Storm Surge - Part 2

Chapter Fourteen

ANOTHER DUSTY, CONCRETE room. Another raised floor. Another long stretch of time between humming black racks of equipment that gave off the faint scent of ozone and plastic.

Kerry lifted herself up off the floor, pulling her head out of the space under the floor and resting her weight on her elbows as she waited for the blood rush to fade. "Can't see anything."

Kannan and Shaun were over by the wall against a sheet of plywood that was as age worn as Kerry felt at the moment. They had a black box partially assembled; their heads bent over thin strands and tiny posts, their tools gathered neatly around their feet as they sat there cross-legged.

"They had the end right there." One of the techs from the Exchange was sitting on a desk nearby. He pointed at the hole in the floor. "Then those guys pulled it back, I guess. It disappeared."

Kerry folded her hands, and studied her knuckles. "Didn't occur to anyone to anchor the cable?" She inquired.

"It's not our stuff." The tech shrugged. "No one told us what they were doing."

Kerry silently counted to ten. "Boy, that's a shame." She shifted her flashlight and inched herself forward, extending her head down under the floor again. It smelled dank and musty, and she had to keep convincing herself she didn't smell anything worse than mold.

It was uncomfortable, and it gave her a headache hanging upside down as she was. She pushed that aside and extended her arm down into the space, turning on her flashlight and examining the underside of the floor.

It was full of trays and pipes, the cabling so dense she could barely see past it. She squinted hard, peering past a clump of metal and dust and spotted a stretch of the cabling that was scraped free of the grime. "Ah."

"Found it?" Shaun asked.

"Found where it was." Kerry pulled her head back out and moved down two squares, picking up the aluminum floor pulling and thwacking it down against the surface. She wiggled it then she leaned back, hauling the floor tile up off its frame and sliding it out of the way.

She got down on her belly again and continued her investigation.She could see the scrape marks traveling over the piping and squirmed further into the opening, shining her flashlight under the next section of floor.

Eyeballs reflected the shine. Kerry stifled a yelp and somehow kept herself from scrambling out of the opening by sheer will.

"Something wrong ma'am?" Shaun looked up.

"Um. No." Kerry bravely resumed her search. She looked for the eyes, but there was nothing in that back corner now except some hanging cable.

She was about to move on, when her eyes registered something unusual, and she looked back at the spot, carefully craning her neck to one side and narrowing her eyes. "Oh crap."

"Ma'am?"

Kerry got up and crawled over two more squares to where she'd seen the eyes, and then she slapped the floor puller into place and settled back, both hands on the device. "You might want to get back." She told the tech. "I saw something move under here and it's too small to be one of us."

The tech didn't need to be told twice. He jumped off the desk and went around it, backing away from Kerry. "You're crazy to be opening that up. Could be anything under there. Someone said there were snakes."

Kerry took a deep breath and yanked her shoulders back, pulling the tile up off its seating. She rocked back onto her heels and pulled the tile with her, tensing her thighs a she prepared to have to jump clear just in case.

Nothing stirred. She slid the tile to one side, and shone her light on the cabling underneath. "Look at that."

The tech got up on the desk and peered over it into the space. "Holy crap."

Shaun and Kannan scrambled to their feet and approached, staying cautiously behind Kerry's kneeling form. "Oh wow," Shaun said. "That's all chewed up!"

Exposed now in the light, there was a thick bundle of cabling, a lurid blue color that was marred by a huge clump in the center that was chewed all the way almost to the bottom of the bundle, resulting in tangle of butchered wires. "Sure is." Kerry examined the hairball. "Well,this didn't happen in a week, did it?"

The tech circled the desk and knelt next to her warily, looking at the cables. "That's new." He said. "For sure, because I know where that bundle goes and that stuff was working before all this happened."

"Wow," Shaun said again. "That's a--what a mess."

"For sure," Kannan agreed. "That will take many hours to fix."

"Guess you guys better get started then," the tech said. "Cause this stuff will never work if that's not connected."

"Us?" Kerry looked up at him. "This isn't our wiring."

The tech shrugged. "It's not our wiring. We just do server management here. That's all. We don't touch any of the infrastructure stuff."

