by Gary Hansen
Earl spoke from beneath the mustache. "Better call 'em back and update 'em."
Grant nodded. "So when the first calls were made, they were never told the dam was collapsing?"
Brian leaned forward. "When I made the calls, I didn't know--"
Grant waved his hand to silence him. "That's all right. You just gave them the facts." He stood and walked over to the large windows. He looked down into the canyon as he spoke. "Just in case you guys want an official statement from the Bureau, the Glen Canyon Dam is going to fail. My guess is it'll be gone before noon. Let's get back on the phones and update everyone. Maybe that'll wake up the rangers in the Grand Canyon."
Brian and his boss Dan stood to leave the table.
"Hang on," Grant said, pointing at Brian. "I need to ask you a few more questions. Can you get somebody else to make the calls?"
Brian's boss motioned to one of the guards who had been quiet up to that point and they walked a few feet away from the table and had a brief conversation. Afterwards the quiet guard left and Dan returned to the table.
Grant walked back from the window and sat down at the table. "All right, I want to start with what has happened so far, chronologically. Brian, can you tell us everything you remember? Try to include time estimates when possible."
Brian started, "Well, I was back in my office when I heard the explosion." He motioned down a hallway.
"Did you check the time?" Grant prompted.
"Sorry, no."
Grant coaxed, "The Bureau called me at 6:27 a.m. Arizona time. Try to estimate how long before that you heard the explosion."
Brian looked around nervously. "Wow, things were moving kinda fast around here. How about 20 minutes."
Dan, Brian's boss, spoke up. "Was it still dark?"
Brian shook his head. "No, the sun was coming up." He pointed to the window. "When I ran over here to look, the sun hit me right in the eyes."
Grant smiled, "You mean you saw the sun rising? A partial sun?"
"Yeah, I guess."
Grant nodded. "Good, we can estimate the time of the explosion based on sunrise. That'll give us a good approximation of the time. Let's use 6 a.m. as our estimate until we can check it against the 911 logs." Grant looked around the table. "Who's taking notes?"
Dan raised his hand.
Grant pointed to him. "Okay, Dan. You're elected." Grant turned back to Brian. "Now, you heard the sound at 6 a.m., then what happened?"
"When I looked out the windows, the first thing that caught my eye was the smoke on top of the west elevator tower. Then I noticed the water spraying out of the dam. There was smoke there too."
"When you first noticed the leak, how big was it?"
"I'd say about five feet in diameter, not too big," Brian shrugged.
"Did you see anybody around the elevator before it blew?" Grant asked.
"Sure, the elevator service guy was here working on the west elevator before the explosion."
Dan jumped up, "What elevator service guy? There wasn't any service scheduled last night!"
Brian looked nervous. He talked directly to his boss. "I know, but he showed me the work order and he said it needed to be done before we opened today, per you. He knew your name, first and last. I figured you forgot to tell me about it, so I let him in."
Dan yelled at him. "Why didn't you call me, I would have told you--"
Brian pushed his chair back and stood, yelling back at his boss. "It was 4:00 in the morning! Besides everything looked legit and it was the same company that always comes. I just thought . . ." He sat back down.
Dan remained standing, staring down at his employee. Brian put his head down.
Grant spoke to Earl, "Officer Smith, you want to ask any questions? I think we just figured out what caused the explosion."
Earl leaned toward Brian, "What did this guy look like?"
Brian gave a description of a slim, white guy in his early thirties wearing gray coveralls with a matching hat. He had a mustache, Brian remembered. He drove a white Chevy pickup, pulling an enclosed utility trailer behind. Brian responded to a question from Earl by stating that, no, they didn't usually watch when service guys were working.
"Did you guys write down the license plate?" asked Earl.
Brian nodded and handed a clipboard to the police officer, pointing to the number.
Earl barked orders to one of his officers. "Call our buddies in Utah and down south. We need roadblocks on all major highways. He looked at his watch and grimaced. "He's got almost a two-hour head start."
Everyone turned as Dan yelled from the windows. "Is that the trailer?" He pointed toward the dam.
