Wet Desert: Tracking Down a Terrorist on the Colorado River (63 page)
Read Wet Desert: Tracking Down a Terrorist on the Colorado River Online
Authors: Gary Hansen
The man wrote down the number in a notebook. "So there were eleven besides you three."
Judy nodded.
"And you say you were separated in the flood?" He looked at Judy. "Can I assume there were six in your boat and eight in the other when you split up?"
Judy nodded.
"And you were all with Colorado River Foam?"
David didn't remember telling anyone that. "How did you know that?"
The man reached in the pocket of his vest and pulled out a bright green emblem like the one from their life jackets.
David's stomach sank. Judy put her face in her hands.
"They're dead, aren't they?" Afram pointed at the emblem. "You found their bodies, didn't you?"
The man nodded. "We found some bodies wearing these life jackets, yes." He waited while it sunk in.
"Eleven?" Afram asked.
The ranger shook his head. "Ten. We found an eleventh jacket, but no person."
David felt perplexed. "Does that mean somebody made it?"
The man shook his head. "The straps on the jacket were torn out. It would take a very violent situation to do that. We don't believe it's possible that the person wearing it could have survived."
"So they're all dead then?" Afram said.
The ranger nodded.
Deep down David had known it already. He had known it since the night before. He felt no shock now, only disappointment at the lack of a miracle.
"The three of you were picked up just above
"We could hear it," Judy said. "Keller knew what it was."
The ranger looked confused.
"Keller was our guide," David said.
The ranger pointed at them. "You three were lucky."
David felt many emotions. He would return to
CHAPTER 37
5:47 p.m. - Imperial Dam, California/Arizona Border
Grant sat in a folding chair under a temporary shade canopy. His body felt exhausted, and his toe was aching again. He was reviewing the projected timelines with Shauna when Frank Kennedy interrupted them.
"They think the water is starting to rise," he said, pointing to the small hill where the police were watching the river upstream.
Grant stood. "Are they sure?"
He nodded. "Yeah, they said one of the rocks on the river bank, one they were watching, is now underwater.
"How are your demolition guys doing?" said Grant.
"I just called them. They said they only need a few more minutes."
Grant walked out from under the shade so he could look out at the demolition men. He saw a couple of them hustling away with tools and boxes of excess materials. A few remained in their working positions, but Grant couldn't see what they were doing from where he stood. He guessed they were still planting the explosive themselves, or maybe threading in the detonators.
"Did you tell them to finish up and get outta there?" he asked.
Frank nodded. "Already did."
Grant looked downstream from the main head gates to see if he could detect if the water had risen yet. He stared at the water for a while to see if he could see it rise. He finally looked up and saw that only about five men remained below the spillways.
"The water's rising!" yelled Shauna.
Grant's eyes moved back toward the river and he noticed the river had risen almost to the top of the wet marks in what must have been only a few seconds.
Grant turned to Frank. But the site supervisor was already on the radio urging the demolition guys to clear out. "We have to blow it now!" Frank yelled.
Grant heard the response in the radio. "I can't detonate until my men are clear."
"Then get them out now!" Kennedy retorted.
Grant saw the final guy drop what he was doing and begin to run. A moment later a fine film of water breached the top of the moss-covered face of the concrete spillway and streaked it dark gray.
"The water's there. Blow it now!" urged Frank into the radio.
"Not 'til my last man's clear," the radio responded immediately.
Grant saw the man, still running, turn his head to look at the spillway, and suddenly trip and fall down. He was still, not moving.
Grant cursed under his breath.
The man's head came up slowly. Grant could see two other men running back to help. The whole face of the spillway was now dark gray and covered with water. The flow downstream from the head gates had increased noticeably.
Grant tapped Frank on the shoulder. "Ask him if the water flowing over the spillway will screw up the explosives."
Frank relayed the question and the radio responded, "Yes, if we wait too long."
The men reached their fallen comrade and immediately started dragging him away.
"Now!" yelled Frank.
"Just a little farther," responded the guy on the radio.
Grant saw the water running over the spillway had increased. It now splashed when it reached the bottom and the boxes left by the demolition team were washing away. Grant looked back at the two men dragging the third. They were only a hundred feet past the spillway.
The explosion erupted behind them and knocked all three men down. Grant's hands went upwards to relieve the pain in his ears. With his hands still covering his ears he noticed that the lower spillway had a dozen huge openings of up to twenty feet in diameter. Some of the blocks of concrete could be seen downstream from the spillway. Muddy brown water now gushed around the new openings. As he watched, he saw the water open another huge hole, rolling a concrete block out of the way.
Grant saw Frank Kennedy yelling at him, but couldn't hear anything. Suddenly realizing why, he removed his hands from his ears. "What?" he yelled.
