“How did this happen?” the supervisor asked.
Joe tried to explain about the microbots and how they burrowed through things, including concrete and clay. No one questioned him this time.
“Could they still be down there?”
“Possibly,” Joe said. “Maybe burrowing into the clay to widen the tunnel in ways the water can’t.”
“If it widens too much …” the supervisor began. He didn’t need to finish.
“Do you have any way to seal something like this?” Joe asked.
The supervisor rubbed his chin. “There may be one way,” he said. “We have a compound known as Ultra-Set. It’s a polymer that bonds with clay, expands many times over to fill small gaps. It becomes impervious in a matter of seconds. If we could pump it into the tunnel that those things you’re talking about have drilled, it might block it up. If the topside holds and the water level drops fast enough, we might avert a total failure.”
A new wave of tremors shook the building.
“What’s the drawback?” Joe asked.
“There’s only one way to get the Ultra-Set into the tunnel,” the supervisor said. “We have to pump it in under high pressure. To do that, someone has to find the entry point on the lake side of the dam.”
Joe looked at the supervisor and the few others who remained at their posts in the shuddering control room. “You need a diver,” he guessed, finding it hard to believe his fate. He smiled anyway. “How lucky for me.”
CHAPTER 54
THE ELEVATOR DOORS OPENED TO REVEAL THE TOP FLOOR of Marchetti’s pyramid and a luxurious foyer. Three of Jinn’s men were stationed there and they turned at the sound of the elevator’s ping.
It was a natural reaction. They had no reason to suspect any trouble. In fact, it looked to Kurt as if they were snapping to attention as the sound wave from the Pain Maker hit them and dropped them to their knees.
One let out a grunt, another stumbled backward and knocked over a table with a vase on it that smashed to the ground, the third man just fell straight down.
Kurt let go of the handle that powered the system as Paul, Gamay, Tautog and Varu bound the men in cuffs from the brig. The men looked dazed and confused.
“I feel your pain,” Kurt said. “Or at least I did about ten hours ago.”
The men were gagged with duct tape and stuffed in a janitor’s closet.
“This way,” Marchetti said, heading to the right. They made it to the corner, where the foyer intersected the hall. Poking his head around it, Kurt saw it was empty.
“Let’s go.”
Halfway down the hall they came to a large set of double doors. Marchetti went to a keypad. As he pressed in his code, the sound of shooting broke out far below them. Little pops that sounded like cap guns going off.
“Some of Jinn’s men must be resisting,” Gamay said.
Kurt nodded. “Hurry.”
Marchetti punched in the code as Paul and Tautog charged up the Pain Maker.
Kurt kicked the doors open and flipped the switch. There was no one there.
“Wrong room?” Gamay asked.
Kurt shut the machine off and stepped inside, looking around. The bed had been slept in. He smelled the scent of jasmine. The same perfume Zarrina had worn. Apparently she was closer to Jinn than they thought.
“Right room,” he said. “We just missed them.”
As he stormed back past Marchetti, he mumbled, “Might want to change your sheets.”
“Or burn the whole bed,” Marchetti said.