What is the importance of the ranch in the novel, In the Afterlight?

This is a Children's League headquarters in California where Ruby's group gathers after the government bombs their Los Angeles HQ. The facility is well-hidden and protected, though the children have learned that nowhere is safe. There are a series of small dorm rooms, cafeteria and kitchen, workout and training rooms, and a secure cell where Clancy is held. The building also has a garage and that garage comes to symbolize the fact that some of the children want to find a peaceful way to free the children in the prison camps. The facility is hidden with a lengthy tunnel behind an abandoned bar as the entrance way.