Read Online Chaos (Book 4) (The Omega Group) by Andrea Domanski - Free Book Online Page B

Think about it. No one would
bring a weapon like that to dinner. And all those birds blocking our view at
that exact moment? Grace must have asked some other coven for help. It’s the
only explanation that fits.”
    Liza’s excitement seemed to be spreading. All three of the
women started yammering about the possibility of the two government men
actually being warlocks. Tori had to admit that it wasn’t as much of a stretch
as she’d first thought.
    “Okay, if they’ve got magic, that changes things,” Tori got up
and stepped over to the sole piece of art she’d hung in the room, straightening
the frame. The print, a copy of a woodcut impression over four hundred years
old entitled Witches’ Sabbath , depicted five witches in the midst of
casting a spell. Although the artist intended the piece to be sinister, Tori
always saw it as beautiful.
    “Should we cancel the next demonstration? Maybe lay low
until the big event?” Liza asked.
    Tori tapped a pencil on the corner of her desk as she
thought. It might be smart to do just that, but they still needed to recruit
more covens. The Diablo Canyon blackout worked perfectly—and attracted several covens
to their cause—but even with that extra power, directing the largest solar
storm in recorded history would be difficult.
    “No, we need the rest of the European covens on board, and
that won’t happen unless we show them what we can do.” Tori stood to emphasize
her point.
    “We blacked out a nuclear power plant with all of its redundant
back-up systems, for God’s sake. What more do they want?” Liza’s frustration
became apparent.
    “Something bigger,” Tori replied. “And with the additional
power from the new covens, we can give it to them.”

Chapter 7
    “You’re on speaker, Julian.” Orano set his phone on the
small table next to the hotel room’s window.
    The Omega Group’s computer genius skipped the preamble and
got right to the point, his voice tinny through the small speakers. “Solar
activity runs in cycles of about eleven years. Right now, we’re at the height
of that cycle, where activity is most violent. There’s an enormous sunspot, way
bigger than the one that caused the storm in 1989 that blacked out Quebec.
Solar flares are virtually guaranteed.”
    “And those flares are expected to cause more blackouts?”
Phoenix asked.
    “No. In fact flares aren’t the real problem. The CMEs are.”
    Orano waited for Julian to continue but, as usual, the
genius required some prodding. “Let’s just assume that we have no idea what
you’re talking about. Can you please give us the Reader’s Digest version?”
    “Okay. A CME, or Coronal Mass Ejection, is an eruption on
the sun’s surface. It shoots a billion tons of plasma into space at almost the
speed of light. Normally, they don’t come anywhere near Earth, but once in a
while we get a direct, or almost direct hit. That’s when things go crazy.”
Julian sounded like one of those nutty professors who got too excited about his
lecture while his students fell asleep.
    “What kind of crazy are you talking about?” Orano asked.
    “When a CME hits our atmosphere, it causes a geomagnetic
storm which basically restructures the Earth’s magnetic field. The magnetic
activity and electric currents can disrupt satellites, telecommunications,
power grids—pretty much anything that uses electricity. Have you guys heard of
the Carrington Event?”
    Orano glanced at Phoenix then Gracey. Both wore blank
expressions. “No. What is it?”
    “Only the largest and most powerful geomagnetic storm ever
recorded. In 1859, Earth took a direct hit from a huge CME. Telegraph networks
were destroyed worldwide and operators were electrocuted even with the
network’s power shut off.”
    “That doesn’t sound all that bad,” Phoenix said.
    “Are you kidding?” Julian yelled through the phone. “If that
kind of hit happened today, a time when the entire world runs on electricity
and is completely