"Who does?" Kerry asked. "And where are they, by the way? "

The tech shrugged again. "Some company that some big guy here owns a part of. They got a couple of guys and a truck, and they come in when we need new cables run and stuff like that. They monitor everything remotely."

Kerry counted to ten again. Then she counted to twenty. Then she gave it up and started to put the tile to one side, her temper flaring.

A bang issued from the space. It put a cap on her reaction, and made everyone jump. "What the--"

Another bang and she started to get up and away from the hole,which suddenly started to issue flashes of light.

"Oh my god." The tech jumped back, bumping into the desk and falling into it, then bouncing off and lunging back across the open hole,his arms flailing. "Ahh!"

Kerry succumbed to latent heroism and grabbed him, throwing herself into him and taking them both to the other side of the open floor just as a loud sound emerged and the hole erupted with a flurry of brown forms.

"Holy shit!" Shaun let out a yell, jumping backward and grabbin Kannan by the shoulder as rats boiled out of the floor scattering in every direction.

Kerry hit the floor with a painful jolt and rolled clear of the tech unable to place the sounds and hearing the alarm in her people's voices as she smelled a deep, raunchy stench come into the room. She wrenched herself around and got her hands under her, shoving her body away from the floor and nearly pitching herself right back onto it when a rat ran over her hand toward the server cabinets.

She bit her tongue, and got enough command of her body to get her feet under her and stand up, fiercely resisting the urge to jump up onto the desk. "Nice." She croaked. "What the hell brought that on?" She grimaced a little, as her ribs protested her impact with the floor.

The tech jumped onto the desk. "That's it. I'm getting out of here. All that overtime ain't worth it. That's a freak show." He walked to the end of the desk and hopped off, then disappeared out the door without a backward glance.

"Nice." Kerry looked around. The rats had all disappeared. She walked cautiously over to the hole and crouched down at a respectful distance, peering inside. As she watched, the end of the cable she'd been searching for inched into view, with a loud scraping sound and a clinking of the metal ends that protected it. "Ah."

"Hey. It's the cable." Shaun had eased warily up behind her. "Where'd that come from?"

"Someone has found it." Kannan came over and knelt right next to the opening, reaching down without hesitation and taking the end of the cable in one hand. "I am going to pull this now." He called down. "Be relaxed."

He braced one foot and pulled gently on the cable end.

"Don't pull too hard." Shaun advised. "We have to get it back under the floor over to the wall." He came out from behind Kerry and knelt down by his teammate's side.

Kerry eased slowly upright, as a sudden motion caused a jolt of pain. She bit off a curse and stepped back, getting out of the tech's way and moving back over to desk.

"Got it?" A voice echoed softly up to them.

"Got it." Shaun called back. "Was that Mark?"

Kerry perched on the edge of the desk pressing her elbow against her side. "I think it was." She agreed, removing the radio clipped to her shoulder. "Mark, this is Kerry. You there?"

She heard a crackle of noise on the speaker, then Dar answered, her deep tones roughened with the radio's interference, but comforting to Kerry's ears nonetheless.

"We're here," Dar said. "They get the end of that damn cable? We had to push it up back through a bunch of garbage and through a damn access pipe."

"We got it." Kerry acknowledged. "You chased a bunch of rats up here with it."

"What?"

"And, we've got another problem." Kerry went on. "Dar, you better come up here and look at this," she paused, "and I think I--" She stopped, aware of the techs listening. "If you're done there, come on back."

"Be right there." Dar's voice had taken on an edge and Kerry exhaled, as she clipped the radio mic back on her shoulder.

Breathing hurt. She figured that meant nothing good, but she decided to remain where she was, watching the techs work the cable under the floor toward the wall. She saw Kannan examine the end closely and nod, but neither he nor Shaun said anything about it.

Good people.

"That was crazy, huh?" Shaun looked up. "This place really is crazy."

"It is." Kerry agreed. "I don't know what we're going to do with that cable mess in there. We keep having everyone else's problems dropped in our lap."

"That's a mess." Shaun agreed. "That's probably a hundred cables that need to be fixed."

"Not too good at all." Kannan said.

There were footsteps in the hallway, and suddenly the door was filled with Dar's tall form. She stopped in the opening and looked around, focusing on Kerry. "Hey." She crossed the floor to her partner's side, ignoring the open sections, the mass of screwed up cable, and the two techs.

