Blackout b-1 Read online

  Blackout

  ( Blackout - 1 )

  Robison Wells

  Laura and Alec are trained terrorists.

  Jack and Aubrey are high school students.

  There was no reason for them to ever meet.

  But now, a mysterious virus is spreading throughout America, infecting teenagers with impossible powers. And these four are about to find their lives intertwined in a complex web of deception, loyalty, and catastrophic danger—where one wrong choice could trigger an explosion that ends it all.

  Robison Wells

  Blackout

  DEDICATION

  To Mom, for everything

  User: SusieMusie

  Mood: Pissed Off

  My stupid friends are nothing but power struggles and politics. Sara invited Erica to see a movie Friday night, but she invited Tyler to go to a party the same precise time. She thinks it’s funny, but I know she’s just going to stand one of them up. I don’t even care anymore. Let them fight.

  ONE

  “READY?” ALEC ASKED, LOOKING IN the rearview mirror at Dan, whose eyes were closed in a kind of nervous meditation.

  “I’m good,” Laura answered.

  Alec ignored her. He wasn’t concerned about Laura. She had the easy job.

  “Dan? Ready?” he asked again. “It’s time.”

  Dan didn’t meet Alec’s eyes, but opened the car door and stepped into the visitor parking lot of the Glen Canyon Dam. Their beat-up Chevy Bronco was one of only three vehicles there—the other two were desert-camouflaged Humvees.

  Alec smiled. Soon there would be at least fifty thousand dead. Probably more. Lake Powell, the enormous reservoir just upriver from the Grand Canyon, got three million visitors per year, and even though it was September now—not peak season—there had to still be at least fifty thousand people on the lake.

  Add to that anyone in the bottom of the Grand Canyon. All of the water from Lake Powell would scour the Grand Canyon and then pour into Lake Mead, overtopping the Hoover Dam and taking it out, too, in a violent flood. Alec wished he had better numbers to estimate the deaths. He wished he’d be there to watch it all happen.

  Oh well. It would be in the news soon enough. And it would take hours for the water to get to Lake Mead, so there would be reporters waiting. He could watch the Hoover Dam topple from safety, five hundred miles away.

  Besides, deaths weren’t the numbers he was supposed to be most concerned about. Glen Canyon Dam produced 4.5 billion kilowatt hours of electricity per year, and Hoover generated another four. In one day he’d knock out enough power to light up Las Vegas for half a year.

  He stepped to the back of the Bronco and clapped Dan on the shoulder. “For your mother and mine.”

  Dan nodded without making eye contact.

  “Yeah.”

  They walked toward the visitor center in silence, Alec feeling a serene calm. This would be the biggest attack yet. Not just the biggest of theirs, but the biggest all across America. And rightly so—he was supposed to be setting the example.

  A speedboat shot across the lake in the distance, leaving a trail of white foam in its wake.

  “Their country is falling apart and they go on vacation,” Laura said, sounding amused.

  “They have to relieve stress,” Alec answered sarcastically. “They probably think being in the wilderness is safe.”

  If anything, the lake had more people on it than usual for this time of year, a fact he’d discovered yesterday when he’d tried to rent a small craft to scope out the dam. All he’d been able to get was an old houseboat, and he’d had to navigate through a bustling marina to where he could get a good view. From there, Alec made all his notes—security patrols, escape routes—and developed a quick plan. Laura had lain out in a bikini and taken in as much sun as she could before the cool September breezes forced her to pull her T-shirt back on. And Dan had just sat for hours, eyes transfixed on the mass of concrete.

  They reached the visitor center. The glass doors were locked, but that had been expected.

  Laura knocked, hard enough that Alec worried the doors might shatter. She was showing off. Idiot.

  He took a breath and tried to clear his mind. It was time for his part of the plan. He’d rehearsed the conversation a hundred times in his head—trying to think of every possible variation, every surprise. He was ready.

