Deep Shadows Read Free

fervently that she was wrong. “We can’t be sure what an event of this magnitude will do.”
    â€œThe truck started.” Max continued driving with his left hand and pulled out his phone with his right. He split his attention between the screen and the road. “Why does my truck work but not the phones? I thought electromagnetic pulses fried anything with a circuit board.”
    â€œYou’re thinking of an EMP. A solar flare is different. It’s…” She thought again of the notes in her study. Maybe she had the details mixed up. Perhaps this was a nightmare, and she’d wake in a moment. “Some of the effects are similar, but it’s not the same. In many ways, it’s worse.”
    â€œHow long will it last?” Max asked.
    â€œWho knows? Twenty-four hours? Thirty-six?”
    â€œTell me why the truck works.”
    â€œBecause it’s older, would be my guess. The newer ones—anything with an advanced circuit board, keyless ignition, any vehicles with GPS integrated into the system—might not.”
    â€œSo why does my phone work?” Bianca sat forward, shoving the phonetoward Shelby. “See the pictures? I took them a few minutes ago. Why does it work? Maybe you’re wrong. Maybe—”
    â€œI’m not wrong. Solar flares cause power surges. If you’d had your phone plugged in to charge it, then a flare would have fried the circuits. No one actually knows what would happen to automobiles during a major solar flare because it hasn’t happened in the last hundred years.”
    â€œAnd the planes?” Patrick asked. “We have had solar flares before.”
    â€œMinor ones.”
    â€œBut we’ve had them. Air traffic was diverted from the north and south poles, but the flares didn’t actually harm any of the navigational systems.”
    â€œBecause they didn’t fly straight through one. With this event—if it’s as big as I think it is—there would have been no flying around it.”
    â€œThe train explosion…” Max glanced her way and then back at the road. “Train switches are all electrical. This flare… it would have fried those as well?”
    â€œMaybe. I guess so.”
    â€œHow do you know all this, Shelby?” Patrick was now practically in the front seat, hanging over the space between her and Max.
    â€œI did some research, for a book—”
    â€œYou write romance stories.”
    â€œYes, but they’re historical. For last year’s release, I researched the Carrington Event, the last major CME—”
    â€œCME?” Bianca pushed into Patrick’s space, so that both of their heads were comically hanging over the seat back. “I thought you said it was a solar flare.”
    â€œA CME is a coronal mass ejection.”
    â€œSounds bad.” Patrick sank back against his seat. “God help us if what you’re saying is true.”
    â€œSo it’s not a solar flare?” Bianca asked.
    â€œNot all solar flares produce CMEs, and not all CMEs accompany solar flares.” She hesitated, and then she added, “That’s about all I remember. I need to get home and make sure Carter is all right.”
    â€œWhy wouldn’t he be?” Max asked. He’d been relatively quiet, focusing on the road, but now he turned his attention to her.
    â€œI don’t know. I… I need to be sure.”
    Shelby glanced back at her friends.
    Patrick stared out the window, his large shoulders tense and his expression unreadable. Whatever they were in for, Patrick would be a port in a storm. Actually, everyone in the truck would be.
    Bianca was still trying to make a call.
    â€œIt won’t work,” Shelby said. “Every call is routed through a satellite, and the satellites are almost certainly fried.”
    Max tugged the bill of his ball cap lower, possibly trying to block out the aurora. As for the catastrophe they