Storm Surge - Part 2

Chapter Four

DAR WAS GLAD enough to feel the springiness of the gangway under her feet as she preceded Kerry toward the pier. Around her, the city seemed muted, sounds of sirens audible and the soft roar of traffic only barely.

She could smell the pungent scent of the water, but above that, on the wind now blowing from the sea, she could smell the burning, acrid scent of destruction, and the taint left a strange taste on the back of her tongue.

The darkness hid the billow of smoke still emerging from the Trade Center site, but if she looked up, and off to the horizon, she could see the stars being obscured by it.

"So where do we go from here?" Kerry asked, her hands tucked inside the pockets of her jacket. "All we need is the terminations, right?" She caught up to Dar and walked alongside her, their steps sounding an odd echo as they moved off the gangway and onto the concrete pier.

"Right," Dar said, "and to integrate the data stream, but that's trivial compared to everything else on the physical layer."

Kerry removed one hand from her pocket and tucked it through Dar's elbow. "You sound so sexy when you talk like that."

"Ker-ry." Dar gave her a sideways look.

"C'mon hon. I have to take my fun where I can find it tonight," Kerry responded wryly. "Let's walk down to that bar you mentioned, and see if we can get some nasty bar food or a pizza and a beer. Hell, I'd even take a hot dog right now."

"Me too." Dar exhaled, feeling some of the tension in her unwind. The last big hurdle was done, and she was actually looking forward to finishing out this particular task and getting on with the much larger one ahead.

They walked along the pier toward the gates, which now had some lurid, orange lights outlining the guard vehicles blocking the way. As they got closer to the gates, the sounds of arguing voices were heard and they stepped up the pace by silent accord.

"Hope that's not Dad out there," Kerry muttered. "I thought those guys were okay with us."

"If it was Dad, they wouldn't be yelling," Dar responded. "Let's see what's going on."

They got to the gates, and ducked through the opening to find a half circle of armed guardsmen facing off against three young men in jeans and windbreakers. All were carrying backpacks. Two of them were tow-headed and fair skinned, the third was dark skinned, and had black, straight hair.

The guardsman in charge, a different man than when they'd entered, was on a radio, giving the trio dark looks as he talked into it. "Not sure what to do with these guys, sir," he said, just audible to them.

"They've got all kinds of tools and some crazy story."

"Uh oh." Kerry slowed. "Maybe we should stay back."

Dar hesitated, taking in the angry stances and the weapons and almost decided Kerry was right, until their forward motion took them into the floodlights and the young men spotted them.

They weren't familiar to her, but apparently she was familiar to them, because the look of relief on all three faces was almost comical.

The closest one called out, "Ms. Roberts! Tell these guys not to shoot us!"

"Then again, maybe not." Kerry released Dar's arm and followed her into the light. "Looks like they're ours. Mark's guys, probably."

"Probably." Dar sighed, continuing past the trucks toward the crowd. "Don't shoot, gentlemen."

The guard in charge turned, startled to find them behind him. "Holy shit hang on--I've got some people inside here." He pulled the radio from his mouth. "Who are you people? What are you doing inside that gate?"

"Someone didn't leave hand over notes." Kerry sighed. "Jesus."

"Now I wish it was my father out here." Dar grimaced. "Okay, hold it everyone. Let's discuss this before people start getting hurt," she said. "Let me start from the beginning."

"Let me start from the beginning," the guard captain said. "Let's see some identification from you people."

Uh oh. Kerry removed her identification case from her pocket and stepped forward, holding the leather case out to the man. "Okay, here's mine. We've been in here since this afternoon, one of your colleagues allowed us in after he checked us out with the mayor's office."

"What?" The man grabbed her folio and glanced at it. "No one said anything about people being inside there. Who are you people?"

"I'm sorry if they didn't leave you word," Kerry said, in a calm voice. "But we came in here around three o'clock. We've been working inside the ship this whole time." She took a step closer to him, aware of Dar's alert presence at her back. "We don't want to cause you trouble. These people here are employees of ours."

