Storm Surge - Part 2

Chapter Thirteen

A FLARE OF brilliant light and a crash brought Dar awake with a painful suddenness. The echoes of the sound ringing in her ears as she instinctively reached for Kerry just as another flash lit the room followed instantly by a window rattling boom.

Without really thinking, Dar bundled her nearly startled witless partner in the sheets and rolled off the bed, landing them both on the floor on the side away from the window.

"Hey!" Kerry yelped. "What the hell is going on?"

Dar frantically tried to untangle herself from the sheets as her brain finally woke up and placed the sound, and the lights, and the rumble into a familiar context. Then she stopped, and slumped to the floor, her head thunking against the carpet as she let out a groan. "Son of a bitch."

Thunder rumbled again, and Kerry struggled up onto one elbow, raking the hair from her eyes as she peered around. "Thunderstorm?"

"Thunderstorm," Dar confirmed, as she listened to rain pelt the window. "Sorry about that."

Kerry sat up cautiously untangling her legs from her partner's.Aside from the bursts of lightning, it was dark inside the room and a glance at the clock confirmed her suspicions that it was far from dawn.

She groaned, and settled back down on her side, pillowing her head on Dar's stomach. She could hear Dar's heartbeat slowing and she closed her eyes, willing her own to stop racing. She thought she might have been dreaming, though she couldn't really remember anything.

She had that odd sense of disassociation that usually meant she had been though. Not a bad one--probably one of those hazy, weird dreams she sometimes had where she was running around in a forest chasing rabbits.

No idea what that was all about but Kerry greatly preferred them to the darker ones that made her wake shaking or in tears.

Bleah.

She felt Dar's fingers slide through her hair and scratch gently across her scalp. "Well, that sure wasn't the way I like to wake up."

"Me either," Dar agreed mournfully. "I don't know what in the hell I was thinking."

"You were thinking there was a bomb going off outside and we needed to be out of the way which we are. But now that it's just Mother Nature scaring the crap out of us, we can probably get back up where it's more comfortable, huh?"

"Yeah." Dar pushed herself up into a sitting position, as Kerry did the same. They got to their knees and stood up. Kerry crawled back into bed while her partner pulled the covers back up off the floor and settled them over her. "I see my PDA flashing. Let me see what's up since I know that's not you."

"Not me." Kerry agreed, snuggling back into a comfortable position and wrapping one arm around her pillow. She watched Dar walk over to the dresser and pick up the flashing device, her body outlined in flashes of silver from the window.

Mm. "What's up?" Kerry asked.

Dar brought the PDA back over to the bed and sat down on it, handing it over to her partner before she got under the covers and reclaimed her pillow. "Hurricane Gabrielle, crossing Florida."

"Great." Kerry thumbed through the message. "Glad we're not in Disney World. I forgot all about the damn storm. It won't come up here,will it?"

"With our luck?" Dar put her arm around Kerry and snuggled up to her. "Probably be a category five with a tidal wave." She exhaled."Damn. Now I've got a headache from waking up like that."

Kerry studied the PDA. "Hon, you got another message here. I think it's from our network vendor buddy." She passed the PDA over her shoulder.

"Read it to me." Dar nuzzled the back of Kerry's neck. "I'm sure it's bad news anyway."

Kerry cleared her throat. "Dar--I'm in Bethesda at Lockheed Martin. I had a five-hour meeting with the folks here, and once they got past asking me not if I was crazy, but how crazy was I, not to mention how crazy you were, we got to talking. "

"Sounds like fun." Dar mumbled.

"It gets better." Kerry promised. "Sort of." She scrolled down.

"Everyone agrees there's no way to develop an optics that'll handle the specifications of multimode over that distance."

Dar lifted her head. "That's better?" she asked, her voice rising.

"Put a sock in it, Roberts. Let me finish." Kerry chided her. "Here we go. But when I told them what the stakes were, they called in a couple of specialists who agreed to see what they could come up with."

"Peh." Dar put her head back down. "In two years we'll hear of some military application for an optic that can go ten miles on multi-mode."

"One of these guys," Kerry went on, undeterred, "is the guy who figured out how to make the Hubble work after they sent it up with a bad shaped mirror."

"Peh."

"Anyway, I'll know more in the morning. I'm gonna go get some coffee and find a chaise lounge somewhere. Hope you all are doing good up there." Kerry finished and half turned, putting her hand on Dar's hip. "Honey, at least he's trying. It's 4:00 a.m., and he's at some think tank working to get help for us."

"I know." Dar relented. "I'm just in a bad mood. My head hurts and I feel like a moron for pulling us both out of the bed. And I was having a nightmare."

Kerry set the PDA aside and turned over, facing her partner. She gently pushed the unruly hair from Dar's eyes and stroked her cheek. "Want some Advil?"

Dar's expression shifted and she produced a mild grin. "Got everything I want right here in bed with me."

Aw. Kerry was charmed both by the sentiment and the almost shy look in her partner's eyes. "You know what? I just remembered. I was dreaming about you when you woke me up."

"Me?"

"Mm hm." Kerry traced one of Dar's eyebrows with a fingertip. "We were celebrating something in some cabin somewhere. I have no idea what. But you gave me this really pretty carved wooden bird, and we were laughing like crazy about it."

"What was so funny about it?" Dar asked. "Did it have two heads or something?"

"I don't know." Kerry put her head down on the pillow. "There was a fire in the fireplace, and I could smell the trees outside, but I don't know where we were or why that bird was so funny," she admitted."You have such a beautiful laugh."

