The Tsunami Countdown

SIXTEEN

10:10 a.m.

1 Hour and 12 Minutes to Wave Arrival Time

Reggie made contact with Dr. Niles Aspen, the lead scientist on Johnston Island. After Reggie explained the situation over the satellite link, the scientists scrambled to get as many people into the supply plane as they could. But two would have to stay behind, including Aspen. Kai just had to hope the biologist could find a building sturdy enough to withstand a potential tsunami. Aspen would call back when he was at a safer location. Brad had no more success getting in touch with Teresa and the kids, but the sirens would be impossible to ignore. Kai was confident that they’d follow the other tourists off the beach. Still, he’d feel better when he knew Lani was safe. He tried not to let his worries distract him from his work.

“Let’s go over this again,” Kai said, turning his attention back to the problem at hand. “We’re still missing something.”

Reggie leaned back in his chair and put his hands behind his head as he thought out loud.

“Okay, let’s see. There is virtually no chance that an under-sea earthquake that small could cause any kind of sizable tsunami, let alone one that could destroy Christmas Island.”

“Why not?” asked Brad. Kai started to tell Brad to butt out from habit but changed his mind when he realized Brad’s questions might help them look at the situation in a new light.

“No quake that small has ever generated an ocean-wide tsunami,” Kai said, “unless the earthquake triggered a landslide.”

“Okay. So what about a landslide?”

Reggie and Kai looked at each other and shook their heads.

“Maybe,” Kai said.

“‘Maybe’?” Brad said. “All you have is ‘Maybe’?”

“Look, we just don’t have any reason to suspect that that region of the Pacific would be prone to landslides. Underwater landslides usually occur near the edge of a continental shelf, but the region we’re talking about is nowhere near a continental shelf.”

Reggie threw up his hands. “So we have an earthquake that’s too small to generate a tsunami, no known landslide risks, no sensor reading from Christmas Island, and no way to get in touch with anyone there.”

“And,” Kai said, “the earthquake was in a location where no quake has ever been recorded before.”

“So you’re saying the tsunami came out of nowhere?” Brad said.

At that moment, Kai happened to look up at one of the TVs. CNN was running the story of the missing TransPacific flight, the TransPac logo prominent in the corner. Then the image shifted to a graphic of the Pacific Ocean. A line stretched from Los Angeles and abruptly ended in the middle of the ocean due south of Hawaii.

“That’s funny,” Kai said. “It looks like the plane went down where the earthquake epicenter …”

And that’s when it hit him. It was incredible, but it was the only explanation they hadn’t considered.

“It can’t be,” he said.

“What?” Reggie said.

“We’ve completely ignored one possibility. It’s crazy, but everything fits. I hope to God I’m wrong—knock on wood.” Though not normally superstitious, Kai rapped the frame of the cork bulletin board on the wall. But it didn’t matter: he knew he was right.

“What are you talking about?” Reggie said.

“Okay,” Kai said, “here’s the deal. Remember that discussion we had about Crawford and Mader?”

Reggie furrowed his brow for a second, then snapped his fingers and smiled. “Right! Yeah, I said their research was fun, but it was a waste of time. You said—”

Reggie abruptly stopped, his smile vanishing. He looked at Kai incredulously, and Kai could tell he’d struck a nerve. Kai nodded toward the TV, which still showed the map. For a moment Reggie looked at the television, baffled at the connection. Then his expression changed to horror.

In that instant, he knew too.

Reggie launched himself out of his chair. “You’re not serious!”

“We have to consider it.”

“No! No, no, no, no, no!” Reggie said with a look of stunned disbelief. “I just finished remodeling my house last month. Took me close to two years.”

Brad, who had been watching this exchange in confused silence, couldn’t take it any longer. “Not serious about what? Who are Crawford and Mader? What’s going on?”

“You don’t want to know,” Reggie said.

“Yes I do! What the hell does this have to do with Reggie’s house?”

“In about an hour,” Kai said, “Reggie’s house won’t be there anymore.”