Billy, the second guard, answered.
"Billy, this is Grant up on the dam." He waved so the guard could see him. "There's a leak in the crater. I don't know how long it's going to last. Tell Reese to get his equipment up here fast."
He saw Billy run out of the guard shack and yell to them. He saw a radio go up to Reese's mouth. Grant looked over at the bulldozer coming toward him along the crest of the dam. He waved frantically at the man, pointing into the crater. The driver must have seen him because he craned his neck, then pushed a lever. Simultaneously, black smoke poured from the exhaust pipe and the bulldozer accelerated.
Grant turned and ran back toward the puddle, only to find himself in water up to his shins. He slogged through it toward the source, but when he arrived the water reached almost to his crotch and he had to reach underwater to feel the spring. With his hand he felt the water gushing out of the dam, but it felt different than spring water; it felt gritty and occasionally Grant felt small rocks wash past his hand.
"He's almost here," Agent Williams shouted from above. "Get out of there or he'll bury you!"
A much larger block of dirt caved off of the upstream side of the crater. Grant saw it out of the corner of his eye, but with both feet in the water, he couldn't move fast enough to evade it. He put up his arms and the dirt hit him head on, knocking him back into the water. He went under. When he tried to stand up, he realized his right leg was partially buried and he had to pull hard to get it out. He lost the shoe in the process.
The thought of getting buried alive by the bulldozer motivated him that he needed to climb out, but looking up at the sides of the crater and remembering his descent, he wondered how. Then he looked downstream and realized that was the answer. He slogged toward where the dirty water was now washing out onto the face of the dam. Grant felt a gush of water take his feet out from under him. Before he went under he saw another section of the dike between him and Lake Mojave start to drop and he heard the female agent scream. For the next few moments he wasn't driving; he was just along for the ride. After he got his head back above water, he tried to grab with his hands and dig with his feet. He felt the water carry him along from the crater onto the outside face of the dam. He was dragged down the steep slope. For a moment he felt like he was on a waterslide, then he banged his arms on some rocks. He felt his big toenail tear out on the shoeless right foot. The thing that saved him was the water spreading out on the face of the dam. He stopped himself by grabbing a large rock with his right hand. Ignoring the pain now radiating out from multiple body parts, he quickly traversed across the stream to the dry incline and collapsed.
"Oh my! Are you okay?" Agent Williams had hurried down to where he lay.
He looked up at her. "Yeah," he said, although he really didn't feel okay.
She grabbed his hand. "You're a mess. We need to get you out of here." And to punctuate the statement, Grant felt water flow over his left foot as the stream expanded.
The ground vibrated and the diesel engine screamed as the bulldozer approached the flowing crater. The operator wasted no time, dropping the blade and pushing a swath in. Not waiting for the result, the machine reversed, backing up for another load. The bulldozer went back and forth multiple times until all the material from the truck was in the crater. Grant saw that the operator was getting the upper hand, as the stream diminished and finally stopped. Meanwhile, the second truck had arrived and the bulldozer waited while he dumped. The bulldozer then shoved it into the hole. When that material was in the hole, he started carving into the original dike, and pushing that into the hole. Before long the operator had built up the crater enough to drive into it and compress it, which he spent a while doing.
Grant lifted himself up, and felt what were going to be bruises. Agent Williams held his arm and they started the steep hike back to the crest. The operator stopped the bulldozer, left it idling, and jumped down and jogged over to where Grant and Agent Williams stood. "Wow, that was close. You okay, buddy?"
Grant nodded. "Just a little banged up." He pointed at the partially filled crater. "For a while there I didn't think you were going to be able to stop it."
The operator smiled. "For a while there I almost didn't. A few more seconds and it would have beat us. We'd be evacuating this place."
While they talked, Reese pulled his pickup behind the idling bulldozer and walked over. "Thanks for the heads up, Mr. Stevens. Good save." His eyes gave Grant a once over. "By the way, you look terrible."
Grant looked down and saw that his clothes were filthy. There was blood on both his arms and on his foot where he lost the toenail. "Thanks," Grant responded, managing a small smile in spite of the pain.
They were interrupted by the sound of diesel engines again and Grant noted that two more dump trucks had finally appeared below.
Reese looked over at Grant. "I'm gonna drive back down there and give my boys their marching orders. We're going to need more material than I thought. You want a ride, or you gonna slide down the face of the dam again?"
Grant couldn't imagine anything better than sitting back in the leather seats of Reese's truck. "I think I'll ride this time."
More than anything, David wanted to sleep. He wanted to crawl into his sleeping bag and get into the fetal position. Only then would it be possible to wake up and find that this all had been a bad dream. Besides, he was freezing. Even though he and Afram had been up on the ledge with Judy and out of the water for more than an hour, their clothes were still wet, and the night temperature in the Grand Canyon was cold.
As Judy had first anticipated, the outcropping enabled them to traverse upward to a small ledge where all three could sit down. Originally they had worried that the water would rise and rim them again, but that had not happened. The water had only risen about five feet farther after they lost the raft, and since then had actually receded slightly.
During the last hour, they had talked sporadically about their friends in the raft. All three agreed that their friends' chance of survival was minimal. Could they have survived going over the falls? Potentially, yes. Realistically, no. Could they have landed the raft someplace before they went through the narrows? Potentially, yes. Realistically, no. The logic had depressed them too much to allow long conversations on the subject.
David shivered and his teeth started chattering again. "I'm real cold. I don't know how I can make it through the night."
Afram agreed. "Me too."
Judy reached over David and motioned for him to move over so she could crawl in between the two men. "I'm cold too." She snuggled close to David. "We're going to have to share body heat to avoid hypothermia."
David embraced her and felt Afram do the same from the other side. The spot they were on was small and jagged and they were uncomfortable.
"And don't either of you try anything," Judy said jokingly.
David felt himself smile slightly for the first time since his friends died.
Julie cuddled Greg, draping her arm over him. Although the seats on the Mastercraft could be reconfigured into a comfortable bed, tonight she did not feel comfortable. It was not the seats; it was the way the boat was leaning. Gravity kept reminding her that her body was not level, which made her imagine they were on the verge of falling.
In the last three hours since they arrived in Wahweap Bay, they had been busy. First they had dropped off the rescued couple at the marina. Then they had retrieved Paul, Erika, Max, and Darlene from Castle Rock, and motored them over to the marina.