An Authentic Crisis

Elspeth Kerr guides tours through a damp Cold War bunker on the Ayrshire coast, sleeps illegally on a camp bed behind a door marked DECONTAMINATION, and knows more about carbon dioxide scrubbers than anyone alive. The bunker's new owners sell wealthy men a luxury retreat with a fake staged crisis. On Saturday night, three real robbers come down an unmapped air shaft — and Elspeth seals every exit. Twenty-three people. One working scrubber. Nobody believes it's real.