“We are awaiting a response from Jack Pollack, geophysics scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute,” replied Robert Laird, the President’s scientific adviser. “I gave him the scenario and asked for an evaluation of all the facts we have available.”
“How in the hell did this get under the radar scope of advanced intel?” Robertson asked in frustration.
“We can’t be everywhere, Jim,” Tim Byrd responded defensively. “Most of our resources are tied up monitoring the intentions of Al-Qaeda; add to that the resources needed in Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Libya and Syria. Oh, did I fail to mention North Korea? It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that we are—”
“Gentlemen, calm down. This will get us nowhere. I want to stick to the specific threat, and forgo the finger pointing,” President Clark said in a calm demeanor, folding his hands as he leaned forward in his high-backed leather chair.
Alan Clark was in his first term as President. He’d won easily as a third party candidate, handily defeating both his republican and democratic opposition. The nation had grown weary of the ongoing, constant grandstanding, division, and unfulfilled promises of both parties. Clark, a man of vision and fortitude, saw the opportunity and struck.
Tactfully using the bully pulpit, he made both parties in the Senate and House accountable for what they did, or did not, accomplish. The public responded positively with a consistent sixty-nine percent approval rating. Unfortunately, he became very much a political target for the extreme left and right wing groups, who were being successfully shut out of power and voice with the American people.
“Before we act, we must have all the information available to us first. Is that clear, gentlemen?” Clark stated, as the men gathered around him nodded in agreement. “We must establish that we—”
The buzzer on the phone interrupted him mid-sentence, and he quickly pushed the speaker button.
“Mr. President, Dr. Jack Pollack from Woods Hole is on line three.”
“Thank you, Maggie,” he said as he punched the line button. “Hello, Dr. Pollack, are you there?”
“Yes, Mr. President.”
“I have you on conference so my staff can hear. Can you shed some light on the scenario Bob Laird put before you earlier?” he asked.
“Yes, sir, I can. We have studied this hypothesis here in the geophysics center at Woods Hole since we learned of the supposition made in the late 90s. There are two basic trains of thought on this matter. The first, made by many geophysicists, is that if the Cumbre Vieja were to erupt on La Palma, the force of the eruption would most likely cause the crater to collapse into itself as opposed to its flank sliding into the sea. The infrastructure of La Palma would be affected adversely, but no landslide would mean no tsunami and very little loss of life,” he said as Clark looked at the advisers gathered about him.
“And the second train of thought?” Clark asked the Woods Hole scientist.
“The second train of thought, and, the one I subscribe to, is that the immense volume of heat generated by an eruption would super-heat the trapped water in the higher elevations of the Cumbre Vieja. It is similar to a dike of solid rock holding millions of liters of water underneath the flank of the volcano. This expansion could result in the outer rock surface losing its cohesion. The only place it would have to go is down to the sea,” he said, pausing for a second to see if there were any questions. Hearing none, he continued. “The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, using state of the art laboratory equipment, did a model showing the landslide’s impact on the ocean. They found that it would be thousands times larger than any slide ever studied in the past.”
“Dr. Pollack, Robert Laird here,” the President’s scientific adviser interrupted. “What would be your personal opinion of this landslide on La Palma if it was ever to occur, and how would it affect the U.S. mainland?”
“My personal opinion,” he said, pausing for a few reflective seconds then continuing, “is if it occurred per the models, the initial wave height leaving the island would exceed one thousand feet in height.” Clark noted the look of astonishment on his advisers’ faces as Pollack continued. “As it reached the deeper oceanic waters of the Atlantic, the wave would be imperceptible on the ocean’s surface. This huge volume of moving water, traveling at hundreds of miles per hour, would possibly be hundreds of kilometers in length from front to back. Once the wave hit the shallows off the coast, the front of the wave would begin to slow down, but the rear would continue at its rate of speed, causing the wave to rear up in height,” he continued saying as the men in the Oval Office looked at one another somberly. “The frightening aspect of this wave would not only be the possible height of one to three hundred feet. This monster, instead of just breaking on the shore line, would travel with its powerful momentum far inland, up to fifteen miles or more, devastating everything in its path.”
“You’re saying the Swiss scientists couldn’t be sure of their size accuracy?” Tim Byrd of Homeland Security asked, breaking the stunned silence in the room. “So how can we be sure a wave of this height is possible?”
“We have scientific evidence of a prior collapse in the Canary Islands around one hundred twenty thousand years ago.” Pollack countered. “Some scientists believe that evidence can be seen today in the Bahamas. Many of the islands were reshaped in the form of chevrons from the immense force of that wave. There are also many huge boulders that were lifted up off the ocean floor, some weighing over a thousand tons, which were deposited well above sea level. To put this into perspective, Mr. President, imagine the March 2011 tsunami catastrophe in Japan, but six to eight times bigger in size.”
“My God,” Robertson said in a whisper as silence fell upon the Oval Office at hearing the horrific depiction put before them.
“Thank you, Dr. Pollack,” the President said flatly. “You’ve been very informative and I appreciate your efforts.”
“You’re quite welcome, Mr. President. May I ask you something? I am not aware of reports of activity on the Cumbre Vieja. Is there a problem?”
“No, Dr. Pollack. We’re just planning ahead in case this scenario ever plays out,” Clark lied, disliking the fact that he could not be honest with the man, but wanting to keep this situation under wraps for the moment.
“That’s good to hear,” the scientist chuckled nervously. “My wife and kids are down in Long Island staying at my sister’s beach house.”
“Thank you again, Dr. Pollack. Good bye,” the President said, disconnecting the line and hitting the page button.
“Maggie, get me Admiral Borland.”
“Right away, sir,” she said.
“I think it’s high time that we had a chat with this Turner fellow,” Clark said, rapping his fingers on the desk. “We need to obtain all the information we can.”
“I agree, sir,” the Homeland Security head affirmed. “Right now, he’s our only source of intelligence in this situation. However, in the last hour or so, we haven’t been able to contact him on the number he provided.”
“He did say to me earlier this morning that the terrorists involved in this plot were out to silence him and his group,” Robertson said as the phone buzzed on the President’s desk.
“Yes, Maggie.”
“Sir, I hate to disturb you but I have a gentleman from the U.S. Geological Survey on the line. He insists that he speak to FEMA Director Boyle. He says it’s urgent.”
“Put him through, Maggie, I’ll have Mr. Boyle pick up,” he said, handing the receiver to Boyle.