Page 131 of Eruption

Mac cursed as his satellite phone rang again, this time with an incoming call from HVO. For a moment, he imagined that he’d hear Jenny’s voice.

But it was Kenny Wong, who’d quit him to work for Brett. Bad career move.

“You lost?” Mac asked.

“Mac, we can talk about what an asshole Judas I was another time, or maybe never,” Kenny said. “But I came back because I felt like shit for what I did to you. And also because I couldn’t sit this out.”

“So what you got?”

“I’m sure you know the lava is well past that unfinished road to Kona,” Kenny said.

“And more coming hard behind it, right?” Mac asked.

“General Rivers needs to get people off that base, Mac,” Kenny said. “And whatever you’re going to do, you need to do it now. The lava is on a collision course with that freaking cave.”

“The new digging might still do its job,” Mac said. “If not, we’re planning a second wave with the jets.”

Kenny suddenly shouted, “Mac,listen to me!The pictures in front of me aren’t changing! Those people need to haul ass out of that base and off the mountain before it’s too late!”

Mac hung up. He told the general and Rebecca what Kenny had said. Rivers walked into the hall to make the call.

“What are we going to do, Mac?” Rebecca asked.

“We’re going to do our best to bury that shit with air-to-ground bombs once and for all,” Mac said. “Your explosives have done as much to help us as they can. But once the lava has passed Saddle Road, the bombs are going to be the whole ball game.”

He took one last look at the map he’d just drawn, then glanced at the monitor showing the latest pictures of the lava that the reconnaissance plane had just sent them.

The lava was still heading north. If it kept going, that would mean the end of everything. The end of the world. What a concept.

Rivers came back into the room. “They’re evacuating the base,” he said.

“Got a question,” Mac said. “If you decide to use bombers, do you have any besides Raptors?”

“What do you mean,if? I’ve got a squadron loaded with GBU-32 attack munitions ready to go.”

“What else do you have?”

“Just a couple of F-15EX Eagle IIs, that’s it,” Rivers said. “Two-seaters. They’re at Hilo International.”

Mac knew the plane, an upgraded model of the F-15 fourth-generation fighter jet equipped with AMBER StormBreaker smart weapons that could see through fog and, hopefully, vog. He knew a lot about fighter jets, had studied them since he was a kid and watchedTop Gunon what sometimes felt like an endless loop. As a high-school senior, he’d even considered applying to the Air Force Academy until he’d become more fascinated with volcanoes.

Lucky me.

“Perfect,” he said to Rivers.

“Why perfect?”

“There needs to be a seat for me if we’re going to do this right,” Mac said.

“Defineright,” Rivers said.

“We don’t need a squadron of bombers,” he said. “We just need the one I’m in.”

“What else do you need?” Rivers asked.

“Your top gun,” Mac said.

CHAPTER 101