Chapter 6 - THE STORM THAT TOOK THE ROOF
At 10:11 p.m., Hurricane Iris struck Halcyon Cay.
The sound was unlike anything I had ever heard.
Not wind.
Not thunder.
Something enormous tearing through the world.
The command center shook.
A security monitor went dark.
Then another.
The western guest villas lost their roofs.
Water surged across the lower service road.
Marcus shouted over the alarms.
“Storm shutters holding!”
Daniel checked the emergency map.
“West wing flooded!”
“Everyone's inside?”
“Yes!”
“Then leave the buildings.”
He nodded.
At 10:38 p.m., a violent impact shook the lighthouse complex.
The overhead lights flickered.
A steel support bracket had torn loose from an exterior maintenance structure and struck the communications housing.
Our primary satellite system failed.
For three minutes, we had no contact with the mainland.
I watched Daniel work the backup radio.
My hands were cold.
Not from fear alone.
From the realization that the storm was now more powerful than any plan we had made.
Then the backup radio crackled.
A voice answered.
Coast Guard operations.
Daniel nearly collapsed with relief.
At 11:04 p.m., Dr. Price called from the medical shelter.
Rosa's condition had worsened.
I hurried downstairs.
The medical room smelled of disinfectant and damp concrete.
Rosa lay on a cot.
Her face was pale.
Dr. Price looked at me.
“We're doing everything we can.”
I took Rosa's hand.
She opened her eyes.
“Olivia?”
“I'm here.”
She tried to smile.
“Your father built a strong place.”
My throat tightened.
“Yes, he did.”
Rosa squeezed my fingers.
“Don't let them turn it into another casino.”
I laughed through tears.
“I won't.”
Near midnight, the eye passed over the island.
The wind stopped.
The silence was terrifying.
People began whispering.
Some wanted to go outside.
I ordered everyone to remain sheltered.
The second half of the storm was coming.
At 12:19 a.m., the wind returned from the opposite direction.
Even stronger.
The lighthouse shook again.
Water poured through a damaged service corridor.
Marcus and two engineers secured the internal flood barriers.
Nobody slept.
Nobody complained.
At 2:47 a.m., the storm finally began moving away.
The generators were still running.
The emergency shelter remained intact.
All eighty-seven people were alive.
Rosa was conscious.
And the first light of morning revealed what remained of Halcyon Cay.
The beaches had vanished beneath debris.
Several villas were destroyed.
The docks were gone.
The gardens were flattened.
But the lighthouse still stood.
My father's ugly, stubborn lighthouse.
May you like
The building Grant had wanted to demolish.
It had saved us.
