Springbank - 9. Spring Ch 9

With the bigger vehicles now in place, Geoff, Jasper and I headed over to the shipping container behind the shed, which was the temporary store of all the chairs and tables, so we could set them up inside the shed, and we watched as several vehicles passed by, all of them carrying the required stickers on the vehicle allowing them access to the property. “I have a couple of those for you too, to put on your vehicle and one other that you nominated to have access,” Geoff said to me,” Just my vehicle for now I think,” I responded, as we kept working.

Once the tables and chairs were set up and the remaining catering vehicle had arrived and was in place, Geoff headed over to the Avon Support Operations Centre, while we headed over to the front gate, where there was a line of vehicles waiting to enter. “Look mate, I don’t care who you are… unless you have clearance from the event management, you are not getting into this property,” I heard one of the State Emergency Service Volunteers say to the guy who had his back to me. “Well, maybe this is enough clearance that I need,” was the guy’s response, and I immediately recognised the voice of my father, as he produced his AFP Identification.

“What does the AFP have to do with getting access to here? This is private property,” the SES volunteer said as I sprung forward to deal with this matter. “It is alright, he is with me,” I said as I quickly revealed my Avon Support ID, “Hello son, looks like you have this place shut down like a tight drum, I like the new fence,” Dad said to me. “Hi Dad, you are home early. Jump into the car and drive through and I will tell you everything once out of the way,” I replied. “Hey… you can’t do that! He has no pass,” the SES volunteer said to me angrily.

“See this ID… It says Property management, I am the owner of this property… so I can do what I damn well like, now let my father pass,” I growled at the volunteer. “Is there a problem here?” a new voice said as a man in an SES staff uniform with pips on his shoulders arrived. “Yes, you can tell your volunteer to let my father enter my property,” I responded, “Hello Bill,” my Dad said to the SES Officer, “Why hello there Ethan, how is Freya?” the SES officer said, “We are both fine thanks Bill. This is my son Cooper, and he is the property owner,” Dad said to the officer.

“Nice to see you again Cooper. You were quite young when I last saw you, all grown up now I see… Let Mr Hudson through please, and less of that attitude thank you,” the SES officer said firstly to us, and then to the SES volunteer, who didn’t look at all pleased. A few moments later we were parked opposite the shed and sitting down to drink a brew of tea. “This is quite an impressive setup you have here, son. I hear you did it all in a space of less than a week,” Dad said to me. “More like three days, and yes it is not bad eh!” I replied and we chatted for a while as we watched all the activity happening outside.

After a rest, chat and a snack from one of the catering vans, we headed back towards town, and once over the river, we headed for the estate 18 kilometres away. There was no sign of anyone around the main shed when we passed it, so I led the way towards the Watch Tower nearly 8 kilometres away via the access tracks. When we arrived, we found Leah’s family vehicle parked there, and on hearing us arrive she came out. “Hi Leah, this is my Dad – Ethan. Leah is the better half of my Estate Manager Davies,” I said, which had Leah laughing.

“I think that my husband would dispute that comment boss, nice to meet you, Ethan,” Leah responded. “Where is everyone?” I asked Leah. “Giles is minding the girls, Davies and the lads are in town getting a few extra supplies and… as you can hear Alex and Mei Ling are inside practising their music,” Leah replied as we heard music coming from inside the Watch Tower.

“Alex the new Estate mechanic, and his wife Mei Ling, who is the accommodation cleaner here, when not attending university down in the city,” I explained to my Dad before I showed him around the building, ending on the upper level with a wonderful view of the river close by, and the property across the river where the new campground is located.

“This is where you are,” we heard Jasper say, as he entered, “Yes, just enjoying the view,” I replied. “Err, someone’s mobile has been ringing when I was heading inside,” Jasper stated and Dad patted his jacket pocket, then swore quietly.

“It’s probably your mother, wondering where I am, would you mind getting it, while I enjoy this view some more,” Dad said to me, as he handed over the car keys, and I headed downstairs and outside to get his phone. Just as I unlocked and opened the door to Dad’s vehicle, his mobile began to ring and the screen indicated an international call of +1 778, which made me frown, as I picked it up and pressed accept.

