Rain of Fire (40 page)

The TV studio made the seismograph lab look low-tech, with cameras on trolleys, wheeled ladders, banks of sound mixing equipment, and TV monitors everywhere.

As Kyle and Wyatt waited for the looming airtime, she gave her hair a self-conscious smoothing. “I told the guy I don’t wear foundation, but he put on extra pancake and shadow.”

“Got to have some color for the camera.” Looking a little orange himself, and with his black eye effectively masked, Wyatt repeated the litany he’d been told. His scrutiny, from her mascara-laden eyelashes to lips slicked with a slash of color, made her feel less a child playing dress-up and more a woman. She smoothed the skirt of her black dress and checked the set of Franny’s small diamonds at her earlobes.

“You look nice,” he offered, his voice pitched low.

They may have tabled the subject of each other, but her cheeks grew warm. She thought he’d never looked better, standing tall among the studio workers scurrying around to meet the on-air deadline. He wore his ranger’s dress uniform with ease, his badge bright on the formal dark jacket bearing the National Park Service crest. At the last minute, he’d decided to forego the hat. “No need looking like Dudley Do-Right.”

He shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “Did you check the stations again?”

“I logged on around three. The activity was stronger than ever.”

“Uh-oh,” he said. It took a second for her to realize his focus was on something past her shoulder.

“I see you made it,” said a snide voice at her elbow.

With a sinking feeling, she turned on Hollis Delbert. “What are you doing here?” The makeup on his face above his best navy suit gave her the answer.

“Making sure you don’t get the Institute in trouble.” Hair lacquer made Hollis’s blond comb-over look darker than usual. “When the network called looking for you, I made sure they understood who was in charge.”

Before she could come up with a retort, Wyatt shook his head. “Brother, you are a piece of work.”

“Dr. Stone? Dr. Delbert?” said the studio aide. “We’re ready for you and Ranger Ellison now.”

“That’s Dr. Ellison,” she informed the slender young man who didn’t look old enough to shave.

They picked their way over snaking cables to a bare table with three waiting chairs. Kyle’s image of her and Wyatt being interviewed by a friendly anchorperson, maybe sitting around in armchairs or a couch, evaporated.

The aide directed them to sit with Kyle in the middle, helped everyone put on microphones and showed them the earpieces. “Keep your eyes on me at all times. I’ll be sitting across from you, pretending to be your audience.”

Her mouth went dry. Though she tried to call on her years of lecturing to induce calm, whatever opening remarks she might have come up with flew out of her head. Moreover, if Hollis were going ahead of her, in his capacity as the Institute’s Acting Director he’d probably steal whatever intro she came up with.

The studio aide turned on a TV about five feet away and she heard the opening bars of the
America Today
theme. Sometimes, she watched snippets of the show in the morning, standing around half-dressed or brushing her teeth. She had never imagined entering the nation’s collective bathroom or joining millions in breakfast.

Kyle pressed her lips to keep in an obscenity. Nick had promised a media circus. She shot Wyatt a glance. “Let’s just get through this without losing our cool.”

Gene North appeared on the set decorated as Everyman’s living room. His black hair contrasted with crow’s feet that Botox and a facelift hadn’t quite eliminated. Kyle wasn’t speculating; he’d had his plastic surgeon on the show.

“Welcome to America,” Gene greeted. “Today is Monday, September 30.”

His very blond and thin co-anchor, Mitzi McMahon, introduced terrorism, baseball playoffs, and the weather. A winter storm was moving onshore into Washington and Oregon, likely to become a major blizzard. Unfortunately, Kyle didn’t think weather would deter Nick in his return to the field.

Gene North was back. “Let’s get to our feature of the day. In less than a month following the September 10
^th
earthquake disaster at Sakhalin Island, there have been two strong shakes in Yellowstone Park.”

“Yes, Gene,” Mitzi agreed. “What brings these events together is the question of whether earthquakes can be predicted before they do the kind of damage the world saw at Sakhalin.”

