Amy flipped the switch as she stepped into the apartment, and felt a surge of relief when the overhead light turned on and she felt the cool breeze coming from the air conditioner.

Barb slipped past her and dropped a pair full grocery bags on their dining room table. She then ceremoniously held her nose and opened the refrigerator door.

The smell wasn’t as bad as they anticipated, but it was obvious that replacing their food was the right move. Amy retrieved a couple of more bags from the car while Barb filled a large trash bag with what Amy could only think of as a waste of their precious money.

They silently stowed the groceries and then took the trash out together, more aware now than ever of the danger that might be lurking in the dark outside. “Hello, you two!” they were greeted as Amy opened the large trash bin.

Their elderly neighbor Alice emerged from a nearby door, dragging a large bag behind her.

“Let me help you with that,” Barb offered, and took the bag from her.

“Thank you, dear,” Alice said gratefully. “It’s so nice to have the power back on, isn’t it?”

“Yes it is,” Barb said, and tossed the bag into the open bin.

“Have you been out?” Alice asked her.

“Yes, we have,” she said, exchanging glances with Amy. “How did you deal with the heat?”

“I have lots of water and a battery-powered fan,” Alice said, grinning. “The lap of luxury compared to what I grew up with.”

“I’m sure,” Amy said. “When did the power come back on?”

“It’s been a little over an hour.”

“How are you doing with food? Would you like to join us for dinner?”

Alice smiled gratefully. “Oh, no, sweetie, I’m fine, but thanks!”

“Didn’t your food spoil?” Barb asked her.

“No. I kept the refrigerator door closed the whole time, and I’ve got lots of dry goods.”

“That was the problem,” Barb mumbled.

“Have a nice evening,” Amy said, ashamed that she wouldn’t have known better.

 

Amy and Barb were catching up on cable news and had finished dinner when the happy-go-lucky whistling that was Derek’s ringtone erupted from Amy’s phone.

“Hi, Derek!” Amy greeted him, having anxiously awaiting his call.

“Hi, Sis. I just got home after dropping off Alex.”

She grabbed the TV remote and muted the volume. “I’m putting you on speaker.”

“Hey, Derek,” Barb said. “What’s going on?”

“It’s mayhem downtown,” he said. Amy knew he was exaggerating, but not by much. “The fires are out, and a couple of people died.”

“We heard,” Amy said. “The news reported that they were cops, but didn’t release the names. Anyone we know?”

“Yeah. Alex’s partner Mark was one of them.”

She suddenly felt lightheaded. “No,” she breathed.

“A patrol officer too. Tom Jenkins. Alex said he was one of the best.”

“How is Alex?” she asked.

“He’s pretty shaken up, but he’s also determined.”

“Determined?”

“Determined to find out what happened and why. He also gave me some marching orders.”

“I’ll bet that went well.”

“I’m willing to cut him some slack, this time.”

“What did he want?” Barb asked.
There was a pause which Amy read as discomfort. “He wants me to make sure you’re both okay.”

“He meant Amy,” Barb said.

“Alex said ‘both’. It’s going to be a long night, as you can imagine. He also wants me to dig deeper into what happened with the drones, since he doesn’t buy David’s explanation.” Before they left the house, David had suggested that it was either an optical illusion or an unknown default configuration.

“What do you think happened?” Amy asked him.

“The system’s still in development. My bet is that somebody left a joke in the code.”

“Geeks,” Barb said.

“What are they saying on the news?” Derek asked.

“No one has a clue what happened,” Amy said, “but they have plenty of ideas.”

 

While eating breakfast the next day, Amy and Barb watched more news. “It’s not news if you don’t learn anything new,” Barb complained more than once.

Government sources were calling it an “event” instead of an “attack,” since no one had claimed responsibility for what happened, there was no discernible pattern that could point to a goal, and there was no trace of a problem after it stopped. All they could say for sure was how long it lasted, which Amy knew was wrong, that it involved mostly communications technology, and that it was limited to the state of Colorado. Luckily no planes had crashed even though they couldn’t communicate with ground controllers. 

