Rogue Wave

Chapter 25

As Reggie analyzed the data from the DART buoy, Kai had been keeping on eye on the evacuation on one of the cable channels that wasn't broadcasting the EAS and had been horrified by what he had seen. That's why he was now talking to the press.

On most of the channels, the EAS broadcast was being repeated over and over. In the last few minutes, a new warning from the governor had been broadcast, perhaps to give the warning more weight, but the content wasn't significantly changed from the one Brian Renfro had so eloquently relayed.

There was still no mention of a meteor impact, and that may have been one reason that so many people were either ignoring the warning or were confused about what to do.

About ten minutes before, Kai had begun watching the TV more closely because he wanted to see how the evacuation was progressing. He tuned to the national MSNBC feed, which didn't broadcast the EAS warning because their main audience was the continental US. The network took advantage of one of their affiliate's local Honolulu camera crews.

A reporter standing on Waikiki Beach motioned to the scene behind him. Some people ran in panic. Packed with cars, the road along the beach moved so slowly that the vehicles were almost idling. Many more cars could be seen trying to merge into the traffic from the garages of hotels lining the strip. Police attempted to direct the traffic at several of the intersections, but the sheer volume made it virtually impossible for the vehicles to make headway.

Still other people strolled along the beach completely unperturbed by the evacuation. The reporter, his close-cropped hair rigidly resisting the wind swaying the trees behind him, stopped an obese man in swim trunks and a towel slung over his shoulder.

"Sir," the reporter said, "you don't seem particularly concerned by the tsunami warning. Can I ask why?"

The man shook his head dismissively.

"It seems like we get these warnings once a year. I just wait until about fifteen minutes before the wave is supposed to get here, and then I head back to my condo."

"Your condo?"

"Yeah, it's right over there," the obese man said, pointing at a white building behind him. "Eight stories up with a great view of the beach, so I just watch from there. Usually there isn't much to see, but hey, maybe today will be different."

"You sound like you consider it entertainment."

"Well, it'd be pretty amazing to see a real tsunami, don't you think? But I'm sure this is another false alarm."

"Are you aware that the warning now says the wave could be 200 feet high?"

"That's just crazy. What are the chances of that?"

The man continued his walk, leaving the reporter to head over to a Lexus SUV, one of the cars making tortured progress along Kalakaua Avenue. In the background, along with a few individuals running in terror, crowds of people could be seen walking leisurely along the street, as if they were being herded in a particular direction by some unseen guide. Kai found the scene infuriating, but he knew that was typical behavior in an evacuation.

Before the World Trade Center towers collapsed, some people took as long as ten minutes in their offices before deciding to leave. And even then, most of them set a slow pace going down the stairwells, taking at least twice the time that engineers anticipated when they designed the buildings. Another 135 people did not even have that presence of mind. They were so paralyzed by the situation that they made no attempt to escape and were still in their offices when the buildings collapsed. Now Kai was witnessing all of these behaviors in real time.

The Lexus owner, a deeply tanned man in a tank top and a hideous comb-over, had his window down. His eyes kept darting in the direction of the ocean as he talked. At first, Kai thought he was concerned that the tsunami might come in while he was still in his car.

"Sir," the reporter said, "do you think the traffic will let you get to a safe location in time?"

"Oh, I'll be safe," the driver said, his eyes continuing to flick away from the camera. "I'm heading down to the Ala Wai marina to get my sailboat. I don't want to see it get sunk because of some stupid tsunami."

"Are you planning to tow it back home?"

"No, I don't have a trailer. I'm going to take it out to sea. I gotta protect my property."

"What about your car?"

"My car?" It looked like the first time the guy had considered what would happen to his car.

"Yes, you'll have to leave it at the marina, right?"

"Damn it!" he yelled, pounding on the steering wheel. "I knew I should have brought my son with me."

The camera pulled back to the reporter, but Kai had seen enough. He turned to Reggie.

"These people aren't getting it. We need to do something."

"Like what? The inundation maps we have are worthless. Even if we could develop new ones in the next few minutes, we don't have enough time to distribute them. Besides, we don't even know for sure how big the biggest wave will be."

