Storm Surge - Part 2

Chapter One

DAR SPRAWLED IN the leather desk chair, her bare feet propped up against the desk and her elbow resting on its surface. She listened to the voices on the conference call with barely contained aggravation, shifting forward suddenly only to relax again, as another voice took up the argument.

She picked up her glass of grapefruit juice and sipped from it. The astringent beverage was cold, and she swallowed a few mouthfuls before there was a gap in the discussion and she saw her chance to dive in. "Hey!"

The phone almost visibly shuddered. "Yes, Dar," Alastair said, after a moment. "Listen, I know things are tough where you are, but we're getting a lot of pressure here from a lot of people."

"Too bad," Dar said. "Have any of you been listening to what I've said the past twenty minutes? It's 8:00 a.m. I got back from the work site at 3:00 a.m. We just got things moving there."

"Now Dar," Hamilton chimed in. "Settle your shorts. Nobody said you weren't working hard. We just made some promises to the government and they want to know when we're gonna keep them."

"I can't see why we're delaying," another voice chimed in. "This is big. We've got a great opportunity here."

Dar glanced plaintively at the ceiling. "What the hell's wrong with you people?" she asked. "Did you not see the hole in the side of the Pentagon on CNN? Do you not know what goes on in that building?"

"Now Dar," Alastair sighed. "Well--listen folks. Today they're doing a big ceremony, and I've got to go get ready for it," he said. "I know your people there are working like anything, Dar. I understand it's important to get things going there. I know you've got a personal responsibility for the place. But damn it, I need you here."

Dar turned her head and glared at the phone. "So, what part of yes, I'm making arrangements to get to the city today wasn't clear? Did that whole five minute spiel from me at the beginning of this call not mean anything to anyone there?"

Alastair sighed. "I was hoping you'd be here this morning."

"I was sleeping this morning," Dar said. "And frankly, you all can kiss my ass. Anyone who thinks they can do this better, c'mon. Bring it."

"Dar, no one said that."

"Then everyone shut up and go do something productive." Dar turned and slammed her hand on the desk, raising her voice to a loud yell. "Instead of tying me up when I should be!" She turned, to find Kerry unexpectedly standing behind her. "Yelp."

"What was that, Dar?" Hamilton asked. "Cat get your tongue?"

"Nothing." Dar leaned back in the chair and let Kerry rub her shoulders. "Are we done?"

Long silence. "Well, I guess I'll see you here later today, huh, Dar?"

Alastair asked. "The mayor was just on the line, something about an office at the pier--any chance of looking at that first?"

"Sure," Dar said. "Done now?"

"Goodbye, all," her boss sighed and gave in. "I'll do what I can here. Going to be a rough day." He clicked off the phone and it echoed a little, then the room was once again silent.

"He sounds pissed."

"He wants me to be there making him look good," Dar said. "Screw that, Kerry. We had work to do here. "

"Uh huh. And we'd better be taking a train to go there." Kerry informed her. "'Cause, sweetheart, they're not letting anyone fly without ID," she said. "If we get packing, we can catch a train in an hour, and be in New York in three more after that. We end up in Penn Station. "

"A train," Dar mused. "Think we can get tickets? Probably pretty busy. No one wants to fly."

"Already got them." Kerry kissed the top of her head. "C'mon. Let's just get there. I'll give Dad a call." She held a hand out to Dar. "Shower? We'll save time together."

"Hedonist."

"Takes one to know one."

"HM." DAR STROLLED back down the aisle and resumed her seat next to Kerry. "I think I like trains," she concluded, folding her hands over her stomach as she regarded the inside of the somewhat narrow first class car.

"I suspected you would." Kerry looked up from her laptop, that she'd been diligently typing on. "There's windows to look out, and lots of mechanical stuff around to explore. I'm not sure I like the motion though."

"The wiggle waggle?" Dar stretched her legs out. "It's not bad."

"Mm. It's making me a little queasy." Kerry continued typing, tucking the bud in one ear more firmly into place. "At least we can stay in touch riding on this." She held a finger up then she clicked her mic on. "LA Earthstation, what was that? Who's asking you for that bandwidth?"

Dar rested her elbows on the arms of her chair, taking the time to sit back and consider an action plan for when she reached the city. Tough situation. She reached down into Kerry's briefcase and drew out a small pad, taking a pencil from her shirt pocket and hitching one knee up to rest the pad against it.

She could have hauled out the big laptop she'd been given, but it seemed too much trouble to do that just to take a few notes. "Okay."