“Hello, Uncle Ethan… Code Red, Nullabor,” the young male voice on the other end said to me in an American accent. “Err, this is Ethan Hudson’s phone, I am his oldest son Carter Hudson speaking,” I responded, “Oh… Hello Cousin, is your Dad there please this is an emergency. I am Rueben Hudson by the way,” the young man said in response, as I closed and locked the vehicle and raced back towards the Watch Tower. “Just a moment, I am out by the car, I am heading back inside now,” I said.

“Dad, it’s an urgent call and it isn’t Mum,” I called out as I entered, and I saw Dad come down the stairs quickly, “Rueben, Code Red Nullabor,” I whispered to Dad as I handed him his mobile, “Come with me, you need to hear this,” Dad said to me, and I followed him outside, as he held the phone to his chest. Once inside his vehicle, he finally put the phone on speaker, “Hello Rueben, is Roderick with you?” I heard my Dad say.

“Yes Uncle, and we are both safe at the moment, we have put operation Nullabor into effect,” came a response, and I wondered what the hell was going on. “Good, so you have enough cash and supplies and your passports with you? What is your current location using the established codes?” Dad asked, “Yes we have our Go Bags with everything in it, and we are on our way to the boat at the NBI marina,” came the response. “How on earth are you getting way out there on your own?” my Dad asked.

“Catching a standard flight, but used false names on the booking, so no one can track us. We are using a public phone as we destroyed and ditched our cell phones,” Rueben said. “Here talk to your cousin for a moment will you please, and let me have your phone,” Dad said to me, and as soon as we had switched phones, Dad climbed out of his vehicle and went for a walk. “Hello, so you are a cousin? How are we related?” I asked over the phone. “Your Dad and my Dad are brothers, Uncle Ethan is two years younger, and I am 18, so just finished high school and my brother Roderick is two years younger than me,” my cousin replied.

“Ok, I have never heard anything about any other relatives on Dad’s side, I wonder why that is?” I responded, “Probably because of their similar line of work. I only was told about my Aussie relatives on my 18^th birthday just a few weeks ago. So you have other brothers?” Rueben asked. “Yeah, three of them, Jaxon with an X, Finn and the youngest is Levi who is just 8 years old, the other two are 12-year-old twins,” I replied. “Oh I see, well since this is all new information to you, I was told that my brother and I were born in a place called Esperance in Western Australia, but I don’t remember anything about it,” Rueben said.

“Interesting, that is where my brothers and I were born too. Our Grandfather, until recently owned a sheep station located 320 kilometres north-east of Esperance by road, which is where our family spent a lot of time during our holidays. But now we live in the city and I inherited a large property from my Mum’s side of the family, which is a few hours north-east of the city,” I replied, just as Dad returned. After a brief discussion with Rueben, the call ended, and we sat in silence for a long while, “I am sorry we have not told you about my older brother, he is in a similar career as me, but on a more international scale.

We don’t talk much because of security issues, and as you can gather from the conversation, we take the security of our family very seriously, and it is why we have this plan in place in case anything happens to any one of us. I have been in contact with a colleague and he has confirmed that my brother and sister-in-law have been killed in a suspicious car accident, so now we need to get your cousins back to Australia,” Dad informed me.

“Do you need to go anywhere to meet them?” I asked, “Yes, on Monday night, I will fly to Tokyo, and meet them there and bring them home,” Dad replied, “I know it would mean missing some more Uni, but can I come too?” I asked, and Dad thought about this a while before responding, “Let me think it over and talk to a few people first, and I will let you know, ok,” Dad responded.

Dad gave me a bag of extra clothing that Mum had packed for me and Dad had brought with him and offered to take Jasper back to the city with him, which Jasper accepted, as he needed to meet his parents when they arrived from Canberra later today, and he would be back on the estate tomorrow morning. Once Dad and Jasper had left to return to the city, and Alex and Mei Ling had returned to their quarters, I went to the room that I had been staying in, to collect all of my dirty laundry, and headed downstairs, where Leah was finishing preparations for tomorrow.

“Would you mind if I follow you back to your place so I can get some laundry done please?” I asked, “Just give it to me, and I will have it washed, dried and folded for you by tomorrow morning,” Leah responded, “Oh, I am happy to do it myself,” I replied, “No, just leave it with me, I will get it done for you,” Leah said holding her hand out to accept the bag of laundry to be done.