  A moment later a soldier appeared, dressed in the full combat fatigues of the National Guard, a rifle slung across his chest. Without opening the door, he gestured for them to go away.

  Alec shook his head and held up a clipboard. “We have an appointment.”

  The soldier watched them for a few seconds, and then waved them off again.

  “We have an appointment,” Alec shouted again, through the glass. “We’re from the University of Utah.”

  The guard sized them up. If he was worried, he didn’t show it; he just seemed annoyed. All three were shorter than him. Alec was the oldest at nineteen, and skinny. Laura looked more like a ditzy cheerleader than a terrorist. Only Dan had any muscle, but he was short—maybe five foot six.

  Alec was already working on the man’s mind. Implanting memories was an imprecise science, but Alec was confident: the glass was thick, but not dense or leaded or bulletproof; the man was only about four feet away; Alec was fully prepared.

  It would take a few moments.

  The soldier opened the door about three inches. The handles inside were actually chained, and it was all Alec could do not to laugh. The whole front of the visitor center was glass, and they expected a chain to stop a break-in?

  The guard spoke through the gap. “Can’t you read the sign? Dam’s closed until further notice.”

  Laura spoke. “We have an appointment.”

  “An appointment? For a bunch of kids?”

  “Grad students,” Alec said. “U of U. We’re here to get the weekly samples.” He held up a length of cotton rope and a handful of plastic tubes.

  “There’s no one here to have an appointment with,” the soldier said, flustered. Alec could see the false memories beginning to take hold. “We’re . . . the dam . . . it’s on lockdown.”

  Alec held up the clipboard again. “I showed you our security clearance. We were here last week, remember?”

  The soldier’s brow furrowed. “Well . . .”

  “We know it’s a hassle,” Alec said, “but if I don’t get this data my thesis is gonna be shot.”

  The guard readjusted his rifle on his shoulder, uncomfortable and confused.

  Alec tapped the clipboard a final time. “It’s signed by your commanding officer,” he said, prodding the memory that was slowly infecting the soldier’s mind.

  The soldier, looking completely flustered, nodded, and undid the padlock on the chain. “Just . . . just be quick, okay?” He turned his back to the group and led them into the visitor center, illuminated only by the large windows. The place had probably been closed to tourists since the United States went on high alert, three weeks before, and the building had a feeling of abandonment to it, as if the workers had left in the middle of what they were doing. A half-eaten sandwich sat on the information desk, the lettuce now brown and limp, the bread shriveled and stale. A scattering of papers lay on the floor in front of the cash register.

  The guard led them to an elevator. He was walking more quickly now, with gained confidence as the memories solidified and began to fit more naturally into his mind.

  He opened the door for them, smiling cheerfully at Laura and nodding to Alec and Dan. In a moment they were several stories down and walking out onto the top of the dam. A breeze blew Laura’s hair across her face as she turned and said, “Five minutes. Promise.”

  Alec stayed beside the soldier, gently feeding a second
set of memories into the man.

  “Aren’t you going with them?”

  Alec shook his head. “I don’t like heights.”

  Fifty yards away, Laura leaned over the edge of the dam and looked down at the lake thirty feet below. On tiptoe, she began to unwind the rope and lower it. There wasn’t any point to this, other than to make it look like they were doing something somewhat scientific. She was the distraction and the getaway plan. Dan would do the real work.

  The soldier’s radio crackled to life. The voice on the other end sounded alarmed.

  “Gulf Charlie Five, this is Gulf Charlie Four. Private Diamond, what are those kids doing on the dam? Over.”

  He pulled the radio from his belt. “They’re from the U. They have papers signed by Lieutenant Kilpack. Over.”

  While Laura stretched out over the railing—she was wearing short shorts and a tank top for the explicit purpose of drawing the attention of whatever soldiers were watching—Dan had gotten down on one knee, his right hand flat on the cement.

  The staticky voice spoke again. “No one’s supposed to be out there, Diamond. Over.”

