CHAPTER SIX
Lexi stood beside Parker, forcing down the anxiety she’d been battling all morning as she surveyed the area. Roughly twenty people milled about in the large sitting room, waiting for the tour guide to appear. Some of them sat on the couches and looked out the huge windows at the back, which had a view of the manicured garden.
Her husband appeared relaxed. Calm and confident. She tried to emulate his attitude, but her stomach churned inside, nerves fluttering like frantic moths trapped under glass.
“Good morning!”
The booming voice came from a portly gentleman wearing a green suitcoat, the Sycamore Springs logo stitched on a pocket. On one arm dangled a collection of bright green lanyards and badges. He began to work his way through the crowd, checking tickets and distributing the tour badges.
“My name is Robert, and I’ll be guiding you today on the Congressional bunker tour. Once we get downstairs, please make sure you put your passes on and stay with the group. It’s a bit of a labyrinth down there, and we don’t want anyone getting lost.”
Parker shot her a sly smile.
He wasn’t kidding about being excited. She understood it. There was a certain level of confidence and a feeling of invisibility needed to hang with Titan. But she would breathe easier when this was over. It was hard to focus when tour guide Robert gave them the history of the hotel, and motioned for them to board one of the two large elevators waiting.
Parker’s hand rested in the small of her back as they rode down, as if he wanted to reassure her. Was she doing a terrible job of acting normal? She slipped the lanyard over her head and fiddled with the plastic card. The words TOUR GUEST were in bold, easy-to-read font. The elevator doors peeled back and she stepped off, blinking against the strange room that funneled toward a hallway.
“That’s some wallpaper, huh?” Robert said as the tour formed a semi-circle around him.
Yes, the wallpaper was . . . something. The green-yellow pattern was a glaring mess of lines.
“You don’t want to look at it, and that’s the exact reason this design was chosen. The goal was to hide the bunker in plain sight. Hundreds of people employed by the hotel worked here for years and never knew it existed.”
He put a hand on a spot of the wall at the back and pushed. It folded, revealing the partition, whose hinges were hidden by the obnoxious design. As the partition was moved out of the way, the enormous steel door and the steering-wheel shaped dial came into view.
“This blast door is two-feet thick. It weighs twenty-five tons, but can be opened and closed by exerting only fifty pounds of pressure. This meant it only took one person to seal the bunker if needed. You’ll see the locks hidden in the wall as we go past.”
Robert walked backward as he talked, and the group followed him through the hallway. Sure enough, the frame of the vault door was there. Lexi wouldn’t have noticed it at all if it hadn’t been pointed out. They meandered as a group into a large, tall room that looked corporate and plain. Columns stretched to the ceiling and broke up the space.
“Now that we’re inside the bunker,” he said, “I need to collect any electronic devices you have on you. The hotel leases most of the space to a private company, and this is part of the agreement we have with them so we can hold tours.”
A few people shifted on their feet, uneasy at the thought of being without their phones.
“While the bunker couldn’t withstand a direct strike,” Robert said, “I want to remind everyone we’re sixty-feet underground, and surrounded by five-foot thick concrete walls. You’re not going to get a signal, anyway. I’ve done this tour for three years, and I’m proud to say I’ve only lost one person to phone withdrawal,” he joked.
There was a rolling table with plastic bins waiting, and a walk-through metal detector beyond it.
Parker had warned her this was going to happen. It was why he wasn’t going to be in communication with Jared or anyone else at Titan during the hack. Even Lexi wouldn’t know how her husband was doing while he was in the server room. Parker pulled out his phone and set it in one of the bins, and she followed suit.
“Is that a smartwatch?” There was a security officer standing beside the detector, and his gaze locked on the wrist of a tourgoer.
“Yeah, but—”
“It’ll have to go in a bin, too,” the officer said. “Ladies and gentlemen, no devices of any kind, please. If it has anything other than a watch battery, it stays here.”
Lexi’s mouth went dry as the table was rolled away into a side room. It felt a little like dying, but Parker smiled at her. “It’s all good, Lex.”
