Boyd Morrison - The Tsunami Countdown

15 miles .

“Good God!” Pimalo asked. “The explosion was fifteen miles across?”

“At least the mushroom cloud was,” said Reggie.

Kai grimaced. He had hoped that the certainty that it was an asteroid would help him grasp the situation better, but if anything, he was in a daze. The abstract number crunching they had done when they were theorizing about the size of the asteroid was no longer abstract: it was real, and Kai sat for a moment processing it.

Reggie’s voice snapped him out of his trance.

“We’re getting another wave!” Reggie said, looking at the data coming in from the DART buoy. As before, the line rose inexorably, but this time it didn’t stop until it had reached 1.3 meters.

Brad, now knowing the implications of the reading, said, “Jesus!”

“What!” said the reporter Pimalo. “What does that mean?”

“The second tsunami,” Kai said, “is going to be over 150 feet high.”

“The second one? What do you mean, Dr. Tanaka? How many are there going to be?”

“There’s no way to know for sure. But we do know now that they are coming about twenty-five minutes apart.”

“So now we know what we’re dealing with,” Reggie said. “It’s not just a theory anymore.”

“Maybe people will realize they have to leave the high-rises now and get to high ground,” Kai said.

Lara Pimalo put a hand to her ear to listen to what the producer was saying to her. She waved to the cameraman to stop filming. After a second, she ran over to the TV and turned it to MSNBC. They were just rerunning the video of the wave hitting Ka Lae, the southern tip of the Big Island, with the two hikers consumed by the tsunami. Then the picture switched to the photos they had just seen from Landsat-8.

After the sequence of photos was shown, they kept repeating those shots in the upper right corner and switched back to video of Waikiki, where people were pouring out of buildings and running through the streets, some screaming, some lugging a ridiculous number of suitcases and electronics.

“I guess it worked,” Reggie said. “People are definitely leaving.”

“Not all of them,” Brad said.

For Kai, it was amazing and sad to see how quickly circumstances like these brought out the worst in some people who saw the disaster as an opportunity to take advantage of the situation. Farther down the street, two youths smashed in a plate glass window and grabbed several unidentifiable objects from the storefront. A policeman who had been directing traffic ran after them around the corner and out of sight.

“That stuff is going to be gone in a half hour anyway,” Brad said. “Might as well let them have it.”

The main picture then switched to an overhead shot from a helicopter hovering over Waikiki. It zoomed in to show Ala Wai Boulevard, which ran parallel to the Ala Wai Canal on the north side of Waikiki. People could be seen streaming toward it and then turning to follow it westward.

“Tourists who don’t know the city,” said Reggie. “It seems like the most direct route from the beach, but they don’t know there are no bridges over it. Locals would.”

“The closest bridge is McCully Street,” Kai said. “That could be a mile away if you’re heading from the east end of the canal.”

The view then changed to the camera in another helicopter, this one flying over the water off shore from Waikiki. The camera panned around and showed people still out in the water, some in boats, most on surfboards or small watercraft.

“What are they doing?” Kai said, turning up the volume. A woman’s voice, distressed, described the scene.

“… have apparently ignored warnings from the Civil Air Patrol to evacuate to land. I would like to repeat that this is an extremely dangerous situation, and you are recommended to stay as far away from the shore as possible.”

“Don’t those idiots hear the sirens?” Brad said.

“They might be too far from shore,” Reggie said. “That’s why the CAP does flyovers.”

The camera zoomed in on a surfer kicking lazily back to shore. Then it moved across two more surfers and slid over until it focused on four kayakers. They were paddling slowly back in the direction of Waikiki, parallel to the beach. The camera zoomed in.

“Oh my God,” Brad said.

On TV, the faces of the four were clearly visible now.

Kai didn’t know the boys, but he instantly recognized the two girls with them. With little more than half an hour before the largest tsunami in recorded history would strike Honolulu, his own daughter looked directly at the camera and happily waved.

10:51 a.m.

31 Minutes to Wave Arrival Time

It took Kai a minute to catch his breath after the shock of seeing Lani. The news report had gone on to another topic, but the video of her and Mia blithely kayaking, obviously unaware of the danger, still played in his mind’s eye. Fear gripped him, but he controlled it. It simmered just below the surface, propelling his actions. He leapt to his feet, certain about what he had to do next. “We’re leaving!” Kai said, herding everyone toward the door. “Reggie, how long would it take to transfer what we need to a laptop?”

“I’m way ahead of you. I’ve already copied everything over the network.”

“Good. You take it.”

“Who’s leaving?” said Lara Pimalo.

“You, me, everybody,” Kai said.

“But you said we have thirty minutes left.”

“We only have thirty minutes left,” Kai said, “and we’re on a flat section of land. You saw the traffic jams. It’ll take a while to get to high ground. You should drive as far as you can. But when you reach a backup, get out and start walking.”

“It sounds like we’re not going together,” said Reggie.

“We’re not,” Kai said, looking at Brad. “How fast could you get us to Waikiki on that thing?”

Brad raised an eyebrow, then nodded. Going after Lani was the only thing that would get Kai on that motorcycle; it was the only way to get through the traffic quickly. “You know how I drive. We’ll get there in time.”

Kai had made the decision to leave his post quickly, but that didn’t mean it had been easy. It was his duty versus his daughter, and his daughter would win every time.

“You’re going after Lani on that crotch rocket in this traffic?” Reggie said, sounding incredulous. “That’s suicide!”

“Maybe.” He just didn’t see any other option.

“We could try calling someone—”

Kai cut him off quickly. “No. With the way the phone lines are tied up, it might take half the time just contacting someone, let alone convincing them to go find her. I’m not taking that chance.”

“Then I can just go and you can stay with Reggie,” Brad said.

“That won’t work, and I don’t have time to explain why. It has to be both of us.”

Reggie nodded in agreement. “It’s what I’d do. But what about the tsunami data? What about warning the other Pacific islands? We still don’t know for sure if there are more waves coming.”

“I’m leaving that in good hands. You’re in charge now.”

“Me?” Reggie shook his head, his eyes wide at the thought of the responsibility. His face was two shades paler than a moment before. “But I don’t want—”

“Listen, I know I’m abandoning you at a critical time, and I’m sorry. But I need to do this.”

“Maybe Harry should take over. I know he’s on Maui, but—”

“Which is why you need to do it. Who knows what the situation on Maui is like? They may not even have phone service after the first wave hits. Come on, Reggie. You know as much as I do—probably more. What’s the problem?”