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 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 ocean-side 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 swept out to sea if he wasn't secured some way. 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 to where 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 to make sure that he didn't let go of the raft. The outflow continued to accelerate, and the water tugged harder at his clothes. Only a few minutes left. 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 would be secure as it inflated. He had to hold it in place as it inflated, or it would pop out of position. 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 fresh 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 come out. 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 outflow 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 butt, and the impact was enough to jar him loose from Tom's grip.
His body swung around, and the regulator ripped from his mouth. Kai was about to be swept out into the ocean, over fifty feet underwater.
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!'
'Momma, move your feet,' Jerry said.
'OK! I am 78, you know.'
'I know. You won't let us forget it.'
Doris finally swung her feet out of the way, and Rachel and Jerry draped themselves 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.'
The water was rapidly draining from the elevator. Sheila awkwardly swam over to their waiting arms. Her right hand grasped Rachel's, but she couldn't find purchase with Jerry. The car lurched from the weight of the water inside that wasn't draining as fast as the water outside.
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!'
'OK! OK!' Paige lowered herself from the 16th floor and lay down on the cab's roof. She grabbed part of the arm Rachel was holding, and together they heaved. Sheila must have weighed at least 250 pounds, so even with the three of them pulling, they were close to dropping her.
They pulled and got her high enough that her hand was even with the rim of the hatch.
'Grab on!' Rachel said.
'I'm trying!' Sheila said, coughing and sputtering salt water.
She steadied herself with both hands, allowing the three of them to adjust their grips. As they pulled her up like fishermen landing a prize tuna, Sheila retched and vomited onto the roof.
She caught her breath, and the others heaved sighs of relief as they sat up and rested. Although the elevator shaft was three cabs wide, neither of the other cabs was visible in the darkness. The water outside the elevator was down to the 15th floor and falling quickly, but the elevator cab itself was still half-filled. Another screech of metal came from the elevator rails, and the cab shuddered. Rachel saw the mass of water still in the elevator and realized they needed to get off the cab's roof.
Because she had been involved in all hotel inspections, Rachel knew the elevators in the Grand Hawaiian were rated to carry 2400 pounds. With half of the elevator full of water, it must have added thousands of pounds to the weight of the five people on the roof of the cab. Instead of the 12 passengers it was designed to hold, the elevator now supported the equivalent of 80 people, more than six times the weight limit.
Rachel stood, prodding Jerry up as well, and pointed at the opening to the lobby.
'Climb out that door now!' she yelled, but all she got was a confused look from the others before the bolt holding the elevator cable snapped.
The safety brakes on the elevator's guide rails automatically engaged, but not before the elevator dropped five feet, the bottom slamming into the surface of the water below.
The jolt threw Sheila and Doris flat. Paige was tossed toward the escape hatch, but she grabbed the rim before she fell in.
Rachel and Jerry, who had been standing closest to the edge, fell backward over the side of the elevator, where they splashed into the shaft's draining eddy of black water.