"Boy, we're glad to see you, Ms. Stuart," the tech said. "They sent us from Washington. They said you needed us."

"Shut up," the guardsman ordered. "Go stand over there, both of you. I don't know who you are, and I'm not buying some crazy story that you got let in here earlier. Don't you people know what's been going on around here?"

Dar just walked past him, catching Kerry's arm as she went and gently hauling her along with her. She stopped where the techs were, all of them visibly relaxing. "You our fiber boys?"

"Yes, ma'am," the talkative one said. "I'm Shaun Durhan, this is Mike Thomas, and Kannan Barishmorthy."

Dar had her hands in her pockets, and was regarding them mildly."Dar Roberts," she finally said, then glanced to her left. "Kerry Stuart.

The men all blushed a little. "Yeah, we knew that," Shaun said. "Glad you came out here. They were really starting to hassle us, especially Kannan."

Dar glanced at the third man, her brows contracting. "Kannan?"

She knew the name, vaguely. Mark had spoken well of him, she remembered, one of their H1B Visa candidates she recalled signing off on. "Why?"

"They often joke that some people do not understand geography," Kannan said in a quiet voice. "However I did think most knew the difference between the Middle East and India."

"Don't count on it." Kerry glanced behind her, where the guardsman had now taken her identification and ducked inside his command car with it and his radio. "My mother said they'd been expecting some problems in Michigan with a backlash."

"Expecting?" Kannan eyed her. "Ma'am, there were two men from my home country already killed there, beaten in their shops from people thinking they were Arabs."

Kerry remembered the call earlier, and bit off a curse.

"Well." Dar exhaled. "I'm sure having a bunch of them living in Miami without being detected didn't help anything." She looked around. "It would be like one of them living here. How could you tell? Half the cabbies in the damn city come from that part of the world."

"Well there--what are you folks all doing out here?" Alastair shifted the bag in his arms. "Waiting for us?"

Andrew was right behind him with his box, glancing alertly around at the guard, the command car, and the small group waiting outside the gates."We got trouble now?" He came up next to Dar and cocked his head in question. "How're you feeling, Dardar?"

"Frustrated." Dar craned her head around to look at the command car. "You can give those things to these guys. It's their gear." She indicated the techs. "You three might want to fish through there and make sure we got everything."

The techs took possession of the bundles and knelt next to them on the ground, opening up the bag and peering inside it. "Kannan, this is your stuff." Shaun handed it over. "Let me get the box open."

"Ah, yes. Thank you so much." Kannan sat down on the ground and removed his pack, swinging it around and setting it down next to his leg.

"Hey! What are you people doing?" The guard commander circled his truck and approached them. "What's going on here? Who are you two?" He pointed at Kannan. "Get those things away from that guy--he's one of them!"

"One of them what?" Kerry turned in confusion. "He's our fiber tech. What's wrong with--"

"Shut up. You're probably in it with him. All of you, a bunch of t--"

Kerry got in front of him. "They're also part of our company. Look, can't we just call the command that was here earlier?" She held up both hands, then realized he wasn't going to stop and couldn't get out of the way in time before she was shoved hard to one side. "Hey!"

"Get out of my way. You men, over here. Bring that--" The guard commander hauled up short as Dar suddenly surged into rapid motion, coming right up into his face with her hands raising up into fists. "What the hell do you--hey!"

Dar had him by the front of his shirt. "You stupid little piece of shit!" She yelled at top volume. "What in the hell do you think you're doing pushing around the people who pay your fucking salary?"

"Oh boy." Alastair moved nervously forward. "This is going to end badly, I can tell."

The guard reeled backwards, then reached for the gun hanging off his back and started pulling it around only to find himself lifted up off his feet and shoved through the air back against his truck as his rifle was taken from his hands in a single, smooth motion. "Why you--"

"Hold UP!" Andrew barked, taking the safety off the gun and cocking it. "Paladar, you get back."

Dar took a single step back, her hands at her sides, fingers twitching.

The other soldiers belatedly started forward, only to halt when Andrew slowly moved his head in their direction.

