Covered in Darkness

by Heather Sunseri

  “I’m so glad you got him back. Are the barns damaged?”

  “That’s the strange thing. The barns are fine. On Liam’s Watch’s stall was perfectly intact. His stall door had to have been opened from the outside.”

  “Are you sure? No—of course you’re sure. Do you have any idea who would do such a thing?”

  “Aidan and I are confident that none of our employees let that horse out. They were all together, taking shelter from the worst of the storm, so none of them had the opportunity. Liam’s stall is in the barn they were sheltering in, but not visible from where they were.”

  “So you think someone slipped in during a severe thunderstorm and released your most decorated thoroughbred right under their noses? I sure hope you’re wrong about that.”

  “Me too,” he sighed.

  David was staring at me, his brows pointing inward. I was sure he was attempting to put together Declan’s side of the conversation.

  “I don’t know what to think,” Declan continued. “I just know that On Liam’s Watch didn’t magically free himself from that stall.”

  “I’m sorry. You want David to come back to Lexington? Meet you at Kensington? I’m probably going to be stuck here for a while.”

  “No. Actually, I’ll call David. I want him to stay there for a bit. The roads here are terrible. I’d rather him stay with you in Frankfort. If you need to go anywhere, he can take you.”

  Declan was in overprotective mode again. What he meant was that he wanted David to watch over me—which was ridiculous. But I didn’t need the argument right now. “Fine. I’ll call you later. I’ve got to get a hold of the governor.”

  “Don’t go out unless you need to,” Declan warned.

  I wouldn’t make any promises. “Bye, Declan.”

  I hung up and looked at David. “He thinks someone purposely let On Liam’s Watch out of his stall. He’s getting ready to call you.”

  Sure enough, David’s phone rang, and he stepped out of my office to answer it. Through the glass that separated my office from the cubicles outside, I watched him talk to Declan. Judging by the way David looked at me, then walked farther out of range, I was sure that Declan was telling him something that he hadn’t told me. Declan was keeping something from me.

  I didn’t have long to dwell, though, because Mac called.

  “Governor,” I said in answer.

  “You have staff in there yet?”

  “Ty is here. Analysts are on their way.”

  “I’ve been trying to reach Mayor Tincher, but so far, no luck.”

  “I tried unsuccessfully as well. Where are you now?”

  “I’m in my office at the capitol, but I’m thinking I should come to you. I don’t like it one bit that we aren’t getting any communications from the commonwealth’s largest city. Power has already been out for several hours. Do we even know if a tornado hit the city?”

  “We have no indication that anything beyond severe thunderstorms impacted Jefferson County, but it must have been one helluva storm to knock out power over such a widespread area.”

  “As a precaution, I’d like to activate the fusion center as an emergency operations center,” the governor said. “I want you to be the focal point on this. I’ve already ordered the Kentucky emergency management commissioner to send her top staff your way. They will coordinate logistics; you handle information flow. The adjutant general is also en route. If the power isn’t back up soon, we’ll consider declaring a state of emergency.”

  “Give me an hour to make contact with law enforcement and Louisville Power. We’ll be better able to assess damage when the sun is up. Louisville Power can give us an idea of how bad it is.”

  “It’s Friday. People will be itching to get into work.”

  “Well, if power is down, there’s not much they’ll be able to do at most businesses. Hopefully they’ll use good judgment.” I realized the governor was itching to get to work too—he needed to do something to better the situation. “Governor, why don’t you work on a media statement? Whatever condition Louisville is in, we’re going to need to get word out to keep people off the streets, and keep the nonresidents out of Louisville until the power is back on. With cell phone communications apparently impacted, there may be some people on the verge of panic—they have no way of knowing how widespread the outage is. Also, people will need to look out for loved ones, especially the very young and the elderly. It’s supposed to be ninety-six degrees today with an even higher heat index. God help us if the power isn’t back on before it heats up.”

  “You’re right. If the power is going to be out for an extended amount of time, we’ll need to be sure hospitals, nursing homes, and shelters in the area have enough fuel for generators.”

  “You think it’s time to activate the National Guard?” I asked.

  “Let’s talk to Louisville Power first. Call me when you know something. I’ll do the same.”

  As soon as I hung up with the governor, Ty appeared in my doorway. His lips formed a tight line.

  “What is it?” I asked.

  “Jude just arrived.”

  “Okay…” I said in a spit-it-out sort of tone.

  “He said he got through to his friend at Louisville Power.”

  “And? What did he say?”

  “She. And it wasn’t what she said; it was more what she wouldn’t, or couldn’t, say.”

  We were standing in the middle of the many computer workstations in the fusion center’s pit. Jude and Carson had both managed to make it in while I was speaking with Declan and Governor Kale. The local news out of Lexington filled the televisions on the wall. Another screen had an active radar showing the lines of dissipated storms well off to the east. The two screens that should have shown traffic in downtown Louisville were still black. The traffic cams from other parts of the state showed the headlights of early morning traffic.

