"Chain Reaction" Power Failure Book I

by Andrew Draper

  Chapter Fifteen

  Hell hath no fury like an upstate New York blizzard. The phrase “lake-effect snow” takes on new meaning when it accumulates at more than a foot an hour.

  Outside Ithaca, New York, the campus of Cornell University was already under more than two feet of new snow and the forecast called for another sixteen to twenty inches in the next twelve hours.

  Brent Ryan looked outside and watched the white flakes blast against the frosted window pane, the howling wind rattling the glass in the frame.

  Just under six feet tall and weighing 185 lbs., Ryan possessed the physical skill and talent to earn a full-ride scholarship, courtesy of the school’s ice hockey team. He was well aware a degree represented a huge advantage in life and he worked very hard to parley his natural athleticism into a masters degree in economics.

  Sitting on an end table in his dorm room, Brent’s cell phone began vibrating in rhythmic pulsations, signaling an incoming call.

  He put the phone to his ear. “Hello?”

  “Brent, it’s Jen.”

  “Hey, where have you been? I tried to call you yesterday. I was starting to get really worried.”

  “I was...umm…busy. Sorry.”

  Irritated by her indifferent attitude, he bit back a scorching retort, instead letting the slight wash over him.

  “Yeah? Well, I was about to send out a search party.

  “I’m fine…well sort of…” She hesitated and a wave of concern splashed over him like cold seawater. “What’s up?”

  “I need you to come to Boston.”

  His sister’s halting tone caused his pulse to spike in alarm. “When? The weather’s really crappy here. I don’t know if I can get a flight.”

  “Can you come today? It’s important.”

  He agreed without hesitation. “I’ll catch the next flight…or I’ll drive if I have to. What’s going on?”

  “I can’t talk now. Just get here as fast as you can. Please, I need your help.”

  “Come on, I can hear it in your voice. Tell me what’s got you so upset.”

  “I don’t want to get into it on the phone. I’ll tell you everything when you get here.”

  “Whatever it is, you can tell me. We’ll sort it out.”

  “All I can tell you is that it’s serious. You’ll just have to trust me on the rest.

  He hesitated before answering, not liking the foreboding chills her words sent creeping up his spine. “Okay. I’ll get there as soon as I can.”

  “One more thing,” She interjected.

  “Yes?”

  “When you get here, I need you to go to my office and pick up my laptop. Talk to my assistant. She’ll get it for you. Speak to no one else.”

  “What?”

  “I need you to get it for me,” she said. “I’ll meet you at the offices of Casey Construction. It’s in the Tower building. I’ll explain the rest later.”

  “Do you need anything else?”

  “No, if you can get my computer that will be enough. And Brent, be careful…this is serious.” she said, the fear in her voice giving him all he needed in the way of warning.

  “Hang on sis, I’m on my way. I’ll be there in about three or four hours and we will figure out whatever this is.”

  “Thanks. I’ll see you this afternoon then.”

  He hung up the phone and called the airline. While he was on hold, he contemplated the cryptic conversation.

  Whatever’s bothering her must really be big if she’s calling me in from New York.

  Giving up the view outside the window, he opened the closet and began to throw some clothes into a small duffel bag.

  Brent Ryan had spent his entire life in his sister’s shadow. She was the brilliant one, truly gifted, and for a long time his resentment of her caused a burning friction between the siblings that singed them both.

  All of Jenny’s academic life she had been at the top of her class, while Brent worked almost manically to keep his 3.85 GPA. Cornell University was no picnic, and as Brent filled his days with classes, hockey practice and studying, he grudgingly developed a healthy respect for his sister’s academic achievements. He also realized that while she was undeniably a scientific genius, she was also painfully shy, lacking the social grace and self-confidence he found easy to summon. That knowledge, and a little hard-won maturity, made it possible for the two of them to grow much closer in the last few years. The past evaporated as he zipped the bag, clearing his mind.

  Concentrating on the present, he began punching the buttons on his cell phone’s keypad.

  Ryan knew his sister was obviously scared and he had to go and help in any way he could. He just wished she would have confided in him…given him a little more information.

  If she’s having trouble with some boyfriend…I’ll just lay a beat-down on him.

  His hockey team’s “enforcer”, Brent was well-versed in the proper application of fisticuffs and would simply pummel any low-life who dared to bother his sister.

  But it didn’t sound that simple. She’s too scared for it to just be some jackass giving her a hard time.

  The mere thought of his sister in some kind of trouble, whatever it was, twisted his insides into hard, painful knots.

  If anybody’s hurt you, they’ll answer to me!

  The dull, disinterested voice of the ticket agent came on the line. “What city, please?”

  “A ticket for one to Boston, please.” he said. “On the next available flight.”

  The 5 mile trip from the dorm to Ithaca’s Tompkins County Regional Airport took almost half an hour. The heavy snow continued to fall and compacted ice on the roads played havoc with the traffic, sending cars skidding out of control, landing in roadside ditches or buried in deep medians.

  Finally reaching his destination, Brent entered the terminal. Checking the monitor board, he learned that all outgoing flights were cancelled.

  “There must be something…somewhere,” he pleaded with the ticket agent behind the counter. “I have to get to Boston. Please check the other airports.”

  Well over fifty, the obese woman’s unsympathetic face sagged further as she fluffed a tangled mass of garishly dyed red hair. “I’ll see what I can do,” she said. “This storm is moving east from Chicago and getting worse. I don’t know if we’ll find anything for today.”

  She tapped the keys on her computer and watched her screen intently. “They still have one leaving from Syracuse, it leaves a little later…but so far, it’s still going.”

  “Can I make it?”

  “If they don’t close the highway, you can probably make it.”

  “It’s a risk I’ll have to take. Thanks.” He said as he walked away.

  Getting back on the road, Brent headed for Syracuse. Fighting the rising storm, he plodded down the frozen expanse of State Highway 13 before turning northeast, onto Interstate 81. The sixty-mile drive took just over two hours.

  He elbowed his way to the front of the line at the ticket counter, garnering withering stares from the other waiting passengers. When he arrived at the gate, he heard the metallic twang of the boarding announcement. He sprinted down the jetway and buckled his seatbelt with only minutes to spare.