Page 53

Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, Hawai‘i

Time to eruption: 60 hours

What’s Rivers going to do when he finds out what Cutler told the media?” Rebecca Cruz asked Mac when they got back to HVO.

“Hopefully rip him a new trench,” Mac said.

The immediate task for Mac’s people and Cruz Demolition was to determine the steepest and safest descent path they could create for the lava, working off their original plan for targeted bombing on the ground. At daylight, Mac and Rebecca would head over to Mauna Loa to decide where to place the explosives that Rebecca would detonate remotely once the lava came.

“We’ll need the exact locations of as many lava tubes as we can find so we can use them effectively,” Mac told the group, who were once again seated around the long table in the conference room. “We also need to find places in the rock where we can safely dig deep enough to plant our bombs. Obviously, the wisdom on that will come from our experts from Cruz Demolition.”

“We’ll need to fast-track putting bombs into heat-protected casings,” David Cruz said.

His sister grinned. “Premature detonation,” she said. “Never a good thing, right, guys?”

“If that happens, do we even want to know what’s next?” Jenny Kimura asked.

“Not so much,” Rebecca said. “But I’m sure you can guess.”

“Do I want to guess?” Jenny said.

“Not so much,” Rebecca said again.

No one spoke for a moment.

Finally, Mac said, “We good for the time being?”

There were nods all around. Rick and Kenny and Pia Wilson went back to their stations to check the latest seismological reports. Rebecca Cruz and her brother and their cousin Leo said they were going to the map room to go over schematics.

Rebecca said to Mac, “What’s on your agenda right now?”

“Jenny and I are going to take a ride.”

“We are?” Jenny said. “Do I get to ask where?”

“The Ice Tube.”

“Does the army know we’re coming?”

“I thought we’d surprise them,” Mac said.

“Yeah,” Jenny said. “I’m sure the big guy just loves surprises.”

“You’re driving very fast,” Jenny said to Mac when they were in the car.

“I always drive fast when I’m trying to save the world,” Mac said.

“Well, when you put it like that,” Jenny said, holding on to the dash as the car swerved. “But I’m not going to lie, MacGregor, I’ve had better dates.”

They had called ahead to Sergeant Matthew Iona; Mac put the phone on speaker. Iona said he would be arriving at the Ice Tube soon and informed them that he was now checking the canisters every few hours.

After Mac hung up, Jenny said, “You ever wonder why they call it the Ice Tube instead of what it really is?”

“You mean a toxic-waste storage facility in a volcano next door to a much bigger volcano that’s about to explode?” Mac asked.

“Yeah,” Jenny said. “That.”

“Did I forget to add secure toxic-waste storage facility?”

“Fingers crossed.”

“Maybe the sign of the cross would be better,” Mac said.

They arrived, signed in, and made their way to the locker room, where their heat-resistant suits were hanging. Their helmets were on top of the lockers. They changed and went back outside to the army jeep Iona had made sure would be waiting for them.

Mac drove more slowly up the narrow mountain path. He looked over at Jenny at one point and saw her smiling. She had both their helmets in her lap. “Why do you look like that?” Mac asked.

“Like what?”

“Like you’re happy, which is strange, considering our current circumstances.”

“I’m just glad to be doing this with you,” Jenny said. “Honored, actually, without sounding too highfalutin. I’m also hoping General Rivers realizes how lucky he is to have you running point on this thing.”

“Am I?” Mac asked. “Running point, I mean?”

“We both know you are,” she said.

“I don’t want to be the one to break it to Brett and the Cutlers.”

“I frankly don’t know why Rivers would want them involved,” she said.

“I’m not sure he would have brought them here on his own,” Mac said. “But now that they are here, they play nicely into what I’ve always felt is one of the first rules of command in the military.”

“What’s that?”

“Cover your ass whenever possible,” Mac said. “The more people there are on the general’s team, the more people to share the blame if something goes wrong.”

“What happened to ‘The buck stops here’?” Jenny asked.

“Sometimes it stops over there too,” Mac said. “And also over there. But look at it this way, Jenny. If something does go wrong, there won’t be anybody left to blame.”

“Or anybody left, period,” Jenny said.

They spoke again about the trust Rivers had placed in them, about the secret they were all keeping. Jenny wondered if he’d told them about it out of respect or necessity, and Mac said it was probably a little bit of both. He might not have trusted Mac, Jenny, and Rebecca Cruz completely. But Rivers had made it clear that he absolutely did not trust J. P. Brett or the Cutlers.

They rode in silence for a few minutes.

Jenny finally spoke, her voice soft. “We got this—right, Mac?” she asked. “Tell me we got this.”

He grinned. “In my case,” he said, “the buck does stop here.”

“No shit,” Jenny Kimura said, and they both managed a laugh.

Mac pulled the jeep to a stop next to Sergeant Iona’s jeep; they were maybe a hundred yards from the lights at the entrance. They would walk the rest of the way from here.

But as he and Jenny got out of the jeep, helmets in their hands, they saw Sergeant Matthew Iona sprinting down the hill toward them as men in hazmat suits ran past him toward the entrance to the Ice Tube.