The Tsunami Countdown (29 page)

12:22 p.m.
15 Minutes to Fourth Wave

M
y wife is dead, and it’s all my fault
. That’s all Kai’s mind could comprehend at the moment. Not gone, not passed away, not any of the other euphemisms that people
use to try to protect themselves from reality. She was dead. His job was to protect her and everyone else who had died in
the last two hours. He had failed not only professionally but personally. He had been her husband. His was the shoulder she
had cried on after a tough day at work. He was the one she had snuggled up to for comfort. It had been his responsibility
to keep her safe. And he knew she had felt equally protective of him.

Kai had never felt more miserable than at that moment, and he never cried harder. He howled from the pain in his chest, from
the unfairness of it all. They had been so close to saving her. So close. Kai didn’t know how he could endure the heartache.

But then he felt Lani burrow into the crook of his shoulder, still wailing. He tugged her close to him and along with the
despair, felt a glimmer of pride. Rachel must have had a good reason for giving up her spot when the helicopter left the Grand
Hawaiian. She would only have done it for someone else’s family.

As for her own family, Rachel had know the risk she was taking sending the AStar to them first. And, deep down, Kai understood
her need to make that sacrifice. If the situation had been reversed, he would have done the same without hesitation.

Kai was holding the living, breathing embodiment of everything Rachel wanted in life. There was nothing more important to
either of them. Lani’s fragile little body shuddering against his arm reminded Kai that there was still good in the world
and that he still had responsibilities. He had to get Lani to safety. With a fourth wave set to hit Honolulu in the next fifteen
minutes, they were still in danger.

But he couldn’t give up on Rachel yet, no matter how impossible the odds of her survival were. Once the danger of airborne
projectiles had passed, Kai convinced Stan to fly back to where the Grand Hawaiian had been just a minute before and circle.
The water was awash with debris and bodies, and Kai simultaneously hoped and feared he’d see Rachel’s. He wanted to find her
no matter what, but
the idea of seeing her limp, lifeless form was too much to bear. He looked for any unusual movement at all, anything to indicate
someone was alive in that brew.

They found no sign of her.

“I’m sorry, Kai,” Brad said from his prone position. “She’s gone.”

“I know,” Kai said, wiping his eyes. “I was just hoping—”

“Mr. Tanaka?” Stan interrupted. “We should get back. I just let your friend Reggie know that you were safe.”

“Reggie sent you?”

“Yes, sir. He was the one who told us about your wi—about the Grand Hawaiian. We’ll be back at Wheeler in seven minutes.”

As they passed the downtown area and flew over Sand Island, Kai couldn’t help but stare at the water as it receded into the
ocean that was now his wife’s graveyard. His mind replayed the last few minutes over and over, like a sick videotape that
he couldn’t turn off. He tried to distract himself by looking out the window, but it was almost worse seeing the terrible
vista below.

In the distance, Pearl Harbor, the Navy base already synonymous with disaster, was once again dotted with smoke trails, this
time from explosions kicked off by oil and other chemicals dispersed by the tsunami. The vast flat expanse of Honolulu International
and Hickam Air Force
Base was only recognizable because of the control tower jutting out of the water and the battered hulks of airliners crushed
against the remains of the terminal.

They were crossing one of the airport’s seaplane channels when a high-pitched whine spooled up from behind Kai’s head. As
it grew louder, the helicopter wobbled back and forth as if balancing on a slowly spinning top that was about to fall over.

“Dammit!” Stan shouted. “Not yet!”

“What’s happening?” Kai said. The helicopter was quickly losing altitude.

Stan’s finger’s stabbed at a few switches on the control panel. The cyclic stick wagged to and fro as if trying to wrest itself
from Stan’s grip.

“The tail rotor’s giving out!” Stan said, barely able to grunt the words. “If I don’t get us down in the next thirty seconds,
we’re going to crash!”

12:24 p.m.
13 Minutes to Fourth Wave

T
he water hadn’t completely receded yet, so the Honolulu International Airport runways were still awash. Several structures
jutted above the surface, their frames intact. Airliners were scattered around the airport, most of them ripped to pieces,
their aluminum frames no match for the power of a tsunami. The closest was a Hawaiian Airlines 767 that lay on the tarmac
a hundred yards away, its landing gear and one wing ripped off, all the windows blown out. If the helicopter landed in the
water, they’d drown. Kai had no doubt about that. The only chance was to land on one of the buildings. Stan apparently had
the same idea.

