Storm Surge

Chapter Ten

"WELL, HELLO TO you too, Ham." Alastair had answered his cell phone in some surprise when it rang for the first time in hours. "I'm in London. Oh, what? Sure, of course you knew that."

Dar was half sprawled across the desk, her legs wrapped around the chair base and her head propped up on one hand. The other hand was wrapped around the mouse, but now it released the creature and rattled over a few keys instead.

Ker?

"Dar? She's right here."

Dar looked up over her screen, one eyebrow lifting.

"No, she's fine," Alastair went on. "Bea's been keeping my wife and the board filled in on what's going on. Have to say, this digital assistant thing Dar made me start using sure paid for itself today."

Dar's screen beeped softly. She looked back at it.

Hey. Need to talk to you.

Dar's brows knit. She unhooked her cell phone from her belt. "If you can get a call in, I'm going to try a call out."

"Hm?" Alastair put his hand over the phone. "Ham says he had to call over and over again for an hour to get through. Seems there's a lot of hullabaloo around his area."

Their corporate lawyer lived, Dar recalled, in Boston. "Tell him I say hello." She opened the phone and started to dial, then looked back at the screen when the speaker crackled.

"Miami exec, this is Miami ops," said Mark.

"Go ahead." Dar listened to her phone with her other ear, hearing a fast busy signal. She hit redial.

"Boss, we can't get a good handle on how many pipes we need to replace," Mark said. "We need to eyeball."

Dar released the button, and dialed again. Having someone onsite in both Washington and New York was probably a good idea, especially in Manhattan where most of their presence was business services. "You think we can wait for the planes to start flying again?"

"Hard to say," Mark said, honestly. "I'd rather jump on my bike and start up there."

Dar triggered the dial again, considering the request. "Tell you what." She heard the line start to ring. "Rent a van and take three or four people with you. Don't make me worry about you ending up wrapped around a tree on that Harley."

The phone was picked up. "Hello?"

"Hey," Dar said, only barely remembering to click off her mic. "What's up?"

"Hey." Kerry exhaled. "I love you."

Mark cleared his throat. "Okay, I can do that. I've got a bunch of guys here who just held up their hands to volunteer to go."

"I love you too," Dar replied, with a relieved smile. "Damn, it's good to hear your voice."

Kerry chuckled a tiny bit. "Honey, you've been hearing my voice all morning, "

"Not the same thing."

"Thanks for sending Gopher Dar to keep me company."

"That okay, boss?" Mark asked. "We can leave tonight."

"Hang on," Dar said.

"Nah, I'll answer," Kerry replied. "Miami ops, this is Miami exec, that's fine. Make sure you pack a case of Jolt. "

"Uh. Okay." Mark seemed caught off guard with this sudden change. "We'll get moving."

"Why don't you take as much spare gear as you can pack in the back while you're at it? I'm not sure when we'll be able to ship anything in there," Kerry suggested.

"Good call." Dar complimented her. "Alastair thinks you're the bomb, by the way."

"Will do," Mark said.

"Miami exec, this is the Air Hub."

Kerry sighed. "Air hub, hold on a minute, would

you please? I need to take a call." "Air hub, will do." "Hey." Kerry's voice returned to the phone. "Where was I?"

"Saying you loved me." Dar was aware of the tiny, startled reactions from Alastair every time she mentioned the word. "What's up? You said you needed to talk."

Kerry sighed again. "My effing mother," she said. "Dar, she told someone else in--I guess another senator or something, about all the stuff we were talking about on the bridge and told them I'd come to Washington and talk to them."

"Dar, Ham says he needs the list of down customers as soon as we can get them, so he can head off any legal action," Alastair said.

Dar glanced over at Alastair, and nodded. "Well," she said. "How bad is that, Ker? You're doing a first class job. Maybe she's just proud of her kid."

Dead, absolute silence.

"Ker?" Dar asked, tentatively. "Granted the last thing we need to get distracted by is government bullshit but--I assume you said no, right?"

"I said no."

Dar could hear the tone. "Didn't mean to piss you off, sweetheart," she said, waiting until she heard the slight exhale. "I'd rather you go find a canoe and start paddling in this direction."

"Sorry," Kerry said, after a pause. "You just made my brain go somewhere I wasn't expecting," she admitted. "Dar, she has no right to go and tell people in the government the stuff we're doing. She was all freaked out about how we knew stuff she didn't. I think that's what she wants them to talk to me about. How did we know what we knew?"