Gene took over. “This is especially important for the many earthquake prone areas of this country. Everyone thinks of L.A. and San Francisco, but did you know that in 1811 and 1812 the central Mississippi Valley was rocked by three massive quakes on what’s known as the New Madrid Fault Zone? That Charleston, South Carolina was nearly leveled by shaking in 1886? Even Manhattan Island is underlain by ancient faults which could be reactivated.”

Kyle pressed her hands together in her lap. Whoever had briefed Gene had done a reasonable job.

He went on, “We go live now to our affiliate studio in L.A., and Dr. Brock Hobart, a scientist who has taken credit for predicting all three major quakes.”

“Taking credit is right,” Hollis muttered. “I don’t know anybody who’d give it to him.”

Wyatt made a shushing sound.

A split-screen came up with Gene on one side and Brock on the other. Brock didn’t look nearly as confident as he had on
Mornings with Monty
.

“Good morning, Dr. Hobart.” Gene was warmth personified. “I understand you’re developing quite a record for predicting earthquakes.”

Brock smiled. “When I put together my theories back in the eighties at the United States Geological Survey, I got little support, so I moved on.”

Hollis snorted. “The director suggested Brock not let the doorknob hit him in the ass on his way out.”

“So how has earthquake predicting managed to pay your bills?” Gene asked.

“Family money,” Hollis continued his commentary.

“Fortunately,” Brock braved, “there are people interested in the potential of prediction. Think of the billions of dollars that could be saved worldwide with an accurate early-warning system.”

“Indeed.” Gene raised a brow. “You claim to have foretold Sakhalin, but I understand you didn’t say where in the world it was going to happen.”

Brock’s smile faded. “Monty had to go to a commercial break before I could discuss the location.”

Gene did not look happy. “A commercial is coming here soon. Before we go, could you very quickly tell me about your work in Yellowstone?”

“What work?” Wyatt asked.

“Yes, Gene,” said Brock. “After Sakhalin I was looking over the seismograph signatures from the park and predicted both the September 26
^th
and September 28
^th
quakes.”

Gene cut in. “Ten seconds.”

Brock blurted, “With the full moon coming up on October 10
^th
, if I were in Yellowstone I’d watch out.”

Kyle felt as though she’d been running a race. She tried to focus on how her message was different from Brock’s, but it was difficult. He seemed sincere in his conviction.

“Wow, Mitzi,” said Gene. The
America Today
set faded into a car commercial with fast-driving and loud rock music.

Before Kyle was ready, the show was back.

“Now, before we go to our other scientists, we have a recorded message from Janet Bolido, Park Superintendent for Yellowstone.”

Kyle should have known a woman with the ambitions Janet had would not have passed up the opportunity to be on national television, but she was still shocked to see her face on the monitor. The video must have been made yesterday, for she wore the black suit that had looked out of place on a workday in the park.

Standing before a backdrop of Mammoth Hot Springs, Janet extended an arm to encompass her surroundings. “Ladies and gentlemen, I’d like to welcome you to Wonderland. Yellowstone, the world’s first and best National Park, has been around for over one hundred thirty years. With the stewardship of our fine staff, the support of Congress, and the Department of the Interior, we should be around for many more.”

She took a few steps toward the camera and the operator went to a close-up. “Now my scientists, whom you are about to meet, are some of the world’s experts on a volcanic land, as they tell me the park is. And despite some fringe person’s warnings about Yellowstone being unsafe, our people freely admit that specific predictions as to the time and place of earthquakes and volcanoes are not yet possible with current technology …” She paused and smiled. “But I’ll let them tell you that. In the meantime, I want everybody to know that the fall season in the park is one of the most beautiful, and I encourage a visit…” The image drew back to show the white terraces of the hot springs and Janet raised her arms. “Everyone come to Wonderland!”

Abruptly, the monitor went dark. “Thirty seconds,” said the studio aide.

