Page 113 of Eruption

It was the shorthand she’d used for both her grandparents since she was a little girl.

She stepped into the room and a strangled cry came from somewhere deep inside her.

Both her grandparents were dead on the floor of their tiny living room, their skin the color of coal as if they had been burned alive, though there was no sign of fire.

Leilana was startled by the sound of a car coming closer. Or maybe a jeep. Or a truck.

She wanted to look out the front windows, see who it might be.

But she couldn’t stop staring at her grandparents.

Ka hopena.

CHAPTER 82

The walls of the Military Reserve’s conference room were shaking every five to ten minutes now. The general, Mac, and Rebecca were at the long table. None of them even acknowledged the tremors anymore.

“So by everyone’s calculations, today is D-Day,” Rivers said.

Or doomsday,Mac thought.

Rivers said, “So the question is, what do we do in the hours we have left other than wait?” He paused. “I mean, the hours left before the eruption.”

Mac shrugged. “We keep digging as long as we can,” he said. “Lay as much titanium near the cave as we can. When the eruption comes, Rebecca will be in her bunker at Mauna Loa Observatory, working her remote detonation system to set off a coordinated series of explosions via electromagnetic signal. At the same time, sir, you can put your bombers in the air, and they can wait for your command.”

“We could start bombing right now,” Rivers said. “Why are we waiting?”

“We need to see the direction of the lava,” Mac said. “If weget lucky and Rebecca’s explosives work, as we’re pretty certain they will, we might need only minimal aerial support.”

There was a knock on the door, and Colonel Briggs stepped into the room. “A word, sir?”

The two of them went out into the hallway. Mac watched them through the window of the conference room. Briggs was doing most of the talking. Rivers stood impassively, arms crossed.

Finally, Rivers nodded.

The general came back in, sat down, and said, “Change of plans.”

“About when we start the bombing?” Mac asked.

“We’re going to remove the canisters from the Ice Tube and transport them to a safe location.”

Mac couldn’t help himself. “Where?” he asked. “The moon?”

No one spoke as the walls shook again, rattling the windows, spilling coffee out of the cups in front of them.

“It’s too late to move the canisters, and you know it, sir,” Mac said. “There’s no feasible way for that to happen.”

“It’s already happening,” Rivers said. “And frankly, Dr. MacGregor, it will be too late when I say it is.”

They were both seated, but Mac felt as if he and Rivers were standing toe-to-toe.

“Don’t tell me that,” Mac said. “Tell the volcano.”

“I don’t need your permission,” Rivers said.

“No one said that you did.”

Rivers looked down at his big hands clasped in front of him, then back up at Mac.