"Hon." Dar almost chuckled, but thought better of it. "We get paid to know what we know." "Yes, I know that," her partner said. "But I told her off. I was so pissed."

Dar felt a bit out of her league. She understood how Kerry felt about her family, and for sure she understood what it was like to be at odds with a mother. But she had always felt the evil in the family had rested with Kerry's father.

Maybe she'd been wrong. "Well," she said. "You don't need me to be the bad guy for you, but if you want to tell her Alastair and I said absolutely no way anyone from our company is going to go and chat with Congress, feel free."

"Huh?" Alastair craned his neck around and peered at her. "What was that?"

"Any luck on you heading this way?" Kerry asked, in a quiet voice.

"Miami exec, this is LA Earth Station," a voice interrupted. "We have the local FBI office demanding bandwidth we don't have. Need some help here."

Both Kerry and Dar keyed their mics at the same time. "Hold on a second," they said together. Then Dar released hers and cleared her throat. "Bea's trying, hon," she said. "Soon as I know anything I'll text you on it."

"Okay," Kerry said. "Is it okay if I go expense a hotel room?"

"Buy the hotel if you want," her boss said. "Put it on Alastair's credit card. I think I left the number on a sticky yellow pad by Maria's desk."

"What?" Alastair covered his phone again. "Dar, what trouble are you getting me into?"

Finally, Kerry chuckled. "Okay," she said. "It may not get that bad, but this is already so stressful I don't really need my family adding to it."

"No problem. Totally understand," Dar said. "Hang in there, okay?"

"Okay. Talk to you later. Let me go put a hose on this fire," Kerry said. "Bye Dardar."

"Bye." Dar closed her phone. "Sorry, Alastair. Kerry's mother's caused a problem and she's thinking of staying elsewhere."

"Ah hah." Her boss nodded. "My wife doesn't get along with her folks either. Wants to serve them the dog's kibble every time they stop by." He went back to the phone. "Ham? Yeah, I'm back. What's that? Well, sure, I understand the board is probably upset, Ham, but you know everyone is pitching in like gangbusters to keep things moving along."

"All right, LA Earth Station." Kerry came back on the bridge. "Give me a second to clear up the Air Hub's issue then we'll discuss the FBI request."

"Will do, Miami exec," the west coast facility said. "We told them we're carrying the East Coast right now so they backed off for a few minutes."

"Nice of them," Kerry said. "Air Hub, go ahead."

"Miami, we have some spare capacity if you need," the Air Hub said. "We aren't carrying any air traffic other than management layer. Everything's landed."

There was a moment of silence. "Well," Kerry finally said. "I'm sure we can use it somewhere, no matter how rotten the reason is. Thanks Air Hub."

"You're welcome, Miami exec."

"Okay. LA, who contacted you? Get me a name."

"Will do, Miami exec."

Dar rested her hands on the desk, her phone clasped lightly between her fingers. She looked across the room at the big screen television, her thoughts almost completely focused on her partner. "Alastair?"

"Eh?"

"Bea having any luck with flights?"

Her boss peered at her. "Haven't heard back yet."

Dar juggled her phone. "I'm going to call my folks. See what they think about taking a run to Cancun. Sooner we get back in the States the better."

"Funny," Alastair said. "That's exactly what Hamilton just said," he related. "He heard from a buddy of his that things are damned bad in New York. Worse than they're letting on the television."

"Yeah. Well." Dar opened her phone and started dialing again. "Tell Ham the FBI's trying to grab signal over on the west coast. See what he can do about that."

"Eh?"

KERRY SCRIBBLED DOWN the number, one hand holding her head up as she studied the computer screen. She was aware of her sister and brother entering and she heard the door shut quietly, but she focused on what was being carried over their stressed infrastructure and what she was going to say to the person on the other end of the phone when it answered.

Dar had a way of turning her viewpoint at different angles. Kerry tried to recapture her former indignation, but that calm voice kept intruding into it, forcing her to reassess what she was feeling and examine whether or not there wasn't a different way to look at it.

Ironic, since that's what she'd hoped to do for Dar when they'd first started working together, wasn't it? Change her perspective? Sometimes, Kerry admitted, she had, but more often she'd found herself pulling up short when faced with her new partner's internal logic and having to really think about where the right and the wrong was sometimes.

