The Girl in Steel-Capped Boots (4 page)

‘Oh my,’ she breathed.

It was, in a word, magnificent. Lena knew how long it was, but nothing prepared her for the awesome power of it. She felt like a pharaoh looking at the pyramids. A rush rippled through her body.

From the shore, she couldn’t see the end of it. It just went on and on and on until it faded into the horizon. Due to the
fact that it was standing at least five storeys above the ground, they had to drive up a steep embankment to get to the start of it. The deck sat on huge white cylindrical piles, set in diagonal pairs roughly every thirty metres.

The crisscrosses of the piles grew smaller and smaller to her eyes as the jetty weaved out like a giant centipede. She heard the hum of the conveyor before she saw it. It was moving almost as fast as the bus, pile after pile of iron ore, red and moist, on its black weathered length. Everything else – the road, the steel frames supporting the conveyor – was stained red. Iron ore had got into every nook and cranny.

This is why I became an engineer.

For this feeling.

The thrill reminded her of her first days at university, the newness of the material, the joy of first discovery, that itching to know more. It was a sensation that predated the mess that Kevin had made of her career and her confidence.

I want to get back to this.

Just this.

Lena heard Sharon laugh. It was only then that she realised she had her nose pressed up against the glass.

‘Would you like a tissue for your drool?’ Sharon asked.

Lena blushed and wiped her smudge off the window with her overlong sleeve. ‘I’ve just never seen anything like it. At least not up this close.’

‘Don’t worry, it gets me almost every day too.’

It took them at least ten minutes to get to the end of the wharf. Enough time for Lena to take in the sights, smells and sounds. The road on which the bus travelled was narrow. On their left there was about half a metre between them and a sheer drop straight into the ocean. On the right-hand side was the same gap between them and the moving conveyor. There were no guardrails, so Sharon definitely needed to focus. Lena panicked when she saw a car heading off the wharf, coming straight for them, until the redhead pulled them over into a
turning bay. These were little areas where the jetty widened momentarily so that two cars could park on the side of the road while another passed.

‘People going off have right of way,’ Sharon explained, ‘though generally whoever is nearest to the bay parks and lets the other pass.’

Chaos reigned at the end of the wharf. Every available space was packed with men, equipment or amenities. There was barely enough room for five cars to park. The bus turned into the last remaining space.

‘I wait here for fifteen minutes,’ Sharon said. ‘After that, you won’t see me for a ride back till next hour.’

‘Okay.’ Lena nodded. ‘I think it’ll take me till then anyway.’

She knew fifteen minutes wouldn’t be long enough to explore. Small as it was, there was too much going on at the end of the jetty.

A temporary office had been set up next to the cars – another crusty white donga that looked like it had been just dropped there on the roadway. Next to it was a similarly temporary toilet block. Beyond that, the wharf ended. Someone had erected a guardrail along the very end –
about time
, thought Lena – and there were a bunch of guys standing there looking out over the water at some pretty impressive business.

Out on the ocean sat a barge about the size of a suburban house block. Only it wasn’t floating on the water. This thing had put down three large steel legs and was currently standing elevated over the waves like something out of
War of the Worlds
.

There was a control room on one side of the barge. On the other side, it had a giant clamp which held a long cylindrical pile, so that one end just dipped into the water. A crane situated on the barge deck was placing another cylinder over the pile like an enormous sleeve. Lena saw that this sleeve was supposed to somehow drive the pile into the ocean bed.
The challenge the crane driver faced now though was getting the sleeve on the pile – it wasn’t a straight lift and drop because the pile was on an angle.

The men at the end of the jetty were signalling the men on the three-legged barge with hand signs and radios. Lena was suddenly very conscious of the fact that she had no reason to be there. She hung back trying to remain unnoticed. But this was hard to do considering she was the only woman within a five-kilometre radius.

‘Hey there, missy – you lost?’

She turned her head to a mischievous-looking man standing on her right. He was short, blond and well burnt by the sun. He tipped his hard hat. ‘How’d a nice girl like you end up in a dump like this?’

She laughed. ‘Same reason you’re here.’

