The Tsunami Countdown

THIRTY-TWO

11:14 a.m.

8 Minutes to Wave Arrival Time

Brad, Teresa, the boy, and Kai tore down to the beach as fast as they could. The sun neared its apex, and the bright blue sky and perfect temperature posed an odd juxtaposition to the panic Kai felt. The path was littered with objects people had tossed aside as they made their mad dash to escape. Beach towels, various types of clothing, sunglasses, a volleyball, pool chairs— the kinds of items that would normally signal a fine day of vacation were now useless, even a hindrance. “What’s your name?” Kai asked the boy between breaths.

“Jake.”

“Thanks, Jake. Thanks for coming.”

“No problem.”

“I’m Kai, Lani’s dad.”

They huffed to a stop in front of four Jet Skis that rested on the beach undisturbed. Because all the beaches in Hawaii were public, the Grand Hawaiian couldn’t build an outbuilding or pier on its property, so they rolled the Jet Skis down to the beach every morning on trailers and left them there all day to be used by the guests. The Jet Skis would typically be watched over by someone from the hotel, but now the beach was nearly deserted.

Three of the four in front of Kai were the smaller, two-person variety, the other a larger, three-person craft. The staff had left in such a hurry that they hadn’t bothered to get the trailers to move all of them back to the hotel—just as Kai had hoped.

“Where are the girls?” he said to Jake.

Jake pointed toward Diamond Head. “That way. I came ashore near the Marriott.”

“Can you see them?” Kai said.

“I think so,” said Brad, his hand shielding his eyes from the sun.

“Do you know how to ride one of these?” Kai said to Teresa. He didn’t have to ask Brad, who Kai knew had one of his own sitting in his garage.

“No,” she said. “I’ve never ridden one before.”

“I do,” said Jake. “I know how to ride one.”

When Kai had said that he wanted Jake to show them where the girls were, he only intended for Jake to point them out. Then Kai was going to send the boy back to the relative safety of the hotel.

“No,” Kai said. “I don’t want you out there. It’s too dangerous.”

“Kai, we need him,” Brad said. “We don’t have time to teach Teresa how to drive one of these things. And if she comes with you or me, we won’t have room for everyone.”

“And I am coming,” Teresa said, her eyes fierce with determination.

Kai wanted to argue, but they had no time.

“You sure?” Kai said to Jake.

“Yeah. My dad takes us on them every summer.”

“Okay, you take that one,” Kai said, pointing to one of the small ones. He jumped on the three-person Jet Ski, and Teresa got on the back with him. Brad pushed a third out into the water.

When they got them afloat, Brad was the first to notice a potentially fatal problem.

“Holy crap, Kai!” he said. “None of these Jet Skis have keys!”

In their haste, they had forgotten to check whether the keys were still in the ignition. Normally, the keys would stay with the Jet Skis all day because they were always attended by the hotel staff. But some enterprising employee had decided to take the keys in case someone tried to go joyriding during the evacuation.

“Dammit!” Kai said. “Stay here. I’ll get them.”

He jumped off and splashed up to the beach in a mad scramble to find the recreational shack where the keys would be kept. But as he raced from the water, Kai heard a yell from the direction of the hotel.

“Kai! I’ve got them!”

Rachel ran toward him, waving a handful of keys.

“I remembered that I told Craig to take the keys when he said he didn’t have time to get the Jet Skis back to storage. I brought them all.” She thrust one into Kai’s hand and threw two more to Brad and Jake. The key was labeled with the number on the Jet Ski.

“You’re amazing,” Kai said.

“Just get our daughter.” She put a hand on his cheek, and then sprinted back to the hotel.

They fired up the Jet Skis and roared off at top speed.

The few people remaining on the beach ran in different directions, but the masses had by this time left. Some small groups and individuals stood on the shore, looking out to sea. Many others had gathered on balconies to watch the wave come in. Kai noted with distress that most of them were no higher than the fourth floor.

“Idiots!” he said under his breath. There was nothing he could do for them now.