Dar didn't do or not do things because they were 'right' or 'wrong'--she did them because they made sense, or they didn't. It was a far more profound difference in their mental working than Kerry had ever suspected when they'd met, and it had taken both time and effort to get used to it.

Instinctive intellectualism- that odd sometimes disjointed instinct that Dar used to make business decisions, write her programs, and solve her problems. It was what led her to hire Kerry, or so she often claimed.

Kerry had enough ego to suspect that was only ninety percent true, the other ten percent being something a little more primal. Certainly it had been on her side of the question. "Okay." She opened her cell. "Let's call the FBI."

"Huh?" Mike said. "What did you do? Or what did we do? You calling the FBI on Mom? Holy crap!"

"No, I'm not." Kerry punched in the number, and waited. "They're just another customer of ours."

"For real?"

"Hello?" a man's voice answered.

"Hello, I'm looking for Robert Ervans. This is Kerry Stuart, from ILS. Our West coast facility advised some help was requested."

"Huh? Oh," the man said. "Yeah, okay, sorry. This is Agent Ervans," he added. "You're the computer people?"

"Yes," Kerry agreed. "What can I do for you?'

"Listen, we need to send a lot of pictures over to our Washington office. It's taking too long. We need more space so it can happen faster," the man said. "I know your guy there said you already had a lot of other things happening, but this needs to take over. It's important."

Kerry's nose wrinkled. "Mr. Ervans, I can review what traffic is on the line there, and certainly we can prioritize yours because I understand you must be working on critical items."

"That's right. Exactly right," the man sounded approving. "It's really important that we get these files to Washington."

"But the fact is, you're on our satellite link and the slowness there is due to the latency, the time it takes for the packets to get to the other side of the continent, rather than a lack of bandwidth." Kerry explained. "I can see if we can find more space, but I don't think the speed will get much better."

"Oh," Ervans said. "Well, what can we do about that, then? My boss said whatever it takes, just get it done."

Kerry sighed. "My boss usually says the same thing," she said. "In terms of the latency, there's not much we can do, since that's caused by the traffic having to go up to the satellite and back down. Other than shrinking the circumference of the planet, we're stuck with it."

"So you can't do anything?"

"Not with the satellite," Kerry said. "But let me see what other options we might have and I'll get back to you."

The line abruptly cut off, and Kerry gazed at her cell phone in bemusement for moment. "You're welcome." She closed the phone, and looked up at her siblings. "So," she said. "Am I in trouble?"

Mike snorted, throwing himself down on the couch and slinging one leg over the side of it. "Bunch of jerks."

Angie came over and sat down in the chair across the desk from her sister. "Mom's upset," she said. "But I think she's upset because you're upset more than she's upset about the whole going to Washington thing." She made a face at her sister. "Anyway, I think she's going to go with those aides to Washington tonight so once she's gone it should relax around here."

"Like they're all going to do anything there except yak," Mike said. "What are they going to say? Oh, this is terrible. We have to get the people who did this and make sure it never happens again." He lifted his hand and let it drop. "Bunch of self important little prick heads."

Angie looked at Kerry, and they both half turned to look at their younger brother.

"When, exactly, did you become a radical?" Kerry asked, in a quizzical tone. "We've lived as part of the government in this house for as long as any of us has been alive."

"Yeah, well," Mike said. "Now I can say how I feel and not worry I'll get thrown in the cellar."

"Miami exec, this is Herndon."

Kerry turned back to her computer. "Go ahead, Herndon." There wasn't much she could really say to Mike anyway and not sound completely hypocritical and she suspected he knew that. She'd kept her own silence in the house for how long? "Miami exec here."

Until life had handed her something more important to her than herself. That was exactly how long.

"Miami exec, we just had a visit from some people from the government. They want access to the center, ma'am. They want to put taps in place and I don't think they want to hear no from me."

"Taps?" Kerry's voice went sharp. "What kind of taps? On their own stuff?"

"Ma'am, I'm not sure," the tech said. "They weren't specific."

Kerry put her fingers on the keyboard and rattled a sentence into the open messenger application.

Did you hear that?

Dar's voice broke in. "Herndon, this is Dar Roberts," she said. "I have just locked out our entire infrastructure with my personal pass code. You tell those people from the government they need to contact Alastair McLean if they want to discuss tapping into anything."

"Oh boy, she sounds pissed," Angie said. "Can she do that?"

"I think she just did it," Mike said. "Good for her! Government jerks!"

