by K J Kalis
“That’s pretty serious,” Van nodded.
“And here’s another where people are losing all of their perishable food items. They can’t afford to replace them.”
Van got up and stared out the window. “This is a mess. Maybe there is something to what Theresa was saying?”
“Maybe. I still don’t understand what the blue dots are, though.”
Van sat down again, having retrieved a bag of potato chips from the cabinet. “I might be able to help with that.” He stuffed a couple of chips in his mouth and clicked on a tab in his Internet browser. “I was looking to see if I could find the company that made this software. Thought it might be an in-house program created by Palm Coast, but it doesn’t look like it.” Van turned his computer so Kat could see it. “Power Management Solutions created it. Looks like they have sold it to a bunch of companies all around the country — maybe even the world. They have a few of their clients listed here.” Van pointed to a list of power companies, their logos emblazoned on the Power Management Solutions website to give them credibility.
“That’s a nice piece of marketing.”
“Right? That’s not what is interesting, though.” He clicked on a video at the top of the page. “Look familiar?”
The black screen with the red and green sections was playing right in front of Kat’s eyes. That was definitely the same image Theresa had sent her. She leaned forward, squinting at the screen. “Where are the blue dots?”
“That’s the problem. There aren’t any.”
Kat stared harder at the screen. “You’re right. I wonder why that is?”
By the time Kat said it, Van had his phone in his hand. “I don’t know. Let’s call them.” He put the phone on speaker and set it on the table. After two rings, the line clicked open. “Power Management Solutions Technical Support. This is Neal.” He said it as though it was a question.
“Hi Neal, this is Joe Greene over at Palm Coast Electric & Power. I need a little help. There’s something on my screen that I don’t recognize.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, Joe. Before we look into it, could you give me the account number for your technical support package?”
Kat shot Van a look, but Van didn’t miss a beat.
“That’s the thing, Neal. I’m out on the road. My supervisor asked me to call this in for him. I don’t have it. We’re all on the run with the wildfires.”
“Um, okay. Well, I can’t really go into your account without it…” Neal’s voice had gotten softer.
“I just have one quick question. Is that okay?”
“I guess.”
“My screen shows the areas that are powered up and powered down, but we’ve got blue dots that are popping up on the screen. No one seems to know what those are for.”
“You said blue dots?”
Kat could hear Neal typing in the background.
“That’s not right. We don’t have blue dots on any of our software. It’s all red or green, like a Christmas tree, you know?”
“Really? Only red and green?” Van leaned forward toward the phone.
“Yeah, man. Listen, I don’t know what’s wrong, but we don’t have blue notations on any of our software. I’ll put a note in for the coders when they get in tomorrow morning to take a look at it. Can you give me a call back with the account number?”
“Yeah, sure. Give me a little time.” Van looked up at Kat. “Oh, I gotta go. I’ll call back as soon as I can. Thanks for the help.” Van disconnected from the call, his eyebrows raised. “That seem strange to you?”
Kat nodded, chewing her lip. “No blue dots.” Concern pushed through Kat’s body. “I just don’t understand. There are definitely blue dots on the screen. Theresa saw them too, so it’s not a hardware problem.”
Van shook his head, closing his laptop. “Sounds like Theresa is right. I'm guessing that Bart has gotten himself into something. Don’t know what that is yet, but I’d love to...”
Kat wasn’t sure she felt the same. Every time she and Van tripped over a story like this,
it got dangerous. Her stomach tightened. The memories flooded back. The man she had to shoot to protect Jack, the girl they rescued from a sex trafficker, and how Kat had nearly gotten strangled to death. She glanced around the kitchen. Laying on her side was the dog that saved her life. Tyrant lifted her head when Kat looked her way, pricking her ears up. “I’m fine, girl. Go back to sleep.” Tyrant had an uncanny way of knowing what was going on in Kat’s head.
“Speaking of sleep, I think I’m going to get some. You coming?” Van said, stretching.
“I’m a little amped up right now. I’ll have another cup of tea and then come in.”
