Page 49 of Eruption

Mac did not seem pleased to see him. The army man looked even less pleased.

“Who the hell is this?” the army man said.

“You need to leave, Lono,” Mac said. “If you’d called, I would have told you not to come. I’m suspending interns until further notice.”

“Why?”

Mac ignored the question. “Anyway, you should be in school,” he said.

“I got permission,” Lono lied.

“How’d you get here?”

“I hitched.”

Mac blew out air, obviously pissed, and shook his head. “Well, Jenny Kimura’s going to town in a few minutes, so she can give you a lift back. Get your stuff together and meet her in front. You can’t be here today.”

Mac and the army man hurried away, leaving Lono standing there.

Lono was just a kid, but he knew when people were lying to his face. The story about roads was a crock. Why would Mac suspend interns at HVO without even giving a reason to the intern standing right in front of him?

Maybe the island wasn’t so safe after all.

He went outside to look for Jenny and saw a big army van parked in the lot. It was the size of a small school bus and painted a drab green, the color of seaweed. A bunch of antennas weresticking up from its roof, and two satellite dishes were mounted on the front.

Lono walked around to the back of it. The door was open, and he could see a lot of electronic equipment inside and men sitting in front of monitors wearing headphones. One man was talking as he punched away at a keyboard.

Another man turned and saw Lono. He got up, glaring at him, and slammed the van door in his face.

All of a sudden Lono felt like he was behind enemy lines.

CHAPTER 29

The data room of HVO had been transformed into an electronic command post.

Rebecca Cruz’s team brought their portable consoles in on rolling tables and put them in the center of the room, then got down on their hands and knees, arranged big, insulated cables on the floor, and put beveled metal covers over them. This required some of them to crawl beneath Rick Ozaki’s table, and he made no attempt to hide his unhappiness with that.

“I suddenly feel like a speed bump,” Rick said to Mac.

“Would you like me to ask them to leave because they’ve invaded your personal space?” Mac said. “You should have figured out by now that it’s all hands on deck.”

“How are we supposed to do our work with all this going on around us?” Rick asked.

Rebecca came over and placed her hand on Rick’s shoulder. “I amsosorry we’re in your way. It must be very annoying.”

Rick actually blushed. Mac wouldn’t have believed it if he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes. He grinned. The world might be about to explode, but guys were guys.

Rick went back to work, still blushing slightly, as if he’d just been noticed by the prettiest girl in class.

The Cruzes—Rebecca and her brother and her cousin—were clearly good at their job, Mac had to admit. They were competent and demanding, and they completely took over the room. They refused to plug into the existing HVO power supply—Rebecca said the current wasn’t stable enough.

The team’s own generators, now chugging away in the parking lot, were incredibly noisy. And they had placed backup batteries in the hall, turning it into an obstacle course.

There was no question who was in charge at Cruz Demolition.

“I know it’s annoying,” Rebecca told Mac, “but the batteries can’t be more than five meters from the computers. It’s a timing issue.”

She shrugged and produced a dazzling, world-class smile. Her energy was as appealing as she was, Mac thought; she was a power source all by herself. Mac was looking for ways to prolong the conversation when Jenny came over then and asked if they were going to continue with their plan for an ambulance and a medical infirmary. She told him the army people said they needed the space for helicopter landings. Mac said she should ask Briggs.

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