It was a massive cork for such a narrow river. As high as a fiftystory building and nearly half a mile across the top of the curving arch, the Hungry Horse Dam had finally let the river pass, but not before it had stolen three and a half million acre-feet of water and formed a ten-mile-long lake of incredibly deep blue waters.

Normally the sight brought a quick intake of breath from all who saw it, but today Eric Lloyd had no eyes for the view. He, Cliff, and Nicole were hidden in the trees a few yards from the west end of the dam, and Eric stared out across the concrete road way where, in a moment, he would step out to meet Travis. He turned and gave Nicole and Cliff one last look. “I guess I’m ready.”

Cliff sighed. “You know what we’re up against as well as I do, so watch yourself.”

Eric nodded. The Major had been pouring men into the area steadily for the past thirty-six hours. In addition to the fifteen or twenty he was openly displaying around the Visitors Center across the dam, he had sent two truckloads a couple of miles up the reservoir to wait for his signal. An equal number had been left down canyon below the dam. A dozen more had been seen going into the powerhouse at the base of the dam. The last group worried Eric the most. The powerhouse was six hundred feet below the area where the exchange would take place, but an elevator connected it with a small concrete blockhouse at the center of the dam. Though it supposedly hadn’t been used for years, there was no question but what it would be used today.

Eric patted the heavy padlock in his back pocket. He and his companions had a surprise or two of their own for the group in the elevator shaft. Eric took a deep breath. In terms of manpower, the odds were about twenty to one, but surprise and high explosives would be the equalizing factors.

Cliff lifted his walkie-talkie. “Chet? Are you two all set up there?”

Rod Loopes and Chet Abernathy sat across the dam on the east mountainside, hidden in the trees about a hundred and fifty yards above the Visitors Center. They had rifles, a stun gun, binoculars, and a walkie-talkie. That was surprise number two for the Major. Chet Abernathy answered almost instantly. “Affirmative. We’re standing by.”

“Dick?” Cliff asked into the radio.

“Roger, I’m ready too. Good luck, Eric.” Andreason was on the ridge directly behind them, also with binoculars and a rifle and a clear view of the top of the dam. Surprise number three. In addition, a small radio transmitting device was linked to a detonator planted in thirty pounds of high explosives hidden in an outcropping of rock above the road. Surprise number four. No truckloads of men would be coming up from below the dam.