Dar's brow wrinkled a little. "No I don't."

"In my dream you did." Kerry disagreed. "And you really do.love your laugh."

Dar stretched and relaxed against the bed. "Trying to make me feel better?"

"Working?"

Dar's brief grin altered into a true smile. "The thunder was worth it." She tucked her arm under her pillow and let her body relax, hoping her now buzzing brain would settle down and let her get a few more hours sleep.

She felt Kerry's hand touch her cheek and with no further words,the gentle stroking against her skin spoke as loudly as her partner ever could.

What a gift. Dar closed her eyes, feeling the faintest of stings. How many people had woken together last Tuesday, had a little pillow talk, gotten up, gone to work and then hours later found themselves forever sundered from this gift they probably hadn't thought twice about when they'd left the house.

"Dar?" Kerry's touch became firmer against her cheek and there was a rustle of bedclothes as she shifted and brought a comforting body of warmth into the sudden chill around her. "Hey."

Dar opened her eyes. "Sorry." She didn't bother to dissemble. "Just freaking out a little."

"About the fiber?" Kerry sounded confused, and a touch distressed.

"No."

Kerry eased over and put her arms around Dar. "Did I do something?"

"No." Dar returned the embrace. "It just hit me." She paused, as her throat tightened. "All those people who had people they loved never come home that day."

Kerry's breath caught. She swallowed audibly.

"Could have been any of us," Dar whispered. "What a crappy world this is sometimes."

"Sometimes," Kerry finally replied, her voice rough. "Do you know how glad I was it was you who told me what was going on? That we were on the phone no matter if you were thousands of miles away? "

"Wish you'd have been there with me," Dar said. "I was so damn scared something would happen to you before I got back."

Kerry buried her face into Dar's neck feeling a shiver go down her spine. "Likewise. I don't know what I would have done if anything had." Tears welled up that had been trapped inside her for days. "Oh my god, Dar."

Dar returned the hug. "Longest few days of my life." She drew in a shaky breath. "Damn, I can't wait to go home. I want out of this." She couldn't quite stifle a sniffle.

"So do I," Kerry whispered. "It's been making me crazy."

They were both quiet for a moment. Then they both exhaled at almost the same time. "Wow." Dar cleared her throat. "Sorry this got so lousy."

Kerry shook her head a trifle. "I'm not. I'm glad I said that to you. I've been wanting to before we let this all pass. We've been up to our eyeballs since it happened and I've got all this stuff bottled up making my guts ache."

Dar slid her hand up along the back of Kerry's neck kneading the muscles there with gentle fingers. She felt the warmth as Kerry exhaled against her skin, and blinked her eyes to clear the tears from them.

She didn't cry often. Dar suspected the stress wasn't doing her any favors and she could feel the shivers rippling through Kerry's body."Let's table it for a few hours." She pulled the covers over both of them. "We'll be okay."

Kerry relaxed against her. "When I'm right here, I'm always okay. Hope I find out why that bird was so damned funny." She closed her eyes and kissed Dar on the collarbone. "Love you."

That made Dar smile again, finally. "Love you too." She tuned out the muted sound of the air conditioning and the far off grind of elevator machinery letting the darkness and the rhythm of Kerry's breathing lull her back into sleep.

Maybe, she mused, it was a cuckoo bird.

"NOT A GOOD morning." Dar followed Alastair into the conference room that already had a half dozen people in it.

Angry looking people. Dar gathered up the gruffest of her attitudes and put them in place before she took a seat at the end of the table, while her boss circled and went to the center. She put her forearms on the mahogany surface clasping her hands together.

"All right folks. Let's sit down and talk." Alastair took the middle seat and waited for the rest of the people in the room to follow suit. "I understand everyone's pretty upset."

"Upset?" The man directly across from him leaned forward. "McLean, that's not close to what I am. My business is dead in the water, and what do I see on the news last night? You giving cookies to firemen."

Dar propped her chin on her fist and decided to remain quiet. She had certain sympathy for the customers who had come to complain, but she also had sympathy for Alastair, and couldn't really think of anything to say that wouldn't piss off either one or the other.

She wasn't even really sure why she'd accompanied Alastair,except that he'd asked her to, and it delayed her needing to go take Mark aside and confess about the fiber before he caught up with the cable layers, or went to the Exchange and found out for himself.

"I can understand that," Alastair said. "But the fact is I'm not the fella who's going to fix your problem, so I don't really see what the harm is in my answering questions about our community relations group." He added, "it's not as if my being interviewed is stopping anyone from working."

"That isn't the point." The man stood. "All I am hearing about is how you're helping the government, helping the rescuers. I hate to be crass, but what about us?" He pointed at himself, then at the rest of the people who apparently were content to let him speak for them. "When do we get help?"

"Well--"

"Come on, McLean," the man said. "You've been here for days. It was all over the news. When do we get some attention? Or are you all about the publicity and kissing the governor's ass?"

Alastair looked over at Dar. "Wanna give me a hand here?"

The tableful of people turned and looked over at her.

"I could undress and pose on the table." Dar suggested. "That help any?"

Alastair had the grace to look scandalized. "Dar." He sighed, missing the sudden reactions to the name from the rest of the table. "It's not funny."

"I wasn't joking." Dar shifted and rested her weight on her elbows. "Listen," she addressed the customers, "if there was something we could do to fix everyone's issues, don't you think we would be doing it?You think we like being in this room getting yelled at?"

