She nodded. "I'm glad you brought that up. I got ahold of them all, but the person I talked to at Headgate Rock said he couldn't do anything until the big wigs show up for work."
"You're kidding, right?"
"No, he was serious. He said the offices for the Bureau of Indian Affairs are in Phoenix, and they didn't have any home numbers for them at the dam."
"So what are we going to do?"
Shauna looked at her watch and then back toward the visitor center. "Well, we should be able to try them pretty soon. They answer their phones early, since much of their communication is with offices on the east coast."
"What about Imperial and Palo Verde? What did they say?"
"Imperial had already put two and two together. They knew they'd get flooded; they just didn't know when. I told them we were concerned with the desalination plant, and they said they had been sandbagging around it all night."
"What'd they say when you gave them the time frames?"
"It was later than they expected. They were actually relieved."
"And Palo Verde?"
"The guy I talked to was very concerned. He wanted to know how much higher the water would be, which I didn't know. He asked me to estimate, so I told him about ten feet. He told me ten feet would put the water level over his dam, which I told him I already knew. He asked what the plan was to save his dam and I had to tell him there wasn't a plan, that we knew it was going to fail. He didn't like that."
"Did you recommend that he break it himself?"
Fred laughed and Shauna looked up, surprised. "No. Should I have?"
Grant explained, "We need to call them back. It would cause a lot less damage if he breaks his dike before the water gets there. Why don't you call them back and explain it to them. Since both Palo Verde and Headgate Rock are landfills, an intentional controlled break before the water levels get out of control would be better. It would not only mitigate upstream flooding and reduce the amount of water released, but more importantly, they would be able to choose where they wanted the dike to break. That'll help them later, when they have to rebuild it."
Fred laughed. "I want to listen to their reaction when you tell them to break their own dams."
Shauna looked nervous. "I wonder how they'll react."
Grant nodded his head. "Oh, they'll be shocked when you suggest it. But once you explain why, they'll understand."
Shauna looked nervous and put her head down. Grant touched her shoulder. "Have you called your family? Is it okay for you stay out here for a few days?"
She looked back up and nodded. "I don't need to call. I can stay as long as you want me to. " She smiled. "It's been interesting."
"Had you ever been here before?"
She shook her head. "Not at Hoover. But when I was in high school, my parents took us to Lake Powell. We didn't have boats or anything, but we took a tour boat over to see Rainbow Bridge. We toured the Glen Canyon Dam while we were there. They let us go down and see the turbines and everything. Glen Canyon seems very similar to Hoover."
"Not anymore," said Fred.
Shauna's head turned toward Fred before her eyes bulged. She looked back at Grant. "Oh! I keep forgetting. Was it terrible to watch?"
Grant nodded. "It was amazing and terrible at the same time."
Fred's eyes looked dreamy. "I wish I could have seen it."
Grant tried to visualize. It seemed like weeks ago. "When I left, there were two concrete outcroppings, one from each side of the canyon. That's all that was left of the dam. Lake Powell was running down the canyon like a gigantic river, 600 feet deep. The Glen Canyon Bridge was gone, buried in the bottom of the river."
Shauna's hand went to her mouth.
Grant broke out of his trance and motioned along the crest of Hoover Dam. "Now we have to save this one." He peered over the 600 foot drop to the river below. "If you believe in prayer, say a prayer for Hoover Dam."
Julie stood in the Mastercraft and looked east toward Castle Rock at the early morning sun. Hundreds of people must have started hiking at first light. They had formed into multiple lines that snaked over the hill from Warm Creek Bay. It would be hours before they had hiked around Wahweap Bay to the marina. She did not envy them.
She looked down at the water and marveled at how far it had dropped during the night. Was it possible that it had dropped another hundred feet? There were literally hundreds of boats stacked two wide below them on both sides of the launch ramp. Although boats had continued to enter Wahweap Bay the night before, the darkness had halted further attempts. That or the parks service had finally figured a way to prevent boaters from attempting the risky journey.
She wished she could see over to the main channel. What would it look like, with the water so low? Maybe it was too low to permit entry into Wahweap Bay. What if there was some sort of obstruction? What if there were still boats heading south, but they were all being swept over the remains of the dam? She hoped that was not true. She wondered how many people actually had been pulled over during the night. It was unreasonable to believe that nobody had. What if fifty people had died last night? What if a hundred?
"You're awake?"
Julie turned to see Erika walking down the ramp from above, with Paul following behind.
"You ready for breakfast?" Erika asked.
Julie was starving. "Is the restaurant open?" She couldn't imagine it was.
"They're not cooking, with the power out. But they put out some bagels and fruit on a table for the people that are arriving." Erika reached over and ran her fingers through Julie's hair. "Were you able to sleep much last night, with everything going on?"
Julie shook her head. "I might have gotten 15 minutes." She remembered the night being a series of boaters debating whether to ground their boats like the Crawfords had, then after finally doing it, walking up and down the ramp talking to anyone who would talk.
Greg pointed up the ramp. "Has anyone said anything about clearing this off?" He motioned at the slimy surface.
Paul shook his head. "Everybody is asking about it, but I didn't hear any answers."
"Have you seen any equipment show up? Any cranes?"
Paul shook his head.
Greg pointed at the Mastercraft. "Can you watch the boat? I want to go talk to some people."
Erika held out her hands. "That's why we came down here. We'll watch the boat while you guys go up and get something to eat, and get cleaned up. Take your time."
Julie liked the idea. She pulled Greg along and started up the hill.
The governor had arranged for breakfast to be brought in from the Hacienda Casino. A group of men wearing white shirts and hats carried in the long rectangular silver platters with lids. They set up a buffet along the west wall of the visitor center with a stack of plates on one end. The aroma of sausage, bacon, and maple syrup drifted through the visitor center.
Grant's entire body begged for sleep, and he'd actually considered allowing himself to take a quick nap, but that was before the food arrived. Another urge, more powerful than sleep, changed his mind. His last meal had been cut brutally short by the second bombing. And his stomach now told him that a breakfast buffet took priority over naps and dam discussions.
He, Shauna, and Fred lined up behind Governor Jenkins and Commissioner Blackwell's parties. Phil's team from the FBI lined up behind them. Grant scooped liberally from the first platter, which was filled with bacon and sausage.