"Okay?" Kerry glanced up.

"Talking to myself."

"Oh. Well, you know, all the traffic we took off the satellite back to the network is being filled with requests from the city." Kerry shook her head. "They're stuffed again."

"I figured they would be." Dar spent a moment doodling on the pad. "So let's see. We have the pier office to worry about, right?" She scribbled a note. "What's our best option for that? We don't have much on that side of Manhattan."

"You do, hon. You're forgetting the Intrepid Air Space Museum you managed to wheedle a contract out of after you visited the last time," Kerry reminded her.

"Mm. Not a big pipe." Dar groused.

The train hummed along, and a service person appeared with a tray. She started down the aisle, smiling at the travelers and offering them champagne flutes filled with orange juice. A few people took them, but most seemed glum and withdrawn huddled near the windows or with radio headsets covering their ears.

Kerry wondered if it was always like that or a reaction to what was going on. She accepted the glass from the server with a smile, and waited for her to pass by before she took a sip of it. "Oh. Hello." She blinked. "Mimosa. Wasn't expecting that."

Dar set her own down on the table between them and cleared her throat. "Fizzy."

"Miami exec, this is the New York office," a male voice quietly said. "Mr. McLean is asking your ETA."

Kerry checked her watch. "New York, we're looking at two hours to Penn Station," she said. "Is there anything we can do from here?"

"No ma'am," the man said. "There are a lot of people here from the city and state and he was asking."

"Well, we're moving as fast as the train lets us," Kerry said.

"I'll let him know, thanks," the man said.

"God we do need someone on the ground there," Kerry muttered. "Let me check who we've got accounted for." She typed into her keyboard and sighed. "Someone with some initiative."

"Send an email to Hermana Jones," Dar said. "Tell her to meet us at the Rock." She continued scribbling on her pad.

Kerry paused, and looked at her. "Hermana Jones? Who is that? Name is not familiar to me."

"My friend who now runs the Queens data center?"

Kerry blinked. "Oh. You mean--um-- What was that funny name that sounded like a part from Intel?"

"Scuzzy."

"Scuzzy." Kerry opened her mail. "That's right. You met her in Manhattan, didn't you?" She typed the message, trying to remember if she'd ever had occasion to talk to the woman. The data entry side of the house really wasn't her area, and she decided she probably hadn't.

She remembered Mariana having a heart attack about Scuzzy though and Dar's mischievous laughter when Hermana had turned out to not only be a worthwhile addition to the company, but was promoted to center manager to boot. "Why did you do that?"

"Huh?" Dar looked up but was distracted as the forward door to the train opened and Andrew sauntered back in after being absent for a good part of the journey. "Hey Dad."

"Hey, rugrat." Andrew sat down in his seat across from the two of them. There was a line of single seats along one set of windows, and double seats along the other, and there was ample room for Dar's father to stretch out his long legs in front of him. "This here is a nice train. I like it."

He was dressed in a company logo sweatshirt, the arms pushed up past his elbows and a pair of carpenter's pants. His scarred face took in reflections of the passing sunlight from the window, as he watched the countryside go by.

"I like it too," Dar agreed. "Thanks for coming with us, Dad. I thought maybe you'd want to stay back in DC with the guys."

"Them people pissed me off," Andrew told her.

"Our people?" Kerry leaned forward a little. "What did they do?"

Andrew glanced up as the server came by and offered him the tray. He took a glass and sipped it. "Jesus P Fish there's alcohol in that." He set the glass down. "No, kumquat, not your fellas. Those are good folks there. Ah was just getting ticked off because everybody's runnin' round in circles and nobody wants to own up to how bad things got screwed."

"Dar, Hermana just answered. She said 'Hell yeah!'" Kerry seemed bemused. "This should be interesting."

"You'll like her." Dar made another note on her pad. "Dad, it's only going to get worse where we're going. That's all civ."

"Wall, somebody's got to keep you kids out of trouble."

Kerry almost laughed, caught between answering a question posed to her on the bridge and processing what was going on around her in that slightly disjointed way she'd had to develop over the past few days.

What was it she'd called it? Acquired Attention Deficit Disorder? "Okay, that's good news guys. Go on into the city, and get down to the office. We'll meet you there, and set up a command center." She released a breath. "Newark Earth, any luck with your power? We could use those trucks in the city."

"Ms. Stuart, this is the New York office again. Mr. McLean would like Ms. Roberts to call him, please."