"But what about what you're doing for the government?" One of the other men spoke up. "Why can't you do that for us? My business is on the line between the closed zone, and they told me I wouldn't have service for months. Months!"

"Because we haven't done that much for the government," Dar replied"Who are, by the way, as much our customers as you are." She stood up and circled the table ending up next to Alastair. "Do you know how much damage was done around the area of the Towers? Do you know how much infrastructure, electrical, telecom, plumbing, you name it, was destroyed down there?"

"Of course," the man said. "I watch CNN same as you."

"Have you been down there?" Dar asked.

"They won't let us," the first man answered, frustration evident in his tone.

"Want my advice?" Dar sat down next to her boss. "Get your asses out of there. I've been in the area. Cut your losses. Find other space."

The men looked at her.

"I'm not kidding," Dar said. "If you want me to tell you I can put a satellite rig in there to get your systems up, and backhaul your traffic that way, I will. I can do that." She looked at each face in turn. "But if you want your business to survive, if you depend on walk in traffic, on people coming to you, then get out. "

"But--" the leader said, and then fell silent.

"Thousands of people died there," Alastair said quietly. "I was down in the area myself, along with Dar here--and by the way, sorry. My manners went out the window. This is our Chief Information Officer, Dar Roberts." He paused. "In case you didn't guess."

"I guessed." The man murmured.

"How are we supposed to just move?" the second man asked."Don't get me wrong, Ms. Roberts. You're not the first person who's told me that, but we've been there for twenty years! How do we leave our customers behind like that?"

"Some of them will be moving too," Dar said. "It's a matter of survival." She looked at them with some sympathy. "Come up here. I'm sure Alastair can negotiate good rates here at the center for our valued customers. Right Alastair?"

Alastair's wry look said it all. "I'd be glad to work on that, absolutely. I know they've got some vacancies here, and we've got bargaining leverage with the management." He paused. "Let me know what kind of space you're looking for, and I'll do my best."

"That's crazy. I can't afford these rents," the second man said. "I don't think I can afford you now."

A silence fell after he finished talking, and the men on the other side of the table looked suddenly uncomfortable. "Well, matter of fact,I've been leaving messages here about that subject." The spokesman said. "Haven't gotten a call back. Is Bob in the office? I'd like to talk to him."

Alastair's jaw shut with a click and his nostrils flared. "Sorry," he said, in a clipped tone. "He's not in." He folded his hands, tension showing in his knuckles.

"Oh, well--" The man didn't seem to notice. "I guess I can talk to someone else about it. We need to defer your bills. I can't afford to pay when I'm not getting paid myself. Someone filling in for him?"

Alastair let out a careful breath. "Not yet."

"Well, he should at least put an out of office message on." The man went on, "if that's not too much to ask I--" His voice finally trailed off as he caught Dar's glare. "What?"

"Our sales team was in the towers during the attack." Dar reached over and put a hand on Alastair's shoulder. "Bob was there. He didn't make it."

The spokesman stared at them in shocked silence.

"I'm sorry," the woman next to him said. "We didn't know that."

"We're also missing some people." Dar responded quietly. "So if you're wondering, that's why we're here. We don't really give a rat's ass about the governor."

Alastair lifted his clasped hands and rested his head against them.

"Well hell," the spokesman muttered, after a pause. "Why didn't you say something? For Pete's sake people. Now I feel like a prize jackass."

Dar half shrugged. "You have a right to be here, asking us what you are asking us. You're our customers."

"Yeah, but..." The man exhaled. "Sorry. We're just so frustrated."

"So are we." Dar picked up the desk phone and dialed a number.

"This is Dar. Is Nan out there? Send her to the small conference room, please."

Now everyone looked uncomfortable, trying not to stare at Alastair's silent figure.

The door opened and Nan stuck her head in. "Ms. Roberts? You asked for --" She stopped, her eyes flicking from the customers to their CEO. "Is something wrong?"

"Could you please take these people to one of the reception areas? They need to discuss space requirements, maybe relocating to this area. See if Kerry can talk to them, get some details."

"Yes, ma'am." Nan responded instantly, opening the door the entire way. "Could you come with me please?"

The customers scrambled to their feet and headed quickly to the door."Thanks. We'll work it out," the spokesman muttered. They followed Nan out the door and she closed it behind them, leaving Dar and Alastair alone.

It was quiet for a few minutes. The air conditioning cycled on and off, and very far away, a siren was heard. Finally Alastair dropped his hands to the table and looked sideways at Dar, appearing as tired and as human as she'd ever seen him. "Sorry about that. "

"Don't be." Dar studied his face. "Kerry and I both lost it last night." She glanced away. "It's too damn much to keep dealing with."

Alastair sighed. "I want to do the right thing by everyone, but damned if I know what the right thing is right now." He tapped his thumbs on the desk. "That was a good idea, telling them to find other space by the way."

"They haven't been down there." Dar leaned back in her chair. "Or they'd have thought of it themselves."

A knock came at the door. Alastair sat back and hitched one knee up. "C'mon in."

The door opened, and the secretary poked her head in. "Sir, there's someone here to see you." She looked apologetic. "He's very insistent."

"Jesus." Alastair looked plaintively at the ceiling. "Sure. Bring him in. Dar, stick around, will ya?"

Dar merely kept her place, letting that be her answer as the door opened again and a tall man in dark khakis and a leather jacket entered. He crossed to the table and set down a briefcase leaning on the surface and looking right at Alastair.

