Gauntlet (60 page)

T
HE WALL OF WATER was over 400 feet in height, and moving with incredible speed. Steel and concrete, now from both the dam and the bridge, were traveling with the torrent of water, acting as scouring agents against the banks, dislodging huge chunks of dirt and sandstone, and hastening the multiple collapses that accompanied it. Everything in the flood’s path was demolished. The canyon walls were in the process of being instantly and destructively changed. This was no slow millennium-by-millennium erosion by wind and gentle water. This was a geologically catastrophic change, a 9.0 earthquake, a violent eruption, a tsunami beating against one of the most geologically spectacular sites in the world.

There were a number of beautiful camping spots, and some motels and lodges at Lee’s Ferry, farther downstream. This also marked the starting place for most Colorado rafting tours. Many people were camped there, and some were already making their way down to the docking sites, to begin water tours of the canyon. While some of these groups had a minute or two of warning, the wall of rushing water made clambering up the steep canyon walls to safety impossible. Everyone within Marble Canyon died. The death toll was well over 200 before the floodwaters even reached the head of the Grand Canyon.

There, the ground shook with the oncoming flood, and the canyon came alive like a great writhing, convulsing snake. The canyon walls, already harrowing and steep, had become deadly, raining ever larger stones down into the depths. The rushing apocalypse of water was yet to be seen, but the magnitude of the tremors was increasing rapidly, and the canyon was becoming unstable.

To the north, in the areas already being blasted by the flood, gigantic slabs of sandstone were tumbling into the raging torrent, dislodged by both the water and the shaking that preceded it. The water would be momentarily blocked by these impediments, but would then flood over them and continue on its unstoppable course. The volume was increasing as more and more of the Glen Canyon Dam deteriorated and collapsed from the force of the pent-up water in Lake Powell. The flood gained the power and unstoppable forward motion of a runaway freight train, as it rushed toward the Grand Canyon proper.

P
ANDEMONIUM REIGNED in the TTIC central control room. The Atlas Screen displayed Lake Mead, the Grand Canyon, and the Lake Powell area. George had quickly obtained estimates of the speed of the rushing flood from the military helicopter pilots who were ordered to follow the front. He entered the speed, which was estimated to be 50 miles an hour, and programmed an advancing red line through the canyon to simulate the water’s progress. Two of the 101’s were displaying the television footage, taken by the two helicopters that were following the flood, beamed over the satellite system to the Pentagon, Langley, and TTIC. The other 101’s showed news services, most prominently NBC, which had, through pure happenstance, captured the video of the Glen Canyon Dam actually being destroyed.

So far, no one had come up with a plan.

M
ORE THAN AN HOUR had passed since the destruction of the Glen Canyon Dam. Two military helicopters were following the leading edge of the floodwater as it catapulted from canyon wall to canyon wall, moving ever closer to Lake Mead. Evacuations had been put under way immediately, but were not all successful. Not everyone could get out of the way of the oncoming flood. The President and his key staff had all witnessed in graphic and repeated slow motion the horror that had occurred at Lee’s Ferry, where 100 people had been swept from their campsites by the rushing water. Canyon Village, along with about 500 tourists, had fallen into the canyon gorge soon after. Dozens of small settlements and camping spots had disappeared into the developing catastrophe. More and more water poured through the Glen Canyon Dam, and Lake Powell was quickly emptying itself. The same question was repeated over and over again. What would happen to the Hoover Dam? Could it hold? Could the floodwaters be contained there? If the penstocks at that dam were opened to the fullest, could a collapse, or a flooding of the Hoover, be prevented?

U
PON THE PRESIDENT’S ORDER, the technicians in the communications department had contacted Jordan McKay, head of the Bureau of Reclamation of the Lower Colorado Dam, setting him up on a video link to the White House Situation Room. The question the President asked him was simple. Would the Hoover Dam hold?

