enough, and that the wave would miss them. But something in her gut told her it wouldn't.
11
Rob reached for another lobster pot. A breeze ruffled his hair as he dropped it over the side. The ones he'd left overnight were empty, which was just as well as he wasn't heading in for a few days. He'd wasted enough time as it was and time, in his case, was literally money. If he didn't bring in any fish, he didn't get paid.