  Jude shot a look at Ty before speaking. “Okay. According to Sam, who got her information straight from the top brass at Louisville Power—”

  “Sam, as in Samantha Clay, previous critical infrastructure analyst for the Kentucky intelligence fusion center? That Sam?”

  “One and the same,” Jude confirmed.

  “Okay, continue.” I motioned with my hand.

  “Sam spoke with LP’s CEO, Ryan Saltzman. Their official word is that the storm cut electricity to nearly half a million customers—more than a million people—in Jefferson County. A handful of surrounding counties are also impacted. They’re working diligently to get power restored. It’s going to take time, at least a few hours.”

  I studied Jude’s face for several beats. “That’s the official word,” I deadpanned.

  “That’s what Sam said.”

  “And what is the unofficial word?”

  “Sam says the executives at LP have been acting super strange.”

  “Strange,” I repeated. “What does that mean? And what do you mean, ‘have been’? This morning? Since the storm took out their entire Jefferson County grid?”

  “No, as in they started acting strange Tuesday afternoon. That carried into Wednesday and Thursday, with numerous closed-door meetings. This morning, they’re freaking out—those were Sam’s words. Sam was called in to work at three a.m., but as of five a.m., no one had yet told her why, and her bosses have been in closed-door meetings with the head of IT all morning.”

  “She’s cyber security,” I said. “They haven’t included her in these meetings?”

  He shook his head. “Nope.”

  “Well, I guess there’s not much she or IT can do until the electricity is back up. Maybe IT is just there to offer guidance on the technical side of things.”

  “But then why get their head of cyber security in there so early at all, unless they needed her specifically? It’s like they called her, then changed their minds.”

  “They may just be scrambling. It would be understandable under the circumstances,” I said.

  “Maybe, but get this.�
� He held up a finger for emphasis. “Sam overheard Ryan Saltzman talking to his daughter, Blake, who is LP’s media relations person. He told her that her job was to ‘make sure the public believed her’ when she told reporters that they’d located the exact problem, and that the power would be back up as quickly as possible.”

  “Meaning what?”

  “Sam thinks they’re lying. Said they’re way too nervous and short-tempered for this to be a short-term problem.”

  I thought about that for a few seconds. Could be that Sam was overdramatizing what she was witnessing. We were all going on too little sleep. And she could have misheard her bosses. Maybe she felt mistreated by the CEO of Louisville Power and was looking for trouble where there was none.

  “Just how are you communicating with Sam?” Ty asked.

  “She was able to get through with an old cell phone using a trick her dad taught her—basically she bypassed the 4G network and connected using the most basic cellular network. But she said even that had been going in and out. The cell towers are already spotty at best, and as more and more people wake up and realize they’re going to be without power for a while, she predicts it’ll only get worse.”

  “The cell towers won’t work for long without backup generators,” Carson said.

  “I was under the impression the towers had backup power,” I said.

  “They all have backup battery power that will keep the towers running for several hours—that’s meant for short-term power outages. But for longer outages, you need a backup generator, and they don’t all have that. So in the case of a widespread power outage like this one…”

  “Cell phones become completely unreliable,” I finished for him.

  “After a day, it won’t matter anyway,” Jude said. “Without power, people won’t be able to recharge their phones.”

  “People are going to panic once they realize that the power outage extends to the entire county and beyond,” Ty said. “Best thing people can do is to get out of the city in case it takes a while to restore power.”

  “But not everyone can afford to do that or even has the means to leave. And where would everyone stay if they fled the city?” Jude said. “Hotels would be overwhelmed in a hundred-mile radius.”

  I looked at Jude. “Try to call Sam back and see if you can get LP’s CEO to call me. Collect any working phone numbers from anyone you make contact with. Maybe the cell towers will last a while longer,” I said hopefully. “Also, see if you can form communication chains using two-way radios—all the first responders will have them. That’s a cumbersome communication method, but it’ll provide a link between Louisville and neighboring counties that have power. And keep monitoring open source information and see what the media is reporting. If anyone is getting firsthand information out of Louisville, I want to hear about it—whatever it is.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Jude saluted me with a dramatic hand flip, then spun around and headed toward his office.

  Ty cast a dark look my way, but before he could speak, Marti and Alli appeared in the doorway behind Carson.

  “I’m glad you two made it,” I said. “Any problems getting in?”

  “I64 westbound is at a standstill,” Alli said. “I came from the other side of Frankfort. Both exits were completely blocked. No one is getting anywhere near Louisville by interstate, unless you know the back roads, and those might well be jammed, too.”

  It wasn’t even six a.m., and the interstate was blocked?

  “Marti? You feeling okay?” I asked. She looked pale and hung over, but determined to work through it.

  “Well enough. What can I do?”

  “I want you and Alli to try to contact hospitals in Louisville and the surrounding communities. If you get through, I want to know the status of their generators. See who has power, how many hours of fuel they think they have, who has capacity, whatever they’ll tell you. Find out their needs so that we can pass along information. Make sure you write down the names of whoever you speak to and get their cell numbers in case their landlines fail. Also check their two-way radio status. Until the power comes back up, hand-held radios may be our best means of communication. Make good notes.”

