Boyd Morrison - The Tsunami Countdown

“They only have ten minutes,” Kai said. “Call them right now. Let’s hope they have a boat.”

As Reggie ran to his cubicle to get the number and make the call, the office phone rang. It was Brian Renfro.

“I couldn’t get in touch with the vice director,” he said, “but I just got your tsunami warning, so I’m going to follow standard procedure. We’re trying to contact the governor now. The sirens will go off in a minute, and then I’ll start broadcasting our standard tsunami warning message on the EAS. Call me back if you get any new information. Especially if it’s a false alarm.” With that, he hung up.

“So HSCD is going to evacuate?” Brad said. “You know, your daughter—my niece—is at the beach today.”

“I know. Along with a hundred thousand other people.”

“So, shouldn’t we call Rachel and Teresa and let them know?”

Kai was tempted to set aside the duties of the job and warn his own family. If everyone did that, though, the entire system—the government, fire department, police department, emergency services—would grind to a halt. He had to trust that the warning system in place would work. But that didn’t mean that Brad couldn’t call them.

“Try Teresa’s cell. Her battery was dying, but she still might have it on. Then call Rachel and let her know what’s happening. All the hotels are part of the warning system, but it can’t hurt to call her anyway.” Kai handed Brad his cell phone. “She’s busy this morning, so she probably won’t answer it unless she sees that it’s my phone number. If she doesn’t answer, choose the pager option when you get her greeting, then dial 999. That’s our code for an emergency.” Kai had instituted the code three years ago when Lani broke her leg playing soccer and he wasn’t been able to get Rachel to answer her phone for two hours.

Brad took the phone and went into the conference room to make the call. Reggie almost knocked him over running into the ops center.

“I got ’em!” he said.

“The scientists? Thank God! How many are there?”

“Seven.”

“Do they have a boat?”

“No, but they have a plane. The weekly supply flight from Hawaii didn’t take the holiday off. But there’s a problem.”

Kai’s stomach sank. “With the plane? It can’t take off?”

“Oh, it can take off. In fact, they should be getting into the air in a few minutes. But it’s just a small supply plane. It can only take five of the scientists. Two of them will have to stay behind.”

At that exact moment, Kai heard the first wail of the tsunami siren.

10:05 a.m .

1 Hour and 17 Minutes to Wave Arrival Time

Realizing she could do nothing more for the Russian tour group until the interpreter arrived in about an hour, Rachel had turned her full attention to the most important event taking place at the hotel: the governor’s veterans brunch. The event had been under way for five minutes, right on time despite the ramp problem. Rachel stood at the back watching Governor Elizabeth Kalama give her speech, ready to make sure any potential issues were resolved quickly and quietly.

Because Rachel’s job was all about communication, she carried a walkie-talkie and cell phone at all times. The walkie-talkie was for in-hotel communications with the staff, and the cell phone connected her with external vendors and clients. Either one could go off at any time. This time it was her cell phone. She had it set to vibrate mode so that it wouldn’t interrupt the speech from the dais.

She pulled it from her belt and looked at the number. It was Kai’s cell phone. She sighed and replaced it on her belt, letting it go to voice mail.

After another few seconds her cell phone’s pager feature went off. She picked it up again and looked at the number typed in the display, expecting to see Kai’s cell phone number again. Instead, she saw 999. Their emergency code.

She called him back immediately.

“Kai?” she whispered. “What’s going on?”

“Rachel, it’s Brad.”

“Brad? Where’s Kai?”

“He’s busy. He wanted you to know that he just issued a tsunami warning.”

“Oh, no! Right now?”

“Yeah, you should be getting the official warning in a few minutes.”

“Oh my God! I’m at a brunch in our ballroom. The governor’s here.”

“Wait a sec.” She heard Brad in the background say, “She’s got the friggin’ governor with her.”

Kai’s voice came on the line.

“It’s me, hon.”

“So, a tsunami is really coming?”

“We don’t know for sure yet, but it looks like it.”

“Jesus! When is it supposed to get here?”

“In a little more than an hour.”

“An hour? You said that a tsunami from Alaska would take five hours to get here.”

“It’s not from Alaska.”

“A local one? The Big Island?” Rachel knew that a tsunami caused by landslides or earthquakes in the Hawaiian Islands would take less than forty-five minutes to reach Oahu.

“No, somewhere in the Pacific. Listen, Rachel, I’ve got to go. I’ll talk to you soon. Here’s Brad again. Be safe.”

A raspy sound came through as the phone got passed back.

“It’s me.”

“Hey, Brad,” Rachel said, “I’ve got to get things in motion here.”

“Wait, Rachel! Does Lani have a cell phone?”

Rachel just assumed Teresa had already been warned to take Lani and Mia to safety.

“Why?” she said. “What’s wrong? Is she okay? Where is she?”

“Slow down. I don’t know. I tried calling Teresa, but all I get is her voice mail. I was hoping Lani had a cell phone.”

“No. She’s going to get a new one for her birthday.”

“Well, I’m sure they’ll hear the sirens and get to high ground.”

“Brad, make sure they’re okay. Please? I won’t have time. I’ve got to get the hotel ready.”

“Don’t worry. I got it covered.”

Brad sounded confident, but then, he always sounded confident. She just had to trust him, so she hung up and turned her attention to her duties.

As the governor continued her speech, Rachel weaved her way through the tables of disabled vets. Because the Grand Hawaiian was a state-of-the-art Waikiki resort, it had a well-thought-out tsunami warning plan. The hotel ran drills every three months to familiarize the employees with the procedures in case of a tsunami. Rachel had been through two of them.

Procedure called for the first, second, and third floors to be evacuated and for all guests to be moved to a level higher than that. The ballroom was on the sixth floor, so she wouldn’t have to evacuate anyone at the brunch.

She spotted the governor’s assistant, William Kim, with whom she had coordinated the banquet. He had been an annoyance to her for a week now, changing every detail of the governor’s appearance five times. Giving him this news wasn’t going to be pretty.

“Mr. Kim,” she said in a low whisper, “I need to talk to you. Right now.”

She pulled him to the side of the room.

“What is it? I’m missing the governor’s speech.”

“A tsunami might be coming.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yes. The tsunami warning should come out any minute. You have to tell the governor.”

“In the middle of her speech?”

“Don’t you think it might be something she’d like to know as soon as possible?”

“So the tsunami warning hasn’t been issued?”

“It has. We just don’t have the official announcement.”

“Then how do you know—”

“My husband told me. He’s the—”

“Your husband?” he said with a snotty tone. “Mrs. Tanaka, the governor is running for the U.S. Senate next year, and there are some very important donors in the room. If I interrupt her, and you’re wrong—”