Penny’s shit-eating grin surprised Cassie a little. Although she’d flirted with Griff lightly a couple of times, Penny now seemed intent on lobbing heavy ordnance at him.
All Cassie could do was agree. “Yes, he is.”
Penny stepped just outside the entryway into the cold breeze. “When I got pregnant at sixteen I thought the world had come to an end. Well, little did I know a lot of years later this would happen. I have something to really complain about now.”
Cassie hoped to reassure her. “Tell me about your son.”
Penny continued to stare at the star filled sky. “He’s a good boy. Well, he’s twenty-four. So he’s not a boy anymore. And he wasn’t always good. The people who adopted him were friends of my parents. They told me they couldn’t wait for him to move out when he was eighteen. They called him devil spawn.”
Cassie blinked. “Really?”
“He joined the navy at eighteen. He was in trouble with juvenile court more than once before he joined.”
“And the navy has straightened him up?”
“Absolutely.”
“Why isn’t he still in the navy?”
“He had one enlistment and then didn’t rejoin. Said he hated the regimental lifestyle.” Penny turned her attention back to the sky. “He’s a strange child. He’s of my body but sometimes there’s this look in his eyes…oh, my gosh. Would you look at that?”
Cassie exited the hotel to stand on the steps with Penny. To the north, just visible over buildings across the street from the resort, was a luminescent red glow.
“What is that?” Penny asked. “A fire?”
A cold shiver drifted over Cassie’s skin at the thought, then she looked closer. “No. It looks geomagnetic.”
“Geomagnetic?” Penny frowned at her.
“Northern lights.”
“This far south? I thought northern lights had colors in them.”
“I saw this before once while visiting a friend in Arizona. Depends on how big the event is and which way it comes in toward earth.”
All doubt left as the sky grew more animate. Colors danced and shimmered over the mountain tops. Yellow, green, red. Northern lights far more intense than any Cassie had seen decorated the night. They made a silent symphony both beautiful and terrifying.
They’d shut off all the appliances and unplugged them earlier in the day, with the exception of that television. There was less chance of a fire starting that way if there was an EMP. Either way, the event they’d worried about for hours appeared to come true in an instant.
Before they could say another word, all the lights in town went dead. Nearby a huge crack split the air, and Cassie gasped in surprise. Penny let out a tiny scream.
“Oh, crap. What was that?” Penny asked.
“Sounded like a transformer.” Cassie glanced around the darkness illuminated now only by the wild colors in the sky. “Maybe more than one.”
“They said on television a few hours ago that they planned to shut down several grids before the EMP got here.”
Cassie zipped up her coat. “I hope they already did it. God, I hope they already did.”
Blackout: Chapter Eight
Griff was taking the stairs down to the lobby when the lights cut out.
“Fuck.” He clasped the hand rail in the old stairwell.
He’d made a vow not to step in the elevator when news of the CME was announced. Good thing, too. Still, he almost stumbled in the blackness as he halted on one step. He clicked on the flashlight and descended the stairs slowly. Once in the lobby, he heard two distinct female voices. Cassie and Penny. Light from two flashlights spread across the lobby.
“Griff?” Cassie walked up to him, and instinct and need demanded he draw her against his side.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Peachy. Did you see the Northern lights?”
“No.” He headed out the front door with the women in tow, and what he saw blew his mind.
Not only did a myriad of colors dance across the northern sky, they began to spread until the lights covered from horizon to horizon.
“Shit. Oh dear,” Penny said. “Is it supposed to cover the sky?”
Griff drew Cassie close to him. Having her against him, her warm body plastered to his side, gave him comfort. While he’d been upstairs refreshing his memory on survival, part of him had worried the weirdoes would come out by now. Every place, even one as small as Bowmount, harbored the nut jobs that crawled from the woodwork when shit hit the proverbial fan.
“Come on, let’s get inside.” He steered the ladies back into the hotel. “Penny, lock the doors. We have to make sure every exit is locked. Do you have another set of keys you can give us?”
“What?” Penny said as he herded them into the building. “Yes. Why? I can’t lock all the doors. There are emergency exists required to remain unlocked by the fire department.”
“Right. But there are other exits where an alarm wouldn’t go off if people just tried to come inside, right?” he asked. “As long as the locks don’t prevent us from getting out we’re golden.”
He couldn’t see Penny’s face in the semi-darkness, but fear colored her voice. “Yes.”
“If you have another set of keys give them to us.”
Penny didn’t say a word, and he wondered if she’d be stubborn. He didn’t want to get into the nasty reasons why it might make sense for someone else to have a set.
“Sure.” Penny hurried to the front desk and quickly unlocked a drawer under the counter. She handed him a big key ring. “Now why do you want this?”
Cassie asked out of the darkness. “Yes, why do we want a set of hotel keys?”
“Penny doesn’t have anyone else to here from the staff to help her. That’s the only reason,.” he lied.
“Okay.” He heard the doubt in the woman’s voice.
“We’ll help you lock up tonight,” Cassie said.
Penny sighed. “All right. I’m going to stay in the lobby. On the couch. Just in case those other patrons come back.”
