Boyd Morrison - The Tsunami Countdown

“I’ve got Tom and Lani secured,” Teresa said.

Kai quickly inspected her work.

“Nice job,” he said. “Those should hold. Let’s get Mia and Brad tied up too.”

“Why? They’re already stuck there.”

“You don’t understand the power of water. The pressure alone might drag one of them out. If that happens, they’d be swept away.”

They rapidly tied the ropes around Brad and Mia together.

“Now it’s your turn,” Kai said.

He threw the rope around the girder and encircled her midsection with it.

“What about you?” she said.

“I’ll do my own. I want to be next to Lani.”

Tom had already screwed the regulator hoses onto each tank. Each unit had an octopus hose with a second breathing regulator attached to it. In scuba diving, you always had one regulator for yourself and a spare one that dragged along behind you to be used by your buddy if his air ran out.

In this case, that meant they only needed three tanks for the six of them: one for Brad and Mia, one for Teresa and Tom, and one for Kai and Lani.

“Test them out,” Kai said to all of them. “Make sure they work.”

If they didn’t, the only thing they could do was share a regulator, but buddy-breathing with the water pulling at them would be difficult, if not impossible. Fortunately, all of the regulators were delivering air.

Kai secured the dive light to his wrist and snaked the last of the rope around the girder and the life raft. Since they hadn’t had time to get Mia and Brad free, they wouldn’t have a chance to use the raft with the coming wave. He snapped the nylon strap from Reggie’s dry bag—which still held Brad’s cell phone, the walkietalkie, and the photo album—around one of the ropes.

As they finished tying themselves down, Kai heard a sound that was both uplifting and heartbreaking.

“Just in time,” Brad said.

Through the open windows came the sound of beating helicopter rotors hovering directly above them: the chopper Kai had requested from Reggie. He had come through for them, but the timing couldn’t have been worse.

Kai wouldn’t have left Brad or Mia anyway, even if the helicopter had come earlier, but he briefly considered sending Tom and Lani up. With all of them tied up, it would take them minutes to get untangled and attempt to climb the blast-shattered stairs to the roof. He dismissed the idea, no matter how tempting the helicopter sounded. They’d certainly be caught by the wave before they got to the roof.

After a few seconds the helicopter crew must have decided that no one was there to be rescued and went on to another building.

“They were so close,” Lani said.

As depressing as the situation was, there was no reason to dwell on it. They had more pressing issues.

“Okay, everyone,” Kai said. “The current is going to be stronger than anything you’ve ever felt. The important thing is to keep your regulator in your mouth. Keep it clenched tightly between your teeth, and use your hands to hold it on. We don’t have masks, so keep your eyes closed. There’s going to be a lot of debris flowing past us, so try to protect your head as much as you can. This is going to be tough, but it’s not impossible. We can do it.”

“And we’ll jack them out when the water recedes?” Teresa said.

“Absolutely.” Kai patted the jack, which he had lashed against the girder, just next to his tank.

Everyone grew silent as they sensed something change in the air. In the distance, Kai could make out the first inklings of the now-familiar roar they had heard only twenty minutes before.

He strained against his ropes and could barely see through the blown-out door of the condo on the other side of the hallway. The window frame twenty-five feet away perfectly framed the blue sky to the south. Normally, this far from the ocean-side window ledge, he’d be able to see the water only at the distant horizon. But even from his awkward vantage point, Kai could see that the crest of the second tsunami, rushing across Waikiki Bay at forty miles per hour, was already higher than they were. Although seeing a tsunami firsthand was no longer novel to him, it was breathtaking nonetheless.

Kai gripped Lani’s hand tightly.

“Here it comes!” he yelled. “Everybody brace yourselves!”

Then Kai clenched the regulator in his mouth and steeled himself for the impact of a billion gallons of water.

11:47 a.m .

Second Wave

The remnants of the skybridge swayed in the breeze, screeching where the metal rubbed against the side of the Moana tower of the Grand Hawaiian. Bill Rogers had been able to hold on, but he struggled to pull himself up onto the pillar that he was dangling from. Paige looked down helplessly from the safety of the building not more than ten feet away. “Mommy, help Daddy!”

Paige’s daughter Ashley had wandered away and was now standing at the edge of the broken skybridge. Paige yelped and snatched the girl back from the six-story precipice.

“Honey, wait over by that door.” Paige pointed at the stairwell exit sign.

“But Daddy—”

“You have to do what I tell you so that I can get Daddy, okay?” Ashley grudgingly nodded and retreated to the door. Paige returned to see Bill clinging to the tenuously attached remnants of metal. The pillar was bending from his 250-pound weight now that it was not firmly anchored at both ends. It was all he could do to keep from falling. There was no way he’d be able to climb up on his own.

“Bill, I’m going to find something to lower down to you.”

“Is Ashley okay?” Bill yelled.

“She’s fine.”

“Good. Hurry. I can’t hold on much longer.”

Paige went to find the only thing she could think of that would be both strong enough and likely to be found somewhere nearby. A fire hose.

“Stay there!” she told Ashley.

She ran toward the ocean side of the building, hoping to find a hose still in its hallway glass storage case. Given the extent of damage from the previous wave, it could be in any state.

That’s when she heard the tsunami. Paige saw the foamy white line building and cascading across the bay and realized that she had no more time to find something to lower to Bill. She would have to do it herself.

Paige ran back to the skybridge. From his vantage point, Bill had already seen the tsunami.

“Did you find anything?” he said.

“I didn’t have time. I’m going to climb down onto that pillar above you and grab your hand.” She began to lower herself over the edge.

“No!” screamed Bill. “The skybridge can’t take your weight too. We’ll both go down.”

“Then what should I do?”

As the freight-train roar of the wave got louder, Bill gave Paige a look that was both sad and loving.

“Go.”

“No!” Paige sobbed when she understood what her husband meant. “I’m not doing it!”

“Paige, you have to get Ashley to safety. You have to be their mom.”

“No! No! You’re coming with me!”

“Paige, I won’t let you die trying to save me. Go!”

“You don’t have a choice. I’m not leaving you!”

The wave was no more than five hundred yards away.

“I’m not leaving you!” she repeated.

“I understand. It’s not your fault. I love you!”

And with that, he let go.

“Bill!”

The six-story plunge was mercifully short. His broken body lay motionless on the debris below. Paige stepped back, wailing in anger and grief. She leaned against the wall, rooted to the spot as she sobbed.

The riotous sound of the wave shook her loose. The water was almost upon them. She had to make sure that her daughter was safe, that her husband hadn’t sacrificed himself in vain.