"I hear you, Ms. Roberts," the Herndon tech sounded relieved. "I don't know what it was they were looking for ma'am, and to be honest I don't think they knew either, based on how they were asking."

Kerry glanced down at a soft beep.

I don't think they're going to take that from the local folks. They'll be back and that's a major commercial link not just a government one.

"She can do it," Kerry said, quietly. "Dar isn't someone who does something just because someone in authority tells her too. Believe me."

"Understood, Herndon," Dar said.

"I back that up completely," Alastair broke in. "I'll call our contacts in the government, and see if I can determine what's going on.

"Yes, sir."

"Is that your big boss?" Angie asked. "The one who's with Dar?"

Kerry nodded. What do you think they're after? Could this be related to the terrorists, Dar? We don't want to be accused of obstructing anything.

I don't know. Dar typed back. We could be in a bad spot here.

Kerry studied the string of text, starting with the first message. "Shit."

"What?" Mike sat up.

Kerry exhaled, and typed. I should go there. All we have is an infrastructure manager. Not fair to put them on the front lines.

Maybe flights will be allowed out tomorrow sometime.

Kerry had to smile, no matter how wryly. Dar knew perfectly well what her options were, and what was best for the company, but Dar also made no bones over whose priorities were more important to her.

Maybe I could go apologize and suck up to my mother and go out tonight.

In no way am I asking or expecting you to do that. Let them wait. Let them call me. If they want it that bad, I'll make them send a damn bomber to pick our asses up here.

"God, I love her," Kerry said. This could seriously be a matter of national security, Dar. We shouldn't screw around with this.

"What's she saying?" Mike asked. "Did you just tell your whole company you loved Dar? That mic was on. I heard the reverb."

Kerry blinked, and looked at the mic in her hand, and felt the blood rush to her head. "Oh, crap."

Thanks hon. Love you too. Dar rattled back. At least, I assume you were talking about me.

"I'm pretty sure they already know." Angie watched her sister's face. "Whoops."

Of course I was talking about you. Kerry put the mic down to be safe. "Jesus," she muttered. "Too much crap happening at once."

Anyway, I know it's serious, Dar responded. It might be a matter of national security but you know what? Bottom line is, we're the experts, and that's our facility. We handle that data. If they need something from it, we and I mean Alastair too, we have no problem doing whatever we have to in order to help, but I'm not giving the people who let this happen carte blanche access into my network.

"Wow," Kerry murmured, as she read. "I'm not sure we're going to get away with that."

"What?" Angie got up and went around the desk. "What's going on?"

"Dar's being Dar," Kerry said, picking up the mic again. "Okay, Herndon--if you get another request, let us know as soon as it happens, and you can tell them our senior management is contacting the government to find out what their requirements are so we can do our best to fulfill them."

"That sounds cheesy," Mike said.

"Are you really going to go suck up to Mom?" Angie whispered. "Wow!"

Kerry sighed. "We learned political compromise early, didn't we?" She tasted the smarminess on her tongue like a coating of stale fry oil. "Oh, lord I don't want to do that, but the bottom line is someone should be there and I'm closer than Dar is. "

"Isn't there someone else they can send? Surely you two can't be the only responsible people in that whole ginormous company," Angie pointed out. "For Pete's sake, Kerry."

"There are lots of people." Kerry typed back. Can you see if Hamilton Baird can get someone over there from his department? "The problem is, this is all operations and that's our division. Mine and Dar's. We don't have anyone else in the company that does that at an executive level."

"She and Dar are the only ones with balls, she means," Mike said from his perch on the couch. "Gorgeous women with bad attitudes scare the crap out of guys. Everyone knows that."

Angie turned around and stared at him. "How in the hell would you know?" she asked. "Your girlfriends are all empty headed bimbos."

"That's how I know."

Alastair's on the line with him now. Dar responded. This is getting crazy.

Crazier. Kerry responded. Okay, I'm going to bite the bullet and go find my mother. Cover for me?

You sure?

"I'm sure I'm going to be sick to my stomach," Kerry muttered. "Where's that bucket of Advil?"

KERRY DECIDED A glass of tea was in order to get her handful of pain killers down before she went in search of her mother. She crossed the dining room and pushed open the door to the kitchen, surprising the woman standing just inside. "Hey Mary."

"Ms Kerry," the cook greeted her. "Terrible things are going on."

"They are," Kerry agreed, going over to the cabinet and taking down a glass. "It's been a really tough day."