"Put them damn things down," Andrew ordered. "And you still yourself, mister." He addressed the guard commander. "'Fore I shoot you in the nuts and save us all the trouble of you spreading out them know-nothing genes."

The other guardsmen hesitated, then put their rifles down on the ground and stepped back.

Kerry eased forward, and got her hand around Dar's arm. "Hey." She rubbed her thumb against her partner's heated skin. "I'm okay. He's just an idiot."

The guard commander at least had the sense to stay where he was, sitting on the ground with his back against his truck. "You're all ending up in jail," he said. "You better put that gun down, buddy. This is no game."

"No, it ain't," Andrew agreed. "Most times when I been holding one of these here things, it weren't no game and not so much as when you can't tell who you got on the other end, a friendly or a target." He stared, unblinking, at the man's face. "Like now."

The guard captain went very still, only his breathing evident in the rise and fall of his shirt.

"Now," Andrew said. "These here people are here to do something for the gov'mint. You are going to get on that there radio and get your CO over here, so you can 'splain why you ain't letting them do what they need to do. Right now."

"Okay." The guard captain held his hands out. "I'm just trying to do my job."

"No you ain't. That feller there today was doing his job. You just ain't got no sense, and don't want to listen to nobody," Andrew disagreed. "So get yourself up and get on that comm, 'fore I do it and get them collar bugs turned to half stripes for you."

The guard got up and reached in the open window. Andrew shifted the rifle audibly and he paused, then slowly pulled his hand out with the radio mouthpiece in it. "Can I ask who you are?"

"No you may not," Andrew told him. "But ah will tell you that if ah don't know someone who will bust you, ah know someone who knows someone. Just get on that thing and get someone with a brain ovah here."

The man hesitated.

"And if you all don't believe that, ah'll just let mah little girl here beat the tar out of you and take pitchers," Andrew continued mildly with a straight face.

The guard captain keyed the mic. 'HQ, HQ--this is Hudson Midtown. Over."

"Thought that might do it." Andrew turned his head slightly. "You kids want to get on back in case someone does something jackass here?"

"No," Dar replied.

Kerry shook her head in agreement, half turning as Alastair eased up next to them. "We're all jackasses, right?"

"Without question," Alastair agreed. "I've never been a jackass, in fact. But you know, the Commander is right. Let's get back a little."

Both Kerry and Dar just looked at him.

"No, huh?"

Dar finally relaxed, her shoulders easing and her hands uncurling. "Let's see if we've got everything." She gave in, and stepped back from the half ring of uncertain guardsman, and her father's threatening, brace legged form.

The techs were all crouched near the ground, eyes wide. "Wow,"Shaun muttered, as they joined the three of them. "This is getting crazy."

"Getting?" Kannan looked upset, and tense. "Never have I felt so scared, you know? Intimidated by my own nationality being in question. It is terrible. I feel like I am walking target for people to think badly of."

Kerry felt her heart finally starting to settle back down in her chest. She felt a trembling weakness in her legs and she leaned against Dar for support as much as in comfort. "He didn't even know who you are. He didn't even care," she said. "Jesus."

"Asshole," Dar said, quietly.

"You all right?" Kerry murmured, leaning close to her.

Dar didn't answer for a moment, then she exhaled. "Well," she said, "at least my cramps are gone." She glanced down at Kerry. "I just saw red."

Kerry bumped her shoulder with her head. Then she looked down at the techs. "Kannan, I'm sorry. I know what it's like to be judged on something you don't have control over." She knelt next to him. "Is there something we can do to help with that? We might as well get started, since I think we're stuck here for a little while."

The techs were willing to be distracted. Kannan pulled his bag over and took out a tool kit and set it on the ground, then removed a handful of bits and pieces from the paper bag. "Not too much light here." He looked up at the orange lamps.

"I have a flashlight." Shaun paused removing it from his pack. "Want me to hold it?"

"I will." Dar held her hand out for it. "Let's get done what we can. Then the beer is on me."