"Dar, Alastair wants you to call him." Kerry muted her cell. "Okay,New York, message passed. Can you clear some space for us when we get there? Is there a big room we can take over for logistics?"

"Should have brought some of them fellers with us," Andrew commented.

Dar stopped writing and looked at Kerry. "Okay. Give me a second to draw a cell phone." She remarked dryly. "What in the hell does he want that can't wait an hour and forty five minutes?" Dar turned her head toward her father. "Mark will bring the RV with him after they finish up the install at the Pentagon."

"I have no idea, sweetheart. I'm just the messenger," Kerry said. "Borrow Dad's phone."

The attendant came back through. "Sir, can I offer you some breakfast?" She addressed Andrew. "We have cheese omelets, waffles, or cold cereal."

"You all got any hot dogs? Ah already had my egg things at o'dark hundred"

Dar chuckled, and shook her head. "Better have something. We're going to get swept up in a pile of crap as soon as we get there," she warned her companions, giving the server a glance as the now harried woman turned to her. "Omelet for us." She indicated Kerry and herself.

The server moved on, and Andrew handed his cell phone across the aisle to her. Dar took it and flipped it open, frowning a little before she punched in Alastair's number.

"Miami exec, this is Newark Earth." Kerry's ear bud crackled."Good news. We just heard from Con Ed, they're expecting to finish re-tying us in around lunchtime."

"Great." Kerry smiled.

"Course that means we know it's really probably sometime tonight," the Earthstation acknowledged. "But soon as we're back, we'll send the trucks to the office with you."

"Alastair, we're on the way. What the hell more do you want me to do?" Dar was saying. Then she paused. Then her free hand hit the arm of her chair in muted frustration. "Because I don't have a goddamned driver's license! You want them to put me in as cargo? For Christ's sake, Alastair it would have taken us three hours to get on a damn plane this morning anyway!"

"Easy honey." Kerry patted her arm.

Dar abruptly cut the call off and closed the phone, tossing it over to her father. "If he calls me back tell him to kiss my ass."

Andrew caught the phone in one big hand and eyed his daughter dubiously. "What's that feller's problem? Thought you two got on?"

"He's losing his mind." Dar folded her arms over her chest. "I think the pressure there is getting to him. Goddamned politicians." She glanced at Kerry. "No offense to your mother."

"Who tried to hijack me into a senate investigation? No offense taken, sweetie," Kerry responded in a mild tone. "But he is our boss. You sure you should be hanging up on him?"

Dar reclined her chair and put her pen and pad away. "What's he going to do, fire me? He'll be lucky I don't belt him one when I see him."

Kerry patted her arm again, and went back to her conference call. After a moment, she found her hand captured, and her fingers interlaced with Dar's. It was inconvenient for typing, but she made no move to disengage, pecking at the keys with one hand as she studied her screen and faintly shook her head.

Crazy day.

THE THREE OF them stopped short after exiting the train platform, finding themselves in a circular lobby with people moving around the min pretty much all directions.

It was disorienting. The last part of the trip into Manhattan had mostly been underground and so they'd arrived in the station without a real sense of being in New York at all.

"Now where?" Kerry looked around. "I don't think I've ever been in this station. Where are we in relation to the office?" She took in the numbers of National Guard troops with submachine guns cradled in their hands and serious faces. "Wow."

Dar looked around as well, resisting the urge to reach up and cover her ears at the harsh, echoing clatter from the trains, the people, and the announcements bouncing off all the faux marble walls and the hard stone floor. "Loud."

"Yeah." Kerry raked her hair off her forehead. "Okay, so--"

"South." Andrew had been studying the walls. "We can take that little train up there. C'mon." He shouldered his overnight bag and headed off down one corridor. "Ain't no point going outside just yet."

Hesitating a moment, Dar and Kerry followed him. They made their way down a side corridor until they reached an area with ticket dispensing machines and turnstiles. "I remember this," Dar said. "Hope my experience this time isn't as much of a pain in the ass."

"Mm. Subways." Kerry fished some folded bills from her pocket and studied the machine. "Let's get a pass. Who knows how long we'll be here?" She inserted the bills and punched in her order, rewarded with a square of cardboard dropping into the dispenser.

She removed it, then rejoined Dar and Andrew who had already gotten theirs. "Not really conducive to luggage, huh?" She regarded the turnstiles.

Andrew took her bag and threw it up on one shoulder. "City folks livin' like water rats down here. Ah swear."

