The Tsunami Countdown

by Boyd Morrison

  Up to that point, it had been the only mega-tsunami that witnesses had lived to tell about. Now Kai was watching an even bigger one wipe out his home state.

  The third wave swept in like a giant fist. The force of water topped ten tons per square foot. Many buildings, already weakened, didn’t stand a chance. At 184 feet, the Aloha Tower had been for many years the tallest structure on the islands. The landmark had miraculously withstood the first and second waves, and Kai could just make out the top of it between other buildings. When the third wave hit, though, it folded like a straw. The Hyatt, the Waikiki Beachside, and the Hilton all collapsed into rubble.

  “Darryl and Eunice,” Teresa murmured. She and Brad propped Mia up, and Kai stood with his arm around Lani. Tom had joined them at the rooftop edge, but Denise and Chuck kept their distance on the other end.

  “Who?” Kai said.

  “A couple I met on the beach. They were staying at the Hilton. I hope they got out.”

  Kai waiting in agony to see what would happen when the wave struck the Grand Hawaiian. Just before the impact, Lani buried her head in Kai’s chest.

  The tsunami, its crest even with the fifteenth floor, exploded against the side of the hotel’s remaining tower, the water spraying hundreds of feet in the air. For a moment it seemed like the top of the building tilted backward, and Kai held his breath, expecting it to topple.

  But it didn’t. The wave wrapped around it and continued on. Other buildings remained standing under the onslaught as well, including many of the behemoths downtown. Most of those buildings had been shielded by others that took the brunt of the wave.

  Then the water reached the boat building, and Kai hoped it would hold up to the impact. Even three hundred feet up, the sound was like a dozen approaching tornados.

  Two buildings stood directly in the path between the boat building and the full force of the wave. The first, the Moana Surfrider, was blasted by the wave and instantly collapsed. But it had done its part to mitigate the blow. The second building met the slowed wave and the debris from the first building. It was shorter than their building, but it was a stout apartment complex of gleaming steel. The glass that hadn’t shattered during the previous impacts didn’t stand a chance.

  The water shot all the way through the building and rocketed out the back windows. It joined the water sweeping around the side and hit Kai’s building.

  The impact was not as intense as it had been with the other buildings, but it was still strong. Kai swayed sickeningly on his feet as the water sought to undermine the foundation of the structure. But the foundation held, unlike that of the apartment complex in front of them. When the surge reached the twentieth floor, just below the rooftop, the whole structure disappeared into the sea.

  As the water continued to rush past, every few seconds another building would fall, its death signaled by a time-delayed roar, like thunder cracking after the flash of distant lightning.

  Kai knew it was simply a matter of time before his building joined them.

  FORTY-NINE

  12:14 p.m.

  23 Minutes to Fourth Wave

  The mood on the roof of the Grand Hawaiian while they boarded the chopper didn’t register as panic, but Rachel could sense the fear. To balance the load, the smallest people had to sit in the front, so Paige, Hannah, and Wyatt clambered in there with Ashley on Paige’s lap. Stan, the pilot, helped Rachel, Sheila, and Paige load Jerry’s frame into the backseat. The camerawoman, Deena, snatched up her video camera again as soon as Stan took Jerry’s arm and began filming the process. They propped Jerry upright next to Doris, who sat in the rightmost seat.

  Sheila climbed in next. Deena waited for Rachel, but Rachel shooed her in. As Deena climbed in, Stan said, “Lose the camera!”

  “What?” Deena said. “Do you know how much this costs?”

  “I don’t care. It weighs too much, and we’re overloaded. We need all the lift we can get.”

  Deena grudgingly dropped the camera from her shoulder and removed the tape. She handed the camera to Rachel, who was standing outside. Rachel set it gently on the roof.

  “Get in!” Stan yelled to Rachel.

  “I thought the weight was too much.”

  “It’ll be close, but the kids are light, so we’re going to try for it. This building isn’t going to be here much longer.”

