Rogue Wave

by Boyd Morrison

  "Hurry up!" yelled Rachel. "You have to go faster. We've only got ten minutes left."

  Nate gingerly pulled himself across. When he was about halfway through, the skybridge creaked ominously. Nate stopped, and they all held their breath. The creaking subsided, and Nate continued to make his way. In another minute, he was to the end, and Rachel gave him a hand to help him into the Moana tower.

  "Whew. Nice to meet you, Rachel," he said.

  "How sturdy does it seem?" she asked.

  Nate shrugged and shook his head. "It's pretty shaky. They should come one at a time, but I don't think those kids should come over on their own."

  "There are three kids. We don't have time for the parents to go back and make a separate trip. Can your wife bring one of them with her?"

  Nate nodded. "Cora can do it. She runs with me every day."

  Rachel called back to the others. "We don't think the children should come alone, so Bill and Paige, you need to let Cora bring one of your kids with her."

  Bill shook his head. "I'll come back and get them."

  "That will take too long. You see that water going out? That means another wave is coming soon. We have ten minutes at most. You saw how long it took Nate to get across by himself."

  Paige shook her head, but Bill turned to his son. "Tyler, I'm going to need you to be a big boy and help Cora here cross the bridge."

  Tyler looked scared, but he nodded.

  "OK, you guys go first. We'll be right behind you as soon as you get across." Bill and Paige hugged him. Cora took his hand.

  "I have a son that looks a lot like you," she said. "Of course, he's in college, so he's a couple of years older. You ready to go?"

  Tyler nodded again, and Cora tested the footing on the bridge. She was much shorter than Nate, so she had to stretch and then let go of one pillar before she could reach the next one. She had Tyler hold on to one pillar, and when she had safely grabbed the next, she pulled him with her. They paused when they heard another shriek of grinding metal. Paige covered her mouth in terror. There was nothing she could do to help them without endangering them further.

  The grinding stopped, but it was a further reminder of how precarious the status of the walkway was.

  As they came across, Cora and Tyler got into a steady rhythm and had gone three-fourths of the way when Tyler slipped on the muck as he was coming from one pillar to another. Both his feet flew out from under him, and he went down, pulling Cora down as well.

  Shouts of "No!" came from both ends of the walkway.

  Cora held on to the bottom of the pillar with a fierce grip. If they let go, nothing would keep them from sliding to the opposite side of the skybridge. Only the widely-spaced pillars on the other side would stand between them and a six-story fall to the water below.

  "Nate!" Rachel yelled, but before she could stop him, Nate was rapidly pulling himself over to them. She didn't dare follow, afraid the bridge wouldn't take the weight. When she saw Bill start to come over, she put her hands up.

  "No! Let Nate get him. The bridge might fall if you get on, too."

  Bill saw that she was right and stayed on his side, wringing his hands in frustration.

  Nate reached them.

  "Grab Tyler," Cora said. "He's too heavy. I'm losing him."

  Nate leaned over Cora and took Tyler by the other arm. Cora held his hand as Nate swung him around. But the motion threw her off balance and the hand holding on to the pillar came lose. She went sliding down the tilted walkway, desperately trying to find purchase on the slick tile floor.

  "Cora!" Nate cried.

  She slowed her slide by tapping her foot on the nearest pillar, but that didn't stop her. She went over the edge and lashed out at the pillar, finally stopping herself by hanging on with one hand.

  "Nate!" she cried. "Help!"

  "Hold on, honey!"

  As quickly as he could, Nate pulled Tyler over to Rachel's end of the skybridge. When he was within reach, he slung Tyler over to her while holding on with the other hand. Rachel latched on to him and pulled Tyler into the building where he collapsed, stunned from the ordeal, but otherwise okay.

  Nate saw that he was safe and inched back out until he was even with Cora. He carefully gauged where he was, and then seeing no other way to get down to her, let go. He slid down on his back and hit the pillar with both feet to stop himself. The skybridge swung slightly at the jolt, but it held.

