Boyd Morrison - The Tsunami Countdown

But there were also great risks with that plan. First, they’d only get one chance. If it wasn’t placed properly, the raft would inflate, pop out of position, and float right out of the building. Second, there was no guarantee that it wouldn’t burst if it was pinned in one spot by the girder. To make matters worse, the inflation would not be controlled. Once Kai pulled the trigger, the raft would inflate completely. If the girder fell off or the raft exploded, the beam might fall on any one of them, including Brad and Mia. They would be pushing their luck.

Kai felt himself being pulled toward the ocean. They didn’t have much time before the water finished flowing back into the bay, leaving them high and dry. Once the water was gone, the raft would be ineffective. If he was going to try it, it would have to be now.

The building groaned under the changing motion of the water, indicating that it only had a few minutes of life left. It wasn’t going to stand up to a third wave. The raft was their only option. Kai had to take the chance.

Kai pulled out the dive knife and sawed carefully at the rope tied around the life raft, making sure not to nick the raft’s fabric. It took him about a minute to cut through. By that time the pull of the water had strengthened, and Kai wasn’t expecting the raft to come loose so easily. It dropped from his hands and threatened to float away.

Lani had been watching him, and her hands shot out to catch the raft. Kai stuffed the knife back in its sheath and took the raft from her.

The girder was horizontal, with each end embedded in the drywall on either side. It looked like the explosion had ripped both ends of the girder from its welds, but the end Kai was closest to—the end extending toward the demolished building outside—left no space between the wall and Brad. Inflating the raft there would risk crushing him. That meant Kai would have to place the raft under the girder on the south wall.

But that side of the girder was out of reach.

Kai thought he could explain what he was planning well enough with hand gestures so that everyone would be ready, but he didn’t trust his signing ability enough to tell someone else where to place the raft. He would have to get free of the rope and place it himself.

Kai tapped Brad on the shoulder and showed him the life raft. Kai motioned that he should be ready to get himself and Mia out when the girder lifted up. Brad gave a thumbs-up. Kai took it to mean that Brad wanted to get the damn thing off of him.

Since Teresa and Tom were the closest to where Kai would need to be to place the raft, he motioned to them to grab his feet. The flow of the water started to pick up, and he was afraid he’d be taken by the ebb if he wasn’t secured. Kai didn’t want to take the extra time to tie himself up again when he was in place.

Kai cut himself free, and as he was about to push off, he realized that the regulator hose wouldn’t reach as far as he needed to go. Even if he were cut loose, he would have to go without air. Then he saw that Teresa could just barely reach his hose. Kai proposed trading regulators, and she nodded. They each took a deep breath and passed their regulators to each other.

With his ankles now held by Teresa and Tom, Kai paddled over to the other end of the girder, careful not to let go of the raft. The flow continued to accelerate, and the water tugged harder at his clothes. He’d have to make this quick.

The regulator attached to the tied-down air tank abruptly snapped his head back, still two feet short of the corner where he thought the raft should be placed. He had to hold it in position as it inflated, or it would pop out. There was no other way of keeping it there, no way to do this without leaving his air behind.

Kai took a last puff of air and dropped the regulator. He pulled himself even with the wall, shoved the raft into position, and ripped the inflation cord.

The sound from the rushing gas filled their chamber. The raft inflated asymmetrically, pushing one end out toward Kai while the other end was still flat. He had to push it farther in, or all this would be for nothing.

He braced his shoulder against the wall and pushed with his right hand until the raft was directly under the girder. With the dive light strapped to his wrist, Kai could see that the raft was beginning to compress as it reached the heavy steel above it.

At first nothing moved. If Kai wasn’t already holding his breath, he would have done it then.

Then the miracle happened. The girder groaned and began to move ever so slightly. Kai had no idea how far it had to come up to let Brad and Mia get out, so he just kept his eye on the raft to make sure it didn’t shift. Not that there was much he could do if it really wanted to squirt out.

As the raft continued to inflate, the girder moved up and up, guided by the slash in the wall that it had made. When it had risen a foot, Kai heard a grunt from Brad’s direction. He was struggling to get free.

Kai was almost out of breath, but his work was complete. The pull of the retreating water was now as strong as the incoming tsunami had been. He struggled back to Tom and motioned for the regulator. Kai felt around for the tank and then followed the hose up to the mouthpiece. He stuck it in his mouth, and just before he couldn’t hold his breath any longer, he pushed the button to clear the regulator. Clean, dry air filled his starved lungs.

Kai took several deep breaths, holding on to the tank with one hand. Tom clenched his arm with his good hand. But before Kai could grab on to Tom’s rope with his other hand to steady himself, a huge piece of debris struck him on its way out of the building. Kai couldn’t tell what it was—maybe something freed when the girder had been lifted up. But it hit him in the back, and the impact was enough to jar him loose from Tom’s grip.

Kai’s body swung around, and the regulator was ripped from his mouth. He was about to be swept out to sea.

With the waterfall coursing through the elevator’s escape hatch, the cavity filled quickly. Just as Rachel and Jerry could finally reach the outstretched arms of Jerry’s mother, Doris, the water level began to drop. With the two of them pulling, they were able to carefully drag the drenched woman up onto the roof.

“Are you all right?” Rachel said.

“I’m fine,” Doris said, panting. “Just let me catch my breath for a second.” Her feet still dangled over the edge of the hatch, blocking access to Sheila, who splashed in the dark elevator below.

“Get me out of here!”

“Mama, move your feet,” Jerry said.

“Okay! I am seventy-eight, you know.”

“I know. You won’t let us forget it.”

Doris finally swung her feet out of the way, and Rachel and Jerry leaned down through the hole. The swirling water had taken Sheila to the side of the cab.

“Swim over here,” Rachel said. “We can’t reach you.”

Sheila awkwardly swam over to their waiting arms. Her right hand grasped Rachel’s, but she couldn’t find purchase with Jerry.

The water level in the elevator shaft began to fall rapidly, but the water inside the cab could only escape through the narrow slit between the elevator doors. The cab lurched from the weight of the excess water.

Rachel, her hands slick from the water and sweat, almost dropped Sheila, whose thrashing made holding on even more difficult. Sheila finally found Jerry’s hand, but with the water supporting less of her considerable heft, her weight threatened to pull both Rachel and Jerry down into the cab with her.

“Paige!” Rachel grunted. “Come down here quick! We need your help.”

“No! My kids!”

“Please!” Doris said. “She’s my child!”

“Paige! I’m losing hold of her!”