Her jumpsuit was covered in dust and grime and she brushed her hands off as she arrived in front of Kerry. "You okay?"

Kerry managed a brief smile. "What makes you think I'm not?"

Dar moved closer. "You're white as a sheet. What happened?" Her voice dropped, taking on a concerned tone. "Ker?"

"Sorry." Kerry waited for the pain to ease. "I did something stupid crazy. When you were pushing the cable back in here a bunch of--I guess those big rats. They came up through the floor." She took a shallow breath. "Anyway, the other guy that was here was falling into the open hole and I grabbed for him and we both landed on the floor."

Dar put a hand on her knee. "And?"

"Caught my ribs on the edge of the tile," Kerry admitted. "Think I cracked something." She saw Dar's reaction start as she was saying it and she reached over to grab her hand. "Not bad, at least I don't think so."

"Cracked anything isn't good." Dar glanced around. "C'mon. I'll take you over to the hospital. They can take some X-rays."

"No, c'mon. I don't think it's that bad." Kerry protested. "I just got the breath knocked out of me." She amended her diagnosis. "Just a bruise. Chill."

Dar's brow arched sharply.

"You would say the same damn thing," accused Kerry.

"So, because I'm an idiot, you have to be an idiot?" Dar asked.

Kerry thought about that. "Yes."

Dar gave her a dour look. "Go back to the bus, and catch your breath," she said. "I don't want you to bruise anything else."

"Dar--"

"That wasn't a request." Dar's voice sharpened unexpectedly.

Kerry tilted back a trifle and studied her companion, seeing the storm in the blue eyes glaring back at her. "Okay," she responded."Boss."

Dar stepped out of the way to let her leave, and she did, swallowing against the lump of unease in her throat. Dar didn't pull rank on her often, and even less so in situations like this that crossed into their personal lives, but it stung every time, and this was no exception.

Even if she knew Dar was right, and she was being stubborn, it didn't help. She kept her elbow near her side as she made her way down the steps; the hallways eerily empty, as were the sidewalks when she emerged.

The bus door opened as she approached though, and she climbed inside to find a quiet oasis waiting for her completely bereft of staff or visitors. As the door closed shut behind her, the air even cleared and she felt her shoulders relax. "Thanks, Alan." She called into the driver's compartment. "Quiet today huh?"

"Yes, ma'am." The driver called back. "I'll just be here reading my paper. Let me know if you need anything."

Kerry removed her mask and tossed it on the table wincing as the ache in her side started throbbing uncomfortably. She walked over to the courtesy kitchenette area and opened the small refrigerator. Inside there were milk chugs. She took one out and opened it.

"Ow." The twisting made a jolt of pain go all the way down through her groin. "Stupid idiot." She went to her pack and fumbled out the bottle of Advil, opening it and then tossing down the handful of pills with a swallow of the milk.

It tasted good and soothing against the roughness in her throat. Kerry took the chug with her and carefully sat down in one of the leather chairs, leaning a little on her good side to take the pressure off her ribs.

The pain eased. She exhaled, reaching up to unclip the radio mic and pausing.

Call Dar? Find some excuse to reach out and make that contact? She felt the urge to do that, to smooth over the moment's anger between them before it festered and yet, she didn't want to interrupt Dar in front of the rest of the staff for something silly.

Something she knew Dar knew would have nothing to do with what she was calling for.

"Ugh." Kerry let her hand drop and sipped her milk instead. "Dear God I wish it was tomorrow already." She decided she'd rest here for a few minutes, and then go back to the data center and make her amends in person.

Her side did hurt. A lot. She concentrated on breathing shallowly and put her head down on her arm as she waited for the medication to kick in. "Rats." She muttered. "What in the hell else is going to happen to us here?"

Her radio crackled softly, its speaker right near her ear. Then it clicked off, much as she had only moments before.

Kerry closed her eyes, and managed something almost close to a smile.

DAR KNELT BESIDE the open floor, working hard to focus her mind on the problem in front of her. She stared at the cable mess for a long minute before she glanced over at Mark giving him a half shrug. "Our options are fix it, or tell them to fix it."

Mark nodded. "Shaun said the guy in here said their network people are somebody's cousin."

