​

Closing the box catches I stood upright when a man stepped into my line of sight, midway between where I was standing and the spillway railing. I was completely taken by surprise and the reaction caused me to jump. Quickly gaining my composure I recognized the figure.

 

It was Dan, the agent that had given me trouble in the past. There was no mistaking, it was definitely him, and he had a queer smile on his face that could only have been interpreted as a sneer.  Dressed in a casual jacket his right hand was pushed deep into the jacket pocket, an ominous sign.

 "What are you doing here Dan, does Margaret know you're here?"

 "No, she doesn't know I'm here.  No one knows I'm here."

​

My mind began to race. I had nowhere to escape except into the open confines of the building. Two or three paces would be all I could expect before Dan had that gun out of his pocket. A dread was creeping over me as I began to read into my mind the inevitability of what was going to happen. "What can I do for you Dan?" Dan's face hardened and he shuffled from one foot to the other. The mere fact that he was hesitating seemed to be a godsend. It wasn't changing my desperate plight any, but it was giving me precious breathing space to try to extradite myself from the situation that I was in.  I stepped back, closer to the electronic equipment rack.

​

Out of the corner of my eye I could see the 440 volt copper bus prongs which were still exposed and electrically alive, but the trailing cables were too short for me to use the high voltage rack as a weapon. My movement instigated a reaction from Dan and in the next moment I was looking down the barrel of the same pistol I had seen that night at Margaret's house. The circumstances were ominously different this time however, with the gun trained directly at my chest. "It's payback time Bonner, your turn to suffer the consequences." The pistol barrel moved slightly to the left. "Get away from the racks!"

​

Everything was happening in seconds, but to me it seemed that slow motion was in effect. I moved away from the racks out into the open and Dan took up the position that I had vacated and I was about to find out why. "It's going to look like you were careless and accidentally got electrocuted."

 "No one will ever believe that, I'm too good at my job."

 "There's always a first time for everything and I'll make certain this is yours!" His eyes were jumping all over the place, trying to evaluate the contents of the cabinet, at the same time keeping me in the sights of his gun.

​

He hasn't got a clue what he's looking at, I was thinking.  Dan's left hand was getting perilously close to the high voltage prongs. I was praying for the obvious and within a flash it happened.

​

Intending to open the cabinet door to give better access for what he wanted to do Dan grasped the rack. His body shook violently as the 440 volt electrical current passed through his body and with each convulsion the pistol in his right hand discharged. The sound of bullets ricocheted around the building, but the sharpness of their echoes were dulled by the roaring of the water rushing over the spillway, only a few paces away.

​

The next violent contraction of Dan's body propelled him away from the cabinet and he rolled over and over on the floor before coming to rest only two or three feet from where I was standing. He's got to be dead after being charged with that much electricity. I stood transfixed waiting for signs, but it was a mistake! Dan started to move and he was still holding the gun.

​

Fear galvanized me into action and I fell with all the weight of my body and knees on to Dan's chest. He's got to be weak from the electric shock! But he started to counter with his left hand and I could see that it was badly burnt where he had grabbed the live rod.

 

 What I didn't expect was the full impact of Dan's gun as it slammed into my back. It hurt, but the weapon was dislodged on impact, and it fell to the floor sliding out of reach. The two men rolled towards the spillway railing, locked in a struggle for survival.

​

Where was Dan getting the strength to fight? I felt the steel upright of the railing against my back. A split second glance downwards revealed the gushing torrent of water as it projected outwards, before falling into the waters, some sixty or seventy feet below.

 

Dan careered onwards and under the lower tubular railing, his body and legs hanging over the steep concrete incline. He was gripping my forearms like steel clamps and it was only the upright that was preventing them both from falling into the spillway. Dan briefly looked down into the turmoil below and then back up at me, a look of terror on his face. His hands slipped from Will's forearms to the rubber gloves that he was still wearing, a look of despair came over his face and he shouted over the roar of the water. "I'm sorry Will, please save me!" In the next instance his hands slipped over the shiny surface of the rubber gloves. Lying on my side I watched as Dan plummeted down the smooth concrete incline of the spillway wall, his hands outstretched like a sky-diver that had just left the aeroplane. His fingers were making tracks in the green algae covered wall all the way down, until he disappeared into the boiling water below.

​

I looked beyond into the calmer waters, but Dan didn't appear, not that he expected him to. He would be dragged down into the undercurrent and caught up in the baffle system, which was designed to slow up the force of the torrent.

​

My body started to shake violently and I gripped the railing with all my force to try and reduce its effect. There was no way that I would be able to stand until the shaking subsided. A feeling of sickness mixed with sheer relief came over me when I eventually pulled myself up into the upright position, and staggered back towards the cabinet. My hands were shaking so badly it took several attempts before I could get the high voltage link reinserted. Twice it nearly slipped out of my hands which would have caused a major problem.

​

Slamming and locking the door I picked up my instrument case and prepared to leave. I was drawn like a magnet however, back to the spillway railing. Dan's body had not emerged. The lake beyond the spillway looked as placid as before.