Saturday, July 24. 8:19 a.m. Lower Hutt, greater Wellington area, New Zealand.

---

Ana’s shapely bottom twitched in tight, irritated jerks. Daniel watched her walk to her car, pushed against the far wall of the small parking lot by the floodwater. He touched a finger thoughtfully to his mouth, the taste of her still on his lips. Why the hell did he kiss her? Okay, part of that answer was simple—she was a beautiful, fascinating woman. When the opportunity presented in an adrenaline-shot haze, he hadn’t resisted the temptation to see if she tasted as good as she looked. And she had. Better, in fact.

So the kiss and his reaction to it weren’t so easy to slot into a predetermined box, and it chafed. Ana was just another woman who needed saving, and he, the chump unable to resist trying to be her hero.

Yeah, his heart had given a weird lurch and his stomach had felt as if a fist-sized rock had dropped into it when Ana, her eyes wide and panicked, had climbed over the windowsill above. Having worked with hundreds of soldiers over the years, he could always tell the ones who struggled with heights. Heights weren’t an issue for him; it was the falling that did his head in. Specifically, someone else falling. Someone under his supervision.

He closed his eyes. A woman’s voice, high pitched and strained to breaking, floated up from the depths of memory. “I can’t move my legs! Why can’t I move them?”

So what will it cost you, Calder, if you fail?

He wouldn’t fail. He’d get Ana home safe to her kids without getting emotionally involved.

Daniel pushed away from the wall and walked across the trash-strewn parking lot, then stubbed a rusted can with his toe and sent it rattling across the concrete. The truth was Ana was like the little red firecrackers he’d played with as a kid. They looked harmless because of their size, but hold them when they exploded and they’d blow the skin right off your fingers.

By the time he reached the car, Ana had opened the door and stood glowering at the ignition, which clicked uselessly as she twisted the key. “Car’s dead. Not that we would’ve been able to drive the way the streets are anyway.”

Ana dodged around him to open the passenger door. After dumping her gym gear out of another backpack, she swapped Irene’s sneakers for her own and pulled on a light windbreaker jacket. She gestured to his overnight bag. “Hope you brought another pair of jeans and a shirt. Yours are only good for rags now.”

Daniel recognized evasion when he heard it because he’d used the technique himself when some well-meaning soul had tried to get him to open up on a topic he wasn’t prepared to discuss. So she didn’t want to talk about that kiss? He’d let it slide. For now.

“Not bloody likely. They’re my best jeans. I’ll throw them in the wash—they’ll come up good as new.”

A tentative smile flickered across her mouth.

Mission accomplished.

Daniel unzipped his bag and pulled out a clean shirt. He flicked open the buttons on his shirt, yanked it off, and attempted to keep his nose from wrinkling. Now that he’d put her at ease with a joke about his clothes, he was obligated to keep the damn things.

He sensed her body stiffen and heard a quiet but distinctive inhale as he threw the ruined shirt onto the seat, leaving his upper body bare. For a wicked instant he was tempted to strip off the jeans as well, just to see how Ana would react.

The idea lost some appeal once he thought it through. Given the way he responded to her nearness only a few minutes ago, standing in boxers would cause him more embarrassment than her. That he wanted her was painfully obvious. He tugged on the shirt then stuffed a woolen sweater and a handful of other clean clothes into the second backpack Ana had emptied.

Between them, they searched her car for any other useful items, finding a map, first aid kit, flashlight, and a box of hard candy.

The sidewalk resembled the aftermath of a war rather than a street only a few blocks from the business district of Lower Hutt city. He grimaced, imagining the carnage if her office was situated on Wellington’s Lambton Quay, an area famous for its skyscrapers and New Zealand’s government, housed in the iconic Beehive building.

One lone bird chirruped above them, but nothing human moved on this small back street. Ana buried her hands in the pockets of her jacket. “I think we should head toward the city center first, and let the officials know about Joel and Maggie…and Irene.”

He nodded, and carrying a backpack each, they set a brisk pace out of the parking lot.

Many collapsed structures remained untouched tombs of wreckage. Shop fronts spilled a sea of broken glass over the sidewalk. Chunks of jagged wood, broken masonry, and mud-covered trash lay haphazardly from one side of the street to the other. Dirt and sand from tsunami waters coated everything with a gritty brown varnish.

A few seconds later and they would have walked right past the young woman crouched by a pile of bricks and concrete, so engrossed in his own thoughts he hadn’t noticed her.