"What can I get you?" Mary asked. "I have to say it's going to be nice having your sister back in the house with the little ones. It's been too quiet around here."

"Some tea, if you don't mind." Kerry offered up the glass without protest. Mary had worked for her parents at least as long as she'd been alive, and this kitchen was her territory, no doubt about it. "How have you been, Mary?"

"Well thanks." The cook returned with the glass full and handed it to her. "And yourself? How's your sweetheart Dar?"

My sweetheart. Kerry had to smile at that. She swallowed her pills and washed them down with a mouthful of tea. "Dar's fine, thanks. She's in England right now. I think we'd both be better if we were home in Miami though."

"Just a good thing you were out of harm's way," Mary said. "And I was thanking the Lord that your mother was here too, and not in the way of those crazy people."

Kerry sipped her tea, leaning back against the counter. "I'm glad too," she said. "I tried to talk her out of going to Washington tonight."

"Crazy people," Mary repeated. "No sense to it at all. I wish she was staying here and not going out to be with the rest of those government people. It was fine for your papa, he was a strong man."

"He would have been very upset," Kerry said, quietly. "This would have made him very angry."

"Oh yes, ma'am. That's very true." Mary nodded. "Now, I know you didn't get on with him, Ms. Kerry, but he was a good man to have around when things were terrible like this."

And that, Kerry had to acknowledge, was true. "As long as he was mad at something other than you, yes," she said. "And he would have been furious at the people who did this. He'd have been trying to find out how it happened."

Mary nodded. "Would you like more tea, Ms. Kerry? I have to say I do like that haircut you have. It looks very nice on you."

"Sure." Kerry handed back her glass. "And thanks. I like it too." She ran her fingers through her hair, pausing to rub the back of her neck a little as she willed the Advil to start working. "I didn't think I'd like it at first, but it ended up being nicer than I thought."

Mary poured the glass full again. "Well, don't get upset at me for saying this , Ms. Kerry, but short like that, you do remind me just a bit of your papa."

Well. Kerry took the glass back. "How could I be upset at you, Mary? He was my father. No matter how much we disagreed, that's not going to change."

Mary smiled at her. "Glad to hear you say that," she said, then fell silent as the door to the hall opened.

"Mary, I will need for you to--" Cynthia Stuart entered, then stopped as she saw who was visiting with her cook. "Ah. Kerrison."

Ah. Yikes. Kerry exhaled silently. "Mother." She returned the greeting in a mild tone.

Her mother's expression brightened just a trifle at that. "Mary, could you please see what we can arrange for a luncheon in perhaps an hour? I know it's late for it, but everything's so out of sorts today."

"Of course, ma'am." Mary gave Kerry a knowingly sympathetic look. "Nice talking to you, Ms. Kerry. Let me know if you need anything else." She ducked out the door into the pantry.

Kerry quickly considered her options. "Want some tea?" she finally asked. "I just had to take a handful of aspirin." She eased over a few feet and sat down at one of the chairs at the worktable.

Her mother relaxed a trifle. "Yes. It's been that kind of day hasn't it?" She went to the refrigerator and opened the door removing a small bottle and taking it over to the table in the corner along with a glass. "I've had to take some myself." She took a seat. "This was the kind of thing your father would say was a full bottle of whiskey day I believe."

"Yes," Kerry agreed. "I could use a beer."

Cynthia glanced furtively at her. "That does sound so odd," she said. "I don't think either of us was ever partial to beer."

"Probably why I am," her daughter admitted. "All part of that complete rebellion thing." She looked up and found her mother looking back at her in wary surprise. "I was rude before. I'm sorry," she said.

Cynthia looked momentarily overwhelmed, as though Kerry had gone in a direction she hadn't anticipated.

Which she had, Kerry realized. Straightforward apology was something she'd learned from Dar, not something she'd picked up growing up where admitting fault was never easy. "I've got a lot on my shoulders. I wasn't expecting complications from the government."

Her mother nodded at once. "It is I who should have apologized, Kerr...y." She bit off the last part of her daughter's name with visible difficulty. "It completely did not occur to me that I was speaking so far out of turn," she went gamely on. "I didn't mean to--cause you difficulty. I just saw an opportunity to help and thought your involvement would be a good thing. I should, in fact, have asked you before proceeding."

Kerry pondered her glass. "I probably would have reacted the same way, if you had asked," she replied honestly. "Being here is very uncomfortable for me. I don't trust you." She looked up again, to see her mother's eyes wide as saucers. "And given what happened, you probably shouldn't trust me either."