Dar herself could have been a coffee machine in the corner for all the attention he gave her.

"McLean? My name is Jason Green. I work for the Department of Defense. I'm going to cut to the chase. Your people have been stonewalling me, and it's going to stop, right now. I want a list of your people in our facilities and I want it now."

"Why?" Alastair asked.

"What?"

"Why?" He repeated. "I know Hamilton's talked to you. You all have the information you need in your own systems. Why do you want mine?"

"You don't really need to know that," Green said.

'Sure I do." Alastair remained calm. "They're my employees, and I have a responsibility under the law to protect their information and their privacy."

"You don't get it do you?" Green sat down. "McLean, I'm not your enemy. I don't honestly want to be here jerking you around. You don't have a choice. You have no recourse. You can't ask me what I want this for because I've been given the authority to do whatever I need to do in order to get what I think is important."

"Regardless of the law?" Alastair asked.

"Law doesn't mean anything. You ever heard of martial law? We're in it. They just haven't announced it to the press." Green told him. "I could throw you in jail as a suspected terrorist and you'd spend years in some hole without contact with your family or anyone else. So do you and me a favor and just give me the damn list."

Alastair steepled his fingers and tapped the edges of his thumbs against his lips as he studied the man. Then he turned and glanced at Dar. "What do you think?"

Green turned, as though noticing Dar for the first time. His eyebrows rose.

Dar rested her hands on her knee. "I think if my father was here,he'd kill this guy." She remarked. "That's what I think."

"Who in the hell are you?" Green asked.

Dar ignored him pulling her laptop over. "But I'm not going to sit here and watch you get dragged off to some gulag on account of a database, Alastair." She opened the laptop. "I'll parse a file for them. They won't know what the hell to do with it. They won't be able to read the format, their program will spit out a pile of crap when it tries to ingest it and there's no information in there they don't already have, but what the hell." She rapidly logged in to the machine. "I'll give it to him and he can go weenie waggle somewhere else."

"Hmph." Alastair grunted. "Well, if you think that's a good idea--"

"Do you have something to put the file on?" Dar looked up at the man."Or do you want me to pour raw packets down your goddamned underwear?"

Green stared at her. "What?"

"Did you bring a portable hard drive?" Dar asked. "Or did you bring a truck to haul off the five hundred pounds of paper it'll take me to print out eighty thousand records?"

"W--"

"You came here and asked for something." Dar enunciated the words. "Do you have any idea in hell what it is you're even asking for?"

Green turned to Alastair. "I don't appreciate being spoken to in that way, McLean."

Alastair regarded him for a moment. "Too damned bad," he said."Answer the woman if you want your list. If not, hit the road. We're busy people."

The man sat back in his seat bracing his hands on the table. "Did you not listen to a word I said?"

"We did. We just don't care," Dar said bluntly. "All we've heard from you people since this whole damn thing happened is pointless demands and threats. You have no idea on the planet what to do with what you're asking for, and your people can't use the data I give you.

But what the hell. To get you out of here I'll go ahead and produce it,but you've got to cough up something to put it on or carry it away with, and do it fast."

"I'm sure you have something--" Green blurted, half standing."You can't expect me to--"

"No, I don't," Dar said. "We don't allow portable storage devices in our facilities. It's a security issue." She rattled some keys. "And these databases are protected by encryption, so I hope what you've got can handle it, not to mention interpret the structure. "

Green leaned on the table. "You're interfering with National Security." He spoke the words emphasizing the capital letters.

"I'm just telling you the truth." Dar stood up, stretching to her full height. "You want us to break the law? You threaten us with jail? You stand here and talk nothing but utter bullshit, you waste of my taxpayer dollars." She put her hands on her hips. "Who the hell do you work for?"

"Listen, lady."

Dar circled the table with surprising speed. "You listen, jackass." She let her voice lift as she closed in on her target, missing the widening of Alastair's eyes behind her. "Get your boss on the phone. I want to talk to him and tell him what a complete idiot he has working for him."

The man stood up. "You want to speak to my boss? All right. I'll arrange for that." He stepped back from the table and pushed the chair into place. "Don't go far." He turned and walked to the door, leaving and closing it with surprising gentleness.

Alastair rested his chin on his hand, his elbow propped on the table. "I think we just got ourselves in trouble, Paladar."

"You care?"

"Not really." Her boss shrugged. "Let me warn Ham. He's about ready to disown us anyhow. With any luck maybe I can get them to throw us all out of the city and we can take everyone out of here." He stood up and picked up the phone. "I'll warn the board they may need to post our bail too. That should start their morning off right."

Dar smiled briefly. "Let me go talk to my people. Call me if you need me." She headed for the door, as Alastair raised a hand and waggled it at her in farewell.

Not a good morning, at all.

"SEE, HERE'S THE deal." Mark was sitting on the floor with a thick loop of rope over his shoulder. "We figured we'd track back, and get a rope down to where those guys have to bring the cable so we can haul it when they get here."

"Like a giant pull string." Kerry was crouched next to him, a flashlight held in one hand.

"Yeah." Mark nodded. "Problem is we're kinda stuck getting out off this freaking room." He looked around the old, small space. "I don't know what the hell we're gonna do."

Kerry backed out of the room and looked across the floor toward the entrance to the subway. The space was filled with people crossing back and forth. "Well, with enough arm twisting we can run it across the floor I guess."

Mark joined her. "They're gonna freak."