The woman pointed a bloody finger at the rubble blocking the doorway of a partially caved-in two-story building.

“Please,” she whimpered. “My baby. He’s in there somewhere.”

---

Streaks and tear-shaped droplets of blood splattered many of the masonry chunks near the woman’s feet. She appeared to be in her late teens, and heedless of the season she was wearing denim shorts and a tiny tank top. Bruises and grazes covered her bare legs and arms, and her fingertips were bloody.

“How long have you been digging?” Daniel removed his backpack and reached for a solid chunk of concrete.

For a moment, Ana hesitated. A selfish instinct rose within her like a dark cloud, intent on eradicating every trace of compassion. What about her kids? Was anyone helping them? A surreptitious glance at her watch showed time galloping on.

“Since the water went away and through most of the night.” Fat tears rolled down the girl’s cheeks. She switched her blotchy face toward Ana. “Please help me. It’s Cody’s first birthday on Monday. He’s only a baby. Please.”

Ana looked around. Where was everyone else? The street was almost empty. On the opposite sidewalk a couple of men in business suits hurried past. She called out, but while one waved and shouted back an apology, the other tucked his head down turtle-like and scurried away faster. Would no one else stop to help this girl? Daniel continued to haul debris.

Ana took hold of the girl’s raw and bloody hands. “What’s your name?”

“Kyla. Kyla Jenkins.”

Ana cast a sideways glance at the building where Kyla’s son was trapped. The bottom floor was a popular café, serving overpriced meals and designer coffees of every description. Ana had eaten there a few times, but it was usually packed with customers and hard to find a seat during the lunch rush.

“Where was Cody when the quake hit?” she asked.

“By our table.”

“And where was your table?” Ana said gently. Nothing of the café interior remained visible from the street as it appeared the floor above had partially caved in. Things didn’t look good for little Cody.

Kyla wrung her hands together. “On the raised platform section on the left side. Cody loves looking at the Mexican blankets on the wall and there was hardly anyone else inside, so we scored a table there.” She slanted a pleading glance at Daniel. “The platform’s about a foot higher than the rest of the floor so the water wouldn’t have reached him in his stroller.” Her brow crumpled. “It’s a new stroller, too—a sporty one that I can run with. It’s got a pretty sturdy frame.”

“How did you make it out of the café?” Daniel asked.

She sniffed, swiping her nose absently with the back of her hand. “I wasn’t inside when the quake hit. We’d just arrived when my boss rang. The music was so loud that I couldn’t hear, and a nice old lady at the table next to us said she’d keep an eye on Cody while I ducked outside.”

Her lower lip began to tremble. “I only left him for a few seconds, but then everything started shaking and shit was falling everywhere. The quake knocked me to the ground and I smacked my head on the curb.” She touched a bloody hand to a matted parting in her hair that Ana hadn’t noticed before. “By the time the shaking was over the entrance was like that and I couldn’t get back in again. Then I saw the water coming and I ran. I-I ran across the street to the dentist on the second floor. I stayed there until the water was only knee deep and then I started trying to clear the entranceway. The dentist and his assistant helped me for a while, but then they left to go home to their families.”

Chest heaving, Kyla fisted handfuls of her blond hair either side of her ears and pulled them tight. “Cody’s my f-family, he’s all I’ve got, and I heard him—I’m sure I heard him crying. Oh God. I should’ve stayed with him. I should’ve—I should’ve…” Kyla folded over with a howl, her bruised and battered arms wrapped around her middle.

The young woman’s grief smacked Ana like a physical slap. Ashamed of her selfishness, Ana slipped off her backpack and drew out her spare T-shirt. She rubbed Kyla’s shoulders and drew her upright. She knew what it was to be a young mother with only yourself to blame when your life shattered around you.

“Kyla, honey, it’s not your fault. You’re doing everything you can to help your little boy. We’ll help, too. Here, put this on.” Ana guided her over to the backpacks and slipped the T-shirt over Kyla’s head. The woman’s teeth were chattering in the cool morning air, but at least it was another layer. “You sit here and rest a little. That’s Daniel, and I’m Ana. We’ll keep digging.”

She joined Daniel in the doorway, hauled a chunk of concrete off the pile, and tossed it behind her.

“Any more sounds from inside?” she whispered.

Daniel met her gaze. After a moment’s hesitation he shook his head—a slight movement in case Kyla was watching.