The video link was transmitted to other offices. Staff at Langley, the FBI, the Pentagon, and TTIC were seeing the same video that the President was receiving. The security, Intelligence, and military agencies watching this had, between them, the power and intelligence to assess and address the national disaster that was now unfolding. If they were given the chance. The Emir was at the forefront of their thoughts. He had planned it. He had told the world that he would take out Las Vegas. He would not have said that if he hadn’t had a specific plan; one that had been designed by someone who knew what they were talking about. Someone with considerable analytical and engineering skills, who was aware of the weaknesses of the dam. What had this person known that they were missing?

Jordan McKay was speaking. As the head of his office, he knew more about the Hoover Dam than anyone. He had spent the last 30 years of his life working at, and in, the enormous structure. An engineer by training, he knew every inch, every nook and cranny of the dam, its penstocks, internal flows, intake towers, and power plants.

“This dam is probably one of the most solidly constructed dams in the US,” he began. There was some trembling in his voice. He knew that there was a large audience listening to him and, as part of that audience, the President himself, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and some of the most learned and powerful individuals in the Intelligence Community. So he made his summary of the dam’s internal workings almost absurdly short, going for a quick, hard impact.

“What does that mean?” asked the President when McKay was finished. “Can you put it in layman’s terms, without all the technical stuff?”

“Yes, Mr. President, sir, I can,” replied Jordan. “Think of it as a gigantic Lego set. These enormous blocks of concrete that I’ve described are like the individual Lego blocks. They’re hooked together not only top to bottom, but also end-to-end and face-to-face. It makes for a very robust structure.”

“Can the dam hold if the reservoir fills to the very top of the dam itself? Can it do that?” asked the President.

“Are you asking if we can increase the water elevation in Lake Mead to the point that it reaches the crest of the dam, and have the dam survive? If that is the question, Mr. President,” continued Jordan, “then the answer is definitely yes. This dam is very complex. For cost reasons, I don’t think we’d build a dam like that today. And we have had times in the past, during wet years when there was a lot of mountain runoff from Utah, Wyoming, and Colorado, where the reservoir was very high. The dam has shown that it can hold its own in that situation. The fortunate thing here is that the water level in Lake Mead is already very low because of predominantly dry weather over the last five or so years. The same can be said for every lake along the Colorado — that river is not currently at its maximum capacity. In fact, it’s rather dry. The Hoover won’t be dealing with as much water as it’s seen in the past.”

“Good,” replied the President. “Now if we keep the dam’s flow rate consistent with what it is now, how long will it take for the water to reach the dam crest?”

“Our engineers are looking at that, Mr. President,” Jordan answered. “We have some very preliminary information now, and are computer modeling this as we speak. We’ll be able to refine this information shortly, once we get a better idea of flow rates through what is left of the Glen Canyon Dam. However, overall, the information we’re developing is positive.”

“What could possibly be positive about this situation?” asked the President.

“It’s positive in the sense that we know what’s coming. We can control flow rates through the Hoover Dam. We can store water downstream in Lake Mojave. It’s positive in the sense that the Hoover Dam will hold, and the loss of life in the past hour is probably the last that you will see in this situation. Yes, the floodwaters through the Grand Canyon are uncontrolled, but we can control the flow in various lake systems and reservoirs from there down. We can open all the diversionary tunnels and all the penstocks. We can manage the flow. It makes this a disaster of limited proportion.”

“Well then get those goddamn pipes and penstocks and tunnels open, right now! Now, sir. Understood?” The President was forceful.

“Yes, Mr. President,” said Jordan.

The President turned to face the men around him. “How sure are we that these terrorist bastards don’t have the mechanisms in place to take out the Hoover Dam?” asked the President. “Jennifer Coe specifically referred to the Hoover, and the Emir said he would destroy it in that last message. He hasn’t made a strike against it yet. Is there any possibility that that strike will come through some further bombing or focused charge application?”

The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs responded. “Sir, we have had agents over, under, above, and through the dam. We have two mini-subs of our own patrolling the mouth of Boulder Canyon. There is a no-fly zone in effect, and if any plane infringes upon it, the rules of engagement are to shoot it down.”

“Good,” the President replied. “And Mr. McKay, assume Lake Mead is being filled at a record rate from the breach of the Glen Canyon Dam. How rapidly are you able to drain water from Lake Mead when you open the spigots to the maximum?”