Kerry shook her head. "It's dangerous. That's a big cable. Everyone's going to trip, they're going to have to put a shield over it or shut this floor down."

"Guess they'll have to." Mark agreed. "Let me get hold of that maintenance guy and give him a heads up. I bet we're going to have to go up the chain for it."

"Probably." Kerry agreed. "I'll go talk to the building management. I think I just booked them a couple thousand in rentals so I've got some good points in the bank with them at the moment." She dusted her hands off. "I'll be back."

"You got it boss." Mark dropped his loop of rope and started off toward the back of the hall.

Kerry slid her flashlight into the side pocket of her coveralls and moved in the opposite direction, climbing up the steps and crossing the floor toward the management office for the second time that morning.

It felt like she was being constructive. The morning session on behalf of their customers had been almost pleasant. She was bringing more business, and the complex was glad not to have someone asking for exceptions, or rent deferrals.

She pushed the door to the office open and returned the brief smile of the receptionist. "Hello, me again. Is Tom available for a quick moment?"

"I'll ask, Ms. Stuart." The girl got up and disappeared into the inner maze of office hallways as Kerry went over to the courtesy counter and started fixing herself a cup of tea.

One thing about New York. Kerry selected a fragrant bag from a box of assorted teas and dispensed hot water over it. People liked their comforts here. She stirred the cup and took a sip, turning and leaning against the wall as she waited.

The girl came back. "Right this way, ma'am." She smiled, waiting for Kerry to join her before she led her back into the managing director's office. "Here you go."

"Hello there again." Tom Brooks waved her in. "What can I do for you, Kerry?" He was an older man, with a close-cropped beard and salt and pepper hair.

"Well..." Kerry came in and took a seat across from him. "I wish I could say I've got another dozen tenants we'll guarantee for you, but this time I'm here to make trouble."

"Oh no." The man behind the desk didn't look overly alarmed. "How much trouble can a nice young lady like you cause anyhow?"

"You'd be surprised." Kerry remarked, dryly. "Just ask my boss. Anyway, here's the problem we have." She went on, "as you know, we've got an emergency project going on for the city government."

"I didn't, but it doesn't surprise me. Every little thing these days is an emergency."

Kerry toasted him with her cup of tea. "Point made. In this case, there are a bunch of telecom wiring people running a big piece of fiber cable from the New York Stock Exchange to our demarc down in the dungeon here--lower level."

Tom blinked at her. "Seriously?"

Kerry nodded. "Seriously."

"Jesus." He shook his head. "How in the hell are you going to do that? There's no opening from that area near the steps to the subway."He thought a minute. "You'd have to bring it up through the station and cross the concourse with it."

Kerry nodded.

"You want to do that?" Tom's voice lifted sharply. "You kidding me?"

Kerry shook her head.

He leaned back in his chair and tapped his pen on the desk. "Wow." He mused. "That could be a big problem. There are a lot of people down there," he warned. "I don't know if we can run a cable across the floor. Maybe we can run it along the wall or something."

Kerry grimaced a little. "That's a long way."

"Well, it's coming from a long way. I don't think they'll let us cross the concourse due to safety reasons. Let me take my guy down there, and we'll look at it. What size cable are we talking about?"

"Two inch round," admitted Kerry. "We know it's a hassle, but the project we're working on really is a number one priority for the government."

"Surprised they're not in here telling us what to do then." Tom got up."I'll see what we can arrange for that, Kerry. I know you all have been working down there. My facilities chief has been bitching about having to leave the door open. I'll let you know what I find out."

"Thanks." Kerry got up. "Believe me I know we're asking a lot. We're trying to get this working and there's a lot riding on it." She took his proffered hand. "Thanks, Tom. I really, really appreciate it."

"Save that till I can do something about it." Tom warned. "And you folks be careful of that room in there, okay? There are some dangerous pipes and things in there."

"We know. Dar nearly got knocked on her behind from that electrical panel." She followed him out of the room and down the hall. "Do we really use steam heat here?"

Tom chuckled. "Sure as hell do. Glad we don't have to turn those pipes up with you all in there. I'd have to charge you for a sauna bath." He held the outer door for her. "After we get through this, let's talk about moving your connections someplace else."

"How did we end up in there anyway?" Kerry waited for him to catch up to her and they walked across the floor together. "Dar was wondering about that."

"Long story. We'll get it straightened out." He started angling away from her. "Be in touch with you, Kerry. Let you know."

"Thanks, Tom." Kerry headed for the steps, her cup of tea still clasped in her fingers, feeling another, though minor, sense of accomplishment. She didn't envy Dar, who was floors and floors above her,dealing with the press, the government, and the board.

She'd heard Dar yelling in the conference room, and then a man had stormed out of the office, nearly knocking down people on his way out. Department of Defense, Dar had told her afterward, and probably a lot of trouble headed back their way.

Ugh.

She trotted down the steps and headed back to their little dungeon. Shaun was seated outside with a piece of pizza, and Kannan was sitting cross-legged sipping from a steaming cup. "Hey guys." She greeted them."Mark back yet?"

"Not yet." Shaun shook his head. "Ms. Stuart, we want to go down to the other end and do the setup there, but we're kinda not sure how to do that. I don't think they'd just let us in there, you know?"

Kerry took a seat next to him. "Good point." She took a sip of her tea. "Well, tell you what. Once Mark gets back, I'll go round up Dad and done of the trucks and we'll all go down there together. That work?"