Griff looked at his watch and noted it read ten o’clock at night. Cassie yawned loudly.
After they’d helped Penny with the lock up, Griff and Cassie headed upstairs. Maybe he’d gone beyond stupid suggesting they stay in a room together. Yet he didn’t want her out of his sight. He’d try to convince her one more time. If anything happened to her—
No. He couldn’t think like that and function. Do your job, Griff. Protect and serve.
“What about your Charger and those parts we got from Mr. Tracy?” she asked.
“I’ll see if they work tomorrow.”
When she went to use the key card on the lock to her room, she said, “Let’s see if this works now that the power is out.”
The light on the door didn’t turn red or green, but when she tried the handle, the door opened easily. “Goodnight, Griff.”
“Wait,” he said. “Come to my room and try my cell phone. It’s been in the Faraday cage. You were trying to reach your parents, right?”
She rubbed the back of her neck. “That’s right I was.”
They went into his room and he closed the door.
For just a moment he savoured watching her as she set her backpack on his table. The thick veil of her almost black hair cascaded over her shoulders and hung to mid back. Today it was parted to the side. She wore little to no makeup. Maybe a hint of rose color on her eyelids and lips. She’d never tried to hide those freckles across her nose, and he liked that she didn’t. Her slim body moved with grace as she went to the center of the room. When she turned toward him, he saw a hundred questions in her beautiful eyes. God, he wished he did have all the answers for her.
She yawned and put her had to her mouth. “Oh, God. I’m so tired. I don’t know if I can sleep.”
“Ditto.”
He went to the small desk where he’d constructed a Faraday cage for his phone. Now that the EMP had reached Earth, he knew it was safe to take the phone out. He
handed it to her. She powered it on and tried her parents.
Her eyes clouded as she handed the phone back to him. “There’s not even a busy signal now.”
He placed the phone back on the desk and turned toward her. “I’m sure your parents are all right. They have friends?”
“Of course.”
“Then they’ll band together and they’ll be all right.”
“I can’t help but worry about them.”
“Of course. That’s only natural.”
A pause lingered between them before she said, “Is there anything else we need to do for tonight? Wait. I can’t believe I forgot to ask. What did the sheriff say when you went to the station?”
That had been a joke. “The sheriff is a nice guy and he has quite a few deputies. But he’s not ready for an event like this. I told him what I knew about protecting his electronics but I think he only half believed me.”
She sighed. “Welcome to Bowmount.” She rubbed one hand over her eyes. “This is the weirdest vacation I’ve ever had.”
She saw something she hadn’t before sitting on the coffee table. “A radio? Where did you get this?”
“It’s a crank radio. It can be charged up just by cranking it. I turned it on before I came downstairs.”
Curiosity lit her face. “And? Did you get anything?”
He didn’t want to tell her this. “Yes and no. There was a lot of chatter going on from the different stations. Satellites had started to go off, though.”
A small crease formed between her eyebrows. Her long sweep of beautiful hair fell over her shoulders as she stared at the floor, then she looked back up at him. “Aren’t you afraid to sleep tonight?”
He shrugged. “No point in being scared. I’ll probably go downstairs in a little bit and do a recon. Just to make sure everything is secure. We’ll need to watch out for fires in the neighbourhood in case some people didn’t prepare right.”
She brushed her hair away from her shoulders and tossed her head back with a sigh. “You know someone didn’t.”
Cassie stood and paced, and he saw the agitation growing within her. Even if she didn’t see it, she was frazzled at both ends and holding on too tight. He’d seen marines act this way in the field and had a feeling if he told her to calm down or that things would be all right, that she’d deck him.
“Are you sure you don’t want to stay with me?” he asked on impulse, pretty sure he knew the answer already.
Her gaze hardened, a shields up. “I’ll be perfectly fine on my own. I’ve got food and water.”
“I’m not so sure you’ll be fine.”
She tilted her head to the side. “You’ve got a protective streak a mile wide, don’t you?”
He nodded. “So?”
“Does it lure a lot of women into your bed?”
Frustrated and surprised by the question, he glared at her. “No.”
“Or is it just your secretive past that does that? Do they try and get to know you and figure if they sleep with you you’ll tell them your secrets? Is it a lure?”
Anger reared its head, burning bright in his stomach. “I don’t play games with women, Cassie. Never have, never will.”
She crossed her arms. “You’re playing a game when you won’t talk about your past.”
“You haven’t told me all of your past. You’ve got a fence around you so high, I’m amazed you even kissed me.”
He saw a flash of recognition and acknowledgement in her eyes, and he felt like he’d scored a point. He wasn’t proud of feeling that way, but he did.
“Goodnight, Griff,” she said, leaving his room quickly.
Moments later he heard the door locks engage on her door, and he had to be satisfied that the locks would keep her safe.