"Great." Dar rested her elbow on her upraised knee. "All right,"she finally said. "Get a couple of the LAN guys down here with a kit. I'll go find the idiots running this place and see if I can get them to take responsibility for it."

"Think they will?"

"No," Dar said. "But I want them on the record refusing to." She stood up and stepped carefully over the open space. "Stupid bastards."

"This is a lot of crap." Mark got up. "Crap on top of crap if you know what I mean."

Dar looked past him, silent for a moment. Then she looked back."Yeah. I'll be back." She ducked out of the computer room and looked both ways, and then turned right and reluctantly headed further into the building.

Reluctant, because her conscience was really driving her in the opposite direction, back to the steps, and the door, and the bus where her partner was supposedly resting.

She felt bad about ordering Kerry out. Even if she was right, and even if she knew her partner knew she was right, it put her guts in a knot remembering the imperfectly hidden hurt in Kerry's eyes when she left.

Stupid, really. Dar prowled the hallways, poking her head into the doors on either side. Most were empty--given that it was Sunday and getting late--and she suspected finding a responsible person who'd be willing to help her was going to be unlikely.

Also stupid. Really.

She paused before a barred window and stared out of it. Maybe Kerry was really pissed at her for what she'd done. She watched the shadows move past the glass. Her partner knew her well enough to give her ten minutes to chill, and then usually she'd be back around her, nudging and poking and putting her in a better mood.

She'd expected that this time. But an hour had passed and her partner had remained in exile, and Dar was starting to feel very unhappy about it.

"Shit." She turned and put the window behind her. "Grow the hell up, would you?"

She climbed up the steps toward the large inner doors and pushed them open, emerging into the trading floor that was now dark, silent and empty.

It smelled. She wrinkled her nose. Not of dirt and decay as the basement below had, when she'd worked with Mark to push the cable back up, but of wood and paper, oil and dust, with the scent of stale perspiration just at the edges of everything.

The room was vast, but seemed far less so with the strips and outlines of cable supports that criss-crossed over the endless series of kiosks and connected them with miles of wires.

Without the clutter, it would have been grand, reminding Dar just a bit of the Grand Central terminal she'd visited on her last trip to the city. But with all the machinery and trappings of modern technology it seemed more like a cyber junkyard.

Dar studied it, reflecting on how much her life had been influenced by the goings on here. Then she shook her head and turned, walking out and back down the stairs.

"Oh, Ms. Roberts?"

Dar paused and waited as a young man caught her up. "Yes?"

"Hi," he said. "Barry Marks. We met earlier?"

Dar turned and faced him. "Yes?"

"Listen," Marks looked both ways, and then back at her, "my boss just called me. "

"I don't care," Dar said. "I've had it up to here with everyone's bosses calling everyone's bosses trying to make people kiss their asses. I'm over it."

"Wait--"

"I don't care who your boss is, or who he called, or what he's threatening, or what he says some other jackass is threatening. I just don't care. Either the damn thing will be fixed tomorrow or it won't. Not a jack thing you can do about it."

Marks stuck his hands in his pockets. "Boy, you're a tough cookie.Okay. I just wanted to pass along a warning, that's all."

Dar rolled her eyes.

"The governor is on his way here." Marks added. "I guess he's spoken to Abercrombie." He gave her an apologetic look. "Sorry about that. Everyone's kind of losing their mind about tomorrow. Any idea what we're going to do?"

"Postpone the opening." Dar leaned against the wall.

"We can't do that."

"Better figure out how to do this the old fashioned way then." Dar indicated the doors to the big room. "I'm not going to tell you it's going to be all right, buddy. It's a clusterfuck. There are parts of this thing ripped up and I can't even find someone from here to go fix it."

"Well--"

"You know whose cousin does the wiring here?" Dar pressed him. "Maybe you can have him call me, since no matter what we do with the uplink it's not going to help with the pile of cable chewed up by rats in there."

"Rats!"

"Can your boss find whoever's cousin it is?" Dar persisted. "Because that would help a lot more than sending me some ridiculous warning."

Marks held his hand up. "I'll call him. He knows the guy who's in charge of the facilities here. Probably some friend of his. Want him to come see you?"

Dar turned and started walking. "Have him see Mark Polenti in the computer room. He knows what to do." She called back over her shoulder. "I've got a--something more important to take care of."