  “But it’s jammed. Where should I sit?”

  Stan pointed at Deena. “Get on her lap.”

  Rachel scrambled on top of Deena awkwardly. Her hand slipped and dug into Deena’s leg. Deena flinched.

  “Sorry.” There was no way for Rachel to fasten a seat belt around herself, so she grabbed the seat in front of her as tightly as she could.

  Stan secured himself in the pilot’s seat on the right, with Paige and the kids squeezed next to him. He brought the engine up to speed.

  “Okay,” Stan said. “We’re going to do this slowly.”

  With the engine at full speed, he pulled back on the stick. For a second, nothing happened. They simply sat there, the helicopter blades throbbing over their heads.

  Stan pushed the throttle until the engine passed the redline. The helicopter jumped a yard into the air. Stan struggled with the collective, trying to keep the chopper level. But before he could get any more height, the aircraft skidded to the right, dangerously close to the huge rooftop air-conditioning unit. The helicopter rotated awkwardly, and for a moment the sound of grinding metal buzzed behind them, sending a cascade of sparks flying past them. Piercing screams filled the cabin.

  Stan rotated the helicopter back around and dropped the stick. The helicopter thudded onto the roof, the main rotor blades sweeping past the machinery with only a foot to spare.

  “I’m sorry, guys,” he said. “This isn’t going to work. Someone’s going to have to get out.”

  “Only one of us?” Rachel said. “Will that make a difference?”

  “I hope so. That sound you heard was our tail rotor brushing the air-conditioning unit. It seems okay, but I can’t take any more chances of bumping it. Nine passengers is just too many. I’ll be lucky to take off with only eight of you.”

  There was an uneasy silence for a second.

  “If I drop these people at Tripler,” Stan said, “I can be back in five minutes. I’d volunteer to stay behind, but unless one of you can fly a helicopter—”

  “I’m staying,” Rachel said with a resigned tone.

  “Maybe you should draw straws,” said Stan.

  “No, this is my hotel. I’m responsible. I’m the one who should stay.”

  Everyone else remained quiet. Even if they had argued, Rachel wouldn’t have let one of them stay behind while she was whisked to safety.

  Before Rachel could climb out, Paige grabbed her arm and hugged her fiercely.

  “Thank you for giving my family a chance.”

  “Thanks for helping me. Take care of those kids.”

  Rachel backed away to give the helicopter room to maneuver.

  Stan brought the helicopter up to speed again. Without Rachel’s added 120 pounds, the blades were able to claw more lift from the air. The chopper slowly rose and angled away from the air-conditioning machinery.

  After it was clear of the hotel, it circled once thirty feet above Rachel. They waved, and Rachel gave them a thumbs-up.

  Then the helicopter swung away and headed in the direction of downtown Honolulu, leaving Rachel on the roof of the Grand Hawaiian, alone.

  FIFTY

  12:17 p.m.

  20 Minutes to Fourth Wave

  When Kai and the others saw the helicopter take off from the Grand Hawaiian, they let out a weary but jubilant cheer. It was quickly cut short by a rumble from far below them. The building continued to resist the force of the water, but it protested mightily. The noise made Kai step up the broadcasting of his Mayday. It would be extremely risky to wait for Rachel’s helicopter to get back. “My name is Kai Tanaka, and we are standing on a white building approximately six blo
cks from the beach and eight blocks west of the Honolulu Zoo. To anyone who can hear us …”

  The power of the walkie-talkie limited the radius to just a few miles, so he was hoping something would fly within range long enough to hear the message. After a couple of broadcasts on the new frequency Rachel had given him, he got an answer.

  “Mr. Tanaka, this is CWO Henry Mitchell on Army flight one niner three. I see your party. What is your situation?”

  Teresa hugged Mia, and Tom yelled, “All right!”

  “You see us?” Kai said to the pilot.

  “We’re just passing over Diamond Head.” Kai turned and looked to the east, where saw a Black Hawk helicopter speeding toward them.