The techs smiled timidly at her and started to get to work. Dar turned the light on and focused it on the sidewalk with its odd scattering of technical debris, glad of a chance to stand still, the sense of thrumming anger only slowly fading from her awareness.

Kerry's shoulder was pressed against her knee. Dar slowly turned her head and stared past her father's form, at the soldiers who were staring back at them.

Assholes.

KERRY PUT HER hands on her hips as they listened to the guard commander, casting a glance behind her where the three techs were now seated in a ring of bright white light from the headlamps of four guard vehicles.

"Listen, I know how damned crazy this all is," Dar said. "But you people need to think before you start wailing away on folks you don't even know did anything."

"Ms. Roberts, I understand what you're saying," the guard commander replied. "But to be honest, there's no time to think right now. Just react. I know you know what I mean."

Dar sighed. Andrew sighed. Alastair grunted and shook his head.

"I'm really sorry we--no, I didn't leave notes for Josh there about you people being inside," the commander went on. "I got called out on a bomb threat, and three men were arrested with parts in a backpack, a lot like what your guys there looked like."

They turned to look at the three techs who were working contentedly on the sidewalk. "I mean, what the hell were they supposed to think with all that? What is it? Do we know? We're not mechanics," the guard commander asked, plaintively.

"Commander, we understand," Alastair spoke up. "You're trying to get a job done; we're trying to get a job done. We're on the same side, y'know."

"The guys that did that," the guard commander pointed in the general direction of the disaster site, "lived among us. Tell me how we can trust anyone?" He let his hand drop. "I can't. I know you're all right because the mayor's office said so, but those people come walking up here with backpacks and a wild story, and one of them looking like one of those guys who did that, what can you expect?"

Dar exhaled. "Kannan's from India," she said. "It's not even the same continent. Are you telling me anyone who doesn't look like Kerry here is eligible to get shot now?"

The guard commander lifted his hands and let them fall. "I don't know. You hear the news. People are getting shot and beat up all over because everyone's so angry they want to lash out. Me too. Us too. Maybe I would shoot someone like him if I had a doubt, if I thought maybe something else was going to happen. Yeah," he answered, honestly. "I would."

"Wow," Kerry murmured.

"You asked," the commander said. "But anyway, if you say he's okay and these guys are okay, then I have to go with that because the mayor says you are okay. But you could be lying."

"We're not," Alastair said. "These people are employees of ours. They have government clearances." He shifted his gaze to Dar slightly,and caught the equally slight nod of her head. "We all do. That's how the mayor knows we're all right.

The commander shrugged. "I don't have that information when people are walking toward me. I'm not saying it's right; I'm not saying people aren't going to get hurt in this who are innocent; I'm just telling you what the truth is. We don't know, and we can't afford to risk erring on the side of caution anymore."

They were all briefly silent. "Gotta wonder why the heck we're here trying to help then," Alastair said. "Because these people's lives are worth a hell of a lot more than making sure the mayor has a phone and a connection to the internet."

The guard commander now looked a little embarrassed. "Anyhow. I'm sorry this happened, Mr. McLean. I've talked to Josh, and I made sure everyone in this area knows you people are here. Maybe they can get some badges or something. I don't know. I don't know what the answer is right now."

Shaun had gotten up and now he cautiously approached the group. "Ms. Stuart?"

Kerry turned toward him. "Hey. You guys finished prepping?"

He nodded. "We're done, and we've got the gear packed up."

"Okay." Dar ran her fingers through her hair. "Dad, you want to take Kannan back into the ship where the other guys are waiting and let him get that fiber done, and we'll go up the ramp to prep the office side. That work for everyone?"

"We'll send a couple guys in with you just in case anyone else's gotten in there," the commander said. "No more screw-ups on this end tonight."

They walked back over to where the techs were packing up and getting their bags together. With a faintly anxious look, Kannan followed Andrew toward the gates, as the rest of them trooped on toward the ramp leading up to the new offices.

"He going to be okay, ma'am?" Shaun asked Kerry. "He's kind of freaked out about everything." He shifted his pack on his back. "I would be too, I guess."