"Sure," agreed Shaun. "Maybe we can even do the whole cross connect, if they got the other end of that cable up in the right spot."

Ah. Kerry turned and looked inside the room. "You mean the connection box, like that?" She indicated the new panel.

"Yes." Kannan spoke up. "It would be good to get the melding down and the connectors polished and ready. Then we have only this side to do when the other end of this cable arrives here."

Kerry felt a little awkward, not entirely sure of whether she should spill the beans now, or wait until they arrived downtown. Part of her wanted to tell the techs the truth, but she also felt that Dar had wanted to keep it under wraps, and she wasn't sure if this was the place or time for her to countermand her lover's wishes.

She didn't mind disagreeing with Dar. They did sometimes. But she was sensitive about doing it in front of people who worked for them because she never wanted to give the impression that she was leveraging their relationship to appear to control her partner when it really wasn't anything like that.

Oh, well. Kerry drank her tea, allowing the silence to continue. Well, she did leverage their relationship, all the time, but not really to control Dar, more to find a consensus when they were on opposite sides of any particular question.

She knew that Dar would listen to what she was saying, even though she didn't agree with it, just because Kerry was who she was,and they were what they were to each other. There was no way around that. Dar often blew other people off and refused to take them seriously. With Kerry, that was never the case.

Dar always took her seriously. She always took Dar seriously. Sometimes they compromised. Sometimes they didn't, and Kerry would accept Dar's opinion. Sometimes Dar would listen to what she had to say, and then change her mind and agree with Kerry's view.

But they would never have gotten that far if there wasn't total trust between them that gave her that edge in dealing with Dar's mercurial,restless nature.

Speaking of. She heard a set of distinctive footsteps approaching and looked up just as Dar came around the corner of the stairwell,trailed by Mark and Andrew. Her partner looked frustrated and she felt the glower just before her eyes met Kerry's and she headed their way. "Here comes trouble."

"Uh oh." Shaun started chewing faster. "Better suck that up fast, Kan. Her nibs looks pissed."

"There you are." Dar addressed Kerry.

"Here I am." Kerry agreed, patting the floor next to her. "Come. Sit. You look mad."

In the act of turning and accepting the offer, settling gracefully next to Kerry, Dar managed to somehow lose most of the frustration in her attitude and ended up merely looking bemused. "What's the scoop here?"

Mark crouched down next to the two techs, and they started talking in low tones. Andrew picked a spot on the wall and leaned against it, crossing his ankles as he waited for everything to shake out.

"Scoop." Kerry offered Dar the remainder of her tea. "Well, I talked to the building about our running cable across the floor. I don't think they'll go for that, but they're looking at alternatives."

"Uhgh." Dar grunted.

"The team wants to head down to the Exchange and make the connections down there. " Kerry kept her voice neutral. "So I thought I'd take Dad and help them get in there and get set up."

"Ah." Dar grunted again with a completely different inflection. "Okay." She took the cup and finished the beverage.

"But I wanted to discuss that with you first," Kerry said. "I know you have some concerns." She put her hand on Dar's thigh. "But if you want, I can handle that end of it for you."

Dar studied her, a faint smile appearing on her face. "Thank you, Kerrison."

"What are friends for?" Kerry smiled back. "You take your share of tough calls, sweetheart. I don't mind shouldering this one for you."

"I know," Dar uttered softly. "One of the many reasons I love you."

Aw. "Any fallout from the DOD?" Kerry leaned closer, lowering her voice. "Do you want me to pander to my genes and call my mother to see if she can help with that?"

"No." Dar set the cup down. "Hamilton advised me to get the hell out of the office and go hide somewhere in case they show up to drag me off. I'll take the team downtown. I know you don't want to go back down there."

"Any word from Lockheed?"

Dar shook her head.

"Let's both go," said Kerry. "Let's go, and we can lay it out for everyone, and just do everything we can do. Okay?"

Dar studied her laced fingers, then looked up and over at Kerry. "All right. You and me, all the way." She reached over and clasped Kerry's hand. "Let's go."

They stood. "Okay, team," Kerry said. "Let's get our gear together and go down to the other end of this situation. Dar and I have some information to give you, and then we can get what we need to get done taken care of. "

The techs were already scrambling to their feet, and Mark had ducked inside the room for his backpack. "Hey." He poked his head out. "We taking the bus? I threw a bunch of the gear in it, and it's got three cases of Red Bull."

"Sounds like a plan," Dar said. "It's going to be a long night."

"Ain't they all?" Mark disappeared inside the room again as they got ready to move out. "But hey, we'll make history, right?"

Dar stuck her hands in her pockets and regarded her father. "I think sometimes making history's overrated."

"Yeap." Andrew agreed. "That is the truth, rugrat. That is surely the truth." He clapped her on the shoulder. "'Specially since history ain't always your friend."

They gathered up their gear and headed off, walking up the steps and out into the afternoon light into a street full of people and sirens and cool, dusty air.

KERRY BRACED HER hands on the sides of the doorway leading from the main part of the bus into the driver's compartment. Ahead of them the road was relatively clear, though the sky was hazy with smoke and the dusting of ash remained on almost every surface.

There was still an air of desolation present. Here and there, she could see where a car had been removed, or boxes were now piled on the sidewalk, and scattered here and there were people walking slowly, looking around as though in disbelief.

"Just opened the east side here to people," said the driver. "Just this side of Broadway."

Now that he'd mentioned it, Kerry started noticing figures moving around in the distance. She could see flashlight beams in windows, and it brought back the memory of the big power outage they'd suffered in Miami not that long ago.

