Page 58 of Eruption

“All due respect,” Mac said, “I am today.”

Now Jenny was the one putting a hand on Iona’s arm. She pointed at Mac with her other hand.

“My guy here is a fireman at heart,” she said. “When others are running out of the building, he’s running in.”

“Let’s go,” Mac said, leading them toward the entrance.

When they were outside, he grabbed his cell phone from where he’d tossed it in the jeep, called Rick Ozaki, told him where they were, and asked him to meet them at the base. As soon as Rick got there, Mac said, they were going to take a ride.

“Do I want to know where?” Rick asked.

“We’re going up the mountain,” Mac said. “Big Mauna is sending us a message.”

CHAPTER 36

Mauna Loa, Hawai‘i

Time to eruption: 73 hours

Afew hundred yards from the rim, Mac, Jenny, Iona, and Rick got out of the jeep. As soon as they stepped out, they felt the full force of the heat coming down the mountain at them. It was like an oven door had been flung open.

“I thought we were moving closer to heaven,” Rick said. “Not hell.” Rick fixed his eyes on the summit. “You said Big Mauna was sending a message,” he said to Mac. “And I know what it is:You people get the hell off my island.”

They could hear the roar from inside the caldera. The earth suddenly shook with a harmonic tremor. Sometimes it was called a volcanic scream; it felt like the hum of a giant bass. They all held on to the jeep to keep from falling, and for a fleeting moment Mac worried that the jeep might tip over.

But the tremor passed.

“I thought I’d be used to the quakes by now,” Jenny said.

“Trust me,” Mac said. “You never get used to them.”

“To repeat the question Sergeant Iona asked a little while ago: Is this a good idea?”

“We’re fine,” Mac said, trying to sound more confident than he felt.

“Fine?” Rick said. “Check it out.” He pointed down at the wheels of the jeep at the same moment Mac smelled the burning rubber.

They all looked down and saw the wheels beginning to melt.

“Everybody, wait here,” Mac said. He jumped behind the wheel, gunned the engine, made a hard right turn, and, tires skidding as they spit up lava rock and dirt, drove the jeep back down the mountain.

He stopped at least a quarter of a mile below where he’d parked before, then ran hard toward them, leaning forward to take some of the steepness out of his climb.

“He acts like this is some kind of triathlon,” Jenny said to Rick.

“What’s next, a swim in the lava?” Rick asked.

“You guys ready?” Mac said when he was back with them, not even out of breath.

“Oh, hell no,” Rick said.

The heat became more intense the closer they got to the rim, as did the noise. Even Mac had never heard this part of the mountain so loud—it was as if the caldera had come to a full boil. They all had to shout to be heard above the din.

The heat became more suffocating as they made their way up through the rocks and brush. But Mac knew they needed to do this and do it now. The reality was that they were fast running out of time. Rick and Kenny and the rest of them could do all the projections they wanted about the rate of the rising magma.But John MacGregor was here because of what he considered the cardinal rule of his job: You had to be there.

They kept making their way through the rough terrain, the soil rich with iron and magnesium, the once green crystals of olivine transformed into the orange mineral known as iddingsite. Most of the basalt rocks from previous eruptions were dark gray, sometimes black; some were a brighter rust color.

The closer they got to the rim, the more Mac wanted to stop and look around at this area so near the summit of the volcanic mountain that took up nearly half this island. He was overwhelmed as he always was by the thought of that, and by the reality of nature’s beauty, and its potential fury.