“Kai!”
She threw her arms around his neck and buried her face in his shoulder. Then she pulled away. The people in the group she had been leading stopped, appraising them from across the lobby.
“What are you two doing here?” Her voice rose an octave when she realized they wouldn’t have come without good reason. “What’s wrong? Oh my God! Lani! Where is she?”
“Have you seen Teresa?” Kai asked. “Brad told her to come here.”
“No. Where are they? Didn’t they get away?”
“We saw Lani and Mia. They’re in the ocean, kayaking off Waikiki somewhere.”
“What! How do you know that?”
“There’s no time to explain. We need to get to them before the tsunami arrives. We’ve got about ten minutes—”
As Kai spoke, Teresa blew into the hotel lobby. She had been running and was obviously frantic. The girls weren’t with her.
“Thank God you’re here!” Teresa said. “Have you seen Mia or Lani? I can’t find them anywhere.”
“They’re on kayaks somewhere in the bay.”
“What? Did they call you?”
“Where in the bay?” Rachel said.
“I don’t know,” Kai said. “The recreational equipment—is it still out?”
Rachel immediately understood what he meant. “Yes, down by the beach—”
A boy who was about fifteen years old ran into the lobby. Kai had never seen him before, but he looked exhausted.
“Lani’s mom!” the boy yelled. “Lani’s mom!”
For a moment they all stood stock-still, their mouths agape. Brad was the first to go over to him.
“You’re the kid from the video,” he said. “On the kayaks.”
In his shock at seeing Lani and Mia on TV, Kai had barely registered the boys with them, but Brad had always been more observant than he was.
Teresa, Rachel, and Kai rushed over and began to pepper him with questions.
“Where are they?”
“Aren’t they with you?”
“Can you show us where they are?”
The boy looked befuddled. He was tired and his chest was heaving.
“They’re still out there,” he gasped. He could barely get the words out between breaths. “In the bay. Mia was paddling too slow, so I went ahead. When I got to shore, I could only see two of them. I don’t know what happened.”
Kai grabbed his arm. “You’re going to show us where they are.”
“What?” Rachel said. “This kid can barely walk.”
“Rachel,” Kai said, “without him, we may not find Lani in time.”
“I’m fine,” the boy said. “How are we going to get them? Do you have a boat?”
“The hotel rents Jet Skis down at the beach. Let’s hope they’re still there.”
“Then what?” Rachel said. “The wave—”
“I’ve got a plan.” Kai nodded at Rachel and Teresa. “But you two need to leave now. Rachel, take the hotel’s rental bikes—”
“I’m going with you,” said Teresa.
“I don’t have time to argue—”
“Then don’t. That’s my daughter out there. You can’t stop me. I’m going.”
Kai didn’t waste time on it. She was coming.
“And I’ve got to stay with my guests,” Rachel said.
Kai pulled Rachel aside.
“You can’t stay here,” he said. “The biggest wave might be over two hundred feet high. This hotel is right on the beach. I don’t know if it can stand up to a tsunami that big.”
“I’ve got to help these people. I’m responsible for them. I’ll get them out. Somehow.”
Kai felt his heart skip a beat, and his eyes welled with tears. He couldn’t bear the thought of never seeing her again. He didn’t know what was going to happen, but he was never more proud of her. In those few seconds, Kai could see the same thing flashing through her mind.
Rachel slipped her walkie-talkie off her belt and tucked it into Kai’s dry bag.
“I’ll use Max’s. I may not be able to get through to you on the cell phone. I want to know that you’re all right.”
“Thanks.”
They shared a tender, warm kiss, the one they had missed earlier in the morning. Kai wanted to hold her longer, but neither of them could linger another moment.
“I love you.”
“I love you too.”
He looked at her one last time and then sprinted for the door, following Brad, Teresa, and the boy.
Rachel yelled after Kai, “Call me when you’re safe!”
On hearing that, Kai’s mind flashed back to Lani eagerly waving to the camera on the news chopper, and it became clear to him how Rachel should get her guests out of the hotel. Just before he dashed out into the sunlight, Kai stopped and shouted one word to her:
“Helicopter!”
THIRTY-TWO
Brad, Teresa, the boy, and Kai tore down to the beach as fast as they could. The sun neared its apex, and the bright blue sky and perfect temperature posed an odd juxtaposition to the panic Kai felt. The path was littered with objects people had tossed aside as they made their mad dash to escape. Beach towels, various types of clothing, sunglasses, a volleyball, pool chairs— the kinds of items that would normally signal a fine day of vacation were now useless, even a hindrance. “What’s your name?” Kai asked the boy between breaths.
“Jake.”
“Thanks, Jake. Thanks for coming.”
“No problem.”
“I’m Kai, Lani’s dad.”
They huffed to a stop in front of four Jet Skis that rested on the beach undisturbed. Because all the beaches in Hawaii were public, the Grand Hawaiian couldn’t build an outbuilding or pier on its property, so they rolled the Jet Skis down to the beach every morning on trailers and left them there all day to be used by the guests. The Jet Skis would typically be watched over by someone from the hotel, but now the beach was nearly deserted.
Three of the four in front of Kai were the smaller, two-person variety, the other a larger, three-person craft. The staff had left in such a hurry that they hadn’t bothered to get the trailers to move all of them back to the hotel—just as Kai had hoped.
“Where are the girls?” he said to Jake.
Jake pointed toward Diamond Head. “That way. I came ashore near the Marriott.”
“Can you see them?” Kai said.
“I think so,” said Brad, his hand shielding his eyes from the sun.
“Do you know how to ride one of these?” Kai said to Teresa. He didn’t have to ask Brad, who Kai knew had one of his own sitting in his garage.
