Rogue Wave

Chapter 38

Max Walsh had to take a few second's rest after the first two trips carrying the disabled veterans up the stairs to the roof. Adrian Mendel looked just as tired as Max, who had finally deigned to take off his jacket and loosen his tie. Three of the vets were grossly overweight, tipping the scales at three hundred pounds, and the exertion required was overwhelming. If they didn't take a break, they might drop some of the people they were carrying.

Only ten people were left downstairs-some disabled who couldn't walk up on their own, and the spouses or loved ones who wouldn't come up without them. Those with cell phones had continued to try to call out, but without success.

While Adrian rested, Max went over to the edge of the roof and looked down at the skybridge 20 stories below. He thought that Rachel was taking far too long, and now he understood why. Through the gash in the roof of the walkway, he could see movement. Someone was going through, but very slowly. If it were me, he thought, I'd run.

The noise of helicopters had been a constant-but distant-companion when they were on the roof. The sight of so many helicopters landing on crowded rooftops reminded him of photos he'd seen of the evacuation of Saigon just before it fell at the end of the Vietnam War. This evacuation was no less haphazard but with an even harsher deadline.

The sound of beating rotor blades seemed to be getting louder. He looked up, shielding his eyes from the noon sun. The buildings and surrounding mountains could make the direction and distance of sound deceiving. He searched the sky and then saw some of the guests pointing in the direction of downtown Honolulu.

A small sightseeing helicopter with no more than six seats, was headed in their direction. Along with the other guests, he waved his arms like a madman and yelled loudly, even though it would have been impossible for anyone in the helicopter to hear them.

When the chopper got within one hundred yards, he could see the pilot's face. He could also see that the helicopter was already carrying several passengers, although he couldn't tell how many.

The pilot lowered until the helicopter hovered about 30 feet above the roof, where it held steady. The pilot waved with his hands to back off, and Max understood what he meant. Many of the hotel guests had thronged to where the helicopter was trying to land. Everybody wanted to be the first on the helicopter.

"Adrian!" Max said. "Help me get these people back!"

They pushed the guests back toward the roof edge, despite some protests. When they were safely away from the landing zone, the pilot eased the helicopter down.

"Stay here!" Max yelled above the din of the rotors.

He ran over to the helicopter, and the pilot popped his door open.

"Are we glad to see you!"

"How many you got?" the no-nonsense pilot said.

"Maybe 60, 65. I haven't counted."

"Jesus. All right. I'll see if I can get some more choppers headed this way. A lot of the Marine ones got caught on the ground by the first wave. The radio waves are jammed. It may take a few minutes."

Max looked around the cabin. Three passengers sat in the back. It looked like two seats were still available.

"Do you have any room for some more?"

"Yeah. Give me two. But no more! I don't want to be mobbed. I've already seen that happen to one helicopter. Crashed when it tried to take off. It won't be the last one, either, and I don't want it to happen to me. If I see more than two people run over here, I'm taking off before they get here."

"Gotcha."

Max went back over to the guests.

"OK. This helicopter can only take two people…" Groans and curse words issued from the crowd. Max put up his hands to calm them.

"More helicopters are on the way. But we don't have time for a lottery, so I'm just going to choose two people at random." He pointed at a septuagenarian couple standing right in front of him. They were obviously husband and wife, the man on crutches because he was missing his right leg.

"Come on, you two."

He expected a revolt from the others who weren't selected, but perhaps being veterans, they were used to taking orders. Although there was a lot of grousing, no one tried to make a break for the helicopter.

Instead, the man who had been selected protested.

"I'm not going when there are still women here. What kind of a man do you think I am?"

"Sir, this isn't the Titanic, and we don't have time to argue…"

"I don't care. I'm not going until all these women are gone."

"Mr. Lateen, can you help me here?"

Bob Lateen, who sat to the side, his wheelchair now a floor below him, quickly glanced around the crowd and shook his head.

"I think I can speak for everyone of us when I say that not one man is getting on a helicopter until all the women are gone. You're just wasting your time if you think something else will happen. And I'm going last."

Max started to protest again, but he could see that Lateen was not going to budge. Even sitting on the roof he looked powerful enough to resist any attempts to move him, and many of his battle-hardened veterans seemed equally stubborn. Max knew he had no time to argue, so he pointed at a woman standing on the other side of the man.

"Fine. You then. Let's go."

