The Tsunami Countdown

FIFTY-FIVE

12:31 p.m.

6 Minutes to Fourth Wave

As promised, the C-130 swooped down and, from Kai’s vantage point, looked like it was landing on the water itself. It came to a stop, still far in the distance, and its rear cargo door lowered. The transport had just entered Hawaiian airspace and was headed to Wheeler when the pilot, a Captain Martin Wainwright, heard Stan’s plea over the radio. Wainwright had gotten a bright idea and volunteered to help.

It was the cargo that was particularly relevant: three Humvees headed for Pearl Harbor. The cargo door lowered to disgorge one of them.

“Come on,” Kai said. “Let’s cut the distance that guy has to come get us.”

Brad spotted a section of the partially collapsed roof that they could easily slide down to get to ground level. When all of them were safely down, they started jogging in the direction of the reef runway. Brad carried Mia on his back, and Kai carried Lani. Teresa, Stan, and Tom jogged behind them. Chuck and Denise were in fairly good shape, so they could keep up—not that any of them could go fast anyway. The muck was slippery, and there was standing water everywhere.

Just a few seconds into their trot, Stan ran through what, on the surface, looked like just a shallow puddle. But when he stepped into it, his leg sank up to his knee, and he fell facefirst into a pool of water two feet deep.

“Dammit!” he yelled, sputtering the filthy water from his mouth.

“You okay?” Kai said, helping him out.

“I’m fine. The water’s so dirty, I couldn’t see the hole.”

“Well, let’s try to steer around water where we can’t see the bottom.”

“You think?” said Chuck. “You’re a genius.” He kept running.

Brad made a move toward him, but Kai put his hand on Brad’s shoulder and shook his head. They didn’t need the distraction. After Stan’s plunge, they had to constantly make detours around obvious holes, standing water, and wreckage. Their progress slowed considerably.

“This is a dumb idea,” said Chuck. “I bet that pilot could have found a helicopter if he’d tried harder.”

“Why don’t you shut up?” said Brad. “I’m sick of your bitching. If you had been smart enough not to go back to your apartment, you wouldn’t be out here with us.”

“I don’t have to shut up. I can say anything I want.”

“Well, why don’t you say thanks to me for not tossing you out of that helicopter?”

After inching down the cargo ramp for what seemed like an eternity, the Humvee roared off in their direction. With all the debris on the ground, it would still take a few minutes for the Humvee to get to them. They would be cutting it close.

The cargo ramp lifted, and the plane pivoted so that it would be ready for takeoff.

While Brad and Chuck verbally duked it out, Denise came closer to Kai.

“I’m sorry about my husband,” Denise said. “He’s a jerk.”

“I noticed,” Kai replied.

“I can’t believe I’ve stayed with him so long. Listen, thanks for saving us. If it wasn’t for you, we’d still be on that building.”

“You’re welcome.”

“You know, you look really familiar,” Denise said. “Have I seen you somewhere?”

“Maybe. My name’s Kai. Kai Tanaka. I work at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. Or worked, I should say.”

“Right!” she said. “I saw you on TV this morning.”

“Wait a minute!” said Chuck, overhearing their conversation. “I saw you too. Whatever they were paying you, it was too much.”

Brad grabbed Chuck from behind and wrenched him to a stop.

“If it wasn’t for him,” Brad said, “nobody would have had any time to evacuate.”

“Get out of my face,” Chuck said. “He screwed up, and now we’re running for our lives because of it.”

“He lost more than you’ll ever know today.”

“Well, he deserves it.”

Anger flared across Brad’s face, and without another word, he belted Chuck in the jaw. Chuck went down hard on his back. He lay there stunned for a moment and then picked himself up. None of the others moved a muscle to help him.

When Chuck was fully standing, he continued looking at the ground. Apparently he was a big mouth with nothing to back it up. Kai understood that the guy was scared, but that didn’t mean he had to like him.

With Mia still clinging to his back, Brad walked to within three inches of Chuck’s face and loomed over him. Brad had a good four inches and thirty pounds on him.

“Now, you’re going to keep your mouth shut, or we’re going to leave your sorry butt out here. Got it?”

Chuck didn’t look at him, but he didn’t say anything, either. He got it.

“Come on,” Kai said. “The farther we run, the sooner we’ll be on that Humvee.”

In a minute, the Humvee was less than a half mile from them. It closed in on them at a high speed that bordered on reckless. The mud was no match for its huge tires and ground clearance, so the driver took as straight a line toward them as the debris on the airfield would allow, instead of following what was left of the airstrip concrete. Splashes of water periodically shot into the air as it pounded through large pools.

“I know we’re in a hurry,” Teresa said, “but that guy better watch out—”

Before she could finish her sentence, the Humvee nosedived into another pool. This time a massive plume sprayed twenty feet high in front of the vehicle and it came to a dead stop, its front submerged in a rut three feet deep. The engine sputtered and quit.

They all skidded to a halt, their mouths agape at seeing their only way to safety literally dead in the water.