  “Thank God! We’ve got eight people here.” A huge antenna sprang from the center of the building’s roof, a feature Kai hadn’t noticed from the ground. Three microwave transmitters were perched on the antenna. Kai didn’t see markings on it, but it couldn’t be anything other than a cell phone tower. It would get in the way of any helicopter trying to land. “You’ll have to hover next to the building to pick us up.”

  Chuck and Denise, the other couple on the roof with them, saw the commotion and edged closer.

  “What’s happening?” Chuck asked. “Did you get someone?”

  “A helicopter,” Brad said.

  “Which one?” Chuck pointed at the Black Hawk. “That one? Why isn’t it coming down?”

  Kai expected the helicopter to start dipping down toward the building, but Chuck was right. It was maintaining its altitude. It would pass over them in a few seconds.

  “I’m sorry, Mr. Tanaka,” the pilot said, “but I don’t have any room.”

  “Even for a few people?” Kai pleaded. “We have children here.”

  “I’m packed to the gills with injured from Maui. I’m heading over to Wheeler to drop them off. I’ll be back for you as soon as I can.”

  “How long will that be?”

  “I’m running low on fuel, so we need to gas up. That could take thirty minutes.”

  “Thirty minutes!”

  “Maybe longer. Wheeler’s jammed, and it’s the only place that still has refueling equipment for choppers.”

  The Black Hawk roared overhead, tantalizingly close.

  Chuck, who had been listening to the conversation, pushed next to Kai and snatched the walkie-talkie from Kai’s hand. Kai stood in shock as Chuck keyed the Talk button.

  “Pilot, this is Chuck Bender, and I have ten thousand dollars in cash here for you if you—”

  Brad grabbed Chuck’s wrist, pressing his fingers into Chuck’s carpal tendon. Chuck screamed in pain and dropped the walkie-talkie into Brad’s other hand.

  “That’s not yours,” Brad said, and handed the walkietalkie back to Kai. Chuck glared at Brad but thought better about taking it further.

  “Did I hear that right?” Mitchell said. “Do you think I do this for money? Who was that?”

  “I’m sorry, Chief Mitchell,” Kai said. “That was another party here. He does not speak for me. We’d appreciate any help you can give us, but thirty minutes will be too long. There is another wave coming. And I’m not sure the building will even survive that long. We’re hearing a lot of rumbling coming from it. It might go at any time.”

  “I’m sorry,” Mitchell said. “I’ll see if there are any other helicopters available. In the meantime, I suggest you keep sending out the SOS. Good luck.”

  The sound of the Black Hawk grew fainter, along with Kai’s hopes.

  The walkie-talkie squawked again, and Kai thought he’d given up too quickly.

  “Kai,” Rachel said, “I couldn’t hear everything that pilot said. Did you get a ride?”

  “Rachel?” Kai hadn’t expected to hear her. He assumed she was on her way to being dropped off in the other helicopter, which would be out of range by now. “Where are you?”

  “The helicopter was too full, and I drew the short straw.”

  “You mean you’re still on top of the hotel?”

  He looked at the roof of the Grand Hawaiian and could just make out her tiny figure waving at them. Kai nearly fainted. After all that, she still wasn’t safe.

  “Not the best place to be, I agree,” she said, trying to sound brave in her plight. “Do you mind picking me up after the chopper arrives?”

  “Honey, we can’t. They don’t have room on the Army helicopter. It won’t be back for a while.”

  The pause at the other end was heartbreaking.

  “That’s okay,” she finally said. “The pilot that was here said he’d come back for me.” She paused again, then her voice came back more weakly. “But just in case, you better keep calling for help.”

  “I will,” Kai said. “Trust me, Rachel. We’re going to make it.”

  “I know,” she said, but Kai could tell that she didn’t really believe it.

  Stan circled the helicopter over Tripler Army Medical Center looking for a flat space that hadn’t been overrun by evacuees. Every inch of the massive hospital’s grounds was occupied by people, thousands of them. Then he spotted a Navy Sea Stallion take off from a parking lot that had been cleared as a landing zone, and he zipped in to take its place before another helicopter could get it.