"He's in good hands," Kerry told him, feeling a little freaked out herself. "Dar's father is a retired Navy Seal. They're not going to mess with him. Let's get this done and get the heck out of here. It's been way too long a day."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Wonder if they'd deliver pizza to this damn emergency office," Kerry said. "Or I'm going to have to call that damn bus to come down here before I pass out."

"Ma'am?"

A PALE SLICE of moonlight peeked through the clouds, illuminating the peeling iron and concrete of the pier with grudging nobility.

"Can I speak to the governor, please?" Alastair leaned against the railing, his back to the city. "Alastair McLean here, from ILS."

In front of him, the tarmac of the port's driveway stretched out to either side separating him from the front of the pier that was dusty concrete and steel. The glass doors were spidered with cracks and partially plywooded sections.

Behind the doors he could see Dar, her arms crossed over her chest talking to two men in blue coveralls. At a desk just inside the door, Kerry was perched, likewise talking to two men in guard uniform.

It was near midnight. He was exhausted. At the moment he wanted nothing more than to get on a plane to Houston and leave all the messy, uncomfortable, gritty details of it all to Dar, and he was almost too tired to be ashamed of himself for that.

"McLean? That you?"

"It is, Governor," Alastair said. "Just wanted to tell you, we got your emergency office up. My people are making the last connections and bringing up systems now."

"Yeah? About time," the governor said. "You people took long enough."

Alastair exhaled. "Well, you know, sometimes these things take time," he said. "As you may realize, it's not that easy to get things done in the city right now."

"I'm not looking for excuses. Just get it done," the man said. "Now if you don't mind, I have to call the White House. Good night."

Alastair closed his phone and juggled it in one hand. Then he walked across the road and into the terminal, the doors creaking reluctantly open to admit him inside. "How's it going, folks?"

Dar glanced at him. "Just waiting for Mark to call me back and confirm the routing integration," she informed him. "But we've got a good signal. We just need to push their routes."

Her boss nodded sagely, as though he understood what she assaying."Well, wish I could say it was much appreciated by the governor, but I just got yelled at for taking too long. Hell with him," he said. "Let's gather our folks up and get out of here, if we're done."

One of the coverall suited men put his hands on his hips. "If it's any consolation to you, we're grateful as hell to you people for coming in here and getting us going," he said. "All we've been getting from the politicos today is pointless jaw flapping." He looked cross. "All of them in here wanting this, wanting that, but when its time to throw a little influence around, forget about it."

Alastair smiled at him. "Thanks," he said. "But we're used to being abused, aren't we Dar?"

Dar rolled her head around and looked at him, one eyebrow hiking up. "I've had enough abuse for one day," she announced. "The governor can kiss my ass." She looked up as Kerry's cell phone rang and waited while her partner answered it. "Hope that's Mark."

Kerry gave her a thumbs up.

Dar exhaled, just as the two men at the desk started clapping and cheering. "Woo effing hoo," she said. "It's done."

Alastair studied the two men who were high fiving each other. The activity in the room which had been subdued now perked up, and a flow of workers poured from the break room behind a broken wooden door and approached the endless rows of banquet tables set up for use.

It was done. Now that he stood there and looked at the room, with its peeling steel columns and dirty walls, it seemed anticlimactic considering the effort and the struggle that they'd gone through.

Crazy. After hearing what Dar had done, with a soldering iron, and watching the young technicians sweat over the tiny glass strands of the fiber in a process so alchemic, he almost felt like he'd been watching some magic rite.

The techs emerged from the break room, and headed toward them. They were smiling, as they pulled their packs up onto their back and headed for the small group near the door.

"Ready to go back to the hotel?" Kerry folded her phone and clipped it to her belt. "I think we're finished here." She tucked her hand around Dar's elbow. "I need a drink. Finally."

"Let's go," Dar replied quietly. "I'm about done in myself. Alastair?"

Her boss snorted tiredly. "Lady, you got to be kidding me. I was done before sundown." He indicated the door. "I see Papa Roberts out there, so let's get ourselves someplace more comfortable." He glanced at the techs. Fellas, did they make arrangements for you?"