"Right." Marks shook his head and headed for a small office nearby. "Knew I should have just taken the train up to Niagara this morning. Screw this."

Dar heard the echo, and felt a certain sympathy with it. But she kept walking, down the hall and down the stairs to the street, ignoring the guards and the people walking down the side walk as she focused on the bus door.

It opened as she approached and she waved a hand in the direction of the driver as she climbed inside, glad when it closed behind her and she was sealed inside the quiet peace of the bus.

Very quiet. Dar found herself stepping cautiously as she went through the front part of the bus to the back, spotting Kerry immediately. She circled the chair, finding her partner fast asleep against one arm, her breathing slow and even.

So that was the reason she hadn't come back outside. Dar felt both relieved and a touch embarrassed. She went over to the storage compartment and removed a small lap blanket from it. She opened it up before she returned and settled it around Kerry's sleeping body.

She waited a moment to see if that would wake her. When it didn't, she knelt down and carefully loosened the laces on her partner's hiking boots, and easing them off her feet.

She set the boots down, then straightened up and went to the refrigerator removing a chocolate chug and leaning back against the counter to drink it.

It was very quiet. Even the sounds outside had fallen off, except for the beeping of cranes and the sound of heavy machinery in the distance. She could also hear a fading siren, but around the bus there wasn't much going on.

She felt her PDA go off, bringing a welcome distraction. She put the chug down and pulled the device out of her pocket, opening it and reviewing the messages. "Ah." She muttered softly, taking out the stylus and touching the top one.

Hello Dar. Good news and bad news. Bad news first. They've looked at all the existing optics and nothing we've got can be altered to work over MMF at that distance, even with some classified stuff they have here.

Well, that was bad news. Dar found herself shrugging, having expected the message. She had decided they were going to have to wait until the new cable got here.

So, now the good news. They have an experimental optic here they're putting together for the space station and they think maybe they could see if it could be adapted. My guys are working on building an enclosure for it, so if they hit pay dirt we'll be able to fit it in the chassis you guys have there. It's a pretty slim chance.

Dar blinked at the message. Pretty slim? It was a hell of a lot more of a chance than she'd considered possible.

So anyway, that's the news. We'll be burning the midnight oil--let you know if anything looks promising. Hope it's worth something by the time we're done.

Wow. Dar tapped the screen to respond.

We're burning the midnight oil here too, just in case. Slim chance or not, this is the only hope we have, so whatever you come up with will be better than what we've got now. Whatever the cost turns out to be for this--bill me for them. If you come up with a solution, name your price. DR.

She sent it, then folded the PDA cover down and slid the device back in her pocket. Could they do it? At least they were trying. Dar picked up her chug and drank it slowly, the cold, sweet beverage easing the ache in her throat.

What next? She glanced over to where Kerry was still sleeping soundly. With a sigh, she set her empty chug down in the garbage and retreated to the door of the bus, opening it and emerging outside quickly, shutting the door behind her.

No sense in waking Kerry up, after all. Better she get some rest. Dar was glad of the decision a moment later when her cell phone rang,making her jump a little. She glanced at the caller ID, and then opened it. "Hello, Alastair."

"Dar. Where are you?" Her boss sounded exasperated.

"At the Exchange. Outside," Dar replied. "What now?"

"Well, do me a favor lady, and take all those people you got down there and pile them in that bus and take off," Alastair said. "The governor is on his way down, and I just told him to kiss my ass."

Dar leaned back against the bus, finding a smile somewhere. "You did, huh? What happened?"

Alastair exhaled. "Jackass. Someone got wind of their little game with the test yesterday and says they're going to tell the press. So the bastard told me he was going to cut them off and tell them we screwed something up and now we're trying to fix it."

Dar blinked. "Fuck him."

"Pretty much what I said. So gather the troops, Dar. Put them on the bus and head back up here. We're out of this."

"Just like that?" Dar asked.

"Just like that. I told him he could tell the press whatever he wanted, but then again, so would I," Alastair said. "I've had it up to my eyeballs. I already told the board."

It suddenly occurred to her that she wouldn't want to cross Alastair, not in this mood. "You got it, boss. I'll go get the team and tell the driver to get ready to move. I don't want to be here when that jackass gets here and starts yelling at me."

