Chapter 15 - The Key to a Locked River

"What key?" Elias asked.

Nadine studied the blue handwheel in the picture. "The emergency chamber has a physical override panel. It's controlled separately from the company network. The county retains the access keys."

Ruth Bellamy checked her inventory. One key had been checked out to a contracted inspector the previous week. The paperwork named Cal Kellan.

"He never returned it," she said.

Ortiz sent tactical officers to the east bypass entrance while Ruth extended the evacuation zone. School buses and public works trucks started moving people out. Local radio cut into its music with emergency instructions. For the first time since my father died, the county was treating a warning as a warning instead of an inconvenience.

I stood on the sidewalk outside the command center and called the old apartment. The answering machine picked up. My father had installed it because he hated missing messages, and Ben had never let me replace it.

"Hey, it's the Quinn place," Ben's recorded voice said. "Leave something good."

I waited for the beep.

"Ben, it's me. You don't have to protect me by being quiet. You hear that? Whatever they threatened, we're coming. Please keep yourself alive."

Elias was standing behind me when I turned. His eyes were red from exhaustion.

"I used to think being the boss meant you could fix anything," he said. "Now I've found out how many things can go wrong while a man is busy believing the wrong people."

"You didn't make the first decision," I told him.

"No. But I defended it without looking."

He swallowed. "I owe your father more than an apology I can't give."

Before I could answer, a young officer emerged from the command center. The team had reached the east bypass, but the main door was chained from inside. Through a vent they could hear somebody striking the wall in groups of three.

"Three knocks," I said. "That's Ben. It's our other signal. Means he's trapped but can hear you."

The officer spoke into his radio. The response came almost immediately: rescuers were cutting the chain, but rising water had reached the lower stairwell.

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Then the radio crackled again, carrying Ben's terrified voice.

"Don't turn the wheel!" he screamed. "He switched the labels!"