  With one hand on the pillar, he bent down to grab Cora's hand. She reached up with her free hand and missed once before finding Nate's waiting hand. She seized it.

  When she did that, Nate's balance was thrown off. He had miscalculated the amount of weight and didn't have himself properly set to help her up. With a cry of surprise, Nate fell backward, letting go of Cora.

  As the rest of them screamed, Nate and Cora Tinsley plummeted to the brown water swirling below.

  Chapter 37

  11:37 AM

  10 minutes to Second Wave

  The conditions at Wheeler Army Airfield were spartan, but Reggie Pona still had power for his laptop and an Internet connection thanks to the Air Force's backup electrical system. As soon as power had been lost from the island's main plants, the base's own generators had taken over.

  Reggie had been able to outrun the first wave and had finally gotten in contact with Hawaii Civil Defense. In the chaos, HCD had gone 30 minutes before realizing that they weren't getting updates from the PTWC anymore. When they finally called the Alaska warning center, Alaska immediately took over updating the Pacific nations about further tsunami readings, including the Miller Freeman's DART buoy. While Reggie had been en route, the DART buoy had registered a third wave at the height that they had projected an hour before. It would be 200 feet high when it hit Honolulu.

  Once Reggie got in touch with HCD, they had him picked up by one of the trucks evacuating from Pearl to Wheeler.

  Wheeler sprawled across the midsection of Oahu, at least five miles from the nearest shoreline. All air traffic that didn't have the fuel to turn back to the mainland was being diverted to Wheeler, since all of the other islands' major airports were situated only yards from their coastlines. In the case of Honolulu International, one of the runways actually jutted into the harbor, built on an artificial spit of land. Already, the Wheeler taxiways were jammed with Boeings and Airbuses from 17 different airlines.

  Reggie shared space with countless other displaced government agencies, including other NOAA officials, the National Weather Service, FEMA, even the FBI. All of their offices were located in the heart of downtown Honolulu. Most of those buildings had already been inundated, and the rest would be in the next hour.

  The only working land line telephones were reserved for the US military, and they were in short supply. The cell phone tower that his service linked to was still operating, and his cell phone had provided his best news of the day so far.

  Reggie had listened to the message from Kai three times to make sure he had the correct information. He tried calling Brad's cell phone back repeatedly with no success. He had no way to know if the subsequent messages he left had been received, but it didn't matter. Unless he could get a helicopter to them, all the messages in the world wouldn't save them.

  The number of helicopters available was not what it could have been. The sightseeing helicopters were ready to fly because they had been fully booked for the holiday. In contrast, many of the armed forces' helicopters were overseas, lacked pilots, or were destroyed by the tsunami.

  The US Army helicopters were based at Wheeler Field and Schofield Barracks, both in the center of Oahu far from the ocean, but two regiments of the 25th Infantry Division had been shipped to the Persian Gulf in March, so most of their choppers were 5000 miles away when the tsunami struck. And the Marine helicopters, based at Kaneohe Bay, were practically on the beach. When the warning had gone out, the pilots had either been at ceremonies far from their bases or had been on leave for the day. Few had time to get back before the firs
t wave hit and destroyed the helicopters as they sat on the tarmac.

  The choppers that were left zipped all over the islands, not just Oahu. With thousands of square miles of shoreline and ocean to cover, even the combined forces of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, civilian, and tourist helicopters were stretched thin.

  The evacuation had happened so quickly that coordination had been nonexistent. Only now was there some effort to parse out the available aircraft with some sort of organization. Even so, many pilots simply flew around looking for survivors who were still in the path of the tsunamis.

  While he had been trying to find a helicopter for Kai, Reggie had also been hard at work in the midst of all this chaos. Not only did he have to keep the Hawaiian authorities informed of new tsunami activity, but he had to keep the rest of the Pacific apprised of the danger. During the emergency, confusion had reigned, so some agencies hadn't gotten the updates from the Alaska warning center, and Reggie had been serving as the local contact in Hawaii.