"Damn right,"Alastair said. "See you back here in a little bit."

Dar closed her phone, and exhaled. "Well." She tossed the phone up and caught it. "So much for that." She headed for the door, then halted, turned, and went back to the bus. She keyed the door open and trotted up inside, heading over to where Kerry was napping.

The blanket was now tucked around her, her fingers clasped lightly in it, and there was the faintest of smiles on her face.

Dar knelt, and put a hand on her shoulder. "Ker?"

The green eyes fluttered open at once, and the faint smile grew into a real one.

"How are you feeling?" Dar asked. "Sorry I was a bastard before."

Kerry drew in a breath, and then grimaced. "Ow." She muttered,sheepishly. "Don't apologize. I should go get this checked out. It's killing me." She extended her hand and clasped Dar's. "Thanks for the blanket." She added, "I figured you were the only one who could have done that and not wake me up."

"Well, we've got time to go do that now. Alastair just pulled us out. I wanted to wake you up before I got the rest of the crew in here rattling around. We're going back uptown."

Kerry blinked. "Really? What happened?"

"Long story. Tell you when I get back." Dar stood. "We could beheading home sooner than I thought." She stroked Kerry's head as she circled the chair. "Hold down the fort, okay?"

"Sure." Kerry eased to a sitting position as the door closed behind Dar. She wrapped the blanket around her shoulders and tried to find a comfortable position, wiggling her toes as she blinked the sleep out of her eyes. "It's over?" She looked over at the television screen that was showing scenes of the Pentagon. "Wow."

She felt a sense of relief. Her head fell back to rest against the leather surface and she imagined herself stepping off a plane into Miami's muggy heat. "Awesome."

DAR RESTED HER elbows on her knees glad she'd sent the bus on ahead to the office. The medical examination was taking longer than she'd expected it to, and she was starting to get nervous flutters in her guts.

Not that it was her guts being examined, but still. She was hoping Kerry's injury was nothing serious, but experience had taught her that the longer they poked, the more they generally found. It was the reason she avoided doctors when she could, and even though her better sense insisted that Kerry's ribs had to be looked at, her animal anxiety wished they'd just kept driving.

"Ms. Roberts?"

Dar lifted her head quickly, turning to find a nurse at her side."Yes?"

"Could you come with me please? Your friend asked to see you."

Friend. Dar took a breath, and then she stood and waited for the nurse to move forward so she could follow her. There were places, she reasoned, where making the point about their relationship wouldn't have gotten a second's hesitation from her.

Here, in the waiting room of St. Vincent's hospital, surrounded by dozens and dozens of people who were sitting there, in crisis, waiting in vain and hoping that a loved one who had gone to work on 9/11 would come straggling in--this wasn't a place to make a personal point.

She followed the nurse down the hall and past a set of sliding doors. There were rooms on either side, with old wooden doors and wooden sills, and the desks were age worn Formica when they weren't buried under paperwork.

The nurse paused before one of the exam rooms and gave her a brief smile. "In there." She stood back so Dar could enter, and then left.

"Hey." Kerry was lying on an examining couch, halfway reclined.

She had her boots and her jumpsuit off, but was fully clothed otherwise.

"Hey." Dar glanced around, finding them alone in the room. She crossed over to her partner and studied her. "You okay?" She found the lack of blinking and beeping machines, needles, or other medical equipment encouraging, so she took Kerry's hand in hers and clasped it, feeling the chill under her fingers quickly warm.

"Yeah, I will be." Kerry looked more than a little chagrined. "I did crack a stupid rib on that damn tile. Dar, that's freaking embarrassing," she complained. "How am I supposed to explain to everyone that I hurt myself escaping from a bunch of rats while falling into a raised floor?"

"You want me to tell them you actually saved me from falling off a balcony or something?" Dar asked. "I'm cool with that. After all, you told everyone I saved you from a shark." She chafed Kerry's hand, seeing the unusual pallor of her skin. "Hurts?"

Kerry nodded briefly. "They wrapped me up, and they're giving me a pain prescription. Not much else they can do. The doctor said its just a hairline fracture, and that I was lucky as hell." She drew in a cautious breath. "Pain's making me sick to my stomach though."

