Torn (26 page)

In order for Darius to take a tour of the bunker, he had to book a room.

He did.

It was during his stay and tou
r that he became more fascinate
d with the concept of
underground
cities and shelters.
Darius vowed that once he retir
ed he was going to
build
one.

He spoke t
o
a man who
claimed
his
father worked on the bunker. It was that man who told him about the Four Horseman of the
Apocalypse
c
omplexes
.

His father was called into work on two of them.

Four underground
station
s,
c
omplexes
, like the ones the
government
built. Almost as big, and privately funded.

The four shelters were connected by ownership.
Built in the 1970
s, those who funded the complexes made a pact to be the new civilization should the world turn to ashes.

Each complex, hidden beneath some sort of diversion
ary
building, bore a symbol on the floor.

Like the one Darius found.

The four were
located in the south and south
west. California. New Mexico and two in Texas
.

All were built to be self sufficient.
Thirty-eight
thousand
square feet of room. A place to start seedlings. Even a venti
lation system designed to be ma
n-
run should power fail.

Darius researched these complexes and found no concrete evidence
of their existence, only rumors
.

Until he stood in one.

It was magnificent.

The hallways were wide and sturdy, big enough to start a transit with golf cart type mobiles. The
h
ospital
had a
twelve
-
bed ward. Operating room, and
examining
room
. There was an area for
dentistry
.

The kitchen was
a common area. Ther
e
were
eight latrines and
s
howers, 16 dorm rooms with divider walls. Four recreation rooms and a theater.

It was three levels, at least a
hundred
feet underground.

The
top
two floors
of the
complex
were
ready for use, the bottom floor,
storage
or
expandability
.

The boiler room alone was huge.

Darius chuckled at the bicycles in there, eight of them, that would be peddled to produce energy.

The tour, which was led by the ‘You are here’ layout plaques on the wall, took two hours.

There wasn’t a space they missed, or a room they didn’t
photograph
.

They sat on boxes of chicken
noodle
soup, taking a break
before
going topside again.

“Shame,”
Darius
said. “I don’t think we can use al
l
this food.”

Blain
added.
“I don’t think we should thro
w
it away. It is canned goods.
Can’t w
e test it to see if it went bad?
”

“We could,” Darius said. “At least have it in reserve.”

Bret stood. “I can’t believe this place. It’s huge. It’s a
building
underground
. I like the
artificial
light room, like they have on a sub
.
”

“Me
, too. It’ll be cool for reading,”
Darius
agreed.

“So, let me ask you a question. Is this like finding the pot of gold for you?” Bret asked. “I mean, you talked about your obsession since reading that book. Is it?”

“Yeah,” Darius nodded. “I can’t believe this exists and
that
we’re gonna buy it. Tomorrow.”

“You never mentioned how,” Blain said. “Really
,
how are we gonna do this.”

“Winslow
will
write out a check.” Darius shrugged. “This place is so great.”

Bret cleared her throat. “I have a question.” She
raised
her
hand.
“If it’s an ice age, why are we going underground?”

“Because it keeps us safe,” Darius answered. “People are not going to
be
behaving rationally. Do you really want people to know
how
much survival stuff we
have?
Being on top of the ground is sending just that message.”

“True.” Bret ran her hand against the
concrete
wall. “It’s so
atomic
. Nuclear war
-like. Of course,” she shrugged, “m
aybe what we need is a nuclear
war. We’re
already off track. 
According
to all those old sci
-
fi movies, that would toss back on track again. I love those old movies. We have to remember
to get
some.”

“
Stop
,” Darius held up his hand. “Repeat what you said.”

“We need to
remember
to get
some old movies.”

“
Back
further.”

After
a moment
of confusion, Bret answered. “We need a nuclear war?”

“Bingo.” Darius snapped his finger and smiled. “Let’s go.” He didn’t even wait
,
was
down the tunnel, through the vault
door
and on his way up the ramp by the time Bret and Blain realized he was actually leaving.

Colin laughed.

He laughed, said, “
Excuse
me,” then se
t down the phone on the counter
. . .
and laughed some more.

Darius
’
voice was muffled as it carried through the receiver.

Colin didn’t hear him. He was too busy laughing.

After a moment, he lifted the phone. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t laugh at me.”

“It’s ridiculous.”

“No, it’s not.”

“
Dare-Dare
,
you want to do what?”

