“Jesus Christ,” he murmured.
“Indeed,” Coldwater said. “I see you have grasped something of the construction already.”
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Jesse said truthfully.
“Neither has anybody else,” Coldwater replied, smiling. “Not the Maginot Line, not the Germans’ defenses in Normandy, not even Hitler’s bunker itself was constructed as heavily as this. There are a number of government installations, I am given to believe, that have been constructed to withstand a direct hit by a large nuclear device. Only those structures are stronger than this, but then the government would never use a nuclear bomb in a populated area of this country.”
“I certainly hope not,” Jesse said.
“You may count on that. Come, let me show you more.” Coldwater led the way to the end of the entrance hall, then turned left. They were faced with a heavy steel door. Coldwater tapped a code into a keypad, and the door slid noisily aside. Ahead of them lay a long hallway with doors on either side. Coldwater began opening them.
On the left were rooms containing heavy weapons, not all of which Jesse recognized. There were certainly antitank weapons and some sort of recoilless rifles, and they were aimed out the narrow windows he had seen from outside.
“First line of defense,” Coldwater said, leading him down the hall. They turned a corner to the right and he opened more doors, revealing huge amounts of ammunition and explosives. They descended a flight of stairs and came to what appeared to be an enormous dormitory. Rows of bunk beds disappeared into the distance; crates of food and bottled water were stacked in piles among the bunks. Coldwater showed him three large and well-equipped kitchens and two infirmaries, each of which looked like the emergency room of a large hospital. Here and there among the bunks were television sets and speakers were everywhere.
“I can communicate with any part of the structure instantly from my quarters,” Coldwater said. “Come, I’ll show you.” He led the way downstairs to yet another floor and toward the rear of the building. Double doors opened into an extensive suite of rooms, filled with computers, fax machines, telephones and every manner of office equipment. Finally, Coldwater showed him to another set of steel doors, behind which lay another suite. “I can live and work here for years, if necessary,” he said, waving an arm around a large living room lined with books and showing Jesse an apartment with every comfort.
“It’s breathtaking,” Jesse said.
“Questions?” Coldwater asked.
“How is it ventilated?”
“There are three discrete ventilation systems, each of which is more than enough to put fresh, filtered air anywhere in the structure.”
“Electric power?”
“Again, three systems: first, we have hydroelectric power from a small plant down the mountain, which has its own extensive defenses; second, we have two twenty-five-thousand gallon tanks of gasoline stored far underground to operate generators; third, we have an extensive solar collector system that can supply eighty percent of our needs all by itself. It is inconceivable that even a very large force could deprive us of electricity.”
“I am astounded,” Jesse said, and he truly was. “What did this cost?”
“If we had built it in the conventional way, perhaps twenty-five million dollars,” Coldwater said. “But by doing it with our own people over a period of years, we’ve done it for half that. Not including armaments, of course.”
“Where on earth did the money—”
“Don’t ask,” Casey said, speaking for the first time.
Coldwater glanced at his wristwatch. “It’s later than I thought; let’s get Jesse home to his family.”
Jesse followed Coldwater as he retraced his steps. He counted his paces as he went, trying to get some idea of the size of the place; he memorized everything about it he could. As the front doors opened, he blinked in the sunlight, glad to be above ground again.
Coldwater pointed at the other, much smaller buildings on the mountaintop. “Those contain other defensive systems to deal with aircraft or an invading force.”
Jesse pointed in the direction of the town. “Can you see the town from here?”
“Yes, have a look.”
Jesse walked a hundred yards and found himself looking over a precipice at the bottom of which lay Main Street. He also noted defensive positions dug into the rock near where he stood. He returned to Coldwater and Casey. “This is absolutely fantastic,” he said with enthusiasm.
“I thought you might think so,” Coldwater said.
“An army couldn’t take it,” Jesse gushed.
“You are quite right.”
Coldwater drove them down the hill and toward the town. “I’ve shown you this, Jesse, because there is no faster way to impress upon you the seriousness of our purpose here.”
“You’ve certainly done that, sir,” Jesse replied, although Coldwater had said nothing of his purpose.
Chapter 34
Jesse thought for several days about what he had seen before making any attempt to report it. In his mind he wandered through Coldwater’s redoubt, making new discoveries each time; he sat at his desk and used a calculator to translate his pacing into area; he tried to figure out what the hell it all meant, and he could not fathom it.
On Christmas Eve he and Jenny stayed up late arranging Carey’s gifts for the following morning, and, long after Jenny had fallen into an exhausted sleep, he crept from the bed, went to the garage and retrieved his scrambled telephone.
“Jesus Christ, what time is it?” Kip asked blearily.
“It’s very late, but it’s very important, too,” Jesse replied.
“Wait a minute while I go to another phone.”
Jesse waited on hold until Kip was away from his no-doubt sleeping wife.
Kip picked up another extension. “All right, what’s so important?” he demanded.
“I hardly know where to begin,” Jesse said. “The whole thing is so unbelievable.”
“What’s unbelievable?” Kip was awake, now.
“Last Sunday, I think I was finally fully accepted by Coldwater,” he said.
“That’s certainly good news, but couldn’t it wait until after the holidays?”
“I wanted you to have the holidays to think about what I’m going to tell you, Kip, because you’re going to have to figure out a way to make Barker and the attorney general believe you — or rather, me.”
“It sounds as though you’ve finally figured out what Coldwater is up to.”
“No, I haven’t. But I think I can safely say that, whatever it is, he expects to fail at it.”
“You’re not making any sense, Jesse.”
“I know, and I’m sorry; but what I saw on Sunday doesn’t make any sense unless Coldwater expects to go out in a blaze of glory.”
“What did you see on Sunday?”
“He invited me to lunch with Casey, and when we had finished, he drove me to the top of the mountain that rises above the town.”
“Did he show you all the earth and offer it to you on a platter?”
“No, I think what he offered me was the opportunity to die with him.”
“Go on.”
“Coldwater and his people have, over a period of years, I’m not sure how many, constructed a series of defensive positions on the sides and top of the mountain that probably isn’t like anything else on earth.”
“What sort of defensive positions?”