  The PTWC was responsible for warning nations on half the Earth's surface about the coming waves. It still wasn't over for Hawaii, but it was just starting for 20 other countries and the mainland US, so Reggie had been talking with every major branch of the government, preparing them for what was about to happen. And the person from the government who offered the best possibility for a helicopter was standing right in front of him.

  "What about islands like Wake?" asked Stuart Johnson, an Air Force colonel who was acting as the military liaison to all of the American territories in the Pacific for the duration of the disaster. "We've got 200 contractor personnel stationed there."

  "Look," Reggie said, "Wake is way too flat for people to find any ground high enough to survive. The only thing they can do is get on a plane or a ship and get off the island." He hoped that building whatever rapport he could with Colonel Johnson would help pave the way for his request.

  "We're already doing that."

  "Then you'd better hope they're fast. The first wave will get there in about forty minutes."

  "What about Guam?"

  "They've got a few hours left. If it has land that's over 200 feet above sea level, they'll probably be OK."

  "Probably?"

  "Colonel, we're talking about a Pacific-wide mega tsunami. It's unprecedented in human history. This isn't an exact science. We're taking our best guesses with the data we have. But we estimate that the wave will substantially decrease in size as it gets farther from the impact zone."

  "Why? I thought waves could cross the entire ocean without losing much of its energy. You said that on an old file tape they showed on CNN 20 minutes ago."

  "Oh man. If you're confused, I can imagine what's happening on the mainland right now. That's for an earthquake-generated tsunami." Reggie drew a crude representation of a fault on his notepad, showing waves issuing from it. "It only goes in one direction, in a line. It's very focused. The waves from the meteor impact are in concentric circles, so the energy is spread out over the entire diameter of that circle. As the circle gets bigger, the same energy is spread out over a larger area, and the wave gets smaller."

  "So it'll be a lot smaller when it reaches the naval base at San Diego?"

  "I wouldn't call a 30-foot tsunami small. That's still huge, but it's nowhere near what we're seeing on TV now. With the amount of time they have to evacuate, everyone should be able to get to safety before it hits."

  "Dammit! What a mess." The colonel shot Reggie a nasty look, as if this were all his fault. "I guess I have a lot of work to do." He turned on his heel to leave, but before he got two step towards the door, Reggie shoved his huge bulk in front of him.

  "Colonel," Reggie said, "I need a favor."

  "I don't have time right now."

  "You'll make time. My boss is stuck on a building in Waikiki. I need a helicopter."

  "Everybody needs a helicopter."

  "This isn't just anybody! He's the frickin' director of the PTWC!"

  "I've got orders from General Lambert at CINCPAC that says our highest priorities are the major population centers. Besides that, I've got to warn every single base in the Pacific to evacuate."

  "But Waikiki is the biggest population center…"

  "Then the helicopters will get to them eventually."

  "Eventually?"

  "Look, Mr. Pona, I'm sorry about your friend, but I've got my orders and so do my helicopter pilots. Excuse me." He went around Reggie and into the next room, where he started talking with another officer.

  Fuming about being brushed off, Reggie made another phone call, this one to the HCD. After less than a minute of discussion, he walked into the room with Colonel Johnson, interrupting his conversation.

  "Pardon me, Colonel, but luckily I had another person who owed me a favor."

  "Look," the colonel said, exasperated at Reggie persistence, "I already told you I can't help you."

  "I really think you'd better take this phone call." Reggie thrust the cell phone toward the officer. Colonel Johnson eyed it suspiciously.

  "Why? Who is it?"

  "It's the governor. She wants you to give me a helicopter."

  * * *

  Teresa practically dragged Kai to where Mia was trapped. Instead of finding refuge in one of the ocean side rooms, Brad, Mia, and Teresa had hunkered down in the kitchen of condo 1004, on the side of the building facing the explosion.

  Kai was stunned by the sight of the ravaged condo. The entire exterior wall was in tatters, and bits of furniture and metal had been propelled into every surface. Even though the kitchen had been shielded from the worst of the blast, it hadn't come through unscathed.

