Wet Desert: Tracking Down a Terrorist on the Colorado River (14 page)

"Yeah, I'm the one who called you. You sure got here quick."

Grant looked at his watch. "The Bureau has a small jet. It made a big difference."

There were four other men in the lobby besides Brian, three of whom wore the same security uniforms; the other wore Levi's and a polo shirt. Brian introduced the one without a uniform. "This is Dan Mumford. He's my boss in charge of security for the dam. He just got here."

Grant nodded at the man,
then
turned back to Brian. "Did your guys get out of the plant okay?"

Brian nodded. "Yeah, they showed up after I talked to you on the plane. Everybody got out. It was a huge relief. As it turned out, the security guy down in the plant got hit by a wall of water and dropped his radio. That's why I couldn't contact them. They went out the access tunnel."

"Well, I'm glad they're all right."

Brian motioned toward the table by the windows. "I've set up a place over there where we can talk, a make-shift command center for lack of better words. The light is better over there. We lost our power a few minutes before you arrived."

Grant looked at the lights. "You lost power? So the water killed the turbines in the dam already?"

Brian looked back. "Yeah, first the main power grids went down. Then a few minutes later the small turbine that powers all the stuff in the dam itself followed. I can only imagine the destruction happening below right now. Anyway, the digital phone system went down with the power, but we found an old analog phone in the back. It still works off the phone company's power; they must be on backup or something. So at least we have a phone."

Grant heard the noise of the water again briefly as someone came in the door. When the door shut, the noise disappeared. A police officer ambled across the floor, seemingly in no hurry. He wore a khaki uniform, about the same color as a boy scout. His face was covered with an extremely bushy moustache that hung over his lips, completely concealing them, and rolling down on the sides of his face to the sides of his chin. The brown facial hair was streaked with gray, giving him a worn look. His eyes seemed to match - red and droopy. Grant couldn't help wondering how the officer could feed himself without getting food stuck in his mustache.

Brian motioned toward the man. "This is Earl Smith. He's the captain for the Page police department."

"Nice to meet you," carried from somewhere beneath the mustache.

Grant didn't remember ever hearing such a raspy voice. He reached out his hand. "Grant Stevens, Bureau of Reclamation."

Earl's hand was rough and cracked like a farmer or mechanic.

The group found chairs around the table and sat down. Grant chose a seat that allowed a good view of the dam. Everybody looked at Grant, an unspoken message that he was in charge. They all looked relieved to have someone new to give orders, especially Brian.

Grant looked around the table before speaking.
"Well, first things first.
Has everyone been notified, upstream and down?"

Brian nodded. "I called everyone in the red book. That includes the Grand Canyon downstream and
Lake
Powell
's water patrol." He pointed at Earl. "The police closed all access to Lee's Ferry and other roads into the canyon."

"What about the dams upstream?" Grant asked.

Bran shook his head. "They weren't in the book."

Grant pointed at the phone. "Well, we should probably call them too, and shut them down, like Flaming Gorge in
Utah
, it won't help us for a day or so, but tomorrow, we're going to wish we had."

"How did the
Grand Canyon
folks react?" Earl asked.

Brian shrugged, glancing around as he answered "Well, that was one of the first calls I made this morning. And to tell the truth, they didn't seem as worried as I would have expected."

"You told them the dam was breaking apart, and they didn't seem concerned?" Grant asked.

Brian looked around. "Well, like I said, that was a while ago, and I didn't want to say anything that wasn't true, so I just told them the facts, you know, that there had been an explosion, and that water was coming out of the dam."

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
Glen
Canyon
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."