  Diamond glanced at Alec and spoke into the radio. “I don’t know what to tell you. I have the written orders right here. Over.”

  Alec looked around for the other soldier, but there was no one in sight. There were the two empty military vehicles parked in the lot—there were military vehicles everywhere nowadays—but most of the manpower was focused on the bridge over the canyon. That was the more likely target. As far as the army knew, it was next to impossible to damage a dam this size from up on top. All three of them could have been strapped with C-4 and not made a significant dent in it. The military still hadn’t figured out anything important; Dan was more powerful than any explosive.

  “I’m going to make a call,” the voice on the radio said. “Stand by. Over.”

  “It’s fine,” Diamond replied, a little nervousness in his voice. “I’ve got an officer with the sheriff’s office right here next to me. Over.”

  Alec released a little tension in his jaw. That had been tougher. It was easy to convince the man that the three of them were students, but much harder to immediately create a new, less-plausible story. Alec looked nothing like a police officer.

  But, that’s why he was in charge.

  “Sorry, officer,” Diamond said. “We’ll get it sorted out.”

  A sudden shudder rolled through the concrete like a wave. Diamond and Alec both automatically reached for the wall for support.

  The radio snapped to life. “Gulf Charlie Five, this is Gulf Charlie Four. Private Diamond, get those kids the hell off the dam.”

  Diamond began walking toward them. “Hey!”

  Alec followed, right by his side.

  There was another rumble, louder this time.

  Come on, Dan, Alec thought. Get it done.

  Twenty yards from the teens, the guardsman raised his rifle. “Hey, get over here.”

  Hurry up. Alec could fill the soldier’s head with false memories, but he couldn’t quickly override the soldier’s deeply ingrained training to follow orders.

  Laura dropped the rope and held up her hands, but Dan didn’t move.

  An alarm was sounding now, and Private Diamond stopped, training his rifle on the two teens.

  “Turn around,” he barked.

  Dan ignored him.

  There was a sharp crack, and for an instant Alec thought Diamond had pulled the trigger. But the sound was much louder than a gunshot, reverberating off the canyon walls and shaking the ground under their feet. The face of the cement was splintered with a thousand tiny cracks and a thin cloud of dust burst skyward.

  “You have three seconds,” Diamond shouted.

  The radio was screaming at him to fire.

  That was all Alec needed. If no one else was firing at Dan, then there weren’t snipers. The voice on the other end of the radio was probably inside the dam itself, watching the four of them on security cameras. They’d be feeling the real impact of what Dan was doing.

  Alec pulled the private’s sidearm from the holster. There wasn’t even time for Diamond to respond before Alec fired three shots into the soldier’s neck and head.

  The dam rumbled, deep and grinding, knocking Alec to his knees.

  Ahead of him he saw Dan try to stand, wobbling on weak legs.

  It was finally Laura’s turn. She grabbed Dan and slung him over her shoulder as easily as if he’d been a stuffed toy. She ran toward Alec and the visitor center.

  Alec took the soldier’s rifle and radio, and then handed the pistol to Laura as she met them. He held the door open for her, and then chased after her up the emergency stairwell—she took them three at a time.

  There was a ding of an elevator in the visitor center, and Alec spun and fired a short burst from the rifle in the direction of the sound.

  “Door’s locked,” Laura shouted, and then Alec heard her smashing through the glass.

  He fired another burst toward the elevators and then turned and ran, jumping through the broken glass door and sprinting to the Bronco.

  “You do it?” Alec asked, barely containing his laughter. “You have time?”

  Dan nodded weakly. “I did it. Damn thing’s full of rebar, but I did it.”

  TWO

  IT WASN’T HARD TO DISAPPEAR anymore. Six months ago Aubrey had hardly been able to control it, either to make it happen or stop it from happening. But now it was as natural as walking.

  Nicole called it “twinkling,” as in, “disappearing in the twinkling of an eye,” but Aubrey hated that.