The others hurried over to the window. A white enclosed utility trailer was parked on the dam, mostly hidden by the west elevator shaft. The lookers wondered why they hadn't noticed it before, possibly due to the more impressive sight of water blasting out of the dam.
Earl looked at Grant. "Mr. Stevens, I'd like to send a couple men out there to investigate. Does the Bureau consider it safe enough?"
Grant stood and walked to the window. Without looking back, he answered, "It's definitely going to collapse. The question is how soon."
"All we gotta do is run out there, look around, and get back. We got time for that?"
Grant turned and spoke directly to the officer, pointing toward the dam. "My assumption, based on how far down the hole is, is that the top of the dam will hold for a while, maybe an hour. I can't say for sure. However, my assumption is just a guess. The lawyers at the Bureau would never allow anyone on the dam."
Earl responded, "I ain't interested in what the lawyers think. I just need to understand how fast it's going to break up."
Grant continued, "How long do you think you need?"
"I'd just like to have my men look in the back of that trailer and see what they see. I'm bettin' that there are a few clues to what kinda bomb was used. Clues that could help us find out who did this."
Grant looked at Earl. "Officer Smith, obviously I can't authorize you to go out there. But I'm not going to say you can't, either. You make your own decision. However if you're going, go now. The longer we talk, the more dangerous it becomes."
Earl stood and headed for the door. This time his stride was hurried. He turned before he went outside. "We'll be ready in a few minutes." When Earl opened the doors, the sound of the water rumbled into the lobby again.
Grant wondered if he had made the wrong decision. If the dam collapsed while the cops were out on it, they would hold him responsible. He considered running outside and stopping Earl, telling him he had changed his mind. Although Grant still estimated it would be at least an hour before it collapsed, he could be wrong.
While he waited, Grant decided to do something he needed to do. There was a phone call to make. It'd been a mistake for Julia to send him alone. He knew that now. He needed someone here with him, to run calculations, and coordinate with the office in Denver. He had a feeling that the computers at the Bureau would be humming before too long, trying to analyze the flood implications downstream.
As he dialed, he hoped Shauna Kingsly would be at her desk. She was the one he wanted. She had worked for Grant for over five years now and although everyone considered her a little intense, Grant wanted her with him. She had the ability to organize data and make sense of it better than anyone in the group. She was tenacious at getting the support she needed from other groups, which would be essential to coordinate communication from the Denver office. She would definitely be overwhelmed. She was an introvert who thrived in a structured environment, and was terrified by change. She didn't have much of a personal life, seldom varying from the path between her parent's home and work. A trip to the field would freak her out, but do her good. Shake her up a little, in a positive way.
She picked up on the second ring. "Hello?"
"Shauna. It's Grant."
"Grant? Are you at GlenCanyon right now?" She sounded excited.
"Yup. What have you guys heard?"
He'd wondered if the word had got around yet.
"Well, the news was all over the radio on the way to work. But I just thought you were late this morning. The rumor that you were there, at the dam, didn't come down until a few minutes ago."
"Well, I'm definitely here. And the radio doesn't do it justice. The Glen Canyon Dam is tearing itself apart by the minute."
"How big is the hole?"
"Just a second and I'll look." Grant carried the cell phone over and looked out the windows again. "I'd say about a hundred-fifty feet in diameter." He heard Shauna gasp. "And it's kind of hard to see, with all the mist, but the water is probably shooting out a couple of hundred feet before it hits the river below."
"Wow."
Grant got to the point. "I need you out here."
"What? Me?" she said softly.
"Yeah. I need somebody out here to run numbers and coordinate with the office. Bring your laptop. You'll need it. Get a cell phone too. Check one out. If they give you any crap, call Julia, Roland's admin. She'll help."
"When should I come?"
"I want you on the first plane out of Denver. You determine how much time it'll take to go home and pick up what you need. If travel gives you any guff or takes too long, bypass 'em and book your own ticket." Grant could tell she was writing while he talked.
"What airport do I fly into?"