“Is she coming to?” he asked, pointing to Tyrant with a smile on his face.
“I’d imagine so. Where else would she go?” Since Kat had gotten home from England, Tyrant had insisted on following Kat everywhere she went. Woof followed Jack, Tyrant followed Kat. Van had joked that they needed a third dog, so he’d have someone to follow him around.
Van smiled, “I’ll see both of you up there.” He planted a kiss on the top of Kat’s head. “Don’t stay up too late. Tomorrow is a school day.”
“I’ll try not to…”
* * *
When Van left the kitchen, Kat took another look at the images that Theresa had sent her. Her mind was working overtime. She stood up and put another pot of water on for more tea. She knew that no matter how much tea she drank, she’d have a hard time falling asleep. Her mind was racing with questions. The burner clicked again as the flame licked the side of the kettle. Could it be that there was just a software glitch? Maybe there was a problem with the overall coding of the Power Management Solutions software? She turned off the kettle, just as she heard the whistle start to hum. She didn’t want it to wake up Jack, Van or the dogs.
If the software had been downloaded directly to the company, then Neal might have been right, she realized, pouring the almost boiling water over a new tea bag. Maybe Palm Coast’s IT department had customized it? The fragrance of chamomile and honey filled the kitchen. The problem could be localized to Palm Coast. Even if it was, she thought, sitting down at her computer, that didn’t mean there wasn’t a problem. She clicked on the overlaid image that Theresa had sent her with the fires and the power grid layout. The blue dots were in exactly the same place as the fires.
Maybe that was it, she wondered. Kat set her mug down and quickly pulled up another map of the fires. Maybe the blue dots were something that Palm Coast wanted on their screens? Neal hadn’t gone into their account, so she didn’t know if they had new features added. Kat breathed in the steam from the herbal tea. Could someone have added those? Kat stared at the screen, looking at where the wildfires were currently active. She sent a map to the printer and listened to it hum as she waited.
She laid the newly printed map down on the table and glanced at it. The map wasn’t quite the same as the image she had from Theresa. There were a couple of blue dots and fires listed on the map, but some of the information didn’t match up at all. There was one blue dot in an area that a fire hadn’t been reported. Kat frowned, frustration forming in her chest. It didn’t make sense. How was it possible that some of the fires lined up and some didn’t?
She got up and started to pace. She started to feel lightheaded, as though someone had pulled the oxygen out of the surrounding atmosphere. She heard voices in her head, yelling, groaning. She slumped down on the floor, not wanting to pass out and fall, memories of her time in Afghanistan flooding over her. Her gut, in no uncertain terms, was telling her there was a bigger story here. She closed her eyes and tried to take deep breaths. Her therapist had insisted that they would help. They never seemed to. It was almost like it just gave her something to do instead of focusing on the nervous energy inside of her that she had no control over. It was like having a live volcano inside of her. She never knew when it would blow.
A warm nose pushed at her hand. Tyrant had gotten up and
was laying right next to her on the floor, her nose pushing at the hand that was closest, giving it a few licks. “I’m okay, girl,” Kat said, putting a hand in Tyrant’s fur. Every time Kat had an issue with her anxiety, Tyrant seemed to sense it, always coming to sit right by her. After the first couple of times it happened, Kat had emailed the ex-husband of the woman who was Tyrant’s original handler, Henry Nash. He didn’t know anything about why she’d do that. It didn’t matter. Kat was convinced Tyrant could tell.
Kat stroked Tyrant’s fur and waited for the fear to retreat into the dark corners of her body. It never truly left. She hadn’t told Van that she was still having issues. She wouldn’t tell him about this episode either. It was better left unsaid. Not that he wouldn’t want to know. She just didn’t want to talk about it.
Kat stood up and took a sip of tea, the lukewarm liquid tasting flat after sitting for a few minutes. She set the cup in the sink and closed her computer. Issues with blue dots and Palm Coast would have to wait until tomorrow, Kat realized. She’d be no good to anyone if she was exhausted.