What Amy found most interesting was a lack of video footage taken during the blackout, on TV and on the Internet, though afterwards people described what happened to them from memory. She suspected that David’s drones had the only recorded photos, which she assumed he was sharing with authorities.

Alex called just as Amy and Barb were getting into her car to go to work.

“Hi!” Amy said, thrilled to hear his voice. “I’m so sorry about Mark.” She switched seats with Barb, who had silently offered to drive.

“Me, too,” he said with effort. “It was strange the way it happened. Almost as if he and Jenkins were targeted.”

“Targeted? How?” she asked, and Barb glanced at her questioningly.

“They were the only people in the break room when it blew. Everyone else was far enough away to get out safely.”

Amy paused, processing what he said. “What do the others think?”

“They believe it was just bad luck. By the way, you’re the only one I’ve said that to, because you wouldn’t think it’s crazy.”

“What’s that mean?” she blurted, although she instinctively knew the answer.

“You don’t think it’s crazy, do you?” he asked plaintively.

“No,” she said, trying in one word to ease his pain. “Where are you, Alex?”

“Still at work. I’ve got to go back soon.”

“We’re on our way to work. Will you be free when I’m off?”

“I think so. It’s all hands on deck today.”

“I love you, Alex,” she said, wishing she could be with him.

“I love you too, Amy. More than anyone or anything.” The ache in his voice made her want to cry.

“What was that about?” Barb asked Amy when she ended the call.

“Alex thinks Mark may have been intentionally killed in the fire,” she said.

Barb drove silently for a minute before responding. “Does that mean he believes your theory about God being behind everything that happened?”

Amy had nearly dismissed the idea until Alex’s suggestion. She recalled something she learned about in a philosophy class before dropping out of college because of the cost. “I think for Alex it’s like the ‘god of the gaps’ with an explanation to be found later.”

“So you still believe it?”

Amy knew that Barb’s faith didn’t include God being a micromanager. She decided to duck the question.

“Remember, Derek said the technology doesn’t exist yet.”

“Technology that he knows about,” Barb countered. “But if you’re right, why kill Mark? We were already at David’s house. And don’t give me that copout about mysterious ways.”

She didn’t have an answer, which maybe was the answer. Both the methods and the motivation were still unknown.

 

Amy was relieved when everything appeared normal at the outdoor supply store where she and Barb worked. It meant they would get a full paycheck, which they needed more than ever after replacing the food in their refrigerator.

She braced herself for comments about the restaurant fire, but thankfully no one brought it up, not even the Harmans. Instead there was rampant speculation among employees and customers alike about the cause of what everyone was now calling “the Event,” which some were giddy to be at the center of. The atmosphere reminded her a little of the terrorist attacks that occurred when she was in high school, with TVs displaying breaking news and people on edge, half expecting that something worse was coming soon.

One of the three TVs in the store was tuned to a local news channel, which was having almost non-stop interviews with people around the state. It was in the department Amy was assigned, and she just finished serving a long line of customers when a familiar face appeared on the screen.

She turned up the sound as Harvey Howard started answering a question next to his camper in a mall parking lot. “An Air Force sergeant told us that the country is under attack, and not to tell anyone. Don’t believe them if they tell you otherwise!”

The reporter, a woman Amy didn’t recognize, moved the microphone closer to his face. “Why have you waited this long to tell anyone?” she asked.

“He told us to keep it quiet, but my wife and I,” he said, pointing to Toni who was partly visible behind the camper, “we decided it was our public duty after we saw the helicopter fly over, just like the one that almost killed us.”

The camera panned briefly to the reporter’s shocked face. “You were almost killed?”

“That’s right. We were stopped at a little campground I can show you on a map, and this missile flew into the trees and exploded. The helicopter flew over and then it was hit by a missile and exploded. We high-tailed it to a store nearby and that’s where we got the word, after calling the fire department.”

“So the helicopter didn’t actually try to kill you,” the reporter clarified.

Harvey nodded. “But it was too close for comfort when it blew up.”

“Did anyone tell you why?”

“Nope, just what the sergeant said.”

“Was anyone else there?” she asked. Amy held her breath and noticed that several customers had stopped to watch.