Dar did the same with her bag and they made their way through the turnstiles and into the subway station track area. "Uptown, I guess." She indicated a passage and they walked down a set of steps to a lower level with tracks on each side, and a somber group of fellow travelers waiting for the train.

Dar set her bag down and looked around. No one was talking much and there was a feeling of oppression she didn't remember from her last visit.

Andrew had put down the bags he was carrying and was standing with his hands in his pockets his pale blue eyes regarding the crowd.

The loudspeaker crackled suddenly, and everyone around them jumped a little. Kerry tried to picture where she was in the city and realized she was under Madison Square Garden. "Wow," she murmured. "Guess people are a little shell shocked."

"What's that, kumquat?" Andrew asked.

"Just thinking." Kerry felt a gust of wind hit her in the face. It smelled of dust, iron, oil, and a sense of time that made her aware of the age and the history of the walls around her.

Different than Miami. Different than Michigan.

New York was one of those few cities in the United States whose bones showed. That raw skeleton born in the turn of the last century's industrial revolution that had laid a foundation buried in the stone Manhattan was built on that was often covered over, but never replaced.

How many of those bones were exposed now on the southern tip of the island?

But there was no real time to think about it because in a moment, the train was there poking its nose out of the tunnel and screeching to a halt in front of the platform in a rush of humming silver. Kerry grabbed her bag and waited for the door to open, glancing aside at Dar as she did. "You okay?"

Dar had her bag held in both hands in front of her, and she turned her head and peered down at the questioner. "I'll live," she said. "It's not a long trip. Only a couple of stops."

They entered the train along with the rest of the waiting people. At midmorning it wasn't that full. Everyone got a seat, waiting in silence until the door alarm sounded, and the door slid shut. They lurched into motion, but not before a national guard soldier entered the car from the door between them, and took a seat at the front facing them.

His face had a smear of gray dust across his cheeks, his uniform was half covered in it, and his eyes were bloodshot. He exchanged nods with Andrew though, and then leaned back with his hands resting on his rifle as the car rumbled through a station.

"You going to call Alastair?" Kerry asked. "Let him know we're here?"

"Nope." Dar stolidly watched the walls flash by in the shadows."I'm going to walk up behind him and smack him in the back of the head when we get there."

"Ah."

"Then we'll get to work."

"Mmph. Alrighty then."

THEY EXITED THE subway right under the building where their offices were located. "What time is it?" Dar asked, as she studied the selections of street exits the station offered.

"Eleven." Kerry edged closer to her partner, as the crowd flowed around them. "Are those the stairs there?" She pointed.

"Good as any." Dar started toward it. They crossed the hallway and started up the steps, emerging from underground into an overcast sky and a surprisingly uncrowded street. "There." Dar pointed at the entrance to the tall, distinctive building nearby. There were several men standing outside, and after a cursory glance, they moved aside to allow them to enter.

Dar ignored them. She entered the revolving glass doors into the lobby and headed immediately for the elevator stacks with Kerry and Andrew following close behind her.

The inside of the building was stunning. Kerry glanced around as they stopped in front of the elevators. It was in an art deco style, and every inch of it spoke of class and money. The people inside though, weren't bustling around much. They were standing in small groups, talking or watching the televisions mounted on the far walls.

Kerry caught a glimpse of one. "Ah." She followed Dar into the elevator car. "The president is here today."

Dar punched the floor button. "Good. Maybe they'll all go mess with him and leave us alone." She waited for the doors to close then leaned against the back wall.

They were alone in the elevator and as it ground gamely upward, a pensive silence fell.

"Know what I was thinking?" Kerry asked, after about twenty seconds of silence. "I was thinking that given what happened here earlier this week, I'm pretty sure I don't like being in a building as famous as 30 Rock and sharing it with NBC."

Dar gave her a wry look, then patted her shoulder as the doors opened and they were on their floor. Obviously their floor, as the elevators opened out into a lobby with a curved wall of glass with their logo chiseled into it in all its staid and definitely boring corporate detail.

A big reception desk guarded the opening curved in the same shape and made of polished teak. Behind it a young woman was standing, a headset on her ears, her head bent and cocked to one side and her hand on the buttons of a big console phone. "Sir--sir--please, hold on a minute--sir--I'm sure I don't know if--sir, please stop yelling at me. I'm trying to--"

Dar went over and tapped her on the shoulder, making the girl jump almost into the glass wall. "Gimme." She held out her hand for the headset, glaring at her until the receptionist surrendered it in bewilderment, staring around and spotting Kerry and Andrew standing there.

