Danger
brings together two guarded hearts in a battle for survival in this
irresistible story from New York Times
bestselling authors Linda Howard and Linda Jones.
Sela Gordon, the shy owner of a Tennessee
general store, finds safety in solitude. But if anyone can pierce her
protective shell it’s the handsome, mysterious ex-military man living alone in
the wilds of Cove Mountain. For two years, he’s kept his distance—until the day
he appears to warn her that a catastrophic solar storm capable of taking down
the power grid is coming. Now, Sela must find the courage to become the leader
Wears Valley needs.
Bitter experience has taught Ben Jernigan
it’s best to look out for number one. For two years the former soldier has
lived in a self-imposed exile, using a top-notch security system to keep people
away. But he had to let Sela know about the impending threat—and now the quiet
and undeniably sexy woman is making it too easy for him to lower his guard.
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AFTER SUNDOWN
© 2020 Linda Howard and Linda Jones
© 2020 Linda Howard and Linda Jones
CHAPTER ONE
Ben Jernigan snapped awake at the first beep of his computer alarm.
What felt like a lifetime of training had him moving and on his feet in front
of the computer before his conscious caught up with his subconscious. He
scrubbed a hand across his face and turned on a lamp as he focused on the
information displayed on the computer screen in very tiny print. Swearing under
his breath, he enlarged the screen—and then swore out loud.
His cell phone rang no more than ten seconds after he began reading.
Very few people had his number and any call coming in at—he glanced at the time
on his bedside clock—2:43 A.M. wasn’t a call he’d ignore.
“Yeah,” he said, trying to elevate his tone from growl to something
intelligible. The abrupt awakening had adrenaline pouring through his system,
tightening his muscles, sharpening his vision, his thought processes racing. He
hadn’t been shot at in over two years, but his sympathetic nervous system was
still ready for action.
“You reading this?” The voice belonged to Cory Howler, longtime buddy
from the military who now worked with the government in a somewhat murky job
description that had him in position to know a lot of shit. People who knew
shit were invaluable in every organization, no matter how large, or how small.
“Yes. Data?”
“Bigger than Carrington.”
“Shit,” Ben said softly. The Carrington Event was a series of powerful
coronal mass ejections, or CMEs, in 1859 that had melted telegraph wires and
set some telegraph offices on fire. Technology in the nineteenth century had been
limited to telegraphs; now the developed world ran on technology, and the
damage would be catastrophic. Satellites would be fried, the power grids—most
of them, there were a few that had hardened security—would go down, gasoline
supplies would vanish because the pipelines would be damaged, food supplies
would dry up, and cities would become the sixth level of hell.
Small CMEs that had little or no effect on technology occurred almost
daily, but those mild solar storms couldn’t be compared to what was coming.
“What’s the timing?”
“About thirty-six hours from now. We’d have had more lead time but one
of the GOES satellites is down for maintenance, or malfunctioned and they don’t
want to say so. Bad timing,” Howler said in wry understatement, given the magnitude
of the impending disaster. “It’s a series; we’ve seen four so far. The first
one will hit the Far East in about twelve hours, but the ones behind it are
bigger, wider, and traveling faster. The Middle East and Europe are going
down.”
Ben didn’t miss the qualifier “so far.” They expected more than four.
The fourth one would hit the Atlantic, which would play hell with any ships at
sea, but any CME after that would hit the American continents, making this a
worldwide shit-storm. The thing with a series of CMEs was that the first one
sort of cleared the way, cosmically speaking, for the ones behind it and they
grew in intensity and speed.
“What are your plans?” he asked, because Howler had a family to take
care of.
“I’m packing up the wife and kids right now and sending them south. I
want them away from the city, and as far south as possible.”
Ben grunted. The farther south they went, the more survivable the
winter would be.
“What about you?”
“I’m making preps, but hanging here for another twelve hours or so.
Then I’ll meet up with Gen and the kids and we’ll hunker down, try to survive.
My guess is close to a year before the grid comes back up.”
That was an optimistic guess, but not completely outlandish. “Will
there be a warning?” He didn’t assume there would be, because the government
was so screwed up someone could persuade the head honchos that “panic in the
streets” was somehow worse than actually making preparations. On the other
hand, governments weren’t the only entities who could see this thing coming.
Word would get out, but sooner was better than later.
“It’s being framed,” Howler said. “Word is we’ll hear something right
after daybreak, but I’m betting it might not happen until this afternoon. The
morons might think it could be a false alarm and wait until Japan is hammered.
You know how it goes.”
He did, unfortunately. “See you on the flip side.”
“Take care, bro.”
About Linda Howard
LINDA
HOWARD is the award-winning author of numerous New
York Times bestsellers, including Up Close and Dangerous, Drop Dead Gorgeous,
Cover of Night, Killing Time, To Die For, Kiss Me While I Sleep, Cry No More,
and Dying to Please. She lives in Gadsden, Alabama with her husband and a
golden retriever.
About Linda Jones
LINDA JONES is
the acclaimed USA Today bestselling author of more than seventy novels,
including Untouchable, 22 Nights, and Bride by Command. She lives in
Huntsville, Alabama.
To celebrate the release of AFTER SUNDOWN
by Linda Howard and Linda Jones, we're giving away a paperback copy of The
Woman Left Behind by Linda Howard to two lucky winners!
ENTER→ http://bit.ly/2VMHEqQ
GIVEAWAY TERMS & CONDITIONS: Open internationally. Two winners will receive a paperback copy of After Sundown by Linda Howard and Linda Jones. This giveaway is administered by Pure Textuality PR on behalf of HarperCollins. Giveaway ends 4/30/2020 @ 11:59pm EST.
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