“You heard me,” Darius said.

“Yes, I did. I just never thought this would come from you. It’s very fifties sci
-
fi.”

“Well, Bret was
talking
about fifties movies when the idea came to me.”

“There you have it, Darius. She thinks this whole thing is a fifties movie. Look at her
reaction
to
Winsl
ow.”

“Colin, please. Open your mind.”

“I am.”

“It could work.”

“Based on what?” Colin asked. “What facts do you have to support this?”

“None. It’s theory.”

“Based on old fifties movies.”

Darius sighed. “
No.”

“You
think theoretically you have come up with a way to change things.”

“Yes. And don’t
laugh
about it being a theory. We’re basing everything we’re doing on a theory of what is going to happen to
the
world.”

“No, Dare-Dare, for that we have scientific data. The world is already going to shit. And you want to blow it up.”

“No. No. N
o.” Darius was
adamant
. “I want to create a big enough explosion, at the right speed, right time, right place, so it causes such a
disturbance
in the magnetic field that it
stops
the reversal, even reverses it.”

“And how big of a bang do you need?”

“I have it calculated.
We’d need an explosion that
causes
about sixteen million gigajoules of energy.”

Colin dropped the phone.

“Colin?”

He
lifted it back up. “Sixteen million gigajoules. What the
fuck
,
Dare-Dare.
Do you
know what it wo
uld take to produce that energy?
”

“Yep. Three trillion, nine-hundred
sixty-
nine
million
, nine
hundred
tons of TNT. Or…
3.9 gigatons of nuclear
explosions
.”

“Oh my God, in one area?” Colin
asked.
“I’m afraid to ask, but do you have a clue how many nuclear warheads it
would take
to produce that much?
”

“Yes.”

“I figured as much.”

“About fourteen thousand 300 KT bombs. Which is about half the world arsenal, yes, I understand.”

“Oh my God.”

“But it can be done. The energy
. . .
”

“Do you mind if I do my own math and work on this?”

“Sure, but.
…”

“Because,” Colin said. “We really can’t do anything until you get back. So let me
work
on this see what I come u
p
with.”

“Okay
.”

“
Everything
else okay
?”

“Oh, yeah, the
complex
is
awesome.”

“Deeply set underground?” Colin asked.

“Deep.”

“Hmm
.
Probably would come in handy if your theory is implemented. All right, I’ll speak to you later.”

“Thank you.”

Colin
hung
up. He looked down to his paper and the figures written. “
Half the world arsenal. That’s all.”

When Darius disconne
cted his call he turned around in
the hotel room to face the stunned expressions of Blain and Bret. “What?” he asked.

Bret ti
l
t
ed her head. “You want to blow up the world to stop the ice age?”

“God,
you
and
Colin
are so
melodramatic
. No. I just want to cause a burp. That’s all. Excuse me.” He
walked
from the room.

Blain turned to Bret. “
He
did say half the world’s arsenal right?”

“Yep.” Bret nodded.

Blain nodded as well. “
He
wants to blow up the world.”

It has nearly been four
days since the terror
ists hit. W
ith the arrest of the terror cell in Mexico that claimed responsibility, things are moving
along
impressively. Although it is estimated that 65% of all electronic devices will have to be
replaced
, a
long with power lines and grids, m
ain grids and terminals have been or
are
in the process of being replaced, and until the lines are fully up and running, it looks as
though
they will be channeling energy from New Mexico, Mexico and
Louisiana
. Officials say by tomorrow morning, Texas should be running
at full power. And I’ll tell ya
, Dan, it can’t come too soon for these residents who need air conditioning. Not even
the
crack of dawn, and already temperatures are already a sweltering 80 d
egrees. Preparing to head back north, this is Blain Davis.
…

“That was brilliant on your
part
,
Mr. Winslow,” Colin spoke on the
phone
as he walked
his upstairs hallway. “Please pass on to your
attorneys
that we were very grateful for their
presence
with
Blain at the closing. Absolutely, I’m sure he can supply you with an autograph
ed
picture.
Uh huh
.” He paused in the
hallway
to check out his reflection in the mirror. “Everything is settled. We plan on moving equipment to the site this week. Virginia and her family.”

Colin exhaled, and headed
down
the steps.