‘Ah,’ he sighed. ‘The money is like a drug. The more you get the more you want.’ He stuck out his hand. It was as red as the clothes he wore so she grasped it only briefly.

‘The name’s Leg.’

‘Leg?’ Lena repeated. ‘As opposed to arm?’

‘That’s right.’

‘How’d you get a name like that?’

‘My name’s Bob Legg, you see. So the boys just call me Leg.’

‘Oh.’

A second man joined them. He looked like a monkey with skin as brown as his hair, big cocoa eyes and an agitated swagger. She noticed the harness he was wearing and realised that he was a rigger . . . swagger thus explained. ‘People call this guy Radar.’ Leg indicated his friend with his thumb.

‘G’day, mate,’ said Radar.

‘So is your last name Radar then?’ Lena asked the monkey as he shook her hand with gusto.

‘Nah.’

Leg grinned. ‘Radar got his name from being the site gossip. There isn’t anything this guy doesn’t know. Picks it up on his radar, so to speak.’

Immediately Radar fired his first questions. ‘So you single then? Boyfriend? Married?’

Leg nudged him disapprovingly and Lena laughed. ‘Doesn’t waste any time, does he?’ Leg groaned.

‘No,’ she agreed.

‘So you didn’t answer my questions then.’ Radar was nothing if not persistent.

‘I’m not available,’ Lena returned in a tone that she hoped sounded like irrefutable fact. She was now glad that she’d run into the Cape Lambert gossip. Best the men knew exactly where she stood right from the start. ‘I’m here to get some good experience in the field, nothing more.’

‘And I’m sure you will.’ Radar winked at her in a way that made her certain they weren’t talking about the same sort of experience.

Leg clocked him on the back of the head. ‘Be nice. Can’t you see she’s a lady? Sorry, mate: Radar will have it all over camp that you’re single by nightfall and not in the way you’re hoping.’

Lena sighed. ‘Maybe I better go then, before he gets anything else out of me.’

‘Go where?’ He pounced as she turned away.

Lena turned back slowly. ‘I’m just taking a look around. I’m the new site engineer, you know.’

Leg stepped back in hammed-up reverence. ‘Ooooh, an engineer. I make my humble apologies. I didn’t mean to question your divine mightiness.’

Despite herself, Lena chuckled.

‘Madame Engineer.’ Radar sketched her a mock bow. ‘And what do you know about jetties?’

The truth was nothing, of course. Even if she didn’t question the legitimacy of her own degree, she would still be a graduate
engineer. And that generally meant two things. Zero experience and a lot to learn.

She knew that.

They knew that.

But she sure as hell wasn’t going to admit it point blank and walk right into the trap they had obviously set for her. So she said with perhaps more confidence than she felt, ‘Enough to be here. I’ve actually just come out for a look, to see what you guys were up to –’

‘And perhaps give us a few pointers.’ Leg raised his eyebrows mockingly then looked at Radar, who was chuckling and tapping his nose. Lena was hard pressed not to bang their cheeky heads together. But she held her ground.

‘I can hardly give you any pointers until I’ve seen what you’re up to.’

Fortunately, they relented and led Lena to the temporary-looking guardrail at the very end of the existing jetty.

‘Today,’ Leg explained, ‘once we get the hammer on, we’re going to drive a pile.’

Ah. The sleeve had to be the hammer, as Lena had thought. Excitement curled in her belly as she realised she was going to see it in action. She had made the right decision. The Pilbara could give her back all that she had lost.

Energy.

Confidence. Innocence.

She heard footsteps behind her as a new masculine voice joined them at the rail.

‘So what’s the update?’

Leg and Radar glanced over her shoulder at the newcomer and she saw their grins fade. Curious, she spun around.

The first thing she noticed about the new guy was that he wasn’t wearing a Barnes Inc uniform. The second was that he was drop-dead gorgeous, tall and broad shouldered. His features looked like someone talented had taken a hammer and chisel and carved them out of his face. As he turned his
dark head and met her eyes she realised that, three hundred and fifty workers or not, he knew she was brand spanking new.

And for reasons past understanding, he wasn’t pleased about it.

‘Who are you?’ His magnetic gaze cut through the air between them, making her insides fizz like Coca-Cola.