"Does that mean I get to take you back to the hotel and put you to bed?" Dar's eyes twinkled gravely. "Now that we're not on the hook anymore?"

"God, that sounds like heaven. It's so hard for me to wrap my head around the idea that we're just walking away from this. What about you?"

Dar shrugged. "You want to know the truth?"

"You want to go home." Kerry studied her face intently. "The guys want to go home. I heard them talking. They don't really like being here. The only thing that's been keeping them on the job is you."

"Me?" Dar looked honestly surprised.

"Oh, honey please." That brought a smile to Kerry's pale face. "We'd all walk over hot coals for you and you know it."

Dar's brow creased. "Do you seriously think I'd let you walk over coals?"

Kerry was prevented from answering by the return of the doctor."Hey doc."

The doctor, a middle-aged man with curly gray hair and a kind face, bustled in with a clipboard and a folder. "Well, hello there again,young lady. I think we've about got you wrapped up here. This your friend?"

"Yes, it is." Kerry nodded. "Dr. Ames, this is Dar Roberts."

"Hi," Dar responded warily.

"Hello, there." The doctor gave her a smile. "Well, here's what I've got." He handed Dar a big envelope. "These are her X-rays for her doctor at home."

Dar took them. "Okay."

"Here's her prescription. It's pretty strong." The doctor handed over a smaller square of paper. "If you want my advice, don't let her sleep lying down. Find a recliner and use the arms for support until the bone starts healing."

"Okay." Dar repeated feeling slightly bewildered. "I'm sure we can do that."

"Good. Take care of her, she's a cutie." He patted Dar's shoulder and left the room, whistling softly under his breath.

Dar turned and looked at a bemused Kerry. "Does he think you're my lover, my kid, or my puppy?"

Kerry started laughing, then immediately regretted it. "Oohh." She held her side. "Honey, don't make me laugh, please. It hurts like hell." She moaned.

Dar set the envelope down, stuffed the prescription in her pocket, and carefully got her arm around Kerry's shoulder. "You ready to go be coddled unmercifully?" She could feel a chill under her touch, and put her other arm around her partner cradling her gently.

Kerry relaxed, and exhaled. "They gave me a muscle relaxant. I'm a little loopy. I think that's why the doctor was letting your brain do the work for me."

"No problem." Dar kissed her on the top of her head. "Let's go. We'll grab a taxi outside and be back at the hotel in no time. I'll call the hotel and have them buy a recliner while we're on the way over."

Kerry chuckled faintly. Then she swung her legs off the couch and got up, helped by Dar's firm grip. "Want to hear the good news?"

"Sure." Dar left her arm around Kerry as they made their way to the door.

"My blood pressure was on the low side of normal." Kerry didn't quite manage to keep the smug tone out of her voice. "Even after all the crap we've been through."

Kerry experienced total shock when the nurse had glanced up and patted her shoulder, releasing the cuff and taking the stethoscope from her ears. "Perfect," the woman announced. "I love to see nice, healthy women."

Amazing. Kerry had almost forgotten about her damn ribs in her delight. The injury was painful and annoying, but finite and her blood pressure wasn't. She was glad to hear the recent stress hadn't resulted in a reading that would guarantee to cause her far more anxiety.

"Now that's awesome." Dar agreed. "I'll take that news any damned day." She looked both ways as they exited from the room, and then eased out into traffic. "Probably a good thing they didn't take mine while I was waiting for you."

"Aw." Kerry was content to shelter in Dar's arm, as they dodged the quiet crowd in the waiting area on the way out. "Why were you so stressed? I think we both pretty much knew what they'd say." She glanced to either side as they reached the door.

"I hate hospitals." Dar muttered.

Kerry patted her stomach. "I know, hon." She caught the eye of a woman standing just outside the hospital entrance, her hands full with a stack of colored paper. The woman came forward and held out one of the sheaves.

"Oh." Kerry took it instinctively. She looked at it, seeing a round face with a fringe of dark hair looking back at her.

"This is my husband," the woman said. "Have you seen him? He went to work on Tuesday. I know he must be here somewhere. Please look at it. Have you seen him at all?"

Kerry felt Dar's body shift and she stopped walking, touching her partner on the arm as she bent her head to study the page seriously."Dar, look. Did you remember seeing anyone like this?"