  The hospital was just six miles northwest of Waikiki, so the trip had only taken a few minutes. Not only did Stan want to get his passengers to safety, he was starting to worry that the damage to his tail rotor was more serious than he initially thought. A high-pitched whine was coming from the tail, a faint sound that someone unfamiliar with the chopper wouldn’t have noticed over the helicopter’s turbine roar. But Stan, who had been flying for over ten years, knew every normal sound his craft made. He had never heard this one before.

  After Stan dropped these people off, his plan was to head directly to Wheeler to get it checked out. If it was still okay, he’d refuel and head back.

  He maneuvered the AStar until it hovered just above the lot’s asphalt, and then the skids came to a rest on the surface. Two members of the hospital staff, burly men dressed in scrubs, ran over and began helping the passengers out of the helicopter.

  Stan pointed at Jerry’s slumped figure behind him and said, “That one first. He’s injured.” After retrieving a stretcher, the men pulled Jerry down and placed him gently on it. Sheila and Doris, who didn’t even turn to thank Stan for his efforts, began to babble about Jerry’s condition as the men wheeled him toward the hospital.

  Paige, with the help of Deena, guided her kids down, and they ran straight in front of Stan, away from the tail rotor, as he had instructed.

  Deena climbed back into the helicopter and was about to belt herself in, but Stan put out his hand.

  “You need to stay here!” he yelled over the throb of the rotors.

  Deena was stunned. “What?” she said. “I’m going back to the hotel with you. I’m getting my camera back.” By this time Paige had returned to the helicopter. Her kids stood at the edge of the parking lot, watching them.

  “I’m not going back,” Stan said. “I’m afraid the chopper might be damaged.”

  “You’re not going back?” Paige said. “You have to!”

  “The tail rotor rubbed against something. It might go at any time.”

  “You can’t just leave her there!” Paige screamed. “She’s the reason my kids are alive!”

  Stan was about to tell her that he was sorry, that he couldn’t risk it, but he stopped when he saw tears streaming down Paige’s face. He remembered the way that Rachel had so readily given up her seat to give the others a chance to get to safety, and he felt a moment of shame for considering not taking the same kind of risk for her.

  He slowly nodded and said, “I’ll get her.”

  Paige mouthed “Thank you,” and backed away from the helicopter.

  Shutting down the engine to do a visual inspection of the tail rotor would take too long. He’d just ignore the sound coming from it. Besides, he wasn’t a pilot because it was the safest thing he
could do for a living. His bird was tough; she’d make it.

  He glanced at Deena.

  “You still can’t come. If I do go down, I’m not taking you with me.”

  Deena didn’t glare at him or protest, like Stan expected. She didn’t even mention her camera. She simply gave him a look of understanding. Without a word, she climbed out of the helicopter and walked away.

  Stan increased power and lifted off. He waved to Paige and the kids, but they didn’t wave back until he made his turn and headed back in the direction of the Grand Hawaiian.

  FIFTY-ONE

  12:19 p.m.

  18 Minutes to Fourth Wave

  As the water started to flow back to the ocean, the creaking and rumbling from the apartment building increased. After every broadcast for help, Kai would release the Talk button. He heard lots of other voice traffic on the frequency, most of it garbled and unintelligible, but his calls continued to go unanswered. Everyone on the rooftop, including Chuck and Denise, crowded around him, hoping to hear a response. He was about to try again when a choppy message mentioned the name Rachel. Several of the others started talking, but Kai shushed them. At first the communication faded in and out, then it became clearer, as if the transmission was getting closer.

  “I repeat, Rachel at the … Hawaiian … returning from Trip … you up. Are you … there?”

  Then Rachel’s voice came through clearly. “You are breaking up. This is Rachel Tanaka on the Grand Hawaiian. Repeat your message.”