Way too much truth in one sentence, she realized. Her mother had no idea how to react, and merely sat there blinking at her. It was hard, and it was making her headache worse. "I'm not trying to be a jerk," Kerry said. "I just can't help how I feel."

"Well," Cynthia finally said. "I have no idea what to say to that."

"I know," her daughter said. "It's probably going to be easier for both of us if you try not to think of me as the little kid who used to run through this kitchen, and more like an adult you don't know that well."

Her mother set her glass down. "Do you have any idea whatsoever how impossible that is? I am your Mother."

"I know," Kerry said again. "And no, I have no idea at all how impossible that is. I just don't want to make this so hard on both of us."

Cynthia sat back and regarded her. "How can you still be so angry?" she asked, in a quiet voice. "I don't understand it."

Reasonable question, Kerry felt. From her mother's point of view at any rate. "I don't know," she said. "I guess maybe along with the eyes and the high blood pressure I inherited father's long grudges." Her eyes lifted again and met Cynthia's, watching several emotions cross her mother's face; first shock, then a touch of anger, and what might have been a flicker of grudging understanding.

Might have been.

"Well," her mother said. "Perhaps in time we can adjust," she concluded. "But at this time, I fear we cannot, since I do have an 8:00 p.m. flight, and I am sure you will be on your way home before I get back." She poured the rest of her bottle of juice into her glass and placed the bottle down with a slightly more than necessary force.

Kerry felt her headache start to ebb a little. "Actually," she said, "I do have to go to Washington tonight." She watched her mother's eyes start to blink again, this time in confusion.

"You--changed your mind?" Cynthia said, doubtfully. "I'm not sure--"

"No." Kerry decided honesty was the best route. "The government wants to take over some of our facilities in the area. I have to find out why, and give them a face to yell at with some authority," she said. "If you don't want me to ride with you, I understand. I'll drive."

Her mother's lips started twitching. "Well," she spluttered. "K--surely you aren't--you can't drive by yourself there. It's dangerous!"

Kerry propped her head up on one hand, a faint smile appearing on her face. "Wasn't I saying that to you earlier?"

Cynthia's mouth opened, and then closed. Then opened again, and then closed. Then she sat back and took a sip of her juice. "This is all very confusing," she said. "You said the government was trying to take over your things? Why would they do that?"

"I don't know, Mother. Why would they?" Kerry asked. "You are the government, remember? So maybe if you're going to talk to your committee--if you still want me to talk to them, we can ask them that first?"

Her mother frowned. "Are you going to be rude to them, and embarrass me?" she asked, directly.

"Possibly," her daughter answered just as honestly. "But that could have happened anyway." She sat back and regarded her mother. "Didn't you realize that when you told them about me in the first place?"

Cynthia met her eyes, a thoughtful expression on her face. "I should have," she conceded. "I think you're right, you know. I don't think you're the child I raised at all."

It was almost a relief. Kerry merely nodded.

"In fact, I'm not really sure who you are at all," her mother said. "I don't know that I want to find out."

"Fair enough," Kerry said. "We all make choices we have to live with. I know. I've had to make a few," she said. "Losing my family was one of the consequences of that."

Cynthia eyed her in somber silence for a minute. "Well." She got up and put her glass in the sink. "We do all have to make choices." She went to the door. "I will see about adding you to the flight."

She left, and Kerry tipped her head back and regarded the ceiling, unsure if the situation had just gotten marginally better or a lot worse.

Time would have to tell.

DAR CURLED HER arm around her bundled sweater, putting her head down and allowing her body to relax in the semi-darkened room. The rest of their team and most of the client's were in the media room next door, watching three or four different television screens and talking.

Dar had no desire to either join them or talk. She closed her eyes, just letting the chatter in the background of the computer go past her, trying to tune out enough to get a few minutes of rest before it was time for Kerry to go to the airport with her mother.

Kerry's only comment to Dar's question about how that worked out was 'Ugh.' It made her unhappy because she sensed her partner was unhappy and there wasn't a lot she could do about it. What was that Alastair had said earlier? She'd turned into a good family person?

Ugh.

Alastair had gone to the rooms Sir Melthon had prepared for them. He was waiting for a call back from one of their contract administrators from the government. Dar, frankly, didn't hold out much hope in that regard because she figured everyone was either glued to CNN or in the middle of the confusion, and didn't have much time to call back some CEO of some company.

