Sun Storm

by Marlow Kelly

  “It’s just a…it’s a prototype for a new—”

  “You said that before. I need details.” David threw his spoon into his bowl, splattering gravy over the table.

  Mac twisted in his chair so he faced Marie. “Come on, tell us what this is all about.”

  “I can show you. It’s in my backpack.” She retrieved her bag from the mudroom floor and spread the gold plastic sheet on the table. “This is my prototype.”

  “It looks like a bit of shiny plastic to me.” Mac fingered the edge.

  She smiled. “I know.” She held up the sheet, detangling a small black cord that attached the panel to the inverter. “Do you see how it’s embossed with concentric squares? Those indents give it more surface area. And the gold coating is a special formula that absorbs energy from the sun. When I started this, I was just trying to make a small economical panel. I used recycled plastic in its construction. Normal panels are fragile and easily damaged, but mine shouldn’t need special handling. Actually, that’s one of the reasons I came to Montana. I wanted to see how it would stand up physically to the cold. This one is intact despite everything that has happened.”

  Mac gave a small cough. “You have a highly portable solar panel. I don’t see what all the fuss is about.”

  David leaned back and folded his arms across his chest. “What else is so special about this invention of yours?”

  Marie licked her lips. “The energy output from my prototype is much greater than I expected.”

  “More than a regular solar panel?” Mac asked.

  “Much more. Mine produces the equivalent of a hundred traditional solar panels.”

  “Why is yours so powerful?” Mac placed his spoon in his bowl and pushed it away.

  “The earth and everything on our planet naturally creates energy. Most solar panels convert light into electricity. Mine uses both the naturally occurring radiant energy and light to create power.” Marie knew she was babbling, but she couldn’t stop.

  Mac frowned. “I still—”

  “Don’t you get it? Once the panel warms your house in the winter, the heat it generates is recycled, creating more power. The more light and heat you have, the more energy you manufacture. It’s self-sustaining. I came here because of the storm. I was supposed to test it in blizzard conditions and see if I could still power my cabin despite the lack of sunlight.

  “How many of these sheets would be required to heat this house?” David asked.

  “My tests indicate that a sheet this size could power a small office building, or maybe your house and an electric car.”

  “And it’s made out of recycled plastic?” Mac scratched his jaw.

  “Yes. The raw materials for this one only cost a few hundred dollars.”

  Mac smacked his knee. “My God, that’s brilliant.”

  Marie blushed. “I don’t know about that. I haven’t completed my trials.”

  David Nodded. “I get it now. That’s why they want to kill you. There are powerful people who can’t afford for this to come out. It’s a game-changer.”

  Marie put a hand to her cheeks. She was dizzy. He had to be wrong. “But it’s only…” She dropped onto her seat. It was just a solar panel. Yes, it was very efficient, but it wasn’t ready for mass production. “I-I don’t understand.”

  David knelt down in front of her. “Because everyone will be off the grid. In fact, if this was ever sold commercially, there wouldn’t even be a grid. There are men, powerful men, who want to keep things the way they are. There’s no way they would allow you to develop this panel of yours, no matter how much it’s needed. Portman wants to stop you because you are a direct threat to him, but he’s not the only one.”

  “No, you’re wrong. It won’t affect them at all. Cars run on gas. Yes, I know there are electric cars, but there are a limited number of fueling stations—”

  Mac pointed to the gold plastic sheet. “This will change all that. This is a mobile form of power. You could park, put this on the dash, and power your car.”

  “Even if it did change things, how many people could afford to buy a new car? It would take years to affect that kind of change. It’s the same with houses. Not everyone can afford to buy the panel and do the wiring work to convert their house.” Even as she said the words, she knew they were hollow. She could deny it all she wanted, but the truth was clear. She had deluded herself into thinking the world needed her solar panel. A cheap, efficient source of electricity, and she had been so caught up in her work, she hadn’t stopped to consider the big picture. She hadn’t seen the obvious—the most important men in the country would do anything to stop her from succeeding, including murder.

  David took her hand in his. “How many years? Ten? The fact is that once this solar panel goes into production, it’ll be the beginning of the end for the power grid and oil production.”

  Marie bit her lip. “I never meant. I just wanted—”

  “Wanted what?” David whispered.

  “There are places in the world that don’t have electricity to pump and purify water. There are catastrophes like earthquakes, tsunamis, and landslides. This could make a difference to people in those disaster areas.”

  David brushed her hair away from her face and rubbed his thumb over her cheek. “I understand. Field hospitals rely on generators. Doctors can’t perform modern surgery without some form of power.”

  “Yes, that’s the kind of application I had in mind.” She broke eye contact, blinking away the tears. She refused to weep, especially after her earlier crying jag. She was a strong, sensible woman who was not given to emotional outbursts. All she needed to do was stay calm and think logically.

  Mac strode to the cabinets, and then opened the cupboards, searching them. “These things are invented all the time, but they’re normally shut down by large corporations.” He found a large bottle of Scotch and three glasses, and then returned to the table. “Moments like these call for a splash of the good stuff.” He dispensed a generous amount of the amber liquid into his glass.