  As Kai had covered Lani during the explosion, Brad did the same for Mia. When the blast caused a piece of the ceiling to cave in, a steel girder slashed into the wall on one side and smashed the counter on the other, pinning Mia and Brad at their midsections. Although Teresa had been only five feet away, the falling girder had missed her.

  "Are you OK?" Kai said to Brad.

  "Except for the fact that I can't move, I'm fine. I think Mia might have a broken leg."

  "Let's try pulling you." Kai gripped Brad by both hands and pulled until his full weight was into it.

  "Stop!" Brad cried. "It's not working. You're going to pull my arms off."

  Teresa bent over and caressed Mia's hair.

  "You're going to be all right, honey."

  Kai quickly inspected the foot-wide girder. The situation looked grim. The wall between the kitchen and the condo hallway had kept it from hitting the floor and crushing them, but that was about the only good news. Moving it was going to be a big job, and they only had a few minutes.

  "This thing must weigh a thousand pounds," Brad said.

  "And," Kai said, "it looks like the girder is wedged into that wall pretty solidly." To Mia, he said, "You can't move at all, sweetie?"

  Mia shook her head. "My leg hurts. Please don't leave us here."

  "No one's going to leave you," Kai said. "We're going to get you out."

  He led Teresa back to the hallway.

  "I'll be right back, Mia," she said as they left.

  "I need you to go down and check out Jake. Let us know what you find."

  "What about Mia?" Kai could see the desperation in her face.

  "I'll stay and try to figure out something."

  "How long do we have?"

  "Not long. No more than 10 minutes to the next wave. But that means we need to be out of here in five minutes so that we can get down and find another building to climb." Kai pulled the fire ax off the wall. It had survived the explosion, although the protective glass was gone.

  "What are you going to do with that?" Teresa said.

  "I don't know. It might come in handy."

  She eyed it suspiciously, and Kai understood what she was thinking, but amputation wasn't an option, not the way they were pinned. He tried to reassure her.

  "I'll be careful," he said. "We're going to try everyth
ing we can. The most important thing is to get that girder off of them."

  "I didn't come all this way to lose her now, Kai."

  Kai held her head in his hands. As gently as possible, he said, "I know. You are not going to lose her. But we need you to keep it together, OK?"

  She nodded. "You figure something out."

  "I will." He hugged her, and she hurried down the stairs. Kai headed back to Brad and Mia, ax in hand.

  * * *

  Teresa met Tom on the eighth-floor landing and quickly assessed his awkwardly askew arm.

  "Is it broken?" he asked.

  "No, it's dislocated. Where's Jake?"

  With his other arm, Tom pointed down the hall. Tom and Jake hadn't been able to get into any of the condo rooms. The hallway looked like a bomb had hit it, which was essentially what had happened.

  Tom had been thrown against the wall by a door blown off its hinges, causing the dislocation. Jake had not been so lucky.

  A jagged piece of metal about two feet in length had sliced through the wall like it was tissue. Jake sat against the opposite wall, the metal protruding from his chest, his hair filthy from rubbing against the muck coating everything. Blood covered the wall behind him and oozed from the wound. Teresa bent down to look at Jake. His breath was shallow, but it was there.

  "Can you help him?" Tom asked plaintively. "Is he dead?"

  Teresa was devastated at the sight of Jake because she realized that her decision to come with them was the reason he was here. A If she had just stayed behind, Jake would be safe.

  For a moment the guilt overpowered her, freezing her. With effort, she fell back on her medical training and put it aside. She had to make a choice, and her options were not good. It was a no-win situation. The problem was a classic dilemma. If she moved him, the shock might kill him. He'd already lost a lot blood, and any movement might cause further disruption of the wound. Ideally, paramedics would be brought in to stabilize him before he was taken away in an ambulance. But the likelihood of getting any kind of professional medics here in the next ten minutes was nil.