She lowered her gaze and selected another small slab. “There’s still hope, though.”

“There’s always hope.”

Kyla had made good headway forging a path inward. A few passersby stopped and helped, but it was hard, brutal work. After an hour of repetitive pick up, twist, throw the debris away, Daniel spotted the timber framing of the café entrance.

“I see it.” He pitched his voice low so it only carried to Ana.

Kyla had joined the effort several times, but exhaustion finally won and she lay curled on the ground, asleep by their backpacks.

“Cody? Baby, can you hear us?” Ana called quietly, brushing away a moth that buzzed her ear before it winged through the small gap between doorframe and rubble. If only they could get inside so easily.

The weak whimpering response galvanized them both to frantic action.

The aftershock hit with sudden fury.

Not as powerful as previous ones, it was still strong enough to shift the rubble under their feet. Another lump of concrete broke under the strain of supporting the mass above and it slid with a dry screech toward the spot where Daniel struggled to stay upright, his focus on Cody blinding him to the danger.

Years of snatching unsafe items out of the grasp of her two offspring had honed Ana’s reflexes. She snagged the back of Daniel’s jeans, using her body weight to pull them both backward. The concrete smashed onto the pile and sent an avalanche of debris cascading toward them. Daniel, regaining his balance, grabbed Ana and swung her out of the way.

As soon as the shaking subsided, Kyla darted around them and clambered to the tremor-enlarged opening.

Daniel brushed a strand of hair away from Ana’s face. “You saved my life.”

“No big deal.” She stepped away from him with a wary smile. “Just returning the favor.”

“Cody—oh my God.” Kyla’s sobs echoed through the stillness.

Daniel and Ana scrambled over the loose rocks, peering through the clouds of dust to where Kyla crouched under a huge steel beam. Beneath the protective slant of the beam, faint whimpering drifted out of a grit-covered stroller.

Slabs of concrete lay at odd angles around the rest of the small café and the smell—brine and garbage, dank mud and a rotting earthy meaty stench beneath it all that caused Ana’s stomach to churn. A thick layer of silt and sticky mud coated the once polished tile floor, evidence of the tsunami’s presence. Cody had been fortunate, out of the reach of the water and protected by the beam from falling debris. Fortunate, too, that the boy still held a bottle of formula in his hands—although it was empty now. Others, though, were not so fortunate. Ana averted her gaze from the still body of the elderly woman Kyla had described, pinched her nose shut, and called out. Her hopes of finding other survivors weren’t great considering the amount of noise the three of them had made shifting fallen masonry.

Daniel also shouted and, braver than her, touched a couple of human limbs exposed under the debris. Nobody answered and Daniel grimly shook his head at her after checking yet another victim. They edged around an upturned table to where Kyla crouched beside the stroller.

She unhooked the safety straps and lifted the boy out, her whole body quivering with emotion and fatigue. She backed out of the beam’s shadow and turned to Daniel. “Please, can you carry him? I don’t know if I’m strong enough.”

Daniel stepped forward and accepted the boy, who stared at him in silence. The gentleness with which he stroked the grimy blond curls on the child’s head caused Ana’s heart to suddenly skid sideways.

“Come on, mate,” he said. “Let’s get you out of here.”

Ana wrapped a supportive arm around Kyla’s waist and followed Daniel, who led them all into the light.

Hours of daylight had slipped by while Daniel and Ana helped Kyla recover Cody and then escorted them both to the nearest group of medics. They directed rescue workers to the café, with Daniel providing a head count of those he’d found unresponsive. After leaving Cody and Kyla at the makeshift field hospital, they accompanied another group of civil defense workers back to Ana’s building, where Maggie waved at them from the third-floor window. Having gained promises of equipment arriving soon to rescue Ana’s coworkers, they finally set off out of the business district.

The next thirty minutes were wasted in a heated argument when Ana insisted they keep hiking toward home.

“We’re both exhausted,” Daniel said finally. “There’s rain coming”—he jerked his chin up at an approaching bank of thunderously black clouds—“and it’ll be getting dark in an hour. The Wellington motorway—assuming there still is a motorway—is not something we want to tackle at night with the risk of landslides from the hills above.”

Ana swore, her gaze skimming over the dense green hills of bush that formed a spine between the two cities. Landslides probably were a given, but they’d made so little progress today—

Continuous tinny beeps from both backpacks caused them to stop, stare at each other, and then scramble to shrug the bags off.