Suddenly everything stopped, just for a moment. Maggie and I tiptoed up to the new, raw cliff edge and peered over. The massive rockfall had settled into its new home in the river and forest below. The slabs and boulders spanned the river and then some, damming it up just as we had expected.

“Look!” Maggie said.

We watched in nervous anticipation as the white foam frothed at what was now blocking its route—and the water followed the path of least resistance and began to bubble up and onto the shore.

It was happening. With the Sweetbay blocked, the water needed a way around the new rock dam. It surged to the sides, and while some of it made a quick detour to the left before flowing back into the river on the other side of the dam, the bulk of the water pushed to the right and poured down, down, down into the valley.

The valley where the power plant was.

From that point, there was no question of what would happen. The water would race along the valley floor and eventually pour into the hole at the construction site—and flood the room containing Ishango.

There was nothing I saw in that room to indicate that this supercomputer of all supercomputers was built to be fully submerged. There wouldn’t be enough rice in the world to dry that thing out.

We didn’t think the flooding would drown anyone at the plant. At least we hoped not. Hell, those workers were all out protecting the plant against us anyway, right? And a lot of them didn’t seem human anymore.

Ah, I was rationalizing. I didn’t want the blood of hundreds of innocent lives on my hands, but Ishango was endangering a lot more folks than those residing in the plant. Anyway, people can swim.

From atop Mount Hope, we watched the river rush and gurgle through its new route, saving us and the rest of the world from the evil force that had murdered so many people and turned our town into a living disaster.

“‘Down goes Frazier! Down goes Frazier! Down goes Frazier!’” I whooped.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Maggie asked with a laugh.

“Howard Cosell … George Foreman … never mind,” I said, wrapping my arms around her. “Smells like … victory.”

She pressed her soft lips against mine, and although I couldn’t say that this moment made everything else that preceded it worthwhile, it was closer than you might think.

CHAPTER 56

Maggie

A RESCUE HELICOPTER spotted us several hours later and lowered a basket for Mom, Mr. Conners, and Bud Winkle. It turned out that the bullet had grazed Bud’s scalp, causing enough blood spillage to make him pass out but not enough to kill him. We learned later that he’d followed us in his car and on foot knowing that we’d likely be pursued by Ishango’s forces. Bud wasn’t tied up with them after all, and the secret files he kept at the plant would become invaluable in the investigation to come.