They walked through the metal detector one at a time, and under the security officer’s scrutiny. There was a surveillance camera in the corner of the hallway as well, its ominous one lens staring at them like an all-seeing eye.
Once they were through the security checkpoint, Robert ushered the group into an auditorium. He explained how the theater was used for thirty years as a conference center for the hotel, no one realizing there were enough seats in the room to hold Congress if needed.
“This area was open to the public,” he said. “The first room we came in through was an exhibit hall, but if the bunker had been used as a fallout shelter, that area would have been turned into offices. It would have been filled with desks and cubicles so our government could continue to operate during a crisis.”
Robert pushed through a side door and they stepped into another hallway. He stopped in front of a set of gray double-doors and waited for people to gather.
“The beauty of the bunker’s design was how the majority of it hid in plain sight. Had the location of the bunker not been leaked to the press in 1997, the bunker would likely still be operational today. But now we’re going to head into the restricted area.” He said it like he was granting them special, exclusive access. “Notice how the hallway here is bland? The lighting is dim and depressing? These doors behind me used to say, ‘Danger. High voltage.’ Once again, all designed that way. Subterfuge to hide and keep curious people out, because who wants to get electrocuted?”
Robert had a keycard clipped to his waist, and he tugged it on its cord, holding it up to a sensor. There was a mechanical click as the doors unlocked.
Lexi’s pulse kicked when she followed the group through the doors. The long hallway was empty other than the occasional bench. There were a few doors to the left. They passed a set of restrooms, and what was marked maintenance. But there was only one door on the right side of the lengthy hallway, so it stood to reason the room was very large. There was a keycard sensor beside the door and a camera overhead.
Parker’s focused expression said it all.
His target was on the other side of that steel windowless door.
Robert guided them a little further down, pushed open a door, and snapped on the lights. The room was narrow and drab. A topographical map hung on one wall. On another, an enormous photo canvas—a picture of the White House.
There were chairs in rows, and people took their seats as Robert moved to stand at the front.
“Welcome to the media room, which is where any broadcasts would have been made. We had to be prepared. Third in line for the presidency is the Speaker of the House, who would have come here, and in the event of an attack, anything was possible.” He glanced up at the wall at the front of the room, which was a huge, flatscreen television, then gestured to the photo canvas. “There were other backdrops they could use, ones to match the season so it wouldn’t be confusing for the American public.”
“Did the bunker ever have any close calls?” a woman at the back of the room asked.
“Yeah,” Robert said, nodding. “The closest it came to use was 1962. Anyone want to take a guess what was going on?”
The guy sitting beside Lexi beat her to it. “The Cuban Missile Crisis.”
“You got it.” Robert picked up a remote and pointed it at the television. “We’re going to watch a video now, where they talk about construction and some of the history.”
Lexi set her hand on Parker’s leg, while her heart rose into her throat. It was time.
“The video’s great,” Robert added. “It packs a lot of information in about ten minutes, so it’ll probably answer most of your questions. If not, I’ll try to get the rest.”
As the television leaped to life, the lights in the room began to dim. She wanted to whisper “good luck,” but wasn’t going to do anything suspicious. So, instead she squeezed his thigh and hoped he got the message.
Color drained from Parker’s face as he launched to his feet. He hurried toward the tour guide, who startled and paused the video.
“I need to leave,” Parker said.
Robert nodded as if this was a completely normal request. “Of course, sir. Right this way. It happens all the time.”
Lexi sat on her chair, her hands clenched into tight fists as she watched the two men head for the door. Parker gave her a final look before he ducked out, and his expression was intense and determined.
Robert followed, but not before starting the movie and adding, “Ladies and gentlemen, I’ll be right back.”
There wasn’t a clock in this room, and she didn’t have her phone, so she’d only know Parker’s time was up when the movie was over. She hoped the next ten minutes were long enough for him to do what he needed, but short enough for her not to spend a lifetime on pins and needles.