Kerry's voice filtered softly into her awareness, and Dar opened her eyes to peer at the nearby screen. Then, after a moment's consideration she opened a browser and clicked over to their corporate travel website.

Kerry hadn't said if she was staying at the family townhouse she knew they had in Washington. She might, Dar reasoned, but she also might rather escape to one of the high end business hotels they used when they traveled.

She reached over and typed in the location, then reviewed the results as the website searched and disgorged its results. "Hm." Dar grunted. Hotels were packed, not unreasonable considering air travel was at a standstill. Everyone stuck at the airport had to stay somewhere.

There was, however, an obscenely expensive suite available and Dar clicked on it without hesitation. She pulled down the available profiles on the website and selected Kerry's, and watched as it filled in her information and obediently reserved the space.

Dar selected and copied the details, and then she pasted them into the open instant message box where Kerry's last "Ugh" was still blinking mournfully. She clicked send, and then settled her head back down on her sweater.

Kerry's voice, in the middle of acknowledging Mark's status update, stopped in mid word.

Dar smiled, watching as the message came back with a tiny graphic, a small beating red heart that was a complete, if charming, waste of bandwidth.

"As I was saying," Kerry's voice now had an audible grin in it. "I will be out of contact for a few hours in transit to Herndon this evening. Dar will be covering for me."

"Miami exec, this is Herndon. We're looking forward to seeing you," a voice answered. "Do you need a pickup?"

One blue eye opened and its dark brow lifted as Dar listened for her partner's answer.

"Ah." Kerry was muffling a laugh, she could tell. "I'm going to rent a car at the airport, thanks. I'll let you know if that doesn't work out. I'm sure it's crazy around there."

Dar reached over, and one handed, typed out a series of instructions into a console session, reviewing them before she compiled the results and sent the new little routine to run. A moment later, she heard a soft chuckle come through the mic.

"Hey Miami exec, this is Miami ops," Mark broke in. "Wouldn't that be god of the clock in England?"

"Yes," Kerry responded. "Dar's supposed to be getting some rest now so she can take over, but I just found out she's actually dealing with some petty details behind the scenes."

"Petty?" Dar murmured. "Wench."

"How about I burn minutes and watch stuff from the van?" Mark suggested. "It's not like we've got a lot else to do, you know?"

Dar frowned, considering the question. She trusted Mark implicitly. He'd been working for the company nearly as long as she had, and his knowledge and loyalty were unquestioned.

Trust? Not trust? Dar reached over and picked up her mic, bringing it over to her head.

"I think that's a great idea, Mark," Kerry answered before she could click in. "Thanks. I appreciate it, and I know Dar will appreciate it since there's a lot going on over there too."

Touche. Dar knew rejecting the offer now would seriously embarrass her partner and make her look like a cad since it was made in her best interest. Kerry's little payback for her hotel reservations. She clicked the mic on. "I do appreciate it, Mark," she said. "Especially since now I can send Kerry off shift to get ready to leave and relax before she has to fly."

Kerry forgot to turn her mic off, and her laughter echoed through the speaker, a strangely light sound after so much tension. "Right Kerry?" Dar inquired.

"Right boss," Kerry surrendered. "You win this round."

Dar glanced down expectantly at the message box.

Hoisted, wasn't I? Kerry's typing popped up.

Figured you could use some time to decompress. Dar typed back. You don't know what you're going to get into when you get to Herndon.

True, her partner responded. I'm going to go grab a shower and crash for a few hours. Thanks for the hotel reservations--I hadn't even started to look into that and I sure don't want to spend the night in DC.

I figured, Dar said. Sure you're okay with going?

There was a moment's pause in the response. Yeah, Kerry finally answered. I don't know. Maybe I'll get a chance to get this family thing worked out. I think you were right about the whole thing with my mother. I think she just wanted to have something to show her committee.

Dar smiled. Hell must be freezing over if I'm telling you not to think the worst of someone.

Ah heh, Kerry responded. Yeah. I know. Part of me wants to just move past it all and just drop the whole thing, and the other part of me just thinks about stuff they did and gets pissed off all over again. I just really wish I were home.

Right there with you. Dar sighed, glancing around the room, pausing when the door opened fully and Alastair entered. Hang on, Alastair just came back.

"Well, we've got good news and bad news." Alastair came over and sat down. He looked tired. "Which do you want first?"

"I can't believe there's any good news. So bad first," Dar said.