She'd used a similar flashlight to stumble through the darkness of the condo, the stuffy closeness driving her outside and down to the Dixieland Yankee's cabin where the boat's batteries and a solid charging from the engines kept her and Chino comfortable through that very long night.

So many people hadn't been nearly as lucky. She'd heard the stories sat work the next day. Just like so many people here now weren't lucky. People were rooting through dust covered belongings and cleaning out putrid refrigerators while they cruised by in their air conditioned bus.

"What a mess." Dar had come up behind her, and now Kerry could feel the warmth along her back as her partner came into her space. "These people are coming back to Hell." She leaned back into her partner's chest. "What a nightmare."

"Reminds me of Hurricane Andrew." Dar let her hands rest on Kerry's shoulders. "We sent a bunch of people down south to help clean up. Some of our staff lived down there. Total disaster."

"Did you go?"

"Sure," Dar replied. "Ended up puncturing my hand with a rusty nail and getting hauled off to the first aid station. They have picture of me sitting there with two guys hanging on to my paw with a three inch piece of iron sticking out of it."

Kerry turned her head and stared at her. "You didn't pass out?"

"Only by a whisker." Dar overturned her left hand and flexed it. "Only my ego kept me upright. I wasn't going to take a dive in front of half the company." She looked up to find Kerry gazing indulgently at her. "It was damn close though."

Kerry could imagine it. She knew how squeamish her partner was about injuries and she could just picture the stubborn set of Dar's jaw as she fought to remain unfazed. It had nothing to do with courage. Dar had more of that than most. "You poor thing." She leaned over and gave Dar's palm a kiss. "Too bad I wasn't there to take care of you."

"Mm." Dar glanced past Kerry as the bus came to halt and the air brakes blasted out a hiss. "Here we are." She drew in a breath, and then let it out. "Time to pay the piper."

Kerry turned all the way around and bumped Dar lightly with her fists. "I'm right with you, tiger." She followed Dar down the aisle to the center of the bus where the team was getting their masks together and testing radios.

Dar took up a position near one of the doors and folded her arms over her chest. "Folks, listen up."

Kerry stuck her hands in the pockets of her jumpsuit and stood just a half step behind her boss, underlining her support. She watched the faces of the techs as they stopped what they were doing and turned toward them.

"We've had a major screw-up." Dar got right to the meat of the matter."Those guys running the cable are running the wrong kind."

The techs all blinked in surprise. Mark put his backpack down and leaned on the bar. "Huh?"

Dar nodded. "We found out after they'd already started rolling it. The right stuff won't be here until Tuesday at the earliest."

The techs looked at each other, then at Mark, then at Dar.

"How wrong is it?" Mark asked. "The wrong micron?"

"Multimode," answered Dar.

"Oh no." Kannan groaned. "That will not be good."

"Shit." Mark looked non plussed."What are we doing down here then? We'll just have to do it again on--like on what, Wednesday? You going to tell them to stop?"

"No." Dar shook her head. "We're going to make the connections as though the cable was the right kind. I knew they were using the wrong type yesterday, and told them to keep going."

Even Mark looked at her with confusion and disbelief. "Bu--" He started then stopped. "Bu--" He started again. "Boss, that's not gonna work."

"I know."

Kerry decided to keep quiet. She edged a step closer to Dar and leaned against the wall, looking steadily from face to face, mildly wondering what Dar was going to tell them.

"There really isn't any option," said Dar. "They expect this to work tomorrow. I know it won't work until Wednesday at the earliest--if they can get that other cable run. But at least we'll have all the connections in place and ready to go."

"But--" Mark hesitated. "Won't they be pissed? I mean, I heard them talking, boss. This is serious shit."

"They'll be pissed," Dar agreed. "But that's not your problem. That's mine and Alastair's problem."

"Mine too." Kerry piped up. "I'll walk the plank with you, Captain Roberts."

That got a nervous smile from the techs. "And," Dar shrugged lightly, "we've got some people looking at the technology to see if there's anything to be done."

"That will be very interesting if they discover anything," Kannans said."It will be very difficult I think."

"Very interesting," Dar said. "So just go in there, and make like everything's normal. Set up the connections and put the patch in. Don't talk about the cable being a problem. Let's get in and get our part of this done, and get out of here. "

"Right." Mark nodded. "Sounds good, boss. You guys got all your gear? Let's get moving." He shouldered his pack and slipped the smaller of his two masks over his head to nestle under his chin. "You think we need the full ones?" he asked Andrew, who was lounging nearby.

"Figure you should take it." Andrew held his up. "Sure as hell if you don't, you'll need it."

The techs trooped out the door and down onto the sidewalk, all with laden backpacks and leg pockets stuffed with tools and water bottles. The bus driver came up behind them as Andrew started to follow.

"I'm going to park it here. The cops say that's all right," said the driver. "I'll pop out the SAT dish and see what I can pick up in the way of news." He held up a radio in one big hand. "I'll let you know if anything stirs up."

"Thanks." Dar glanced out the door where the techs were gathering. "Hopefully this won't take long." She patted Kerry on the hip."C'mon pirate. Let's get this done."

Kerry followed Dar down the steps and blinked her eyes already stinging a little as she drew in a breath of dusty air. "Ugh." She slipped on her mask and adjusted it, hoping it would block out the stench an errant puff of air brought her.

