this was to be the nerve center for the government after a disaster, there existed a massive computer complex with a network of petascale processor computers running everything.
The President, the Supreme Court justices and cabinet members had private rooms. The facility got its water from an underground freshwater lake, and there were sufficient stores of food to last the entire staff nine months. Staffing levels were projected to be somewhere between thirteen hundred and twenty one hundred total which included a thirty-five man Marine detachment and fifteen Navy Seals. The facility was spread out on five levels taking the total depth of the facility to almost fifteen hundred feet or about two hundred fifty feet above sea level. A guillotine gate and a ten foot high, twenty foot wide, five foot thick blast door that took nearly fifteen minutes to open or close protected Mount Weather’s entrance. The Congress, key administration, and military staff were to be sent to several other locations in Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania though their facilities were not nearly as nice or sophisticated as Mount Weather’s.
And yet, sophisticated as the facility was, it was only the beginning. It would keep the executive and judicial branches alive, and the others would preserve the legislative. But what good were the three branches of government if there were no people to govern. Or if the people were teetering at starvation levels. That was the real problem he had to tackle.
And then there was the knowledge that was hanging around in the back of his brain, the dark, brooding facts that he wasn’t ready to consciously face.
No matter what he did, people would die in the tens or hundreds of millions, or even billions. The very best he could hope for—the very best—was to save enough pieces that humanity would recover and not be wiped from the face of the earth.
He poured another cup of coffee and pulled down another briefing book, this one on how Japan rebuilt its infrastructure after the bombings that ended WWII.
Admiral Torrance and Arlen Hendry strolled along the path leading around the White House.
“So,” Hendry said. “Does the President really believe we can keep this under wraps once we start moving pieces around?”
“We’d better, for all our sakes. Otherwise we could end up turning our guns on our own people. I’d rather turn my gun on myself.”
“Evan,” Hendry said slowly, we both know a lot of people are going to die anyway. Panic will set in at some point,” Hendry took in the beauty of the rose garden and tried to imagine what things would look like just a few years hence. “I can’t help but wonder if there is a history to be written afterwards how will we be portrayed? Hitler could come off looking like a saint compared to us!”
“Yeah. Listen, call me when you’re going to get started, and I’ll go over the force level reports for redeployment contingency plans.”
“How soon can your man Hanken have those plans ready?”
“I’m shooting for seventy-two hours.”
“You think Hanken is up to this?”
“I do. Remember he masterminded the movement of nearly two hundred thousand troops for the Iraq War that included all the various coalition troops, along with tanks, planes, field hospitals, maintenance units, supply trucks and ships, their routes, and all the attendant critical personnel to support each segmented mission. Yes I’d say he is up to it.”
“All right then. My office annex on Thursday, say around nine a.m.”
“See you then.”
Ted Jeffers, FBI Director, wondered why the Attorney General Simons had asked for an immediate meeting with him, and was surprised to see Donald Cray, the CIA Director, waiting in the outer office when he arrived. Attorney General Simon’s secretary showed them both in immediately.
“Ted, Don,” Simons said. “Thanks for coming on such short notice. Let’s step into my secure office for this conversation.”
As they seated themselves in the smaller, electronically-shielded inner chamber, Jeffers got a sick feeling in his stomach he was going to be asked to break the law somehow. This time he would refuse.
“Gentlemen, I am hereby putting you on notice that under the US Secrets Act the President has granted me discretion to discuss a matter of urgent national security, and you are on notice that, under no circumstances, may you discuss with any other individual, unless authorized to do so directly by the President or his designee, the contents of what I am going to divulge to you. Nor are you to take any action that could arouse suspicions concerning this matter. This conversation is being recorded, do you agree to continue?”
Both men acknowledged by answering yes.
The Attorney General then proceeded to lay out for them what was coming. Cray began wringing his hands. Jeffers kept shifting in his chair from one side to the other, fighting the urge to get up and do something…anything.
Simons quoted the President as saying the Constitution was essentially suspended. They had to do whatever was necessary to keep anyone unauthorized from learning anything about this. He provided a list of the known persons who knew of this matter and ordered them all to be put under heavy surveillance.
“Bob,” Cray said with a voice laced with iron control, “Just how far do we go to keep this out of the public eye?”
“Don, listen carefully. You are authorized to use any and all means at your disposal to carry out your objectives.”
“Forced detention?” Jeffers asked.
“Yes.”
“Terminal force?” Cray asked.
“Yes. Even against the innocent. Gentlemen, consider what happens if this gets out. We’re talking total anarchy, food riots, murder sprees, chaos at home and abroad, and a complete and total breakdown of civilized behavior worldwide. One possible result would be that no one—none of humanity—survives. We are the best and last hope for any possible recovery after the event, the front line of defense.”
“Sir…Jeffers asked. “Our families?”
“Immediate families will be assigned as critical personnel to the Mount Weather facility.”
“Immediate families?”
“Spouse and children only. I’ll need immediate action plans on your parts to be submitted in person by Thursday at 10:00 a.m. That’s all.”
As Jeffers and Cray walked down the long corridor of the Justice Department Jeffers was the first to speak.
“Holy Christ Don.”
“I know.”
“How am I going to keep 6,500 agents from finding out if I’ve got them out there trying to stop the revealing of something they’re not supposed to know anything about? That makes no fucking sense!”
Cray held up a hand. “Ted, I’m…I’m still trying to restart my heart. I haven’t thought that far ahead yet.”
“Well, think. I’ve been given an impossible task. Any help with it would be appreciated.”
“Okay, look. Remember the broken pie theory? Give each a little piece,