Kai sighed at the futility of the situation. "All we can do is tell people to get as far inland as possible."

The problem was that the inundation maps they already had were not made for this situation. The maps had been meticulously drawn up assuming an earthquake-generated tsunami of historical proportions. That meant about 30–40 feet in height. Every coastline of Hawaii had been topographically matched to this run-up height to determine the dangerous areas that needed to be evacuated. These maps were posted all around the state, including on the Hawaii Civil Defense web site, and the evacuation route signs on all the roads depended on their accuracy.

Now those maps were woefully inadequate. They would lead the evacuees straight to supposedly safe locations that would be wiped out by the first 75-foot tsunami. Kai didn't want to think about what would happen when those areas were hit by a 200-foot monster.

And it looked as if some people weren't following even the published instructions, let alone the new warning telling them that the current inundation maps were useless. In emergencies, some people didn't behave in a logical or rational manner, and it seemed like this one would be no different. They didn't understand the severity of the situation, and unless Kai did something fast, many of those people would be killed.

Brad, who had been manning the phones, came back into the operations room. When he told Kai about his conversation with Teresa, Kai felt the blood drain from his face. His daughter was somewhere out there, and he had no idea whether she was safe or not. That was when the personal nature of the upcoming disaster fully hit him.

"Isn't there something we can do to help her?" Brad said. "Call the police to find her?"

"Are you kidding?" Reggie said. "Half the people on the island are probably calling the police right now."

"Well, we've got to do something! What about the governor? She said we should call if she could do anything for us."

"Oh, that'll look great!" Reggie said. "Using our connections for personal reasons while the rest of the people fend for themselves."

Brad raced over to Reggie, who had a good four inches and a hundred pounds on Brad, and got within an inch of his face. "I don't give a shit how it looks! That's my niece."

A snarl twisted Reggie's face, and Kai pushed himself between them before it got ugly.

"Hey! Hey!" he said, pulling Brad back. "Ease up! I know it's getting tense in here, but let's just bring it down."

Brad's idea was tempting, but even if Kai called the police or the governor, what could he tell them? That the girls were somewhere on Waikiki? Maybe? Kai didn't even know that for sure.

"We're not calling them," he said, "The police are already doing what they should be doing. They have a duty, just like I do."

All he could do was hope that Teresa would be able to find them in time or that they would call to tell Kai they were in a safe place, if they knew what that was.

Reggie went back to the computer. Kai escorted Brad to the other side of the room so he could cool off for a minute.

"And Brad," he said, "I want to thank you for all that you're doing today for me."

"Lucky for you, I was free today. I don't have to warn my employees. They have the day off."

Kai realized what he meant. Hopkins Realty had its corporate offices across from the Ala Moana shopping center, which was located only a few hundred feet from the beach in Waikiki. Outwardly, Brad might have seemed blasA(c) about the business, but Kai knew it meant a lot to him to run the company his father had started.

"I'm sorry. I didn't think about Hopkins Realty until you said that."

Brad shrugged. "It's no big deal."

"But the office. The files…" Kai said.

Brad smiled. "Believe it or not, my insurance covers tsunamis."

Kai stared at Brad in disbelief. Most insurance policies didn't cover tsunamis unless you specifically purchased an expensive rider. They were more popular now, especially after the Asia tsunami, but still pretty uncommon.

"Hey," Brad said. "My big brother is the Director of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. I had to get it."

Kai smiled at that. At least there was one thing he could feel good about.

"The phones have been ringing nonstop," Brad said, looking at notes he had written. "We've gotten calls from everyone. New York Times, CNN, Fox, ABC, NBC. CBS even has a crew out by the front gate. I told them they couldn't come in…"

"You mean they're here?"

"They were filming some story over in Ewa and got over here as soon as the warning went out. They've been trying to get in to interview you. I told them you were too busy."

"All the data analysis in the world won't help if people don't start taking this damn thing seriously. What do you think, Reggie?"

Reggie grudgingly nodded. "Why not? It might be better than a phone interview."