"Okay," Her boss responded. "Bad news is, there's not one person in the government that can tell me why someone from some agency is knocking on our doors in Virginia. This group says they think that group may be doing it and when you ask that group, they don't know anything about it."

"Ugh." Dar wasn't surprised.

"Hamilton's working on trying to track the request down, but he's coming up against a lot of people who are in high gear with no brakes, if you catch my drift," Alastair said. "But on the bright side, we've got flights to Mexico City tomorrow morning."

Dar blinked in surprise. "They found seats?"

"The board instructed me to charter an airplane," Alastair looked a touch bemused. "Apparently you and I are considered a little important. We've got a transfer in Mexico City to an executive jet service out to Nuevo Laredo and we're being picked up there for the ride across the border."

"Wow," Dar said.

"Lucky for us, there's quite a number of airplanes that are hanging around here unable to fly to the U.S. Finding one to charter was easy, or so Bea tells me," Alastair said. "At any rate, sorry we'll have to end up in Houston, but at least we won't be on the other side of the world."

"I'll take it," Dar said. "Maybe by then domestic flights will be going again." She felt a sense of profound relief, regardless of the destination. "That is good news, Alastair. Thanks."

Her boss smiled. "I know you want to get back home. Me too." He slapped Dar on the shoulder and stood up. "You going to get some rest?"

Dar nodded. "Mark's covering for us," she said. "He's heading up to DC in the equipment van and has a lot of time on his hands. I sent Kerry off to get some down time before she goes to Herndon tonight."

Alastair nodded. "All right. I'm going to go get some rest myself," he said. "The devil only knows what we'll have to deal with tomorrow, if today was any indication."

"Night." Dar waited for him to leave. Then she turned back to the screen. Ker?

There was no response. Dar frowned, and then picked up her cell phone and dialed, getting a fast busy. She sighed, and sat back, then rocked forward again when her message was answered.

Hey. What's up? Kerry typed. Sorry, Brian just showed up here, same time as Richard dropping off Sally.

Dar winced. Nice. She typed. Like it needed to be crazier.

Uh huh, Kerry agreed. Did Alastair find anything out?

No, Hamilton's still trying. Dar rattled her keys. But they chartered a plane for us to fly to Mexico tomorrow morning. She hit enter, and waited.

Yahhooooo!

Dar smiled. Yeah, well, then we fly local to the border and someone is picking us up to make the run into Houston. At least it's halfway home. And maybe by then I can just fly up to DC and meet you.

There was a long silence. Dar almost decided to send a follow up, when a response came back.

Sorry. Yelling match outside the study here. For once, not involving me.

"Oops." Dar sighed.

Fly fast. Kerry typed, after a pause I need you.

There was a rawness there that made Dar's breath catch. She reached out in reflex to touch the screen with her fingertips, and then let them drop.

I'll try to hold things together in Herndon. Kerry went on. But I've got a gut feeling this is going to be something more than a request to track some IP addresses.

Dar nodded to herself. Go with your instincts, Ker. You know what I'd go for and what I wouldn't. If it's something you know I wouldn't do, just tell them you can't do it and wait for me to land. I still have the systems locked down there.

"Systems control is passing to Miami ops," Mark's voice interrupted. "We are heading north. We picked up a Trailrider RV hitched to my truck and we've got every spare piece of gear we had in inventory with us."

"Miami ops, this is Danny at the Pentagon. That's great to hear. We'll need some of it to get stuff spooled back up, and some facilities. Do you have WAN rigs with you?"

"We sure do. This thing has even got a sat hookup and we're pulling a generator."

We have good people. Kerry typed.

"It's still on fire here," Danny said. "But we just got asked when all the stuff is going to be back up. We can't get inside, but we think the cross connect room was burned up."

We have the best people. Dar replied.

"Okay, we'll stop for some sixty six blocks. Can you guys source some three quarter ply if we need to rebuild the d-marc?" Mark asked.

"We can do that," Danny said.

"Then go ahead and get a dozen sheets," Mark said. "We'll get there, and we'll get it done."

"Will do, Miami ops. We'll be ready for you."

Dar keyed her mic. "Sounds like a good plan, gentlemen," she said. "Miami exec signing off for the evening. If something happens that requires senior approval, try my cell phone first."

"Try mine second," Kerry added. "Let's all stay alert. We don't know what might happen next."

Go get some rest. Dar typed.

You too, Kerry responded. Let's hope tomorrow's a much better day.