After: First Light (AFTER post-apocalyptic series, Book 0) Read Online Free PDF

prepared even if you give them advance warning. Remember Hurricane Sandy? We might need some troops on standby if the National Guard and local police can’t handle it.”
    “Not just grocery stores. Hospitals, police stations, and fire departments will lose not only their power but their ability to communicate. Not to mention all those planes. Do you know how many thousands of flights are in the air at any given time? And almost all those planes run on computers or have electronic components. One big pulse could knock them all out of the sky.”
    “You’re making the problem so big that it’s almost pointless to plan for it,” Alexander said. “Like nuclear war. If it hits, you’re doomed anyway.”
    “Sticking our heads in the sand won’t help.”
    Gutierrez fell silent and pressed his palms against each side of his head. He squeezed his skull so hard that his fingers were white. His lip trembled.
    “You okay, Mr. Gutierrez?” Alexander wondered why the administration let civilians make decisions about national security. They clearly couldn’t handle pressure under fire.
    “As you can understand, Major, we’ve been hopping all over Capitol Hill on this,” Schlagal said. “It’s a hot potato that no one wants to catch.”
    “I’m sure the Commander-in-Chief doesn’t want it anywhere near his desk,” Alexander said.
    Gutierrez’s face clenched, his cheeks crinkling around his grimace. “Don’t…make this…about politics .”
    The major held up his hands, palms showing. “Hey, we all know who gets the credit on those rare occasions when things go right. And we’re here when they need a fall guy. Like if this solar event becomes a real problem.”
    “It’s not just a single event,” Schlagal said. “It’s a phase and a cycle. NASA says the worst is yet to come.”
    “Well, in one way, if it gets worse, things get simple. We impose martial law in the name of national security. The fringe militia and the liberals will grumble, but everyone else will welcome it if it makes them feel safer.”
    “I’m not so sure we can open the door for the administration to gain more power,” Schlagal said. Gutierrez appeared to be having troubled breathing. Alexander wondered if the man suffered from asthma.
    “Abraham Lincoln used executive powers to the extreme,” Alexander said. “Nationalizing the banks, suspending the Fourth Amendment, and lying as a matter of policy. History remembers him as a compromiser, but he actually was a benevolent dictator. Of course, half the country would have argued about the ‘benevolent’ part.”
    “Half the country might be in the dark next week,” Schlagal said.
    As if to punctuate her statement, the lights flickered again. Alexander frowned and glanced at his laptop computer. Even though it had a battery back-up, the screen went blank. “Okay, then. I’ll kick it up the chain of command.”
    Gutierrez stood, shoving his chair backward so hard that it tipped over. He clenched his fists and pounded them on the tabletop in time with each word he uttered. “There…is…no… chain .”
    The major didn’t like the way the guy’s dark eyes glittered, as if the wiring behind them had shorted. Maybe he had snapped from the stress. Not all that surprising for a civilian, but worrisome because other lives might depend upon his actions and decisions. Alexander needed to take control of the situation immediately.
    “We need an update from NASA—”
    Gutierrez interrupted by diving across the table, reaching for Alexander. Schlagal yipped in surprise. The major, instincts well honed by combat training, rose into a defensive stance. Gutierrez crawled across the slick maple surface, the knees of his nylon trousers struggling for traction.
    “Henry?” Schlagal said.
    “Scenario!” Gutierrez bleated.
    Alexander didn’t like the look in the man’s eyes. At Fort Benning , Ga., he’d once been jumped by a private who’d screamed “Remember Pork Chop Hill!” over and