  David returned to his seat. “You’ve heard of this happening before?”

  Mac passed the scotch to David. “Not to my knowledge, but I’m hardly an expert.”

  “What do you do?” David didn’t pour himself a drink. Instead he re-screwed the top on to the bottle and placed it in the middle of the table.

  “I was a state trooper for twenty-five years. Some people loved me, lots hated me, but I did the best job I could.” Mac swept his arm in a wide arc. “My daughter and son-in-law are in Florida. I live in a small cabin near Livingston, in the Yellowstone River Valley. There’s just me. My wife, Haley, died ten years ago, may she rest in peace. I live off the grid. I have a propane-powered generator, a wood stove, and an outhouse.”

  “Sounds like my place, except without the cabin.” David smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “How’d you end up here on a night like this?”

  “I was visiting a lady friend in Granite City. Blizzard hit. I thought I’d wait it out here. You know, I was tracking a company a few years back. They developed a water-powered generator. Now that would be a handy item. I was all set to buy, too, but the company shut their doors.”

  “Did they go bust?” David asked.

  “No, they were acquired by some large corporation…Global…Global something or other, can’t remember the name. Anyway, instead of developing the technology, they shut it down. It seems to me there are a lot of powerful people who want us to keep buying their gas and electricity. My theory is that when anything like this is concocted”—he pointed to the prototype—“some company sponsor comes along and buys it so they can shut it down.”

  David’s cold, dead gaze was back. Was he angry over her solar panel and Portman’s actions? Or was it something else?

  “Seems that’s normal business practice. They buy out anyone who creates something that threatens their lead in the global energy market.” Mac splashed more scotch into his glass.

  David eyed Mar
ie. “You said earlier that you own the patent.” He was anything but relaxed. His questions and the tension in the way he held himself suggested he was on edge.

  “Yes, Father wouldn’t allow me to give my ideas away again.” She remembered her father’s anger when he discovered she’d been gullible enough to trust her lover.

  David leant back in his chair. “Portman can’t stop you by having someone else claim it’s theirs and tying your hands legally.”

  “Ironically, the jokes on him.” Marie refolded the gold sheet.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I’m out of funds. I’ve spent every penny. I was hoping Professor Hargreaves would validate my work so that I could get funding from the Department of Energy.”

  “You’ve spent eighty million dollars?” David’s eyes widened.

  “You’re rich,” Mac added.

  Marie answered Mac’s question first. “No, I’m not rich, not anymore. And I never had eighty million dollars. My grandfather left me two million, which I’ve spent. I have about eighteen hundred dollars left.”

  “How did you spend two million?” David rested on his elbows, obviously interested.

  “It was easy. I purchased and maintained a house. I converted the garage to a workshop. I paid for my supplies and food. Oh, and I paid my bills.

  “If you were trying to get the Department of Energy to sponsor you, why were you at the PDE building?”

  “The professor was going to recommend my work to the DOE, and now that he’s dead…” She shrugged because some things really didn’t need saying. “Portman had expressed an interest, so I thought I’d ask him to invest.”

  “Your work was over? He didn’t have to do anything…son of a b—gun.” David pointed to the prototype. “Any chance you can hook that thing up so we have power?”

  She was surprised she hadn’t thought of connecting her sheet to the house grid. It was just another example of how distracted she was. But the idea of doing a live trial lifted her spirits. This was her territory, where she was most at home. It was the place where scientific theory met practical application. And it might be the only time she had a chance to see her work in action. “What kind of a set up do they have? Are we on the grid?”

  “A generator only. It’s in the utility room. Come on Mac, don’t you want to see how it works?” David grabbed the flashlight.

  Mac’s gaze flickered to David, and then he stood and followed them. There was something going on between the two men, an unpleasant undercurrent. If she had to give it a word, she would’ve said distrust. Yes, that was it. They didn’t trust each other, but then, why should they? Mac had pointed a gun at David’s head and they, in turn, had broken into Mac’s daughter’s house.

  David stood at the door to the utility room, shining the light inside.

  Marie unplugged the generator and then checked the breaker box. “I wouldn’t be able to do this if they were hooked up to the power grid.”

  “Why not?” David asked.

  “Because grid-tied systems have a safety switch that prevents the use of outside power during a blackout.”

  “I don’t understand.” David aimed the light at the electrical panel.

  “Electricity flows both ways down the line. If someone is working on a downed power line and we’re feeding voltage along that line, they could be electrocuted.”

  She pulled the small black box from her backpack. “The inverter was the hardest component to make. It converts the power produced by the panel into usable electricity. There’s no way to tell if today’s events have caused any damage.”

  “What are you going to do?” David asked.

  “Plug it in and see. I should also mention that none of this is legal.”

  “Legal?” David’s eyes widened.

  “Yes, all off-grid systems are strictly regulated to ensure they can’t cause electrocutions and house fires. I haven’t got to that stage in product development.”

  “Maybe we should just use the generator.” Mac stood behind David, peeking over his shoulder.

  “We can’t unless we put it outside. The fumes from the engine will suffocate us. Besides, I’m not sure if there’s any gas in it,” David pointed out.