Harvey paused. “A police detective and his really nice lady friend were there, and there was this crazy old vet and his daughter who ran the store.”

“Can you tell us any more about them?”

“That’s pretty much all I remember.”

Amy exhaled, thankful that Harvey had respected their privacy.

 

Business was heavier than usual for the first Monday in November, with a run on hiking and camping survival gear that by mid-day already needed to be restocked.

“Unbelievable,” Amy’s manager Evan Diego said as she followed him into the large storage room underneath the main sales floor where he wanted her to do a spot inventory. In his early thirties like her, but with a family to support, the prematurely balding Diego was a recent immigrant who, as he put it, had “seen much worse than a couple of hours without phones and power.” He handed her a tablet with the expected inventory showing on its small display. “I used to see helicopters and fires every day when I was growing up, except the helicopters were causing the fires.”

“You saw helicopters and fire?” she asked him, noting his use of the plural. “What do you think happened?”

“Someone was messing with us,” he said bluntly as she studied the display, “getting ready to do something worse. Like with the election tomorrow.”

Hearing Diego say it so definitively sparked a sudden feeling of embarrassment. Amy realized that her own speculation was deeply self-centered, a fact that her brother and friends had politely avoided, perhaps in the hope that she would discover it herself.

For the first time, Amy wondered if she had accidentally biased Alex’s views, and in the process jeopardized his ability to do his much more important job. When Diego was gone, she called him to apologize and hopefully correct her mistake.

“Hi, Alex,” she said tentatively when the call connected.

“Are you okay?” he asked immediately, the worry in his voice feeding her guilt.

“I’m fine. Do you have a minute?”

She heard muffled voices, and then he said, “Yes, sure.”

“I’m sorry,” she said urgently, aware she might be compounding her mistake by distracting him from helping someone. “I was selfish before, about why I thought things were happening. Please ignore that, and follow your own instincts.”

He paused for an excruciating couple of seconds, and then gently said, “You’ve got nothing to apologize for.”

“You’re sweet for saying that. But really, you’re the detective. I’m just…”

He interrupted, “The most insightful person I know.”

She found herself fighting back tears again. “Thanks,” she croaked.

“I mean it,” he said forcefully.

She took a deep breath. “Have you heard anything about what’s really going on?”

“Everyone’s still sorting it out.” His voice became a whisper. “Our friends are in trouble, though.”

“Oh, no,” she said, thinking of Derek and then David. “Can you help them?”

“Don’t worry,” he said in a normal voice. “I have to go now. Can I pick you up at your place around six?”

“Yes,” she said earnestly, “I can hardly wait.”

 

By the time Amy finished her inventory, Harvey’s interview was the main story on all the news. “They know,” Barb whispered loudly as soon as she saw her.

Amy looked around furtively, hoping her worst fear wasn’t confirmed. “About what?” she asked innocently.

“The attack. At the campground.”

“What attack?”

From what Barb told her, there was no other information available, but it was only a matter of time before Alex was exposed as the detective. “I wonder when they’ll find out who those other people are,” Barb finished.

“Anybody’s guess,” Amy said, reading from Barb’s body language that she was willing to keep their secret. She learned later during one of the newscasts that so was the Air Force, who was denying the whole story.

“Hey, I know you!” a woman called out to them from across the floor. Amy turned and recognized her as one of the other patrons at the coffee shop.

“Oh, hi,” Amy said with a friendly smile. Beside her, Barb put on her customer greeting face.

“Please thank your husband for his helpful advice,” the woman said when she got closer.

“He’s not my husband,” Amy corrected her automatically.

“Really?” the woman asked with a surprised look. “You sure act married.”

“We’re dating. I’ll be sure to pass along your message, Miss…”

“Ainsley. Gloria Ainsley. And please, I’m not a miss.” She laughed. “I’ve got three grandchildren.”

“I’m Amy Pacer, and this is my friend Barb Johannson.”

“Nice to formally meet you both.”

“Do you mind if I ask,” Barb asked Ainsley, “how was Alex helpful?”

“Oh, Alex is his name?”

