Everyone whooped with joy, and Brad leaned out of the window.
“Anyone want a ride?”
Kai put Mia in the backseat and jumped in the front passenger seat next to Brad. The rest of them climbed into the rear.
When they were all aboard, Brad jammed the pedal to the floor, and they hurtled forward.
“Why don’t you let the captain know we’re on our way? I’d better keep my eyes on the road.”
Kai picked up the transmitter.
“Captain, this is Kai Tanaka, one of the people you so kindly agreed to pick up. We’re out of the mud and on our way.”
“Good. What’s your ETA?”
“I think it took Peabody about two minutes to get here, so I’m guessing the same for the trip back. Captain, can you see if the water is receding?”
“What?”
“If you can see the shoreline moving seaward, that means the tsunami is almost here.”
There was silence on the other end for a second, as if they were discussing something. Then he came back on.
“Uh, Mr. Tanaka,” Wainwright said. “The shoreline is so far out, I can hardly see it. Make it quick. I mean
“You better believe it,” Brad said.
Brad followed the tracks that Peabody had made getting to them as closely as he could, knowing that the path was safe. It was the bumpiest ride Kai had ever experienced, and the people in the back were thrown around viciously.
After another minute they were back on smooth concrete, and it was a straight shot to the plane directly in front of them.
“Look at that,” said Peabody. The sight was familiar to everyone else, but he was in awe at seeing it for the first time. In the distance, the ocean rose precipitously. Kai had lost track of time, and now they were out of it. The massive tsunami kept climbing into the air as it rushed toward the runway. It looked to be about a half mile from the end of the runway where the C-130 sat.
Captain Wainwright came back on.
“Do you see that, Mr. Tanaka?”
“We see it. How long will it take you to lift off the runway from a dead stop?”
“It’ll take a little longer because of the state of the runway. Maybe thirty seconds.”
Kai did the mental calculation. Without time to analyze the data, he couldn’t be sure of anything. But he couldn’t take the chance, and so he made the call.
“Start your takeoff roll now,” Kai said.
“What? But you’re less than three hundred yards away! We’re not leaving without you.”
“Believe me, I don’t plan on you leaving us.”
“Then we’ll wait.”
“Captain, you don’t understand. Waiting will kill us all. If you don’t start your takeoff roll right now, that plane will never get off the ground.”
FIFTY-SEVEN
The C-130’s propellers spun up to full speed in preparation for takeoff. “Are you insane?” Chuck screamed. “You just told him to take off without us!”
Kai ignored him.
“Listen to me, Captain,” he said, not only for Wainwright’s benefit, but for everyone in the Humvee. “We’re going to come up behind you and jump onto the cargo door, so keep it lowered.” They couldn’t drive onto the plane because, although the door was lowered, it couldn’t contact the runway during takeoff. “That way, you can take off as soon as we’re all on board.”
“I get it. A running start. I’ll keep the speed down as long as I can, but I’ve only got about six thousand feet of clear runway, and there’s a big-ass hole at the end. We’re on our way.”
The plane lurched forward and started moving down the runway. The Humvee was now only two hundred yards behind and closing quickly.
“Let’s change places,” Kai said to Brad.
“No way! You know I’m the better driver.”
“I don’t care. Move!”
“It’s too dangerous. And you’re crazy if you think I’m stopping.”
Kai lowered his voice.
“Brad, someone’s got to be at the wheel to hold it steady while the rest of us get on. And I don’t see a cruise control.”
Brad let it hang there for a second without answering. “I’ll figure something out,” he finally said.
“What?”
“I’ve got an idea.”
“What?”
“Dammit, Kai! I don’t have time to explain. Let me concentrate.”
The huge tail of the C-130 loomed in front of them. An Air Force crewman stood at the back of the plane, hanging on to a strap and beckoning them to get closer.
To their left, the tsunami grew to gigantic proportions, heading at them on an angle. It wouldn’t swamp the runway all at once, but would hit the part in back of them first. Because of the angle, the wave would be chasing them down the runway at an effective speed of about 150 miles an hour, far above the Humvee’s top speed of seventy.
Their closing speed with the aircraft slowed, but Brad had the accelerator floored. Kai could see the airman in the plane talking into a headset, and the plane decelerated a little, allowing them to catch up.
When the Humvee was within five feet of the plane, Chuck jumped up from the rear truck bed. He scrambled over the cab and onto the hood directly in front of Brad.
“You idiot!” Brad yelled. “I can’t see!”
“Wait until he’s closer!” Kai yelled to Chuck.
But Chuck didn’t listen. In his impatience to get on the plane, he couldn’t wait until they got closer than three feet. He ran forward, and just as he was about to jump, the Humvee hit a piece of debris on the runway.
The jolt sent Chuck reeling sideways, and before the airman in the plane could grab him, he fell off the side of the Humvee and tumbled onto the runway.
Denise screamed as she watched Chuck’s cartwheeling body. Kai didn’t say what he was thinking, which was that even if Chuck survived the fall, there was no time to turn around and get him.
The Humvee rammed against the back of the C-130.
“Now!” Kai said as he crawled into the backseat. “Hurry!”
Denise, Peabody, Tom, and Stan, who were in the back of the Humvee, climbed onto the roof. Kai followed Teresa and Lani out the open back window, then pulled Mia through.
Tom and then Denise quickly crossed to the plane without incident. Peabody was next. With his blurred vision, he misjudged the step onto the cargo door. He lost his footing on the front of the hood and dropped onto his back, his butt suspended in a space that had opened up between the C-130 and the Humvee.
There was no way Peabody could pull himself up. The airman inside the plane let go of his strap, but he couldn’t reach Peabody’s hand. Stan pulled Peabody up by his shoulders. Together they stood, and with Peabody’s arm around his shoulder, Stan ran and jumped onto the deck of the C-130. They both went down spread-eagled,