“The internal ductwork of the dam, once you consider the penstocks, the diversionary tunnels, and so on, is very complex. The outer diversionary tunnels were used to control the river when the dam was being built. They’re 50 feet in diameter, and there are four of them. When they were used during the construction, two of them could carry the entire flow of the Colorado River. The flow was much greater then, since the Glen Canyon Dam hadn’t been built yet. The tunnels remain. The inner diversionary tunnels now contain the 30-foot diameter steel pipes that connect the towers to the power plant. They can also be used. I hope I’m not rambling, sir,” Jordan added.

“No. Please go on,” came the command from the Situation Room.

“The four tunnels I’m talking about each have cylindrical gates, 32 feet in diameter and 11 feet high,” said a still nervous Jordan. “These can be completely opened, which I presume is what you meant by turning on the spigots. These tunnels are plugged, and it would be a bit complicated to unplug them; we would have to do it one tunnel at a time, and it would be time consuming. But it can be done. And it would increase our chances of success.”

“How long will it take to drill or blast through these concrete plugs in the tunnels?” asked the President.

“Surely it wouldn’t take that long,” Dan interrupted from the TTIC control room, looking for a moment in the sun. “We have all kinds of armament on or around the Hoover, and there should be enough explosive to drill into and blow up the concrete plugs.”

“Actually, that would be a problem,” said Jordan. “I mean, it would be a tricky bit of work, as you could cave in the tunnels themselves. Especially if you were using explosives. It’s almost like you need one of those gigantic tunnel boring machines that the Swiss and Japanese use for their train tunnels. Remember that the tunnels are also very long, almost three miles all told.”

“Is everybody just plain daft?” snapped Rahlson, not caring that the President was in on the call. “Just a few minutes ago we had Dr. Sandilands from Livermore Labs on the line. Did he not say that he had a few of these focused explosive devices just lying around?”

“I think he said he had a few in storage,” said Rhodes.

“Why couldn’t we use them to vaporize the concrete plugs?” Rahlson asked excitedly. “Don’t you see? If they work like the Glen Canyon Dam device worked, we should be able to knock out the plugs instantly, hopefully without too much damage to the tunnel, given the tight focus of the plasma.”

One of the military advisers present agreed. “You’re right,” he said. “Call Sandilands back. I need to know the size and weight of those devices. We may be able to fit them in the bomb bay of an F-22. If everyone cooperates, we could have those devices mounted and ready to go within an hour. It will take three hours for the water to reach Lake Mead. We have the time to do this.”

“Then get it done. Do it, and I mean do it NOW!” said the President. The edge to his voice was sharp and strident. The man who had volunteered immediately pulled a cell phone from his shirt pocket and began to make a series of calls.

H
ERE’S THE QUESTION. With the present intake system set to the maximum, how long do you think we have before the water crests the dam? Regardless of whether the Hoover holds, we need to think about what will happen when the water gets past it.”

After sending several men on their missions in regard to the tunnels, the President had kept Jordan McKay, TTIC, and some of his security advisers on the line to continue their discussion. They needed to be prepared for every possibility.

“I don’t know, Mr. President. But my gut says at least a month before we have to deal with the water cresting the dam, and probably longer,” said Jordan. “I feel confident about that number, as I’ve been looking after the Hoover for many, many years. I’ve directed my people to start mathematically modeling the system. I’m sure that before this is done, we’ll have propeller heads from Harvard to Oxford working on this problem. We’ll be getting the best help possible.

“The important thing,” he continued, “is that this will not happen overnight, or in the next four or five hours. It will take a good month before the Lake Mead water level reaches the top of the dam, and by then I’m sure we’ll have fancy dyking systems in place to protect our downstream users. If we can successfully use all four of the outer tunnels, they should theoretically be able to handle twice the volume of the Colorado River. If we have the penstocks open to their maximum, and all four of the diversionary tunnels, we can probably take three times the flow of the original river. As we speak, engineers are working to figure out how high the dykes downriver should be, and how strong. I’m more concerned, quite frankly, about having reservoirs in place so that the extra water can be impounded, rather than wasted. It’s a dry area, and it would be a shame to send so much freshwater straight to nowhere.”