Each of the women hugged their husbands goodbye. Max escorted them over to the helicopter, instinctively ducking his head under the blades. The women climbed aboard and tearfully waved to their husbands as they strapped in.

"Come back quick," Max said.

The pilot nodded.

"We're dropping people off at Tripler Army Hospital, or Wheeler Field if Tripler is too busy. I'll be back as soon as I can."

Max backed off as the helicopter's blades spun up. It lifted off gracefully, made a neat turn and headed northwest.

The crowd behind him let out an unexpected cheer at the first good sign they'd seen since the end of the brunch.

Max got Adrian and went back to bring the rest of the guests up, hoping what he'd told the guests was true, that more helicopters were really on their way.

When Cora and Nate had plunged off the side of the skybridge, Rachel leaned out onto the walkway and peered over the edge, desperately hoping to see some sign of them. But by the time she did, both of them had already fallen to the water below. They were gone. Even if they had survived the fall, there was no way to rescue them. They were rapidly being dragged far out into the bay. She had to concentrate on the Rogers family still on the other side of the skybridge.

"Maybe we should just stay over here until this is over," the father, Bill, said.

"No, Dad!" Tyler begged, terrified by his near fall. "Don't leave me here!"

Rachel tried to comfort the boy. He lunged as if to go back on to the bridge, but she restrained him.

"Stay there, Tyler!" Bill yelled. "It's not safe."

Tyler dissolved into tears and sagged to the floor. Paige cried at the sight of her distraught son, but neither of the parents made a move to come across.

"I'm telling you," Rachel said vehemently. "My husband is the Director of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. He says that more waves are coming, and they're going to be massive."

"Maybe he's wrong…"

"He's not wrong. Just look below you if you don't believe me. There's nowhere for a helicopter to land on your roof, so you have to decide right now. And this is your last chance. The skybridge won't last through the next tsunami."

Bill and Paige conferred.

"Are they coming?" Tyler asked Rachel.

"I hope so, honey."

"OK," Bill said. "Paige's coming first with Hannah. Then I'll carry Ashley." He took the five-year-old from Paige's arms, while she grabbed Hannah.

"Good. Hurry up. We don't have much time left."

Using the method Cora had used with Tyler, Paige cautiously began the trip across the skybridge, holding the hand of her eight-year-old daughter. They crossed without incident. But because they were being so careful, having been frightened by Cora and Nate's fall and almost losing Tyler, the crossing took far longer than it should have.

That didn't leave more than three minutes for Bill to come over and then for them all to climb the stairs to a safe level. The father put Ashley on his back piggyback-style and started to cross.

"Paige," Rachel said, "the kids should start climbing up the stairs. The next wave is supposed to be 150 feet high. We need to get at least to the fifteenth floor to be safe."

Paige was obviously torn. Keeping the children with her meant a slower climb up those ten stories once Bill and Ashley were across. But she didn't want to leave her husband and other child either. And sending the children up alone wasn't an option. They were already scared, and having them by themselves was a recipe for confusion or worse.

In the end, the idea of having two of her children safe was more important than having them with her.

"Will you take them for me?" Paige said. "I can't leave Ashley and Bill here. What if something happens?"

"I understand," Rachel said. "I have a daughter myself. I'd do the same."

Paige hugged her two kids.

"Remember," Rachel said, "you've got three minutes at most. Besides, you'll know when it's time to head up. We'll wait for you on the 16th floor."

"If you don't see me in ten minutes…" Paige's voice trailed off.

"I'll take care of them."

"Thank you."

Rachel led Tyler and Hannah to the stairwell.

"Where are we going?" said Hannah.

"We're going up the stairs so we can ride in a helicopter. Won't that be fun?"

"Aren't Mommy and Daddy coming?"

"They'll be following us soon, but we have to get up high before the next wave comes in."

"OK," she said, seeming to be a little reassured.

Rachel opened the door to the stairwell and the children hesitated at the gloom, with little more than a faint glow filtering down from above. Thankfully, the emergency lights in the stairwell above the eighth floor were still on, powered by the batteries in each unit as soon as the hotel power was lost. Below that level, all of the lights had been short-circuited by the water.

"It's spooky," Tyler said.

"That's just the emergency lights. Do you know how they work?"

Tyler shook his head no.

Rachel explained it to him, keeping the children distracted with trivia about the hotel as they climbed.