With Leah heading back to her home, the Watch Tower was now very quiet with just me remaining, and I thought it would be a great time to get some rest before things started getting very busy in a few hours, so I lay on my bed and closed my eyes. I woke up to the sound of my mobile ringing and sleepily I answered it. “Where the hell have you been, everyone has been trying to get in contact with you?” I heard my Dad say. “Sorry Dad, I was tired and I must have fallen asleep for a while, what is the time?” I responded.

“It is 1824 hours, I had a call from Davies who has been trying to contact you, and this is my second attempt to call you before you answered,” Dad replied, “Wow, I must have been very tired, I have been asleep for a few hours. Do you know what Davies wanted?” I asked, “Yeah, he wanted to know if you are going to Northam to see the festival. He and his family arrived there over an hour ago,” Dad answered. “Ok, I will give him a call, see you tomorrow, bye for now,” I said before ending the call.

After a visit to the bathroom, I stepped out onto the front patio, where it was almost sunset, and I could still see the river and fence line, with the water looking like it was a lot closer than when I last checked, as I dialled the number for Davies’ mobile. “Hey boss, are you ok? We have been trying to get hold of you,” Davies said on answering the call, “Yes thanks mate, I was just a little tired and had a laydown and ended up falling asleep. Am I imagining it, or has the river level got a lot higher since this morning,” I replied.

“No, you are not imagining it, they had a big dumping of rain inland around all catchment areas, which means that all water flows into the Avon River eventually, what does it look like there?” Davies replied, “I would estimate that the water level is now just a few metres away from the bottom of the Watch Tower, so an increase of about 1 ½ to 2 metres,” I answered.

“Well, that is going to make a very interesting difference to the race tomorrow. We will be all up and about at 6 am, Leah will bring the girls over after a late breakfast, so about 9 am, and will be directing our international guests over. Giles and I will be over there after our breakfast at about 7 am. By the way, Leah left you some dinner in the fridge that just needs two minutes in the microwave. Get some rest and I will see you then,” Davies replied before ending the call.

I found a plate of roast beef and vegetables as well as a bowl of fruit salad and custard, which were both delicious, as I ate my dinner on the patio, watching all the activity happening across the river at the Avon Support Campsite behind the house. As it was getting dark, I spotted something that I was not happy to see, and I retrieved my mobile and made a call. “Geoff, this is Cooper Hudson speaking, did I not say clearly that there are not to be any open campfires on my property during this weekend?” I asked when the call was answered.

“Yes, can you tell me where you can see the campfires so I can deal with it please,” came the response, which led me to believe that he was not aware of what was happening and was not on the property. “Certainly, your volunteers, directly behind the Avon Support Unit House, and in the distance I can see a few more in the main competitors and crew campsite, can you deal with it immediately please,” I said before ending the call abruptly…

With just a few small lights at the back of the building on, most of the watch tower was in darkness, so people across the river could not see me watching them from where I was sitting, as I dialled another number, “Sorry to disturb you, two things, firstly please thank Leah for a wonderful dinner, and secondly, I have just spoken to Geoff, but can you go to the property and make sure that all campfires are extinguished please,” I said when Davies answered the call. “Sure boss, I can do that, we are just entering Toodyay as we speak, so I will head that way now, and I will let Leah know you enjoyed the meal, bye,” Davies responded.

Fifteen minutes later my mobile rang with Davies calling, and before I could say anything, I heard Davies talking, but not directly into the phone so I listened. “Those who do not know me, I am Davies Carter, the Estate manager for this property and the land across the river. You are to extinguish these three campfires immediately, as part of the conditions of the campsite being on this property is that there are to be no campfires at all during this weekend event,” I heard Davies say, “Rack off mate, you are not with the Support Unit, so you have no say here,” I heard someone respond.

“Actually, he does have a say in this matter, and you will do exactly as you were asked and put those fires out permanently right now,” a new voice said, “Geoff has arrived,” I heard Davies whisper, “But Geoff it is so damn cold and we need to stay warm,” we heard one person respond, “Then you have two options, either go into the Avon Support Unit Base which was kindly provided to you by my boss, or you can go to bed and get warm there. I will leave you to supervise this, while I go and deal with the other campfires,” I heard Davies say to Geoff.