Deep Shadows by Vannetta Chapman Read Free Book Online Page A

“This.”
    Max had filled in a few times when the town needed legal counsel. The job of city attorney officially belonged to Calvin Green, but he’d experienced health issues over the last year.
    â€œI don’t know about legal problems, but Shelby has something she needs to show you.”
    He suspected that Shelby only knew the mayor because everyone in a small town knew everyone else. She didn’t have a lot of reason to involve herself in city business.
    The mayor confirmed this when she reached across the desk and shook Shelby’s hand. “Sparks, am I right?”
    â€œGood memory.”
    â€œI’m a natural politician. Haven’t you heard?”
    It was another barb that Stone had thrown her way during the last election—that because she had been mayor in one of the Dallas suburbs, she was a “lifelong politician who had never worked a day in her life.”
    â€œHave a seat. I’ve been standing out there since this thing hit at—”
    â€œEight twenty? We first saw the aurora a few minutes after eight.”
    Perkins nodded and motioned for her to continue.
    It only took ten minutes to lay out what they thought they knew. Shelby presented Perkins with an article for each point she made. By the time she was done, the mayor’s desk was littered with nearly a dozen different printouts.
    Perkins steepled her fingers and studied them before standing and stacking Shelby’s research into a neat pile.
    â€œYou’re telling me this is widespread—”
    â€œIt would have to be for us to see the aurora this far south.”
    â€œThat our loss of power is permanent.”
    Shelby and Max nodded.
    â€œAnd that manufacturing is down as well, meaning our infrastructure will be vulnerable for some time.”
    â€œYes.” Shelby’s voice was a whisper.
    â€œBest guess, Shelby. How long are we talking about?”
    It was something they hadn’t yet dared to do, put a number on it. Estimating the breadth of the damage would somehow make it more real and perhaps consign them to a lifetime of hardship.
    Shelby glanced at Max, swallowed, and turned back to the mayor. “To rebuild transformers and restring power lines? I don’t know, exactly. I’m not a scientist or a city planner, but if I had to guess, I’d say twenty if things go well. And if this is the only solar storm. Some of the experts say it would take more like forty.”
    â€œWeeks?”
    â€œNo. Not weeks—years. Twenty to forty years.”

E IGHT
    S helby was surprised when Perkins walked around the desk, opened her office door, and started barking orders. What had she expected the woman to do? Argue with her? Throw her out of the office? Weep?
    Max was visibly shaken by the time frame that Shelby had suggested, but he didn’t correct her. If there was one thing Shelby could count on, it was that Max would tell her if he thought she was wrong.
    â€œBryant and Castillo—I need you in my office. Stone, find Danny Vail and Calvin Green. Tell them I need to see them now. After that I want you to assemble the council in chambers. They need to be ready to meet in twenty minutes. And someone find me the high school science teacher!”
    Stone immediately began arguing with the mayor. “Maybe you don’t realize the emergency we have here.”
    â€œEugene—”
    â€œMaybe you can’t handle the job during this type of crisis.”
    â€œSave it, Eugene, and do what I asked.” Perkins slammed the door, took a deep breath, and grabbed a water bottle from her desk, downing the contents in one long drink.
    In less than five minutes the group was assembled. There weren’t enough chairs, but no one seemed to mind. Bob Bryant and Luis Castillo leaned against the wall. Bryant, the police chief, was roughly Shelby’s age and in good physical shape. Castillo, the fire chief, was another matter. In his mid-to-late sixties,