Vicky stepped past him and turned. “It’s the land between buildings. Like…okay. The land that would be between this subdivision and the next housing complex, that’s a greenfield.”
Roger walked past the pair, his eyes searching farther down the road. “On some upscale places like this one, the builder will wrap the land with a sturdy fence or a wall before they start building houses. It keeps thieves out of their material and provides the homeowners with a sense of security.”
Buck nodded. “I gotcha. So even if each house doesn’t have a fence or whatever, the entire housing addition might have one.”
Hatcher turned and nodded. “Exactly.” He pointed between two houses. “I see a pretty thick looking wall back there.”
Roger turned and stepped away, looking between houses on the other side of the street. “Unless the addition goes back a few blocks, there isn’t one over there.”
Hatcher motioned them back to the car. “Let’s drive around and see what we see.”
Buck took them on a tour of the perimeter and they followed the wall back around to the main street. “I think that’s it.” He turned and looked at Hatcher. “Are there enough houses?”
He nodded as he studied the street. “We’d have to enclose the front entrance for two blocks.”
Roger sat forward. “I bet we can find the materials easy enough to do that.”
Hatcher glanced at his watch. “Let’s head back and grab Will. He’ll need to do an assessment on this place and see if this is doable.”
The helicopter bounced once before the wheels set down on terra firma. Broussard stared out the side window at the rows of dead vehicles covered in months of dirt and dust. “It looks deserted.”
The officer tugged at the side door and almost gleefully hopped down, ignoring the other passengers. He turned and waved a hand to other armed men pouring out from the mountain facility.
“I suppose we should follow him,” Carol grumbled as she stepped around Andre.
“I’d rather not.” He scanned the area and noted the rough terrain. The roads were nearly impassible and the vehicles looked inoperable. “If we had to make a run for it, we’d be stuck sticking to the roads, I fear.”
Carol sighed as he hefted her bag. “Let’s hope your gut is wrong then.” She peered back at the chopper then to Broussard. “I doubt we could outrun that anyway.”
He clutched his satchel and scooped up his small duffel with the other hand. Falling into step behind Carol, he actually sighed with relief as people wearing white lab coats streamed out of the concrete monstrosity. “Perhaps I was mistaken.”
Carol turned and whispered to him. “Ever hear ‘don’t count your chickens’? Let’s not assume all is well quite yet, either.”
“Dr. Broussard! Dr. Chaplain!” A short, thin man approached them, his hand held out. “I am Dr. Higgins. I’m thrilled that you could join us.”
“I don’t think we had much of a choice,” Broussard mumbled.
Carol smacked him in the middle, shutting him up. “Dr. Higgins, so pleased to meet you.” She extended her hand. “I would apologize for my colleague here, but we both are a bit confused about why it was insisted that we come in person. Surely we could have discussed the treatment via radio or satellite.”
Dr. Higgins’ face fell. “Oh.” He appeared perturbed and glanced at his colleagues. “Well, I apologize. We never meant to put you out, of course.”
“It’s quite alright,” Carol responded before Andre could reply. “We are just confused, really.”
“Of course.” Dr. Higgins motioned them through the oversized chain link gates. “If you’ll follow me, we’ll get you settled in and bring you up to speed.” He turned and gave them both a winning smile. “I’m sure you’re exhausted after your trip.”
Broussard stared at the tall opening leading into the mountain. “Is the entire facility underground?”
“Yes, it is.” Higgins’ head bobbed as he spoke. “It’s actually quite comfortable inside, once you get used to not having windows. The earth maintains a pretty constant temperature, so there is little need for heating or cooling.” He paused and pointed to moisture condensing on the walls. “Of course, with limited power, we can’t run the dehumidifiers as often as we should.”
“Is there a mold problem?” Carol asked.
“Not yet, and hopefully the generators will be back online soon, and…” He trailed off then turned and gave them a look they couldn’t read. “There is actually a small nuclear reactor deeper in the facility, but we ran into issues. The reactor had to be scrammed and we’ve been unable to recover. Power output is minimal, to say the least.” He cleared his throat nervously. “However, once we have the backup generators up and running, we should be able to power the hydraulics and get the core active again.”
Broussard raised a brow at him. “You have nuclear power here?”
Higgins’ head bobbed again. “Oh, yes. Being as this facility was designed to house the government, should we ever face nuclear Armageddon, they wanted to ensure that power was uninterrupted.”
Carol gave him a shocked stare. “So, in the event of a nuclear war, the government holes up in a place powered by nukes?”
Higgins’ head bobbed again. “It’s actually quite safe, I assure you.”
“That’s why the reactor was scrammed?” Broussard quipped.
“Oh, no.” Higgins shook his head. “Some of the people inside became infected and…” He shrugged. “Well, a few of them caused some damage before they could be stopped.” He turned and continued leading them deeper into the facility. “Of course, the reactor scrammed right when the gennys ran out of power and, well…it was a cascade of failures. We were left here without communications, limited power and, other than food, water, and shelter from the elements, little in the way of resources.”
Broussard groaned as he followed the man deeper inside. “What has changed then?”
Higgins turned and gave him a broad smile. “Why, your work, of course! Now that the cure has been seeded, we were able to unseal the doors and venture out.” He turned back and continued