  She hated a lot of things that Nicole did but put up with them anyway. Nicole had become her best friend. Her only real friend—the only one who knew Aubrey’s secret. And so Aubrey left the dance floor of the Gunderson Barn, the location of the North Sanpete High homecoming dance, and headed outside. Her floor-length blue satin dress fluttered around her feet, and as she pushed through the crowds of dancing high school students, she vanished. No one noticed.

  It wasn’t fair, she thought, stepping into the cool September air. This was the first high school dance she’d ever attended. The first expensive evening gown she’d ever worn. The first time when a boy she didn’t even know had asked her to dance—and Nate Butler, her date, had actually gotten angry about it. Boys were fighting over her. This wasn’t the old life of Aubrey Parsons; it was much better.

  But now she had to cut her night short, so that she could spy for Nicole.

  Aubrey walked down the front steps, carefully moving around the couples who had gone outside seeking fresh air and privacy. Kelly—one of Nicole’s entourage and therefore one of Aubrey’s new friends—was in the shadows behind a tree, giggling with some guy. Aubrey ignored her.

  The barn was just on the edge of Mount Pleasant, sprawled out on a wide field by the San Pitch River. Aubrey walked the uneven stone path toward the lawn in the back. Heels were new to her, too, and she was relieved that no one could see her take the shoes off and carry them.

  It wasn’t hard to find the boys. Aubrey had done a lot of spying for Nicole, and most of it had been much trickier than listening in on four stupid football players getting drunk in the dark. They sat in a row on a short brick wall, passing a bottle back and forth.

  Nate was with them. He was the star linebacker, and he’d been following Aubrey around ever since she’d been under Nicole’s wing. She hadn’t noticed him leave the dance floor to come outside—Aubrey had been spending more time with Nicole and the girls than with the boys.

  Not that she minded that he’d left. She liked the idea of a boy doting on her—and he was supposedly a great catch—but she could barely carry on a conversation with him unless the topic was football, hunting, or video games.

  The other three guys weren’t as popular—not in Nicole’s inner circle. Lewis was funny but had never done much around school other than crack jokes. Scott was rich—well, rich for their small farming town in central Utah. His
family owned the slaughterhouse. And Thomas had recently moved to Mount Pleasant, and had done very little to distinguish himself other than walking on the football team and catching Nicole’s eye. That’s why Aubrey was spying—to see if Nicole should care about Thomas.

  It wasn’t fair. The entire reason that Aubrey spied for Nicole was so that Aubrey could be at things like the homecoming dance. That was their deal. Now she was missing that because of one of Nicole’s whims.

  And disappearing made Aubrey tired—she could only do it for so long—and she didn’t want to spend the rest of the night dizzy and nauseated.

  “This sucks,” Scott said, wiping his mouth and handing the bottle to Thomas. “I knew it would be like this. Dances are always lame.”

  “You got here half an hour ago and only spent ten minutes inside,” Lewis said.

  “Is it going to get any better?” Scott asked.

  “No.” Lewis laughed and hopped up on the wall.

  Thomas took a drink. “What’s the deal with Kelly? She’s hot.”

  “That’s pretty much the deal with Kelly,” Lewis answered.

  “That’s all I need.” Thomas took another drink. “Who’s she with?”

  Lewis spread his arms out, walking unsteadily along the wall. “Everyone, at some point. She’ll eventually get around to you.”

  The others laughed. Lewis stumbled and then jumped down to the ground.

  Aubrey hated this. She wondered how long she’d have to stay and listen to get what Nicole wanted. Her spying didn’t necessarily reveal everyone to be a jerk, but it wasn’t uncommon. Everyone talked about other people behind their backs. Everyone gossiped. Everyone sucked.

  Nate motioned for the bottle. “I probably need to get back in there.”

  “What’s the deal with your girl?” Thomas said. Aubrey perked up. She had never been as interested in Nate as he was in her, but she couldn’t help wondering what he would say.

  “What about her?” Nate said.