Dar adjusted her credentials and edged through the crowd. "Let's go." She started for the steps to the Exchange, aware of the armed guards at the top of them. "Ker?"

Kerry dodged around Mark and joined her. "They took that pretty well." She uttered in a low tone as they trotted up the steps to the building.

"There's an advantage to having everyone too scared to disagree with you. Sometimes, when you really need it, they just shut up and do what you tell them to."

"Dar," Kerry patted her side, "they always do what you tell them to. If you told them to wrap our building in twisted pair cabling and paint Alastair's car pink, they'd do it."

"You wouldn't." Dar gave the guards at the top of the steps a brisk nod, and went right past them, reaching out to open the door and hold it open.

"Paint Alastair's car pink? I might."

"Ma'am?" The guard moved to intercept her. "This is a restricted area."

"Damn well should be."Dar presented her credentials. "If they didn't put us on the access list they will as soon as we get in there. Excuse us." She motioned the crew through. "Kerry, go in there and find whoever's in charge and get them to give this gentleman the right data."

"Yes, ma'am." Kerry marched past without hesitating watching the guard try to untangle his tongue as they slipped past and into the building. "I'll get right on that."

"Ah. But--ah--" The guard glanced at Dar's credentials. "Oh, well, okay, I'm sure that's fine," he said. "I think I remember some people from your company here earlier, right?"

"Right." Dar agreed. "Thanks." She pointed at the bus. "There are hot drinks and snacks in there if you get tired of holding the wall up out here." She went past into the building and let the door shut behind her catching sight of Kerry waiting patiently not far away.

"See?" Kerry commented to the techs waiting nearby. "It's like having a beautiful animated can opener sometimes."

Dar stopped in her tracks, both eyebrows shooting up. "Excuse me?"

A loud argument down the hall distracted them, and Kerry was saved from answering as they turned and looked toward the noise. A group of men were coming out of a room all talking at once. They were dressed in business shirts and slacks, most carrying jackets.

"Move!" The man in the front ordered them. "What in the hell are you people doing up here? Get back to where you belong!" He was relatively short, but had bristling gray eyebrows and hair, and a pair of what would be extremely shiny patent leather shoes if they weren't currently covered in dust.

Kerry saw her partner's eyes narrow, and she instinctively put a hand out, catching Dar's arm as she moved back against the wall to let the men pass. "Dar, hold on."

She could feel the tension as Dar stood her ground. "Dar, c'mon. These people aren't worth it."

The man pulled up short, since Dar was standing in the middle of the hallway effectively blocking it. "Did you hear me?"

"Listen, sir, we're doing all we can." The man behind him caught up to him and grabbed his arm. "You don't understand what's gone on here. What these people have been through."

"I don't give a shit what these people have been through." The man in the lead turned around, throwing the hand off his arm. "This place has half the liquidity of the planet tied up in it. You fed some bullshit to CNN but if it doesn't open tomorrow morning, everyone's head's gonna roll." He turned back around. "Move out of the way or I'll toss you on your ass, lady."

Dar grinned with absolutely no humor and a good deal of delight.

"Lord." Andrew shoved his way back down the hallway. "Can't leave you for a minute, can I?" He took the man by the shoulders and shoved him past Dar. "G'wan, blowhard. Git your ass out before you done get hurt."

"What? Get your damn hands off me! Police!" The man yelled, thrashing around.

Andrew gave him a final shove then he put himself between the angry figure and Dar's tall form, his bigger body blocking the hallway with even more effectiveness. "Git!"

"Sir!" The other man dashed after him, taking hold of his arm."Whoever you people are you better get lost. Now!" He hurried the man past, before he could recover and say anything at all, and they disappeared around the corner toward the door.

Dar sighed. "There goes my fun for the day." She turned back to the rest of the men, who were standing there gaping. "Who is that?" She indicated the now vanished man.

"Marcus Abercrombie." The young man nearest her answered promptly. "The second richest man in the world. He's just really upset about the market. We just heard they're having problems with the systems."

"We're the ones trying to fix it," Kerry told him "We don't appreciate being yelled at."

"Well, sure. No one does." The young man agreed. "Hi. I'm Barry Marks." He offered Kerry his hand. "I'm the trading floor coordinator." He glanced past her. "Are you the technical people? Our director said they were expecting some people here to look at the computers."

Dar joined Kerry, now that it appeared the excitement was over. "We're working on the problems, yes. I heard the CNN report too--that guy didn't buy it?"

"Nope." Marks shook his head. "He came in the back and started snooping around and figured out that it wasn't working. He said he'd keep it to himself, but I bet we see it on CNN in ten minutes. He's probably telling his chauffeur about it right now."

"Great." A man behind him sighed. "Like we don't have enough problems. I don't want all those damn Federal guys shouting at me again." He looked at Dar. "Can you fix it?"

"Ultimately? Yes," Dar said. "There's nothing in technology enough time and money can't fix."

"By tomorrow morning?" Marks asked.

"That's an open question." Dar pointed down the hallway. "Let's go downstairs, team. We're wasting time."

They filed past the brokers who looked dubiously at them, and shook their heads. "Tomorrow's going to suck," one said.

"No matter what happens." Marks agreed. "Let's go get some coffee. My mouth's dry as a bone from the damn dust."

They headed in the opposite direction. Dar was glad to be rid of them, as they walked down the hall and headed down the steps to the lower level of the building. "Did you call me a can opener?" she asked Kerry.

Kerry chuckled under her breath.

"Manual or electric?"