The Illuminati by Larry Burkett Read Free Book Online Page B

that was showing on the Doppler. The automatic alarm on the laser system screeched out its warbling sound, indicating a major obstruction in a scanning field that should have been clear.
    â€œIt’s a tsunami!” Maury shouted as his mind clicked with the image that was now being displayed on both screens. “I saw one like this in the navy when an earthquake struck mainland China. Look at the size of that thing! It must be nearly three hundred feet high.”
    â€œA tsunami!” Frances repeated as she tried to decipher what that meant. “How could a tsunami just appear from nowhere?”
    â€œIt’s from the earthquake in Japan,”Maury shouted as he reached for the phone. “I’ll call Los Angeles International and see what they have.” Even as he spoke, he punched the auto-dialer to ring the head of the National Weather Service station at LAX.
    The calm greeting from the L.A. tower told Maury they were oblivious to the potential disaster.
    â€œL.A.Weather. Robert Atkins here.”
    â€œBob, this is Andy at Point Magoo. Do you guys have anything on your long-range radar at about 210?”
    â€œYeah we do, Andy. But we thought we were having an echo blip on the system so we dropped back to the seventy-five mile range. Why do you ask?”
    â€œBecause what you saw is not an echo!” Maury screamed into the phone. “It’s a tsunami heading toward the mainland.”
    â€œA tsunami? That’s impossible,” Bob replied. “This thing just popped up on our screen a few minutes ago. It’s got to be an echo.”
    â€œI’m telling you it’s for real, Bob. It’s from that quake in Japan, I think. Probably surged underwater until it hit the shallows. That thing is going to hit the area in less than an hour. You need to get all the planes you can in the air!”

    Atkins sat at his desk without responding for several seconds. Was Maury kidding him? He had never heard him say or do anything that was nonprofessional. But a tsunami? “Look, Andy, I appreciate the call, but you must be wrong. How could a tsunami make it across the Pacific without us knowing it? Besides, we would have been warned well in advance.”
    â€œBob, you’ve got to believe me! It’s a tsunami! The biggest I’ve ever heard of, and it’s going to hit your area in forty-seven minutes at its present speed. The kid from Cal Tech was right. The earthquakes, the tsunami . . . we’re staring at the result.”
    â€œThat was just some wild theory, Andy. Our guys in Washington said to forget it. We’re looking at some sort of computer snafu.”
    â€œLook . . . cycle your radar over to long range and start tracking this thing and you’ll believe it! You need to get every plane in the air and then try to get your people out of there!”
    â€œYeah, well, thanks a lot for the tip, Andy. I’ll see what I can do,” Atkins said as he leaned back in his chair. I can just see the inquisition in Washington if I empty L.A. International on a tip that a tidal wave might hit , he thought as he sipped his coffee. No way I’m going to do that with three years left to retirement . His thoughts drifted to the home he and his wife, Sara, had just bought down in San Diego. Not on the beach, he reflected, but close enough to walk on it anytime we want to .

    â€œWait, Bob!”Maury shouted as the phone went dead. He knew his counterpart at the airport weather station was not going to listen. He hung up the phone and tried to decide what to do.
    The next twenty minutes were pure frustration as Andy Maury attempted to call everyone he knew at the Weather Bureau in Washington. All he got was a lot of “I’ll tell him you called when he returns, Mr. Maury.”No amount of pleading or cursing could get even one of the secretaries to alter her normal routine. His shouting about a tsunami might just as well have been a casual