“No, you haven’t met her yet. Yes, she’s married. You are paying them to live there though. If you think we should we can get security. I don’t see any reason for you to
go there at this time. We will t
ake you are there with us when the time comes. Yes, sir. I must go. Absolutely, Bruce is there. Have a good day.”

Mid de
s
cent of the stairs, he paused. Twelve minutes he was on the phone with Winslow. He
shook
his head, prepared to call Bruce to
give him a heads up that he might
receive a
visitor
, but opted against it. Bruce could handle it.

He smelled it
, the moment he hit the bottom of the staircase. Cooking. After nearly tripping over the scooter in the hallway, Colin walked to the
kitchen
. “Morning
,
girls.”

Andi was wiping up coffee spillage by the pot. “You take yours black, right.”

“If it was made for me, I take it anyway. Thank you, Andi.” Colin accepted the coffee as he took a spot at the breakfast counter. “Ah, my paper.”

Casper turned from the stove, “
Breakfast
is almost done.”

“And you made me breakfast?”

“You haven’t been around in the mornings, the last few days,” Casper said. “And we knew you were home. We want to cook for you. We’re really glad you let us stay here while our mom is gone.”

Andi
added, “We really like it here.”

“And I like you kids here, too. Gives the house life. Luke is doing wonderfully
learning
the
equipment
. You two are just, sort of, almost, but not quite Suzy homemakers.”

Casper said, “We want to do more. You got the new cleaning lady. And it’s not fair that you work the labs and stuff and come home and cook
.
We can cook, you know. Or try.”

“Take
-
out works,”
Colin
said. “B
ut if you want to cook I’m fine with that.”

“Good.” Casper smiled. “Like I said we made breakfast.”

“And it smells…
wonderful,” Colin paused and looked at
the
plate set b
efore him. “And this looks like.
…”

Andi
finished the sentence. “Fried r
amen and bacon.”

“Ah,” Colin nodded. “Fried r
amen noodles and bacon. Yummy.” He cleared his throat.

“Speaking of w
hich,”
Casper
said
, “We used the
last
two packs for breakfast.”

“I just bought the case two days ago.” Colin comment. “But then again, that doesn’t
surprise
me. You made r
amen noodle
sandwiches
for lunch yesterday.”

“You don’t like ramen noodles?” Casper asked.

“I can’t say that I have ever eaten ramen noodles until you kids arrived.” Colin smiled politely. “But this looks yummy.”

He really did. He hesitated before eating, but had the fullest intent to at least try the
meal
the girls had prepared for him.
Fork full of rame
n and nearly to his mouth, the door to the basement opened.

“Hey, Dr. Reye, glad you’re awake,” Luke said as he entered.

“How it going down there
, Luke?
”

“Good. Good. I think.” Luke scratched his head. “Is it like a big problem if there’s a red dot on the earth and alarms are going off.”

“Um
, yes, I believ
e
it is.” Colin s
tood. “Let’s go check it out.” He
stepped
away from the breakfast counter,
paused
,
reached out,
grabbed his plate and then followed Luke.

Virginia’s voice piped throug
h the speakerphone in the make
shift basement lab. “You’re the geologist, Colin. Not me.”

“Did you get the images?”

“Yes, I did.”

“Then I just need you to concur and help
me
figure this one out.”

“It’s a hot spot.”

“Thank you for that,” Colin said. “Fine. You’re probably busy with moving.”

“Colin, don’t get shitty,” she said. “I’m just saying it’s a hot spot. Whether it’s
tectonic
plate movement or a
v
olcanic
eruption
underground,
I don’t know. Did you get in touch with
seismologist
s
in the area?
”

“I need to pi
n
point where it’s going to surface. I’ll get back to you.” He hung up, ran his hand over his chin. “I
suck at this computer shit. Okay
. . .
let’s
. . .
”
he pulled up a chair next to Luke. “Let’s see if we can watch this bad boy, make a prediction and get in contact with scientists in the area.”

“How much time are we talking about?” Luke asked.

Colin shrugged. “I don’t even know where this is going
.
Sort of like that red spot on your chin. We don’t know if it
will
be a blemish, pimple, or a full
-
blown eru
p
tion when it finishes.”

“Thanks, dude.” Luke touched his chin.

“No problem.” Colin returned to the screen. “Earth’s acne.”

It wasn’t something that Chuck wanted to deal with. He had just returned home to Johnstown, was working on the Fire Chief story, when he got the call.