Her mouth dropped open.

Dar put one ear muff to her ear and got the mic in position. "Who is this?" she asked sharply. "Mister Dobson? What do you want?" She paused. "Let me give you some advice. Turn on a goddamned television set. Half the city is down."

The receptionist's eyes almost came out of her head. Kerry stepped forward and put her briefcase down, giving the girl a smile.

"I don't give a damn. Tell your boss if you don't stop calling and harassing my people I'm going to put him last on the list of things to worry about behind the pushcart vendor outside and some taxi driver going by. Understand me?"

"Ma'am--" The receptionist bravely held her hands out in a placating gesture. "He's a big customer."

"I don't care," Dar mouthed back at her. "Roberts," she said into the phone. "Dar Roberts. I'm the only person in the damn company who can help him, so stop pissing me off and get off the phone." Her voice rose into a yell. After a pause, she nodded. "Thanks. Goodbye." She released the line and handed the girl back her headset. "Here."

The receptionist took them as though they were going to explode. "Uh--"

"Hi." Kerry distracted her. "We're from Miami. They're probably expecting us inside." She held her hand out. "Kerry Stuart."

"Uh." The girl merely pointed at the entrance.

"Thanks." Dar picked up her bag and motioned them inside. "Let's go."

Andrew picked up Kerry's luggage and followed her, giving the receptionist a polite nod of his head. "Lo." He ducked inside and waited for Kerry to catch up, then they both hurried to catch up with the visibly annoyed, stalking CIO ahead of them. "Tells folks off real nice, don't she," he conversationally said to Kerry.

"Best in the world," Kerry acknowledged, with a wry smile. "Nobody does that better than Dar."

Dar turned and walked backwards, giving them a dire look. "You better be talking about my phone skills and not anything more intimate." She turned back around and kept going, turning left down a corridor and whisking past various, mostly empty, offices.

Kerry felt herself get lightheaded as a deep blush colored her face, not helped in the least by Andrew's deep chuckle. "Someday I'll learn not to do that," she muttered. "She gets me every time."

She could hear the sound of raised voices and she quickened her steps, catching up to Dar just as her partner stiff-armed a large, heavy mahogany door open. The sounds got a lot louder as they entered a big conference room full of people.

Four men were faced off opposite Alastair, all talking at once. Three more were surrounding Hamilton, who had both hands up and was arguing forcefully. Two or three more men were standing around, aides apparently, and they were the only ones who looked up as they entered.

Then they went back to watching the disagreement, dismissing the new arrivals.

"You made a commitment to the mayor," one man said. "This ain't no joke anymore. I need an answer on when that office is going to be up."

"That and the president's office said you'd get things working. What's happening with that? You've been telling me for two days you've got a plan. Where is it?" an older man asked.

Dar tossed her bag toward the wall and went right to the table slamming her hand against it and creating a loud, startling sound. "Excuse me."

Alastair turned immediately, recognizing her voice. He spotted her behind the table, and a look of utter relief appeared on his face. Even Hamilton looked glad to see her, and they quickly abandoned their opponents and circled the table to join her.

The other men followed, staring at them. "What's this?" the oldest of them asked. "We have no time for more interruptions, McLean. You've stalled long enough. I need results! The governor's expecting an answer!"

"Well, Dar. Glad you made it. Glad you're here," Alastair greeted her, ignoring the man for the moment. "I was just explaining to these fellas--"

Dar stared right at him, until his voice trailed off and he fell silent. Then she turned and looked at the rest of the men long enough for them to start to fidget a little. "Everyone sit down, please," she said, resting her hands on the table.

The older man looked annoyed. He started to say something, but Dar stared him down until he pulled out a seat across from Alastair and sat down, motioning for those with him to do the same. "All right, lady. Make it fast."

Kerry settled into a seat to Dar's left, and Andrew ambled around and took the chair on the other side of her. The rest of the men grudgingly took seats also, leaning forward and looking at Dar.

"Thank you." Dar remained standing, resting her weight a bit on the hands she still had resting on the table. She looked at the older man. "Can you please introduce yourself so I know who the hell I'm talking to?"

Hamilton put a hand up over his mouth, his eyes twinkling a little. Alastair merely clasped his hands and worked to keep a benign expression on his face.

"Ivan Falcuzzi," the man said, shortly. "I work for the governor.

Who the hell are you?"

"Dar Roberts," Dar responded matter of factly. "So let me get my plan out on the table, then we can stop all the horse crap and actually get something constructive done." She drew in a quick breath, and started talking again before she could get interrupted. "You don't really have to tell us your problems, Mr. Falcuzzi." She straightened. "We know what the problems are."