"Page . . ." Grant suddenly realized that few commercial airlines flew into Page. She would have difficulty getting a flight. It would take her hours, maybe until late afternoon. He looked out at the dam. It would be history by then. She would never make it. "No. Don't fly here. By the time you get here, I'll be gone. Meet me at Hoover."
"Hoover?" She sounded surprised.
"Yeah. Fly into Las Vegas, then take a taxi to Hoover. That's where I'm headed after this."
He waited while she wrote, then continued. "If you beat me there, our contact is Fred Grainger; at least I hope he's there, not on vacation or something." Grant had worked with Fred before, definitely a good man. He needed to call him, as soon as he got a minute. "Hang on. Here's my cell phone number." Grant read her the number off his wife's phone.
"Anything else?" she asked.
"Yeah, before you leave, go tell Bruce that I have his Failure Inundation Report. You get a copy too. Tell him, if he has any updates, we need them now. I want the flood levels recalculated using this morning's water levels from LakePowell and Lake Mead."
He waited again while she wrote.
"All right, what else?"
"That should be enough. You've got plenty to do. I'll see you at Hoover."
He hung up while she was still writing.
* * *
8:00 a.m. - Highway 59, East of Hurricane, Utah
Officer Leonard Smith waved the two old ladies through without making them stop. Although he had orders to stop every car, he felt safe in his assumption that the two gray haired grandmothers in a rusty Buick hadn't blown up the Glen Canyon Dam. However as they motored off, he wondered if maybe the man was hiding in the trunk or something. Leonard turned and watched the car go. What if somebody had a gun to their backs? He should have checked it. He decided not to make that mistake again.
The roadblock was set up about five miles past the city of Hurricane. Dispatch told him they would send another car to back him up as soon as they could find one. Supposedly, the Utah Highway Patrol was already en-route. Leonard had been alone for a half hour. So far, he was pretty sure that the bomber had not gotten past him. Not many cars had passed, and most of them had either been Utah or Arizona plates, and no white pickups.
He shielded his eyes and looked east under the morning sun. It looked like a motorcycle approaching. He could barely see the single illuminated headlight. He waited until the rider got closer, then walked to the middle of the road and held out his hand. As the motorcycle slowed, he saw that the single rider leaned back against a sleeping bag tied to a sissy bar. The bedroll was visible on both sides of the man's notably skinny body. The motorcycle pulled up next to Leonard and stopped, engine still running. Leonard walked behind and read the numbers of the Nevada license plate and wrote them down on his pad.
When Leonard returned to the side of the bike, the man spoke first. "Was I going too fast?"
Leonard ignored the question. "Where you coming from?"
"The Grand Canyon."
Leonard could have guessed as much. "You got your park pass?"
The rider probed the gearshift lever, finding neutral, and then released his hand from the clutch. Searching his pockets with both hands, he finally held up a National Parks ticket. Leonard grabbed it and saw that it was stamped the day before.
"You only stayed one night?" he asked.
The skinny rider nodded. "Got to be back to work tonight."
In Leonard's opinion, most of these bikers that rode in and out of the parks were hippies, and this guy didn't seem any different. He was going to ask to see the guy's driver's license when he spotted another car coming, a white one. He shielded his eyes again and saw that it was a pickup.
He waved abruptly at the motorcycle. "Okay. Go ahead."
"What's going on?" the motorcyclist asked.
Leonard yelled at him. "Get out of here!"
As the motorcycle sped off, Leonard touched the butt of his gun. He stood in the middle of the road with his hand out. This next one could be their man.
* * *
8:35 a.m. - GlenCanyon Dam, Arizona
Earl gave instructions to two police officers. The noise of the water made it impossible for Grant to hear what was said. They all stood outside on the west edge of the dam. Both of the officers had been rigged with a rappelling harness. Three hundred feet of rope was then snapped onto each officer. The rope was Earl's idea. Luckily, a couple of the police cars were equipped with repelling gear for rescues in the canyons. The rope would provide a safety margin, although the thought of trying to pull the two men back to safety as the dam collapsed made Grant uneasy.