It was a
blistering
call.

Containing
the ‘f’ word in every sentence, Chuck had to pull the phone fro
m
his ear.

“Jess, stop,” Chuck implored. “You seem to lose the ability to speak English when you’re pissed. Why are you screaming at me?”

“Because I was arrested and it’s all your fault!” Jesse blasted. “Now you either show up with the key to the f
ucking house in fifteen minutes o
r I’m breaking every window and tearing that place apart.”

Chuck was confused. “So I’m to assume you’re out of jail?”

“Yes! Fifteen minutes!”

“I’m in Johnstown
,
you asshole!” Chuck blasted back. “Last I heard the speed of sound
via
automobile wasn’t achieve
d. Two hours. Meet you at Simmon
s
’
Coffee.”

“One.”

“Two!”

“Fine!”

Chuck grunted. “And you shouldn’t have trespassed. See you at noon.” He hung up and gathered his bearings. Perhaps he should
n’t have
given
in to Jesse’s intimidation tactics. But for Bret’s sake, and the kids, he wasn’t going to put it past Jesse
to do as he threatened. If any
one c
ould calm Jesse or be the peace
keeper, Chuck could. After all, if Jesse did get arrested, it was in a sense
Chuck’s
fault. After he and
Colin
picked up the kids, he gave the elderly woman across the street twenty bucks to
watch
the house and call the cops if anyone showed up.

She obviously did her job. That was, of course, if that was what Jesse was arrested for.
Attempt
to break and enter,
Chuck
figured
, but would
n’t
have to wait long to find out.

It wasn’t what he expected to see. Perhaps it was the dedication to his friendship with Bret that caused the sickening, disgusted stir in his stomach when he saw Kyomi.

The
petite
woman
looked no older than sixteen. She dressed
in the old-style tradition
of her native land o
f Japan. She bowed her head
as she sat at the table with Jesse.

“B
out time.” Jesse barked.

“I’m sure you
kept busy. Who’s your friend?” Chuck asked.

“Kyomi, this
is
Chuck.”

Chuck held out his hand.

Kyomi nodded.

“Hmm.” Chuck sat down. “So what’s up? Why are you so
irate?
”

“I fucking told you I was arrested.”

“Look.
It’s
just with Bret out of to
wn and the kids at a relative’s
. . .
”
Chuck held
u
p his hand. “I didn’t want to take chances with the house. I didn’t think you’d be by.”

“What are
you
talking
about?
”

“The reason you got arrested,” Chuck said. “
You went
to the house and tried to get in.”

“Yeah. But
that wasn’t why I was arrested. Old lady Helen hit me with the broom and threatened the cops. I wasn’t taking a chance since I just got out.”

“Jesse, why did you get arrested
an
d how is it my fault?”

“Insurance fraud,” Jesse mumbled.

Chuck grabbed his ear. “I’m sorry. I didn’t hear that.”

“I said
. . . i
nsurance
fraud.”

“How
. . .
uh
. . .
”
Chuck
closed his
eyes. “How?”

“I tried
to cash in Bret’s life insurance policy.”

“You asshole, she’s not dead!” Chuck blasted.

“I know.”

“And you still tried to cash it in?”

“Well
. . .
yeah. You guys weren’t letting anyone know she was alive.”

“Exactly, moron. We weren’t letting anyone know she was alive.
But
we weren’t saying that she was dead.”

“Isn’t that the same difference?”

“No!”

“Still. It’s your fault.”

“Ok
ay. Okay
.” Chuck sat back. “How is it my fault
?
”

“Did you tell the
airlines
she was
alive?
”

“Actually,” Chuck said. “Blain did. He told them she wasn’t on the flight. We all talked and it was determined that
it was going to be too tough
not
to
let them know she and Darius were alive. Blain
pulled
in his
connection
. And before the
airlines
could pin the terr
orist connection on them, Colin just smugly told them, ‘Y
ou know as well as I do it wasn’t a terror attack. Dr. Cobb was just
prepared
.’ So, how is this my
fault?
I had nothing to do with it, except sit in on the telephone meeting.”

“You knew and didn’t tell me.”

“Why
would
I
?”

“In case I collected the insurance money.”

“Which you shouldn’t have done, but
tried
to do. Knowing full well she was alive. That
is
fraud. How did they bust you, Jess? When the airl
ines wouldn’t confirm her death?
”