  Marti and Alli both nodded, then went off in the direction of their desks outside my office.

  Ty, Carson, and I traded looks.

  “What are you thinking?” Ty asked.

  “I’m not sure.” I turned and stared at the screens. The sun was just starting to peek over the horizon in the western part of the state. “Something’s not right. How could electricity be knocked out across the entire county by these storms? I don’t know a ton about how our electric grid works, but that just doesn’t seem reasonable.” I gnawed on a cuticle while I watched the screens.

  “I have to admit,” Carson said, “it seems highly unlikely for these storms to have caused such a widespread power outage, and yet for it to be contained to one major metropolitan area.”

  “Explain,” Ty said.

  “I guess there could be that much damage to multiple substations, causing many to lose electricity, but… Do we know if the power outage is limited to just Louisville Power customers?”

  “Why do you ask?” I asked.

  “The storms moved across Indiana, Ohio, and Tennessee, too. But Louisville is the only area that lost power?”

  Jude interrupted us. “The national news is reporting chaos in downtown Louisville.” He went to a workstation and turned the volume up on one of the television feeds. Sure enough, they had aerial footage of people congregating in a downtown street. The reporter claimed that looters were ransacking grocery stores and gas stations.

  “Seriously?” Ty said. “Already? It’s been a few overnight hours. And they’re talking like it’s mayhem.”

  “Jude, see if you can get someone on the phone from that station. I want to talk to whoever is getting that aerial footage.”

  Jude nodded, then turned on his heel and returned to his office.

  “I’m willing to bet that downtown Louisville is not mayhem.” Not yet, anyway. “Doesn’t mean it won’t become chaotic, but look at the video they keep showing. It’s of one store, and only about six people causing mischief.”

  “You’re right,” Ty agreed.

  “I need to talk to someone at Louisville Power,” I said. “And soon.”

  Chapter 4

  In my office, I turned on the Lexington morning news. Local reporters were talking about downed trees, an F2 tornado taking out a small trailer park, and some schools and businesses being closed for the day. It was normal, post-storm reporting, even if these storms were a bit worse than usual.

  Jude confirmed with one of the national news stations that they’d only managed to get a small amount of aerial footage. The interstates and surface streets were too congested to get closer with their news vans, and they hadn’t thought it was a big enough story to fly reporters into downtown just yet. So they’d gotten a small clip for dramatic effect, then created a narrative based on that one tiny clip, which may or may not have reflected other areas of the city.

  Pathetic journalism if you asked me.

  I changed the channel to a Louisville station, but all I got was a station logo. Why were their generators not working?

  My phone buzzed with a text from an unknown number:

  Did Declan get his prized thoroughbred back into his cage?

  “Are you kidding me?” I asked out loud to no one.

  I texted back:

  Who is this? And what do you know about it?

  But I already knew who it was.

  Romeo.

  It was all too easy to pull your beloved Irishman away from you. Are you seriously letting Declan’s driver follow you around now?

  Was he telling me that he’d had something to do with On Liam’s Watch getting loose?

  I poked my head out of my office. Marti was sitting at her desk. “Marti, have you seen David?”

  “He said he was stepping outside to use the phone. He said
for you to call him if you needed him.”

  Brooke? Are you still there? Romeo texted.

  Interesting. Romeo didn’t usually hang around after texting me. Now he was… what? Wanting to chat? Baiting me?

  Yes, I’m always here. And I’m adding animal cruelty and criminal mischief to the long list of felonies I plan to arrest you for.

  Aw, Brooke. I plan to make it up to you.

  What does that mean?

  Bye for now. Take care, Brooke.

  I threw my phone on my desk. Romeo had been a thorn in my side since well before my late husband was killed, and he seemed to make it his mission to interject himself into my cases, my work, and my personal life. And now he was messing around with Declan’s multi-million dollar horses? How was he even able to get close to those horses without being noticed?

  I grabbed my phone, sank down into my desk chair, and called Declan. He didn’t answer, so I called David.

  “David, I need you to get a hold of Declan. It was Romeo who opened On Liam’s Watch’s stall door.”

  “Romeo? Why would he do that?”

  “We could analyze that all day and still not know. Can you work on reaching Declan? Feel free to go back to Shaughnessy to help out there. I’ll get a ride with Ty if I need one.”

  “I’ll see if I can reach Declan.”

  “Thanks, David.”

  I hung up and immediately began scrolling through my contacts for the number for Anya Bhatia. She answered on the third ring.

  “Brooke?”

  “Hi, Anya. It’s been a long time.”

  “It sure has. So long that I’m praying that no one has died.”

  “Not this time.” The last time I’d had any contact with Anya was just after Teddy was killed.

  Anya had been my roommate at the University of Virginia. Her parents were from India and worked as professors at a university in the northeast. We were close—told each other everything. And after college, we’d gone our separate ways and made names for ourselves in different branches of federal intelligence—me at the FBI, and Anya with the NSA.