"We'll show them the video from Johnston Island. Maybe that will convince some people to move faster. Brad, open the gate and tell them that only the reporter and the cameraman can come into the building. Anyone else will have to wait outside. I don't want a mass of people in here."

In two minutes Brad ushered in a petite Asian woman in a blue blazer, followed by a bearded cameraman wearing jeans and a Detroit Tigers baseball cap.

"Dr. Tanaka, I'm Lara Pimalo," the reporter said, shaking Kai's hand firmly. She nodded toward the cameraman. "This is Roger Ames. Thank you for meeting with us. I know you must be extremely busy."

"We are," Kai said. He held up a finger. "My one condition on you being here: if I ask you to stop filming, you'll do so immediately. OK?"

"Of course," she said.

"Good. The reason I'm letting you in here is because the evacuation is going poorly. We need to motivate more people to leave. Quickly. I believe I have something here that will help."

"What is it?"

"Can you show video of something on a computer screen?"

"Sure. It won't look great, but it should be recognizable. But doctor, graphs and such don't make for great…"

"It's not a graph. It's video from Johnston Island this morning. It shows a massive tsunami obliterating it. I want you to broadcast it."

She and Ames were stunned for a moment, but Pimalo couldn't hide her excitement about getting such a great scoop.

"Just tell us what monitor it will be on," she said, "and we'll set up for the shot."

As Ames got the camera ready, Pimalo said, ""Why don't you just email the video to someone at the studio? Not that I mind the exclusive."

"Can you make sure they broadcast this live?"

"Oh, we're planning to."

"With a live broadcast, I know the video will be seen. If I emailed it, how do I know it wouldn't just sit there waiting for someone to open it?"

"Good point. I'll let the station know to be ready for the broadcast."

In another minute, the camera was in position, and they were rolling. As the video from Johnston ran, Kai narrated what was happening on screen.

As the tsunami approached the camera, Pimalo spoke to the anchorman through the microphone, "Are you seeing this, Phil?" Kai couldn't hear the response, but her rapt attention told him it was getting through.

When the video went to black, Kai motioned for her to put the camera on him.

"Ms. Pimalo, I'd like to make another statement."

"Of course, Dr. Tanaka. Those were incredible pictures."

Kai thought to himself, it's about to get a lot more incredible. He couldn't believe he was about to say it on national television, with the possibility of making a fool of himself. After a moment of hesitation, he saw Brad and Reggie look at each other. They both nodded at Kai's unspoken question, and he felt some comfort knowing they were with him. He cleared his throat and began speaking.

"My name is Kai Tanaka, and I am the director of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Ewa Beach, Hawaii. About 40 minutes ago, I issued a tsunami warning for the Hawaiian Islands. I cannot overemphasize how dangerous this situation is. To this point, we have not released the cause of this tsunami because we did not have the data to verify it. However, I am concerned that the evacuation is not moving fast enough, so I will now disclose what we believe caused the tsunami. At 8:41 AM Hawaii time this morning, we suspect that an asteroid struck the central Pacific Ocean. If this turns out to be true, we can expect a disaster of unprecedented scale for the Hawaiian Islands. As we speak, the southern tip of the Big Island should be experiencing the brunt of the first wave. In a little more than 15 minutes, it should reach Kona and then Hilo. Fifteen minutes after that, Honolulu will be hit."

One TV was set to a local station broadcasting the EAS and the other continued the feed from Waikiki. Neither of them showed video from the southern tip of Hawaii.

The phone rang yet again, and Brad picked it up.

"Excuse me, Dr. Tanaka," said Pimalo, "but these are incredible assertions. What evidence do you have that an asteroid struck the Pacific this morning?"

This was the touchiest part of the interview. Kai knew that if he went into a lot of detail, he might lose the viewer. But he also knew that the audience needed something if they were to believe this crazy notion.

"We have very little time left, so I don't want to go into all of the details, but we don't have any direct evidence to support…"

"You do now," Brad broke in, putting his hand over the receiver. "Gail Wentworth from OSEI is on the line. You have eight images in your email that they're about to release to the news agencies. It's a series of shots from LANDSAT-8 showing a massive explosion in the central Pacific. NASA is confirming that we were hit by an asteroid."