“The kayaks are back at our condo,” Tom said. “We were going to go this afternoon when my parents got back.”
“They’re sit-on-tops,” Jake said. “And we’ve got life jackets and paddles.”
“We’ll be back in a minute,” Tom said.
While Tom and Jake sprinted across the street and disappeared into a parking garage, Lani gave Mia a crash course on the kayaks. Instead of enclosing the kayaker inside like a river kayak, the plastic shell of a sit-on-top kayak was molded so that the seat perched on top. Although sit-on-tops were better for warm weather because you didn’t get as hot, they were also less stable. Mia wasn’t happy to hear that, given her inexperience, but Lani tried to reassure her that paddling in them was easy.
Tom and Jake came trotting back carrying one kayak each over their heads. The kayaks didn’t look that much different from the ones Lani had been on before: about eleven feet long and bright yellow, with black nylon around the seating area.
“Maybe when we’re done kayaking,” Tom said, “we could go get some lunch somewhere. My mom left her credit card for us.”
“In that case, definitely!” Mia said.
The boys high-fived, then turned and ran back to get the other kayaks and gear.
“What about your mom?” Lani said, awed at Mia’s brazen flirting.
“I’ll think of something.”
In another five minutes, all of them had their life vests on, and the kayaks were bobbing in the gentle surf. To the left were the enclosed waters of Kuhio Beach, protected by a breakwater. To the right, waves crashed into the beach, but the sea was mild where the kayaks floated.
“Shouldn’t be too bad getting past the waves today,” Jake said.
Lani saw that Mia was apprehensive. She lowered her voice to give Mia some tips.
“Just keep the kayak pointed straight out. There’s an undertow at this point, so the waves will be small.”
Mia waded up to her knees and sat on the side of the kayak to get in. She slipped off and sank to her shoulders. Jake laughed but rushed over to pick her up. She tentatively balanced herself on his arm as she climbed in. After two more false starts, she finally perched primly on the kayak.
“You sure you’ve done this before?” Jake said.
Mia nodded. “It’s been a while since I did it the last time.”
“We’ll head out past the breakers,” Tom said. “Then maybe we could turn and head up toward Diamond Head. I’ve heard there are some killer houses along the beach there, but they’re hard to see except from the ocean.”
They started paddling. When the first waves broke over the front of their kayaks, Mia let out a little scream. Lani laughed. She was finally in her element.
“Come on,” Lani said. “It’s not that bad.”
“Remember to put the paddle sideways into the water, Mia!” Tom yelled. “Come on!”
The boys pulled forward easily, and they looked a little surprised to see Lani keep up with them. Mia fell behind immediately, her paddling technique abysmal. But with a few more minutes of practice, and with the others slowing down, she was able to keep up. The trip out took longer than expected as they fought the stiffened breeze coming off the ocean. After twenty minutes they were about a half mile out and turned east toward the towering walls of Diamond Head.
As they came around, Lani thought for a second that she heard a sound coming from the direction of the shore. But the wind picked up again, whistling as it whipped over the water, and she couldn’t even hear the roar of the surf.
SIXTEEN
Reggie made contact with Dr. Niles Aspen, the lead scientist on Johnston Island. After Reggie explained the situation over the satellite link, the scientists scrambled to get as many people into the supply plane as they could. But two would have to stay behind, including Aspen. Kai just had to hope the biologist could find a building sturdy enough to withstand a potential tsunami. Aspen would call back when he was at a safer location. Brad had no more success getting in touch with Teresa and the kids, but the sirens would be impossible to ignore. Kai was confident that they’d follow the other tourists off the beach. Still, he’d feel better when he knew Lani was safe. He tried not to let his worries distract him from his work.
“Let’s go over this again,” Kai said, turning his attention back to the problem at hand. “We’re still missing something.”
Reggie leaned back in his chair and put his hands behind his head as he thought out loud.
“Okay, let’s see. There is virtually no chance that an under-sea earthquake that small could cause any kind of sizable tsunami, let alone one that could destroy Christmas Island.”
“Why not?” asked Brad. Kai started to tell Brad to butt out from habit but changed his mind when he realized Brad’s questions might help them look at the situation in a new light.
“No quake that small has ever generated an ocean-wide tsunami,” Kai said, “unless the earthquake triggered a landslide.”
“Okay. So what about a landslide?”
Reggie and Kai looked at each other and shook their heads.
“Maybe,” Kai said.
“‘Maybe’?” Brad said. “All you have is ‘Maybe’?”
“Look, we just don’t have any reason to suspect that that region of the Pacific would be prone to landslides. Underwater landslides usually occur near the edge of a continental shelf, but the region we’re talking about is nowhere near a continental shelf.”
Reggie threw up his hands. “So we have an earthquake that’s too small to generate a tsunami, no known landslide risks, no sensor reading from Christmas Island, and no way to get in touch with anyone there.”
“And,” Kai said, “the earthquake was in a location where no quake has ever been recorded before.”
“So you’re saying the tsunami came out of nowhere?” Brad said.
At that moment, Kai happened to look up at one of the TVs. CNN was running the story of the missing TransPacific flight, the TransPac logo prominent in the corner. Then the image shifted to a graphic of the Pacific Ocean. A line stretched from Los Angeles and abruptly ended in the middle of the ocean due south of Hawaii.
“That’s funny,” Kai said. “It looks like the plane went down where the earthquake epicenter …”
And that’s when it hit him. It was incredible, but it was the only explanation they hadn’t considered.
“It can’t be,” he said.
“What?” Reggie said.
“We’ve completely ignored one possibility. It’s crazy, but everything fits. I hope to God I’m wrong—knock on wood.” Though not normally superstitious, Kai rapped the frame of the cork bulletin board on the wall. But it didn’t matter: he knew he was right.
“What are you talking about?” Reggie said.
“Okay,” Kai said, “here’s the deal. Remember that discussion we had about Crawford and Mader?”
Reggie furrowed his brow for a second, then snapped his fingers and smiled. “Right! Yeah, I said their research was fun, but it was a waste of time. You said—”
Reggie abruptly stopped, his smile vanishing. He looked at Kai incredulously, and Kai could tell he’d struck a nerve. Kai nodded toward the TV, which still showed the map. For a moment Reggie looked at the television, baffled at the connection. Then his expression changed to horror.
In that instant, he knew too.
Reggie launched himself out of his chair. “You’re not serious!”