Caught watching Janet with her mouth half open, Kyle shut it. How clever of her to set it up so she would look good but not have to field questions and risk being put on the spot.

The aide went on, “Remember to look at me when you talk.”

Kyle forced her clenched hands to relax. The only other time she’d felt such stage fright was when she defended her master’s thesis. But that did not compare, for then she had only faced three kindly professors, who later said the best thing she’d done was admitting when she didn’t know something.

As Janet had said, nobody knew what was going to happen in Yellowstone. But since her video had been made yesterday the bad omens were a lot stronger.

The studio lights glared. Perspiration broke out under Kyle’s arms. “Three, two, one,” counted the aide. A red light appeared on the camera behind his shoulder. She stared at the lens.

Gene’s baritone was in her ear, introducing Hollis as the Institute Director, omitting the interim nature of the title. Kyle continued to stare at the lens.

“Dr. Stone?” Mitzi said. “That’s cute, you know … rocks.”

The studio aide waggled his fingers. Kyle dragged her gaze from the mesmerizing headlight of the camera, looked at his narrow face with startling dark brows and a pencil moustache, and tried to imagine him as her only audience.

Mitzi went on, “I understand you and your colleagues also made a prediction that came true.”

This was it, Kyle reasoned, the only chance in this charade to get her message across. “Unlike Dr. Hobart, I’ve spent many years studying Yellowstone.” She talked to the aide. “Dr. Ellison and I were in the field during the New Moon Earthquake, along with Dr. Nicholas Darden, a noted volcanologist from the USGS. After we saw the mountain’s summit smoking and other signs, we felt things pointed to more large quakes and thought it prudent to warn park officials.” She felt pleased with the calm in her voice. “Now the possibility of an eruption …”

“A volcano?” Mitzi shrilled. “I thought Dr. Hobart was talking about earthquakes.”

In Kyle’s earpiece, Gene North broke in. “I’m going to ask the Institute Director, Dr. Delbert, about that. What is the history of volcanic activity in the area?”

Hollis sucked in his breath. Kyle didn’t know if she was on TV or whether the camera had just homed in on Hollis’s nose hairs. While he continued to sit frozen, she heard Wyatt whisper, “The caldera.”

Kyle broke in, “There have been large eruptions in the past, at around two million years ago and 1.3 million. And the great explosion that created the basin holding Yellowstone Lake took place around 630,000 years ago.”

“Whoa.” Gene whistled. “Sounds like we’re about due.”

She hadn’t meant it that way. There was a fair amount of slack in all geologic methods of age dating and she wasn’t about to set her watch by them. But she’d come on the show with the idea of getting people to take this latest round of activity seriously. Her nostrils flared as she took the only stand she could. “You’ve done the math, Gene. Today Yellowstone is under siege by constant tremors, an almost certain sign of magma on its way to the surface.”

“Ranger Ellison?” Mitzi asked. “Has there been any discussion of evacuation?”

Kyle felt Wyatt hesitate. Then, taking a deep breath, he bent forward, “I understand some Park Headquarters residents have already left.”

A hubbub broke out in the studio audience in New York.

Gene’s joviality was extinguished. Rather than pursue the obvious inconsistencies in Janet Bolido’s performance, he changed the subject. “What about Dr. Hobart’s prediction for the full moon?”

“There’s no question in my mind,” Kyle said, “or in the opinion of Dr. Darden of USGS, that something is going to happen, be it Dr. Hobart’s full-moon earthquake, a steam or lava eruption, or something much worse.” She expected Gene to cut her off, but he was quiet. “If we saw a repeat of what happened 630,000 years ago there would be no dining rooms with college students serving prime rib. No mountains, lakes, or waterfalls. No buffalo, bear, or bison. No Yellowstone Lake with cutthroat trout and nesting osprey. All the geysers and hot springs blown sky-high.” She saw the wide eyes of the young studio aide. Her cheeks felt hot; sweat trickled down her sides. “There would be no Yellowstone … no one in the surrounding towns would survive.”