Grant was surrounded by police officers. A group of them were dedicated to each of the two ropes. Each rope end was tied to a cement rail at the edge of the dam. A third rope, also tied off, was to be tied to the trailer, allowing the officers to pull it back across the dam. They wanted the trailer if they could get it. Earl finished his instructions to the two volunteers.
"OKAY. HURRY UP!" Earl shouted at his two harnessed investigators.
The two immediately set out across the top of the dam. Grant checked his watch, 8:35 a.m. The preparations had taken way too long.
The white trailer sat next to the west elevator shaft, about a football field away from the edge of the dam where the group was standing. Grant could see that some of the staff's cars were still parked over on the east side of the dam.
As the two officers hustled out to the trailer, they encountered pieces of concrete, metal, and other debris from the explosion of the elevator. Grant noticed the large metal door leading into the elevator was warped outwards. The door had held, a testament that the bulk of the explosion had been channeled vertically up the elevator shaft and out the top, taking all the concrete and framing with it.
Earl pointed at Grant, pulling him out of his thoughts. "YOU WATCH THE DAM! I'LL WATCH MY COPS," Earl shouted through the roar of rushing water.
Grant nodded and hurried over to the rail on his right so he could get a better view of the water shooting out of the face of the dam. As he arrived, he saw a chunk of concrete the size of a car break off and get carried down into the mist below. The air vibrated around him, buffeting his ears and rumbling into his chest. Watching that much water moving below him gave him the sense that he would be sucked in. The thought made him back up a half step. He glanced upstream of the dam and, for the first time, noticed a large whirlpool on the lakeside of the dam. He glanced back at the police officers and saw one was tying the third rope to the hitch on the trailer. The other had already gone behind it. When Grant looked back at the water, he saw another piece of con
crete break off and get carried away. The dam was breaking faster than he had anticipated.
He turned and shouted to Earl, churning his hand in a circle. "TELL THEM TO HURRY."
Earl responded through a cupped hand. "YOU LET ME KNOW WHEN TO GET 'EM OFF."
Grant saw one of the officers reach down and scoop up something and put it in a zip lock bag while the other snapped a picture of the trailer with a camera. When Grant looked back down at the water, another block of concrete, this time the size of a tour bus, broke off and disappeared into the canyon. Grant estimated that the water was now within sixty-five feet of the top of the dam. A moment later, another huge piece broke loose and suddenly the water was less than fifty feet from the top.
"GET 'EM OFF!" Grant shouted. He waved his arms for emphasis.
Earl was on the radio immediately. The officers started moving back slowly, one snapping pictures as he moved the other reaching for something on the ground.
"NOW!" Grant yelled.
Earl talked in the radio, and the officers sped up slightly, but not as much as Grant wanted. He now regretted allowing them to go. He would be blamed if something went wrong. Grant saw another large piece break loose, this time followed by a large cracking sound, loud enough to make him cover his ears. The sound was just the motivation the two cops needed; they both sprinted for their lives back toward the edge of the dam.
As the two officers approached and slowed, Grant felt relieved they had made it. However, at that moment, with a loud sound like thunder, a fifty-foot section of the dam, including the elevator shaft itself, broke off and was dragged into the water, pulling the trailer with it. Before anyone could react, the third rope, tied to the trailer, tightened and swept suddenly to the right, taking the legs out from under both officers. The trailer dangled just above the water level on the downstream side of the dam. Grant heard a scream from behind and turned. The rope had pinned another policeman against the handrail, pinching his legs below the knees. His bulging eyes darted back and forth and his face contorted with the pain. Two other officers rushed over and tried to pull the rope away from the officer's legs. Even with both men pulling, they couldn't budge it. They wedged their legs against the concrete to get more leverage, but to no avail. The man screamed again as the rope cut into his legs. Then suddenly the rope disappeared. The previously trapped man collapsed, revealing Earl standing behind, a huge chrome hunting knife gleaming in his hand. Grant looked down and watched the trailer disappear into the Colorado River below.
