The Lair of a Madman
The detectives arrived at the address. It was the rotting shell of an old, bankrupt cafeteria surrounded by rusted-out factories. The building looked condemned; the roof was caving in, and the windows were boarded up with damp plywood.
With flashlights drawn, they approached the structure. Peterson found a loose board at the back entrance and managed to pry it open, revealing a dark, foul-smelling interior.
As they crept inside, their flashlight beams cut through the thick dust. The main dining hall had been cleared of tables. Instead, the center of the room was dominated by a massive, makeshift command center. What they saw on the walls made them stop dead in their tracks.
The entire far wall was plastered with high-resolution satellite images of the Silver Creek Dam, connected by a chaotic web of red string. There were complex blueprints highlighting structural weak points, calculations for water pressure, and detailed chemical formulas for homemade explosives. Elias hadn’t just blown up the dam; he had spent years studying exactly how to obliterate it with maximum efficiency.
“My God, Arthur,” Peterson whispered, pointing to the adjacent wall.
There, right next to the map of the destroyed Oakhaven dam, lay another set of blueprints. But these were much larger. It was the schematic for the Grand Valley Hydroelectric Plant—the largest power grid provider in the neighboring state, holding back a reservoir ten times the size of Silver Creek.