Kat made her way up the stairs, checking in on Jack and Woof. Woof raised his head and looked at her as she glanced through the doorway. The tick of Tyrant’s nails clicked on the tile as she went to the bedroom. Van was already sound asleep, the noise of his breathing filling the room. She was too tired to change her clothes. She slid under the covers, Tyrant jumping up on the bed with her, settling in a spot between her feet and Van’s. The bed jostled as Van rolled away from her. Though the room was dark and quiet, Kat’s eyes were wide open, the edges of the panic attack still subsiding. She didn’t know if sleep would come, but she closed her eyes. As she settled her head into the pillow, she heard a whoosh and a beep run through the house. The power was out...
12
Bart hadn’t left home well. He knew that. He’d spent the night at the golf club in the bar with his buddies. They had a few suites for members who drank too much and couldn’t go home, or for men like him who were avoiding a fight with their wife.
It wasn’t the first time.
Bart took a quick shower and put on a change of clothes he had retrieved from the trunk of his car. He always had three changes of clothes with him. He kept a clean suit and tie, a pair of jeans and a Palm Coast Electric & Power polo shirt and jacket in case he needed to go out into the field and another bag with his workout clothes. Better to be prepared, he thought.
Today was one of those days. He’d have to figure out how to make it up to Theresa. He’d have to. It wasn’t her fault, really, he thought, buttoning up his shirt and swinging the tie around his neck. She didn’t know what was going on. It wasn’t that she couldn’t understand what was going on — one of the things that attracted him to her was that she was smart — it was that he couldn’t tell her. He felt the muscles along his jaw clench, giving him an instant headache. He’d been having those for a few weeks now.
On the way out of the club, he thanked the girl at the desk and signed for the charges to his room. He asked her to send roses to his house. She nodded without asking any questions. They never did.
The drive to the office was quiet. Despite the awful California traffic, Bart knew a few back roads that would allow him to get through without too much hassle. He knew the hassle would be in his face the minute that he got to the office.
Marcy, his assistant, was at her desk when he got into the office. He handed the dirty clothes to her. “Could you send these out, please?”
“Of course. Sir,“ she started to say, but he didn’t let her finish. He walked to his office.
When he opened the door, he realized what she wanted to tell him. Sal Manko, his VP of Operations, was already waiting for him. Sal sat slumped in the chair in front of Bart’s desk, the chair turned so he could see the door. His tie was loose, his thinning hair pushed over to the side, his greasy face making it look as though he hadn’t showered in at least a day.
“Sal, what’s the good word?” Bart put his briefcase down on his desk.
“Wish I had one, Bart.”
“I’m assuming since you are in my office at this early hour looking the way you do, it was a long night?”
“You could say that.”
Sal was Bart’s head of special projects. Every corporation had a person who took care of issues that needed to be dealt with off the books. Sal was that person. He had a background in business consulting, or something like that. He’d been with Palm Coast for years, longer than Bart could remember. Bart settled into his chair and stared at Sal. “What do you have to tell me?”
“It’s about the little problem that we’ve been having,” Sal was never specific about the issues they were having in any of the Palm Coast offices. He was too worried about surveillance. Corporate espionage — even with a utility company — was a real thing.
“Have there been any developments?” Bart instantly felt queasy and reached into his desk drawer for the last two antacids in the bottle Marcy had bought for him the week before. As he chewed the chalky tablets, he made a mental note to tell her to get more.
“You could say that. We are having an issue with our power management system. A call got routed to me early this morning from the IT department. Roger Guerra noted a problem. The head of the department looped me in.”
Bart felt the blood rush to his face, “Do they know what’s going on? They suspect anything?”
Sal shook his head, his jowls swinging side to side as he did, “No. I asked to be looped in while we are running the blackouts. They don’t suspect anything.”
“What was the problem with the system?” Before Bart asked, he was already typing on his computer, a cold sweat developing on his forehead. It was starting. Just as he had been told it would.