“Alex Rideout,” Amy said.

“I went home, just like he said, and avoided all the nastiness they’re talking about on the news.”

Barb smiled. “All of it?”

“Yes. The phones didn’t work, but I had lights, and I watched one of my videotapes. I have to admit, though, that I cheated and get groceries near my house. It was the only store that had power.”

Amy and Barb exchanged glances. “Where?” Barb asked.

When she told them, Amy immediately recognized the store they had visited on their way home.

 

Alex was waiting for Amy when she and Barb arrived at their apartment a half hour early. It was already dark, but Amy could tell he had changed into the spare clothes he carried in his trunk.

“Hi!” he greeted them when they got out of the car.

Barb studied him. “You’re pretty awake for someone who’s been up since yesterday morning.”

He grinned at her, surprising Amy. “Adrenaline. It’ll wear off soon enough.”

“Amy told me you’re taking her out. Are you up for that?”

“I thought we’d go to my house and have a home-cooked meal I saved for last night.”

“Sounds great,” Amy told him, grinning. “In the worst case, as you like to say, I could drive your car back here afterwards and pick you up in the morning.” Then she had a thought and suddenly felt guilty. “How are Derek and David?”

Alex’s grin disappeared. He looked around, which Amy assumed was to make sure no one else could hear them. In a lowered voice, he said, “The Air Force filed a formal complaint against their company for what they, we, did yesterday, and they were both reprimanded. Mostly David, since Derek works for him.”

“Is there anything you can do for them?” Amy asked, matching his volume, while Barb moved closer to listen.

“I already did it,” he said. “I took responsibility for asking them to help find out what was going on. It didn’t help much, although I am getting a new partner out of it.”

“That was fast,” Amy said.

“‘Someone to help keep me in line’ is the way my commander put it, though technically I’ll be the lead.”

“When is Mark’s funeral?” Amy asked in a normal voice. “I’d like to be there.”

“His family is working that out. Wednesday at the earliest.”

“We should go,” she said, handing Barb the keys to her car, and whispered, “Don’t wait up.”

 

Alex didn’t argue when Amy offered to drive. Fifteen minutes later they were deep in a residential neighborhood, at the house Alex inherited when his parents died in a plane crash. Built for a family of four even though he was an only child, it was spacious compared to the one-bedroom apartment that Amy shared with Barb.

Even though they had been dating for just three weeks, Amy already felt like this was her second home, and that Alex was someone she could easily and willingly share everything in her life with. They had spent many hours talking, about their past, their beliefs, and their hopes, and had explored and played together when Alex didn’t have to work.

In only aspect they held back: they were very affectionate, but not physically intimate. It was driving Amy crazy, though she took responsibility for part of it. She knew it was a cost of taking her religion seriously, even as her faith became seriously eroded with experience and the indulgence of her ability to see connections within that experience. But she had also come to believe that the intent of a rule was as important as the rule itself, because not all applications of it could not be anticipated; and that the intent of chastity outside of marriage was to enable children growing up in safe, stable families.

Whether or not they were married, she knew now more than ever that she and Alex practically fit the definition of a family. His declaration of love for her in the morning was the strongest indication yet that he felt the same way, and tonight she hoped to test it.

“Whoa,” he said, pausing after he unlocked the door.

“You okay?” she asked, concerned.

“Fine. I think the adrenaline’s wearing off.” He stepped inside and headed for the kitchen. “You’ll like this dish, I think.” She followed him to the refrigerator, where he pulled out a large crockpot.

“One of your family recipes?”

“A new one, actually. It’ll take about a half hour to warm up, but it’s worth it.” He set it on a counter next to the sink and plugged it in. “Whew!” he suddenly exclaimed, raised his arm and sniffed. “Oh, that’s me.”

Amy suppressed a laugh as he looked at her, embarrassed. “I need a shower,” he said. “Do you mind watching that? I won’t be long.”

“I’d rather watch you.” She turned and unplugged the crockpot. “You know what? I need a shower too.”

CHAPTER 4

INDEX, PREVIOUS

BIOME series of e-books is available at your favorite online store.

© 2018 Bradley Jarvis