saving him was futile.
Jake let out a gurgling wheeze, and a trickle of blood ran from the corner of his mouth. His body shuddered for a moment and then was still. Teresa checked for a pulse, but found none.
'There's nothing I can do, Tom. He's gone.'
'No! You can do CPR or something.'
'Tom, I'm a doctor…'
'Then help him!'
'I can't. The injury was too severe. I'm sorry.'
As a teenage boy, Tom was probably unaccustomed to crying, but he sobbed uncontrollably at the sight of his dead friend. All Teresa could do was comfort him.
'I know, honey,' she said, hugging Tom, who buried his head in her shoulder.
'It's my fault,' Tom said between sobs. 'I convinced my mom and dad to let Jake visit us. He moved away two years ago…' He broke down again.
'It's not your fault. And I'm sure your mom and dad will be proud of what you did today. You saved the lives of my daughter and Lani. And so did Jake. You're heroes. I owe you everything for that.'
'Do you think my mom and dad are OK?'
Teresa didn't want to make any more promises she couldn't keep, but he obviously needed some reassurance. Besides, his parents would have evacuated at the first sirens. She thought back to her own search for Mia and hoped they hadn't tried to get to Waikiki to find him.
'I'm sure they're all right and worrying about you,' she said. 'Now I need you to focus on seeing your parents again. Can you do that?'
'I'll try. What about Jake? Are we just going to leave him there?'
'We have to,' Teresa said. There was no way that they could carry Jake's body with them. She thought about covering him, but even that minor decency would be rendered moot when the next tsunami came through, washing him to a watery grave.
Kai was in the hallway looking for something, anything, to help him pry Brad and Mia loose when he found Teresa and Tom trudging toward him.
Tom's face was flushed and tear-stained. He winced as he leaned against her, but his arm no longer dangled awkwardly.
Kai saw the bleak look on Teresa's face.
'Jake?' he said, knowing the awful answer.
She simply shook her head.
With that small movement, the reality of the situation solidified. Somebody Kai knew had died. A kid no more than 16 years old. It hadn't been Jake's fault. In fact, if he hadn't done so much to help them, Jake could have gotten to high ground and saved himself. Kai felt the blood drain from his face as guilt for his role in the boy's death overtook him, but he stifled the feeling. If he didn't send it to the back of his mind, he wouldn't be able to think of anything else. He needed to concentrate on the next task, which was saving his brother and Mia.
'How is she?' Teresa asked.
'She's holding up like a trooper, but she's in pain. I managed to clear off the lighter pieces of rubble, but I couldn't budge the girder. The ax didn't serve as much of a lever.'
'Maybe with the four of us, we can lift it.'
Kai was pretty dubious about that prospect, and it must have showed.
'What?' Teresa said.
'It's wedged in pretty good.'
'We won't know if we don't try.'
'You're right. Let's give it a go.'
'I'll help,' Tom said. He didn't look like he was in condition to contribute much strength, but anything would help.
They lined themselves up along the more exposed part of the beam: Teresa and Lani on one side, Tom and Kai on the other.
'On three,' Kai said.
On cue, they heaved with all their strength, which had by now been sapped by the rowing, running, and general stress of the situation. The girder didn't move a bit. They tried again, but the effort was pointless. They weren't going to get them out this way.
'It's no use,' Kai said.
'We need something stronger to jack it up,' Teresa said.
When she mentioned the word 'jack', Kai and Teresa looked at each other and realized what the answer was.
'Car jack,' they both said simultaneously.
They were going to have to make it quick. By this time, the streets were empty of water. The large number of cars strewn everywhere outside meant that there would be plenty of places to look for a jack, but the search might be hampered by the debris. And they wouldn't be able to get at a jack if a car was overturned, as many of them would be.
Kai glanced at his watch. Only seven minutes left. He did a quick calculation in his head. Assume one minute to get down to the street. Say three minutes to find a jack if they were lucky. Another two minutes to get back up. That only left one minute to jack up the girder, get down the building, run to another building, and run up the stairs. When he finished the mental arithmetic, he was stunned. They simply couldn't do it in time. Brad and Mia were going to die. And unless they left and didn't come back, the rest of them would too.
'There isn't enough time,' Kai said.
'I'm not leaving without Mia,' Teresa said. 'We are going to try, damn you!'
Kai looked at Teresa, Lani, and Tom, and he could see that they also couldn't stand seeing another person die if they could help it.
'All right. We can do this,' he said, trying to sound more positive than he felt. 'But I need all of you. The search for the jack will go faster.'
Kai couldn't help feeling that the situation was hopeless. But when they got to the open air of the stairwell, the glass windows long gone, he happened to glance past the now destroyed building behind them and felt a surge of hope recharge him.
Along the base of another building 200 yards away, Kai saw a partially obliterated sign, some of the letters washed away. But enough was left to remind him of an identical sign he had seen less than an hour before.
The sign said, 'DiA K ngs.' The logo of a diver flapped to the side. He had seen the same thing on a truck as they were entering Waikiki.
It was the logo for Dive Kings. A scuba shop.
Chapter 38
Max Walsh had to take a few second's rest after the first two trips carrying the disabled veterans up the stairs to the roof. Adrian Mendel looked just as tired as Max, who had finally deigned to take off his jacket and loosen his tie. Three of the vets were grossly overweight, tipping the scales at three hundred pounds, and the exertion required was overwhelming. If they didn't take a break, they might drop some of the people they were carrying.
Only ten people were left downstairs-some disabled who couldn't walk up on their own, and the spouses or loved ones who wouldn't come up without them. Those with cell phones had continued to try to call out, but without success.
While Adrian rested, Max went over to the edge of the roof and looked down at the skybridge 20 stories