‘I’m . . . I’m Lena.’

His impassive expression swept her body from head to foot before turning to Leg and Radar who were shuffling on their feet behind her. They stopped moving the second his gaze touched them.

‘What is she doing on the wharf?’

Lena’s euphoric mood faltered. ‘Er . . . excuse me,’ she said. ‘I can speak for myself.’

But he continued to talk to Leg, who was being anything but helpful. ‘You can’t just bring your admin staff out here for a stickybeak; it’s too dangerous if they haven’t had the safety induction. Besides,’ he added with a glare at Lena, ‘it’s not a damned tourist spot.’

All her joy disappeared. ‘How dare you make assumptions about me?’

He raised one black brow. ‘Have you had a safety induction?’

She blushed. ‘No, but –’

‘Then I suggest you go wait for the bus. You shouldn’t be here.’

‘But I –’ Lena began, but was cut off by the loudest
BANG!
she’d ever heard in her life. The wharf trembled slightly under her feet and she heard the crash of a wave hitting the piles beneath the deck. As she swayed unsteadily the stranger reached out and caught her by the shoulders. Another loud
BANG
erupted from the piling barge. She put her hands over her ears.

‘Geez,’ she muttered.

‘You silly girl.’ He released her shoulders and retrieved a small plastic packet from his pocket. He held it in front of her face and Lena realised they were foam earplugs. As she removed her hands from her ears to take them, another
BANG
crashed over her head. Hastily, she ripped open the packet and shoved the plugs into her ears. She looked around and noticed for the first time that everyone had them in.

BANG!

Lena could still hear the hammer loud and clear. The ear-plugs just took the edge off.

Now that her comfort had been somewhat improved, curiosity took over. She stared up at the hammer. It was obvious how it worked: a heavy weight moved up and down inside the sleeve. As she looked over the railing at the base of the pile, she could see fish rising out of the water. They were floating on their bellies around the pile base, stunned by the vibration.

Her fascination was no camouflage, however. She felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to find Mr Tall, Dark and Obnoxious still glaring at her. And someone else had joined him.

It was Carl Curtis. Her boss had picked this of all moments to finally make himself available. Shame impaled her as Carl crooked his finger. He walked her back to the bus; Sharon was about to leave. Blood pulsed behind her eyes.

So much for her rebellion.

So much for earning respect.

All she had done was show Leg, Radar and the smart aleck with the earplugs how to be humiliated in public.

‘I’ll see you back at the office.’ Carl dismissed her and then left. Lena’s fingers curled into fists as she stood there watching his retreating back, cursing him and the stranger who had led him to her. But she obeyed. After all, it was one thing to talk back to some random, but she couldn’t very well tell her boss to go to hell. No matter how much she wanted to.

‘That was quick,’ Sharon commented as she got on the bus. ‘I thought you were going to stay the full hour.’

‘So did I.’ Lena grimaced. ‘Something came up.’ Like it always did just when she thought she was getting ahead. It took all her willpower not to just scream. She quickly turned away to contemplate the view out the window.

‘Hey,’ she heard Sharon say, ‘if they’re giving you a hard time –’

‘No, no.’ She deliberately kept her voice even and expressionless. ‘I’m okay, Sharon, really.’

Convincing herself of that took the rest of the drive back to the office. Not that she achieved much work when she got there. She was too busy counting the minutes till Carl returned to yell at her.

She knew the second he walked in the door because she felt a gust of hot wind on the back of her neck, shortly followed by a loud door slam and the stomping of boots.

‘Todd, my office. Now!’

Everyone in the room heard. All eyes followed her progress to his door. Of course they pretended not to notice, shuffling their papers loudly as she passed their desks, feigning absorption in whatever task they were doing.

Yeah right.
They were enjoying her humiliation – had probably been waiting for it.

Once standing in front of Carl’s desk, she was transported back in time to her high school principal’s office. Only, instead of detention, she was facing outright expulsion. Rationally it shouldn’t have been a bad thing. She should be happy that she was about to be ejected from the place she thought represented hell on earth. But going home would be failing. And if there was one thing she couldn’t do, it was fail.