They soon reached the group that Kai thought Brad had been pointing to. It turned out to be four surfers paddling idly, chatting among themselves. Kai slowed, and Brad and Jake followed suit.

“You guys need to get to shore right now!” Kai shouted at the surfers. “There’s a tsunami coming.”

“We know,” one of the surfers shot back. “Just like last year!”

The other surfers laughed at that. Kai looked at his watch, then at Brad, and shook his head.

“Let’s go,” he said.

Leaving them went against Kai’s urge to save everyone he could, but there simply wasn’t time. His first responsibility was to save his family.

As they throttled back up to full speed, Brad called out, “You morons are going to die!” The surfers just laughed again.

A minute later they passed another small group of surfers, and this time Kai didn’t even slow down. He didn’t have time to convince people who didn’t want to be convinced.

Before they had gone another two hundred yards, Jake shouted, “There’s Tom!”

Up ahead, Kai could make out two bright yellow kayaks. They were still three hundred yards from shore.

The kayakers heard the noise from the Jet Skis and turned. Kai and the others all started waving at them. At first they didn’t recognize Kai, but as they got closer, Kai heard Lani shout:

“Daddy!”

With that one word, Kai knew how desperate Lani felt. She never called him Daddy anymore.

They slowed so that their wakes wouldn’t swamp the kayaks. By this time they could see Mia’s head bobbing above an orange life vest behind the boy’s kayak.

“Oh my God!” Teresa said. “Get Mia!”

Kai pulled his Jet Ski up to the stern of Tom’s kayak.

“Brad, get Lani,” he said. He untied Mia from the nylon rope, and Teresa grabbed one arm while Kai pulled on the other. They lifted her onto the Jet Ski and placed her between them. Teresa hugged her tightly.

“I’m so glad I found you. Are you okay?”

In response, Mia threw up over the side of the Jet Ski, but all that came up was salt water. Apart from her pallor and exhaustion, she seemed all right. She wiped her mouth and swiveled in the seat to hug her mother.

“Mom!” she said, weeping uncontrollably. “You’re here.”

“You’re safe now, honey. I won’t let anything happen to you.” Kai knew that Teresa’s response was reflexive, but her promise was empty. They were all in grave danger.

Brad pulled Lani onto his Jet Ski, and Tom climbed on with Jake. Brad circled around to them, and Kai held out his hand to Lani, who grabbed it and held it like a vise.

“Are you all right?” he said.

Lani sobbed with relief and nodded.

Kai checked his watch; they had less than three minutes left.

“Let’s go!” Kai yelled to everyone. “Hold on, guys!”

He goosed the throttle, and Brad and Jake did the same.

“Where are we going?” Brad asked over the roar of the Jet Skis.

Kai pointed at a new twenty-story hotel next to Kapi‘olani Park. It was only a block from the beach, right behind a condo building half its height. As long as it didn’t collapse, the shorter building might provide a buffer against the tsunami.

“But the third wave …!” Brad yelled.

“I know!” Kai yelled back.

They had no confirmation a third wave was coming, but their calculations made one likely. If the first wave was really eighty feet high, they would be able to survive as long as the building remained standing. It wouldn’t hold up against a two-hundred-foot wave, but Kai was worried that they weren’t going to make it to the hotel as it was, and he didn’t want to take the chance that they would be caught on the ground when the wave came in. At ground level, even a twenty-foot wave would be deadly.

They were making good progress, coming in just south of the Kuhio Beach breakwater, when Kai’s Jet Ski inexplicably started to slow down. He already had the throttle pushed to the limit, but they were still losing speed. He thought he had a mechanical failure, but the other Jet Skis seemed to be slowing as well.

“Something’s wrong with my ride!” said Jake.

“Mine too,” said Brad.

Kai looked at Waikiki and realized that they weren’t slowing down. Their speed in relation to the beach was indeed slowing, but it wasn’t because their Jet Skis were decelerating. It was because the water was receding, and they were struggling to maintain forward motion. The tide was ebbing, the classic trough preceding the wave.

The tsunami had arrived.