“I’m going for the terminal,” Stan said.

The enormous main terminal stood about a mile to the north. Its gigantic roof would give them plenty of room to land. But
then what? It was only three or four stories high.
The next tsunami would completely engulf it, and it was much too far to run to high ground.

The airport control tower loomed in front of them, and Kai noticed that the roof of the tower’s companion building was just
peeking above the water’s surface. Half of it was in tatters, ripped apart by the waves, but the other half seemed to have
survived. The tower had to be at least 250 feet high. If they climbed to the top of it, they might have a chance.

“Stan!” Kai said into his microphone, “the building next to the tower. Land on it and we can use the stairs to get to the
top.”

Stan nodded and aimed the helicopter for the white roof of the tower’s office building. The cabin shook like a paint mixer
as they descended. The roof rose to meet them at a terrifying rate.

“Hold on!” Stan yelled.

The skids smacked into the roof, and Kai was afraid they’d go right through. Instead, they bounced off and careened toward
the edge. They weren’t going to get another shot at landing, so Stan forced the stick down, and the skids made contact again.
Mia and Lani screamed as they slid along the roof, the skids scraping the poured concrete surface.

The chopper quickly scrubbed speed because of the friction, but they continued to approach the edge. Kai pulled Lani toward
him and braced himself, ready for the plunge
over the side, but the helicopter came to a halt two feet from the precipice.

Stan turned the engine off, and the turbine began to wind down. Kai removed his headset.

“Is everyone all right?” he said.

A few mumbles and nods were the only responses. Nobody seemed to be injured.

Kai unbuckled his belt and lifted his feet so Brad could pull himself up.

As they crawled out of the ruined helicopter, Chuck walked in circles. “What kind of rescue was that?” he said in a high-pitched
keen.

“Will you shut up, you dimwit,” Brad said in a weary voice. “You’re fine.”

“Fine? Fine?” Chuck said. “We almost get killed and you say we’re fine!”

“We’re alive, aren’t we, Chuck?”

“No thanks to you.”

“If you weren’t in such a hurry to get on the helicopter, maybe we would have left your ass behind.”

“If you hadn’t overloaded the helicopter with all these people, we might have made it.” Chuck strode over to the pilot, who
was still sucking wind from the adrenaline rush of the emergency. “Thanks for picking us up in a faulty helicopter!” Stan
looked at him as if he were crazy, which Kai thought he might be.

“Are you done?” Kai said.

“I’ll tell you what I think—”

“We don’t care what you think,” Teresa said.

“And if you say one word about those stupid baseballs,” Brad said, “I’m going to punch you in the face.” When Chuck saw Brad’s
clenched fist, he quieted.

“What’s the plan, Kai?” Brad said.

“Let’s find a way off the roof,” Kai said. “Then we’ll climb the stairs to the top of the tower.”

Brad looked up at the soaring tower. He turned back to Kai with a dubious expression. He didn’t want to go into another building.

“What if it’s not tall enough?” he asked.

“That’s why Stan is going to stay here and use his radio to try to find another helicopter.”

Stan nodded and got back into the chopper, where he started to transmit a Mayday.

“Everyone else, stay here,” Kai said. “Brad and I will find a way down.”

“Don’t leave us!” Lani cried, and then broke into sobs. She ran to Kai and threw her arms around him.

“I’ll be right back, honey.” Kai wanted to comfort her—wanted
her
to comfort
him
—but there just wasn’t time. He glanced at Teresa.

“I’ll take care of Lani,” she said. “Just hurry.”

Kai broke away from Lani and jogged across the
expansive roof in the direction of the tower with Brad next to him.

“I’m sorry, Kai,” Brad said. “About Rachel.”

Kai didn’t say anything, not because he didn’t appreciate Brad’s sentiment, but because he couldn’t afford to break down.
He put his hand on Brad’s shoulder for a moment and left it at that.

The roof of the office complex was multileveled, and they had landed on the lowest level. Kai could see where ladders to the
higher levels had been ripped from their mountings.

