The roof of the office complex was multi-leveled, and they had landed on the lowest level. Kai could see where ladders to the higher levels had been ripped from their mountings.
After a minute, they reached the edge of the roof nearest the tower. They hadn't been able to spot any stairs leading from the roof. Kai peered over the side.
The water had completely drained, leaving behind the ubiquitous ooze glistening on the few chunks of grass that were left. Next to the control tower, a pile of debris that looked like remnants of an airplane rested against the side of the building. It was arranged in such a way that they might be able to climb down it.
'Shall we?' Brad said.
Kai was afraid it would crumble beneath them, but it seemed to be the only choice.
'Come on,' he said.
One at a time, they picked their way down. The junk was sturdy, only settling a couple of times as they descended.
The outside of the tower was blocked by the debris. The only way in had to be through the office building. Kai couldn't see any doors, but all of the windows were blown out, so he heaved himself over one of the sills and Brad followed.
The room was a standard office that had been scraped clean by the water. They emerged from the office to find a hallway leading in the direction of the tower. Rounding the corner, they found the door to the control tower stairwell had been ripped from its hinges.
Now Kai saw that the pile of debris didn't end outside. It was resting against the tower because it was part of a larger piece of the airplane that had broken through the tower's outer wall. On the piece of aluminum skin facing them, Kai could just make out a blue and white logo and the letters 'Tra.' It was the remains of a TransPacific airliner.
A portion of a wing surface blocked the stairs for two stories. Kai couldn't see any way around it. There was no way to get to their refuge.
Chapter 53
Kai leaned against the wall and slowly shook his head.
'It was my idea to land here,' he said.
'Don't beat yourself up about it,' Brad said. 'It was a good idea.'
'What was I thinking, Brad?'
'What do you mean?'
'I can't even save my own family. What made me think I could save everyone else?'
Brad started to speak, then stopped. His face had a puzzled look. 'Did you really think you could save everyone? That that was your job?'
'Of course that was my job!'
'No. It wasn't. Your job was to give everyone else a chance. To warn them. You did that. I saw you do it. You can't save everyone. People have to save themselves. You gave them a chance to do that. After that, it's up to the big man upstairs.'
Kai stared at Brad, truly surprised. He had never heard Brad mention any religious beliefs before. It just wasn't something they talked about.
Brad saw the stunned look and said, 'Hey, how do you think I got through that scuba diving bit? Now, enough with the pep talk. Let's go figure out another way out of this mess.'
With that revelation, Kai drew on Brad's strength and pulled himself together. If they were going to get out of this, Kai knew that slobbering self-doubt would not help them.
They climbed the debris back onto the roof and ran to the now-silent helicopter.
'So can we get up there?' Teresa asked. The others looked at Kai expectantly.
He shook his head. 'It's completely blocked. It'll take too much time to try moving it.'
'Oh, this is just perfect!' Chuck exclaimed before Brad shot him a look and shut him up. Denise ignored him, as if she wanted nothing more to do with him.
Stan seemed to be having a conversation on his headset.
'Stan,' Kai said, 'please tell us you found a helicopter.'
Stan wrapped up his discussion and removed the headset. He climbed out of the helicopter and looked up.
'No,' Stan said, 'I still can't find any. None will respond to my hails.'
'Then who were you talking to?'
'I have another pilot who says he might be able to get us.'
'You just said there weren't any other helicopters,' Chuck said.
'There aren't.' Stan pointed straight up. 'Look there.'
At first, Kai didn't see what Stan was talking about, mostly because he expected something else. Then he saw it directly overhead.
'That's a plane,' Chuck said, master of the obvious.
'Specifically, an Air Force C-130,' Stan said. 'He's got an alternative solution.'
Kai spun around. The runway next to the office building was pitted with holes where the concrete was torn up. The sections that were still intact were strewn with garbage and airplane parts.
'He'll never be able to land here,' Kai said.
'He says that he can spot a section of the reef runway that is clear. At least clear enough for him. Those babies can land on anything as long as it's flat.'
The control tower and its office building stood in the center of the airport. The reef runway was reclaimed land built on a coral outcropping at the airport's southernmost point.
'That's got to be a mile away,' Kai said.
'Given where he said he'd have to land,' Stan said, 'I'd say more like a mile and a half.'
Kai looked at his watch, which continued to tick despite all it had been through. Seven minutes left.
'We'll never make it, even if we all run.'
'We're not going to run,' Stan said. 'We're going to drive.'
Chapter 54
Brad spotted a section of the partially collapsed roof that they could easily slide down to get to ground level. When all of them were safely down, they started jogging in the direction of the reef runway. Brad carried Mia on his back, and Kai carried Lani. Teresa, Stan, and Tom jogged behind them. Chuck and Denise were in fairly good shape, so they could keep up. Not that any of them could go fast anyway. The muck was slippery, and there was standing water everywhere.
Just a few seconds into the run, Stan ran through what, on the surface, looked like just a shallow puddle. But when he stepped into it, his leg sank up to his knee, and he fell face first into a pool of water two feet deep.
'Dammit!' he cursed, sputtering the filthy water that he'd gotten in his mouth.
'You OK?' Kai said, helping him out.
'I'm fine. The water's so dirty, I couldn't see the hole.'
'Well, let's try to steer around water where we can't see the bottom.'
'You think?' said Chuck. 'You're a genius.' He kept running.
Brad made a move toward him, but Kai put his hand on Brad's shoulder and shook his head. They didn't need