"Then why aren't you doing something about it?" the man asked bluntly. "We were told you people would fix things. Things ain't fixed."

"I was fixing things," Dar responded. "We've been fixing things since this situation started. Tell me what you'd have liked us to do here before you let people back in the city, before we could travel, before we could get anything shipped in to help you, or before we made sure the military was going to keep running so nothing else could happen to anyone else?"

Falcuzzi lifted his hand. "Wait a minute."

"What did you expect us to do?" Dar enunciated each word separately. "What in the hell do you people think we are? Any of us here look like Poodle the Magnificent? Think we have rabbits we can pull cutoff our asses?" She leaned forward again. "I appreciate that you are frustrated Mr. Falcuzzi, but you are not one tenth as frustrated as I am to come in here after working round the clock for three days and finding you in here blowing hot air for NO GOOD REASON."

He opened his mouth, then shut it again.

"WE WILL FIX ALL YOUR DAMN PROBLEMS," Dar hollered at top volume, "IF YOU GET OUT OF HERE AND LEAVE US THE HELL ALONE!"

He stared at her. "You got any idea who you're talking to?"

"You have any idea how little I care who I'm talking to?" Dar countered. "You're keeping us from doing our jobs. Get out of here, and we'll deliver whatever it is Alastair promised we would. I don't have time to talk to you any more."

Falcuzzi studied her for a moment, then he glanced to the side, where Andrew was seated, his big, scarred hands resting on the table, folded together. His mouth pursed, then he shrugged and stood up. "All right," he said. "At least you ain't pitching me any excuses." He made a curt gesture to the rest of his gang. "But if I were you lady, I'd make good on that fixing business. Know what I mean?"

"Gentlemen," Hamilton stood up, recognizing a legal cue when he saw one, "as our dear CIO has so eloquently said, we know what we need to do. Now take your distinguished selves on out the door, and let us get on with it." He opened the door. "I'll walk you on down."

The men filed out. The last three, big men with very little in the way of necks, made a point of looking around before they walked out, tugging their jacket sleeves straight as they left and closing the door behind them.

The conference room became quiet. Dar rested her weight on her elbows and glanced at Kerry. "Got any Advil?"

Kerry grimaced in sympathetic understanding and leaned over to rummage in her briefcase.

"Well, Dar." Alastair put his hands on his chair arms, and sighed.

"I'm really glad to see you." He eyed his scowling CIO. "I know I've been a pain in the ass all day. You going to kill me?"

Dar stood and went to the credenza, poured herself a glass of water and used it to chase down the pills she was juggling in her right hand."I'm not going to kill you Alastair. Too many crappy things have happened to too many people in the last few days for me to get pissed off about a couple of phone calls."

Alastair twiddled his fingers on the chair arms. "You sure sounded pissed off at the politico's boys."

"I don't know or care about them." Dar came back and sat down, exhaling. "I know and care about you." She caught her boss's eyes widening in surprise. "So I'd rather take my cramps out on them since they weren't doing anything productive for us anyway."

"Ah."

Kerry reached over and gave Dar's back a little rub. "We have a short list of critical tasks, sir," she addressed Alastair. "The emergency office and some kind of coverage downtown are top on the list. Is there anything else they're pressing us on?"

"Well." Alastair eyed them both warily. "I don't want to get your shorts back in a twist now."

"Alastair, please." Dar smiled briefly.

"We do have a little longer short list," Alastair admitted. "Somethings came up today, and I guess they thought they'd throw everything at us and see what stuck."

"Bring it on." Kerry took her laptop out and put it on the table."Dad, you want some coffee? I'm going to find some tea."

"Naw," Andrew said. "How bout I get your's and Dardar's bunks squared away. I figure you got a lot of stuff you got to take care of," he offered."Ah'll find out what's going on round here anyhow."

"Thanks, Dad," Dar said "That'd be great."

Andrew stood up and slung his own bag over his shoulder. He stepped behind them and patted Dar on the shoulder then collected their bags and ducked out the door. "Better find me that coon ass, too, 'fore he gets into trouble with them folks," he muttered as he left, his words echoing softly.

That left the three of them. Kerry focused on getting her laptop started up, as Dar and Alastair regarded each other.

"Here we go again," Alastair said, finally.

"Here we go again," Dar repeated, with a sigh. "Got any rum?"

"Eh?"