After a minute they reached the edge of the roof nearest the tower. They hadn’t been able to spot any stairs leading from
the roof. Kai peered over the side.

The water had completely drained, leaving behind the ubiquitous ooze glistening on the few chunks of grass that were left.
Next to the control tower, a pile of debris that looked like remnants of an airplane rested against the side of the building.
It had been deposited in such a way that they might be able to climb down it.

“Come on,” Kai said.

One at a time they picked their way down. The junk was sturdy, settling only a couple of times as they descended.

The outside of the tower was blocked by the debris. The only way in was through the office building. Kai couldn’t see any
doors, but all of the windows had been blown out,
so he heaved himself over one of the sills and Brad followed.

The room was a standard office that had been swept clean by the water. They emerged into a hallway leading in the direction
of the tower. Rounding the corner, they found that the door to the control tower stairwell had been ripped from its hinges.

Now Kai saw that the pile of debris didn’t end outside. It was resting against the tower because it was part of a larger piece
of the airplane that had broken through the tower’s outer wall. On the piece of aluminum skin facing them, Kai could just
make out a blue and white logo and the letters
Tra
. It was the remains of a TransPacific airliner.

A portion of a wing surface blocked the stairs for two stories. Kai couldn’t see any way around it. There was no way to get
to their refuge.

12:28 p.m.
9 Minutes to Fourth Wave

K
ai leaned against the wall and slowly shook his head. “It was my idea to land here,” he said.

“Don’t beat yourself up about it,” Brad said. “It was a good idea.”

“What was I thinking, Brad?”

“What do you mean?”

“I can’t even save my own family. What made me think I could save everyone else?”

Brad started to speak, then stopped. His face had a puzzled look. “Did you really think you could save everyone? That that
was your job?”

“Of course that was my job!”

“No. It wasn’t. Your job was to give everyone else a chance. To warn them. You did that. I saw you do it. You can’t save everyone.
People have to save themselves. You
gave them a chance to do that. After that, it’s up to the Big Man upstairs.”

Kai stared at Brad, truly surprised. He had never heard Brad mention any religious beliefs before. It just wasn’t something
they talked about.

Brad saw the stunned look and said, “Hey, how do you think I got through that scuba diving bit? Now, enough with the pep talk.
Let’s go figure out another way out of this mess.”

With that, Kai pulled himself together. If they were going to get out of this, gnawing self-doubt would not help them.

They climbed the debris back onto the roof and ran to the now-silent helicopter.

“So can we get up there?” Teresa asked. The others looked at Kai expectantly.

He shook his head. “It’s completely blocked. It’ll take too much time to try moving it.”

“Oh, this is just perfect!” Chuck exclaimed before Brad shot him a look and shut him up. Denise ignored him, as if she wanted
nothing more to do with him.

Stan seemed to be having a conversation on his headset.

“Stan,” Kai said, “please tell us you found a helicopter.”

Stan wrapped up his discussion and removed the headset. He climbed out of the helicopter and looked up.

“No,” Stan said, “I still can’t find any. None will respond to my hails.”

“Then who were you talking to?”

“I have another pilot who says he might be able to get us.”

“You just said there weren’t any other helicopters,” Chuck said.

“There aren’t.” Stan pointed straight up. “Look there.”

At first, Kai didn’t see what Stan was talking about, mostly because he expected a helicopter. Then a glint of metal directly
overhead flashed in the sun.

“That’s a plane,” Chuck said, master of the obvious.

“An Air Force C-130,” Stan said. “He’s got an alternative solution.”

Kai spun around. The runway next to the office building was pitted with holes where the concrete was torn up. The sections
that were still intact were strewn with garbage and airplane parts.

“He’ll never be able to land here,” Kai said.

“He says that he can spot a section of the reef runway that is clear—at least, clear enough for him. Those babies can land
on anything as long as it’s flat.”

The control tower and its office building stood in the center of the airport. The reef runway was reclaimed land built on
a coral outcropping at the airport’s southernmost point.

“That’s got to be a mile away,” Kai said.

“Given where he said he’d have to land,” Stan said, “I’d say more like a mile and a half.”

Kai looked at his watch, which continued to tick despite all it had been through. Seven minutes left.

“We’ll never make it, even if we all run.”

“We’re not going to run,” Stan said. “We’re going to drive.”