Grant saw a group of men splashing through knee-deep water to recover the three men knocked down by the explosion.
"He wants to know if he should blow the upper dam on the Gila side," said Frank.
Grant turned his head around. "Where's Shauna?"
She appeared suddenly from behind some of the policemen. He waved her over. "What do you think?"
Her face revealed a nervous smile. "
Wow, that
was scary. I was watching the men when it happened. I didn't expect it until they were farther --"
Grant interrupted. "Me neither.
But what about the spillway?
Is it enough?"
"Oh sure.
I think the water will finish it off. No problem."
Grant felt the same, but it felt better that she agreed. "So, no need to open the dam wider?"
"Couldn't hurt," she responded.
It wasn't the answer Grant expected. Why blow up the rest of the dam if it wasn't needed? "But if you think that it's enough . . ."
"The spillway should have been wider from the start," she said quickly. "We might as well open it up like it should have been."
It made sense. He'd only been thinking of saving the original structure, not leaving it the way he would have designed it. "I think you're right."
He waved Frank Kennedy over and told him to have the demolition team unhook some of their detonators and only blow another 300 feet of the Gila side. That would leave another couple hundred feet of concrete to protect the
The amount of brown water flowing through the shattered spillway had grown considerably. The water exited dark and soupy after carving through the years of silt deposited behind Imperial Dam. Although the concrete structure underneath was no longer visible, the general shape could be discerned by looking at the rapids, the higher points revealing the remaining structure. Grant noticed one large rapid move downstream and
dissipate
, which told him the water pressure had cleared another block of concrete.
While staring at the scene, he heard the sound of a helicopter. He looked up and saw the LAS VEGAS TOURS logo on its side. Lloyd was back.
"How long before the river level peaks?" asked
Frank.
Grant looked at Shauna.
"A half hour, maybe forty minutes," she said.
They all watched as Lloyd set the helicopter down. As soon as the landing gear touched, Grant heard the engine begin to wind down with the rotors.
"You guys gonna leave now?" asked Frank tentatively.
Grant looked at his watch - 5:57 p.m. The water would reach the ocean in a few hours. He felt something powerful tugging at him, telling him to move on. The environmentalist was in
succeeded,
would be deemed irresponsible.
"No, Frank. We'll stick around for another half hour to see if we opened enough of your dam up."
Frank's shoulders relaxed a little and he smiled.
Lloyd walked up. "Did I miss all the action?"
Grant wanted to ask the pilot more questions about flying into
While he waited, Grant pointed south so Lloyd could see him. "Did you run into the FBI while you were in
"Nah, they didn't arrive at the airport until I was ready to leave. We didn't even talk."
Grant wondered if they had even recognized Lloyd's chopper as the one Grant was using. More likely that they were thinking about their own responsibilities and not what Grant was doing.
Frank walked over. "Cover your ears this time; he's going to detonate it in fifteen seconds." Frank turned and shouted for the policemen standing around to cover their ears.
Grant covered his ears and noticed that Lloyd and Shauna were doing the same. He suddenly realized he hadn't seen Agent Williams since they landed.
The explosion blew chunks of debris into the air. It hurt his ears even with his hands clamped over them. He watched a large portion of the concrete dam break off and
move
downstream. Grant guessed that at least half of a football field length of the dam was displaced and that the water would have no problems finishing the job.
"Awesome," Lloyd said.
* * *
6:25 p.m. - Imperial Dam, California/Arizona Border
Grant, Lloyd and Shauna stood next to the helicopter watching the water do its thing. The level had risen steadily since the first explosion. Now it seemed to have stabilized at about four or five feet from the top of the original dam. There was no doubt in Grant's mind that the decision to blow the 300 foot section on the Gila side saved the dam from being topped. In all, counting the spillway and the extra section, a 1300 foot section of the dam was now flowing full blast. As Grant had predicted, the ten-foot dike constructed to protect the settling ponds of the
The small highway below the dam was underwater. The rushing water had flattened what previously had been an impenetrable mass of willows in the riverbed below the dam. Grant saw no evidence that they had ever existed. Looking downstream, the river had spread out to almost a half mile wide, then steadily flowed downhill for three or four miles before it emptied into the valley of farmland below.
"Unbelievable," said Lloyd.
Grant looked at Shauna. "You know what the bright side of this is, don't you?"
She looked up at him with a confused look on her face. "No. What?"
"It will only take a few days of this to un-silt the dam. It'll be cleaner than it's been in seventy years."
She looked back at the water and nodded. "I'm not sure anybody's going to be celebrating."
As Shauna spoke, Agent Williams walked up to where they were standing. She was covered in concrete dust and her knees were wet and dark.
Grant shook his head. "Well, look who you see! I was starting to think you blew yourself up."
"Not likely," retorted the agent.