“But he could kill Evan.”
“He could, but Evan has surprise on his side. And close-combat skills. Shah doesn’t have either of those.”
“Then why does Evan want me to leave? There would be no need unless he thought there was a good chance the dam could blow.” Her heart rate sped up. She didn’t know what to do.
Sean and Cam came barreling out of the elevator. She explained the dire situation, nearly buckling under the weight ofthe threat. But she couldn’t. It was her job as lead to protect them. Yet she could do nothing to help Evan. He was the expert here and needed no direction from her.
But these guys? Men she respected and loved? She could direct them away from the blast area. “I want all three of you to go back to the main entrance and make sure everyone evacuates. Ensure this place is empty.”
They didn’t budge.
“Now!” she shouted. “Go! That’s an order.”
Looking reluctant, they departed.
Her fear threatened to take her down, but she had to keep working the investigation. She got out her phone and called the sheriff. “Where are we at in apprehending Amari and Nabi?”
“Amari’s in custody, and my men are still in pursuit of Nabi.”
“Do they have eyes on him, or is he still in the wind?”
“Eyes,” he said. “The guy’s hoofing it through the park. Just a matter of time before we grab him.”
Kiley had to make sure the terrorists didn’t escape to hatch a future attack. “I want to know the minute they’re in custody.”
“Roger that.”
The call ended, and her thoughts went back to Evan. She moved to the edge of the concrete and stared down into the water. She spotted the floating board Mack had told her about.
Fear razored along every nerve ending, and she started to shake. Evan’s words came rushing back to her.“Trust God. He’ll bring usthrough.”
She wanted to trust Him. How she wanted to take comfort in her faith. Then it hit her. She had no practice in doing so. Since her dad had died, she’d simply been going through the motions of faith. Her mother’s constant fear had written the same fear in Kiley’s heart as if with permanent ink, and the anxiety never washed away. No matter how many times she’d asked God to free her from the fear. It had informed everything she’ddone since then. On top of that, she’d let Olin’s death cement it in place. Now it needed an explosive of its own to blow it free.
If she wanted to be with Evan, she would have to face her fear head on. Talk to her mom and let it go. Exactly like Evan said. And she would try her best to let go. Being with him was worth the effort and so much more.
That was if they all survived this terrible threat.
The water was mottled at the surface from the rain but turned dark and murky as Evan descended. Blackness enveloped him, and he stayed near the edge of the massively thick dam wall and wished he could turn on his light. But there was no way he was alerting Shah that he was coming for him.
Evan felt around until his fingers connected with the detcords. He followed the cord, sinking down. Down. Down.
His gut churned as he breathed deeply, the sound of his rebreather comforting. His dive computer declared he’d reached eighty feet, and he spotted Shah with his headlamp fixed on the explosives near a cluster of the bolts the Bureau of Reclamation kept replacing.
Evan released a few bursts of air with his pressure inflator, allowing him to hover in place, his bubbles rising up. Even from this distance Evan could see the RDX. He couldn’t miss it. Not with the massive number of bricks attached to the dam. Would have taken days to bring down this quantity of explosives. Shah would’ve needed an accomplice on the inside to get all the bricks into the building and down here.
At this quantity, if the RDX was detonated, it would tear a huge hole in the dam. Four and a half trillion gallons of water in Lake Powell would go coursing down the Colorado River, wiping out everything and everyone on its way.
And only Evan could stop it.
Keeping her focus on the water, Kiley made her final call to the sheriff. “Update.”
“Your suspects are in custody, and the place is a ghost town,” he replied. “Just like you instructed. The last men are climbing into my vehicle, and we’re heading over the bridge before the dam blows.”
She didn’t like his assumption that Evan would fail, but she did like that the sheriff was following orders and that Amari and Nabi could no longer hurt anyone else. “See you on the other side of midnight.”
She disconnected and called Mack. “Head out with the sheriff.”
He didn’t say anything for a long moment. “We’ll join you.”