* * *
Getting to the house Wednesday night was easier than he thought it would be. Most people spent that night dealing with living back in a medieval world. He smirked as he settled on the couch in the house that he now belonged to. Yes, he belonged. He drew in the house’s scent and enjoyed the stench. He closed his eyes. Dust. Decay. Old. An eau de something immeasurably ancient. It came to him in a flash, as things had occurred to him easily as a child and teenager. He’d known many times in the past what people thought, especially if they believed bad things about him. He knew when his mother and father thought horrible things. When they’d treated him and his siblings like crap, he’d also known they’d pay for it one day. At first he thought karma would catch up with them, but then he realized karma didn’t always work until people were dead. Until someone made them dead. And so when karma didn’t kill them fast enough, he took it into his own hands. Every time he accomplished this goal, his mind and body felt lighter. Satisfied. As if he’d had great sex or a good meal.
His thoughts raced as he recognized the true smell of evil. It lingered in this house, possessed it in ways he’d never felt in any other place. All the place needed was new blood. New slaughter to give it a clearer, more pungent smell. He loved his new house, and yearned for the time someone would wander into the lair and discover just how delicious and happy they could be living with him here.
He closed his eyes and waited. Then he got an idea. One that filled him with the greatest of pleasure. He knew someone who would want to live with him here. With a smile of satisfaction, he made a decision on how to get her to the house.
Blackout: Chapter Nine
Thursday
Cassie heard a car roar to life as she stepped out the back of the resort. The engine had a familiar purr. When she rounded the corner and looked toward the parking lot, she saw Griff under the hood of the car. She paused, just watching him work. She might have argued with him last night—disagreed somewhat at the very least—but that didn’t mean she couldn’t appreciate him for what he was. One hunk of gorgeous manhood. He wore a flannel shirt that wasn’t tucked in to the waistband of his jeans. Jeans that curved against long muscled thighs.
His position gave her an excellent view of his ass, and she allowed a smile to slip out. Cassie mulled over her discussion last night with Griff as she’d left his room. She knew her own mind and knew staying with a man like him could be dangerous in a lot of ways. She’d never gotten the vibes off of him that he’d physically harm her, but she didn’t trust herself not to care about him a little too much. She refused to shack up with a guy. Just because he had enough testosterone, personality and gentleness to fuel dormant bits of her libido didn’t mean she had to give into his demands that she do what he wanted.
Last night while she’d disagreed with him a strange thrill had bubbled and percolated in her blood stream. When she’d left his room, she realized their discussion felt far different than the arguments she’d had with her ex-husband. She’d never felt excited discussing anything with the ex, whereas the mere act of not agreeing with Griff made her want to reach out and grab him. To kiss him.
She hated that. She didn’t want to be excited by a man who clearly liked giving orders, and who would no doubt relish telling her what to do if he thought he could get away with it on a regular basis.
No, she’d had enough of that ten years ago. She’d made it through the ego-crushing experience of being married to a dominating man. She’d learned her lesson. It had been a very, very good thing she hadn’t stayed with him last night and maybe done something stupid.
Yeah, she’d keep telling herself that.
She cleared her throat, and he jerked around. The guard dog expression in his eyes made something inside her stir with the slightest hint of fear. Yeah, he could be dangerous. Very dangerous if he wanted to be.
“Hey,” he said. “Sneaking up on me for a reason?”
“Watching you work. So the Charger’s fine?”
He turned back to the car and slammed the hood. “Yep.” He sat in the car long enough to turn it off. He left the car, slammed the door and locked it. “The garbage can kept the parts safe. We’re good to go. We can leave here whenever we want.”
“
We?”
“Your rental isn’t likely to work. It’s a brand new sedan, right?”
“You’re right. It’s probably fried.”
“Let’s try it.”
They wandered to the sedan and she unlocked it. When she hoped inside to start it, it simply made a clicking noise. “Damn. No juice.”
He leaned on driver’s side door and looked down on her. “Look, even if you hate my guts, I’ll still offer you a ride out of here when I leave.”
“Well, let’s not get dramatic. I don’t hate you.”
His eyes narrowed, and the hint of a smile found his mouth. It disappeared almost as quickly as it came. “Look, I get your need for boundaries. You mentioned an ex-husband, and my guess is he’s part of the reason you’re like this.”
Resentment danced inside her. “Why I’m like this? You make it sound like a defect. I think it’s a really good thing I’m strong independent woman. But I also know there are a hell of a lot of men who are threatened by that. Are you?”
He planted his hands on his hips, and his face had turned to stone again. “Hell no. I get that you’ve been hurt. But you and I should stick together during this event. If we want to survive, we need to work as a unit.”
“A military precise operation.”
“You got it.”
She slipped from the car and locked it. The keys went back in her jeans pocket along with her room key. “I agree. Let’s work together.”
His eyes narrowed. “Okay. Look, I’m going to head over to the sheriff’s department and see what’s happening. Maybe I can get an idea of what shape the world is in.” He took the car keys out of his pocket and held them out to her. “Here.”
She stared at his hand. “Why?”
“I’m walking to the sheriff’s department. I don’t want anyone to see I have a working car. But if something screwed up happens, I’d like you to have the car so you can leave whenever you want.”
Holding Out For A Hero: SEALs, Soldiers, Spies, Cops, FBI Agents and Rangers Page 129