  “You’re just going to plug that thing into the breaker box? Don’t you have to rewire anything?” Mac asked.

  “What’s the point of inventing a mobile unit if you have to take an electrician with you to make it work? If you were going to have this as your main source of power for a house and run your washing machine, dishwasher and stove, then I’d recommend you get a qualified expert to install it and wire it through the fuse box, but this should work in a pinch.

  “Plug it in,” David urged.

  “If there’s a loud pop or a sizzle, then I’ve just fried the lines, and this test is a bust.” Marie held her breath as she inserted the plug into the outlet on the fuse box, which was designed for the generator. Nothing happened. No noises, no lights, no power.

  “I guess there’s no reason for anyone to want me dead. It doesn’t work.” Her heart sank. All her hard work was for nothing. Maybe the inverter was damaged. She’d need to take it apart and check.

  “Hold on.” David flipped on the light switch.

  The overhead light flickered on. They had power.

  “It works.” Her prototype was producing electricity in a storm, without sunlight. Laughing, Marie jumped into David’s arms. He held her up, spun her around, and then hugged her.

  Mac inspected the set up. “Amazing. You could throw this in your bag and have electricity anywhere. I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes.”

  The years of hard work, loneliness, and single-minded determination were all worth it. She had created something that had the ability to make a real difference.

  David put an arm over her shoulder and hugged her to his side. “And that’s the reason people want to kill you.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Finn struggled through the heavy snow toward the coffee shop. Peggy, the owner of the Dumb Luck Café, had decided it was safer and more profitable to keep her business open during the storm. Many people were forced to camp at work. They needed food, and although the roads were closed, the city buildings lessened the effects of the wind, making walking possible, if unwise.

  Cell service had gone out an hour ago, meaning there would be no call from David tonight.

  Finn pulled his hood down over his face and zipped his collar past his mouth as he struggled to stay upright in the driving gusts. Finally, he made it across the street to the north end of the square and was grateful to reach the buildings that shielded him from the impact of the wind.

  The eatery was an assault on his senses. The place was crowded with stranded office workers, city employees, a few cops, and civilians of all walks of life.

  Detective Ramirez approached Finn as he made his way through the crowd. “Agent Callaghan, any news on the kidnapping?”

  Finn shrugged. “I’m not on the case.”

  Ramirez frowned. “That’s weird. I wanted to join forces with the investigator. I figured the home invasion and abduction were connected. When I spoke to the chief, I was told that the FBI had muscled in and taken over the case.”

  “We can’t investigate, we don’t have jurisdiction, but I did offer our help. Chief Notley basically told me to back off.”

  “He said that?”

  “Not in so many words, but it was implied. For what it’s worth, I think you’re right. The home invasion and the kidnapping have to be connected.”

  Ramirez leant closer, lowering his voice. “Oh, by the way, I checked your friend out. He has an impressive military record.”

  “I know.”

  “He’s a decorated soldier. It seems he was injured by one of our own, according to the eyewitnesses. This guy, a private, went nuts. He was hallucinating and started shooting at his own guys.”

  “Shit.” David hadn’t mentioned any of this.

  “Qu
inn took him out, but not before a bullet grazed his face. There was an enquiry. The survivors all claimed David saved them. He was awarded a purple heart. I’ll forward the file onto you.”

  “That’d be great.” Most men would have been proud. According to Ramirez, David was a hero, so why was he holed up on his land? “Maybe he got sick of fighting.”

  “What?”

  “Oh, nothing.” Finn changed the subject. He didn’t want to discuss David, Portman, or Chief Notley. “How come you get to sit in here when every other policeman in the department is out saving marooned motorists?”

  “I’m heading out now.” Ramirez held up a disposable tray that contained four large-lidded cups. “Can’t go without supplies.”

  Ramirez flipped up the hood of his coat as he headed out, struggling to hold onto his drinks in the driving wind. Finn stepped up to the counter and ordered a coffee and a Reuben sandwich. He smiled and nodded to the owner, Peggy, as she toasted sandwiches on the grill. She waved and turned back to her work. Normally, she stopped to chat, but this evening she was busy in her element making money.

  She was a slim, attractive woman with a shock of spiky, thick, white hair and large brown eyes. The Dumb Luck Café was her dream, purchased with insurance money she’d received when her husband had met his death in an untimely fishing accident. They didn’t have children, and she’d always dreamed of owning a coffee shop.

  After paying for his Rueben sandwich, he leant against the counter, sipping his coffee as he waited for Peggy to make his order. A young man in a baseball cap caught his eye. He had a baby face with the intent look of an adult. He was either a young man who had seen a lot of life or an older man who looked like a kid. Finn decided it was the second option. He sat on a high stool near the window, nursing a large disposable cup. He stared at Finn, long and hard, and then turned back to look out of the window.

  “There you go handsome.” With a wink, Peggy placed the Rueben sandwich on the counter. Finn winked back, grabbed his food, and made his way to the door. Initially, he’d wanted to stay in the shop, but it was too noisy and crowded. He needed to sit down and rest, and there weren’t any seats available. David, Dr. Wilson, the blizzard, and being warned off the case by the chief, all festered.