Chapter 96

NOAA Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawai‘i

It was nighttime when Mac and Rebecca managed to make it to the observatory.

They'd witnessed the recon plane's crash from about a mile up the mountain. As they continued down, they'd seen a series of small explosions, but these had finally begun to subside when they approached the main gate.

The only light came from the smoldering wreckage of the plane that was spread across the compound.

Mac ran to the cockpit, which had split off from the rest of the plane. Flames still licked around its fuselage, which had broken in half. With the small flashlight on his utility belt, Mac could see the lifeless bodies of the two pilots still harnessed in their seats.

The strong smell of gas signaled that he needed to get away before there was another explosion.

He moved quickly toward what was left of the communications building. The plane had plowed through the structure, completely destroying its front half.

But if the observatory hadn't been evacuated after the eruption, there might be people in there.

Mac went inside, saying a prayer as he did.

It was ironic, Mac thought as he glanced around, because this looked like the kind of catastrophic damage a lava bomb from the closest vents would inflict. But the direct hit from the plane had done this.

There were broken bodies everywhere in the rubble: Three scientists from the Maunakea Observatories. Two men in army fatigues.

Mac moved to the back of what was left of the main room and saw death all around him. That was where he found Katie Maurus and Rob Castillo—two kids from HVO who'd wanted to monitor the sensors near the summit from here—next to their desks; a section of the roof had clearly crushed them. Rob's body was on top of Katie's, as if he'd been trying to protect her in the last seconds of their lives.

Mac felt as if he couldn't breathe, suffocated by the tragedy in this room.

To be sure, he knelt and checked for their pulses. They were dead like the others.

From outside, he heard Rebecca scream.