Thus called, Dar tilted her head and focused her eyes on the sheet. The man's face was ordinary and unremarkable. He had a golden skin tone, and in the picture he was smiling broadly at whoever was taking the picture.

Could have been anyone.

"Anything, Dar?"

Dar put her photographic memory to work, flicking through pictures of the last couple of days, above ground and below, going along streets, and standing on the steps of the Exchange, riding in the subways, walking around their hotel.

Down in Battery Park.

'I don't think I have," Kerry said finally, in a regretful tone. "Dar?"

"I didn't see him." Dar lifted her eyes and met the woman's squarely. "I'm sorry."

The woman wandered off without answering, going up to the steps to greet the next people to come out from the hospital with her colored paper, and her eternal hope.

"Jesus." Kerry murmured. "My god, Dar. These people have no freaking closure." She watched the woman plead. "Did you hear the news? I was listening while I was waiting for my X-ray. They think four thousand people are missing, and they've only found a hundred and eighty bodies."

'Yeah." Dar guided her to the curb, and turned to watch for a cab."You don't have closure."

Kerry turned and looked up at her. Then she leaned into Dar's body. "Sorry."

"Don't be." Dar signaled a cab. "My father's waiting for us at the hotel. If ever I had to have it beaten home to me what a lucky son of a bitch I am, you just did it."

They got into the cab without further conversation. Kerry leaned against Dar's shoulder and watched the streets go by, feeling a sense of separation from the world around her.

She wished they were home already. She was tired of the crowded chaos of the city. She no longer wanted to help out, or deal with the problems, or face the impatient antagonism they'd been subjected to by pretty much everyone they tried to help.

She'd just had enough. She felt bad for all the people here, she felt bad for their customers who were in the affected area, and she felt bad for her country and about the future that had suddenly become very, very murky.

But she'd had enough. It was time to let someone else step up and take care of things, and respond to the government's demands. They had done their part. She had done her part, and had a cracked rib to show for it. "What time's our flight tomorrow?"

"I have Maria trying to change it for the morning," Dar said. "It's one something right now."

"Wish there was a flight tonight." Kerry mused. "I'd love to be home right now, on our comfy couch, petting Cheebles."

"Me too," Dar agreed. "I miss my milk dispenser."

Kerry snorted softly, trying to stifle a laugh. "You're so bizarre sometimes"

The cab pulled up in front of their hotel. Dar paid the fare, and they walked inside, not really surprised to find the rest of their team gathered in the bar. "Let's say hi." Kerry nudged her partner in that direction. "And I'd love a beer before I start taking those drugs."

Dar hesitated, and then she surrendered. They walked into the bar,crossing past the service area to the pit of chairs filled with their staff. "Hello, folks," Dar said.

"Hey!" Scuzzy waved. "How are you guys?"

"How's the ribs, boss?" Mark was seated next to Scuzzy, a frosted beer mug in one hand. "You look kinda washed out."

"I feel washed out." Kerry eased into a seat. "I have a cracked rib."

"Ow."

"Ooh." Scuzzy made a face. "Man that hurts, huh?"

Dar rested her hands on the back of the chair. "Someone please order Kerry a beer. I'm going to go arrange for her drugs."

"Hey. I've got a cracked rib. Not broken vocal cords." Kerry reminded her. "Scoot. I'll get you a Kahlua milkshake."

"Mm." Dar patted the back of the chair, and then headed off toward the concierge stand. The lobby was relatively empty, and she found the concierge ready and willing to help her. "I have a prescription." She produced it. "Can you get it filled for me?"

"Of course," the man said, immediately. "May I ask what it's for?"

Dar studied the paper. "Painkillers?" She handed it over. "My partner has a cracked rib."

"No problem." The man accepted the slip and briefly looked at it. "Do you have a preferred pharmacy? We've got one right around the corner, but it's local and might not take your insurance."

"Just get whatever's fastest." Dar waved her hand a little. "I don't care what it costs."

The concierge smiled at her wholeheartedly. "Now, there's a woman after my own tastes. Ma'am, just leave it with me. I'll have it brought to your room as soon as it's filled. You're in 1202, correct?"

"Correct," Dar said. "And while you're at it, I could use a few other things up there. Got a pad?"

The man whipped a pen and paper out faster than her eye could follow.