“Apparently, at some point yesterday, probably last night, some blue dots appeared on the power management software. That’s the system we use…”
“...to keep an eye on the grid. I know that, Sal.”
“Sorry. The thing is that the IT department doesn’t have any blue dots as part of the system. Neither does the provider. Roger Guerra had his team reboot the system and they’ve checked the monitors, but they haven’t gone away. No one seems to be sure what the problem is exactly.”
Bart wanted to choose his next words carefully, “And do we think this is related to any other troubleshooting we are doing currently?”
Sal raised his eyebrows. “We aren’t sure yet, but it’s possible I suppose.”
Bart leaned back in his chair, suddenly feeling lightheaded. “Do we have a plan to deal with the trouble at hand?”
Sal cleared his throat, “Well, the only option we have is to either pay to have it handled or try to deal with it ourselves. That’s really the only solution.”
Bart could feel Sal’s small black eyes waiting for Bart to give him a sign that he should move forward. “Are we sure the trouble is spreading? Maybe it was a false alarm?”
Sal stood up. “I think you know the answer to that question, sir. Let me know what you decide.”
Bart nodded. “Yes. I will. And Sal?”
“Sir?”
“Why don’t you head home and get cleaned up before you come back to the office.” Bart knew it was a dig. Sal wasn’t his favorite employee, not by a long shot. He didn’t like having people like Sal on staff, but they were necessary. He was a holdover from the previous CEO, but Bart kept him on because of his willingness to do whatever it took. The fact that he knew where the bodies were buried made Bart nervous.
Bart buzzed Marcy. “Could you please get me some coffee and a new bottle of antacids?”
“Of course, sir.”
Bart took a deep breath, his head hanging. He would have to make a decision and make one soon.
13
Fire Chief Ned Cleary had gotten about two hours of sleep in his office before he got up to check on the winds and the status of the fires that had howled into the valley overnight, fanning the flames of the already burning California
acreage. How many homes had already been lost, he’d couldn’t tell. After the first year of being the fire chief, he decided that it was too depressing to think about what had been lost. He only chose to think about those that had been saved.
With fires popping up all over the area, he’d stayed at the station the night before, the lumpy upholstery on the couch in his office leaving him with a backache. He went downstairs into the command center. As the Chief of Cal Fire’s statewide operation, he was no longer attached to a particular firehouse. He worked from the command center, figuring out where to send resources, coordinating out-of-state personnel and generally running the show without getting his hands dirty. He missed being out in the field, though. He looked toward the dispatch area. On the first floor of the command center, there were sections of cubicles with blue-shirted dispatchers, their monitors sending an eerie glow across their faces. Ned scanned the group. They seemed to be busy, which was never a good sign. Several of them were typing and talking into their headsets, likely sending fire crews out to areas that needed help.
“It’s a busy morning, Chief.” Freddie Henderson said, leaning on the railing at the bottom of the stairs.
Ned glanced over at him. Tall, lanky, red-haired. Ned remembered when he first met Freddie a few years before, they didn’t hit it off right away, that was for sure. There was something about him that just didn’t seem professional. It could have been the way he talked or the fact that he always seemed to have a toothpick in his mouth. But, since Ned had gotten to know him, they had become fast friends, or at least as friendly as you could be with someone that worked for you. Freddie was the department’s lead arson investigator, a position he had taken after getting injured on the job. Ned glanced at a scar on Freddie’s arm.
Freddie ended up at Cal Fire headquarters after a house fire had gone bad. Freddie had been inside with another firefighter trying to put out the flames when the first floor collapsed. His shoulder separated during the fall. Though Freddie’s team put his shoulder back into place on the scene, the damage to the sensitive joint had pulled him out of the flames permanently. Ned knew from talking to Freddie that it had been a hard adjustment that took months to reconcile. Ned glanced over at Freddie as they stared down to the first floor from the balcony above. The toothpick was still in his mouth. Ned swore Freddie ate with it. Probably kept it in his mouth when he showered too. “They have any cases for you?”