The techs exchanged glances. "I don't think so," Shaun admitted."They weren't really specific about what we were supposed to do when we finished. I think they expected us to be here all night so maybe it wasn't a concern." He looked shyly at Dar. "We thought we'd have to run the big cable too."

Dar managed a return smile. "Glad you didn't have to."

"Well, c'mon with us then, and we'll get you sorted out." Alastair decided"You fellas did a great job tonight, and you, at least, deserve a nice bed and a shower." He turned and regarded the door. "Now. As to finding a taxi."

"No probl'm." Andrew had entered, and was loitering near the door. "Them fellers down the ramp said they'd take us in their truck. Ah think they're just trying to poligize."

"I'll take it." Alastair shooed them toward the door. "Let's go troops. Shops closed for the night." He gave the men inside a wave, then followed the group out the door. They turned and started down the ramp, in the cool dampness of a fall night that despite the late hour, wasn't really all that quiet.

Emergency sirens still sounded. They could hear trucks on the lower level pulling up and the clank of forklifts unloading.

Dar let the sounds move past her. She was almost at a point where she was so tired she wasn't really cognizant of where she was, and the ability to care about what was going on was fading fast. She felt Kerry's hand clasp hers, and focused on the comfort of the contact willing the ride to the hotel to be over and the long day to end at last.

She was glad, in a distant way, that they'd brought the office up. Knowing the bigger task that faced them though put this in meager perspective. She wondered, briefly, if the governor was expecting them to go right from this to reviewing downtown without a break.

Probably he was. Probably he could put his head between his legs and kiss his own ass, too. Dar bumped Kerry lightly with her shoulder,smiling tiredly as she was bumped equally gently back.

The guard post was now very quiet with only two of the men standing by the barricade with their rifles, The rest were hunkered down behind the truck, legs sprawled out and a pizza box nearby. As they approached, the two men on guard alerted the others, and by the time they reached the bottom of the ramp, the guard captain was there to greet them.

"You folks finished up?" he asked.

"Yeap." Andrew did the talking for them. "We're fixing to get out of your space now. Got all them people up there happy, time to move on."

"John, bring that truck up and give these people a ride to their hotel," the captain said. "And listen, sorry again about that mix up earlier, Commander. Things are so mixed up here, we're just trying to be safe." He glanced over at Dar. "So much is going on."

Dar frankly couldn't have cared less at this point. "No problem." She waved it off. "Let's get the hell out of here."

They got in the personnel carrier and it rumbled off turning onto the roadway and heading for the nearest cross street, a blinking yellow traffic light fluttering overhead. The driver leaned on his wheel and glanced at Andrew. "Where're we going, sir?"

"Doubletree Metropolitan," Alastair provided, then settled back in the hard, bench-like seat as the truck turned and headed east. "Boy. What a day."

Dar was leaning against the door on the other side of the vehicle with Kerry between them. The window was shaded but she was able to look out and see the buildings go by with blinking lights and vivid neon decorating the mostly empty streets.

"Ms. Roberts?" Shaun spoke up from the back seat. "So, are we going to stay and help out with whatever else is needed tomorrow? My folks were asking. They're kind of nervous I'm here."

Dar stirred herself to some kind of skewed alertness. "Yeah," she said, after a pause. "Tomorrow we have to go down to the Trade Center site and see what we can do about putting the country's financial infrastructure back together."

Shaun leaned forward and put his hand on the back of Dar's seat."For real?"

Kerry half turned her head and nodded at him.

Shaun sat back. He blinked a few times, then exchanged looks with his coworkers. "I'm going to tell my ma you're sending me to Niagara Falls."

"Very good idea," Kannan agreed. "Or maybe to Buffalo, so we can get some wings."

Kerry managed a faint laugh. Then she let her head rest against Dar's shoulder and tried to forget the cramps she was now experiencing. "Barrel over the falls sounds good right about now," she muttered. "Hope the hotel has room service."

"They better." Dar sighed. "They damn sure better."

THEY DAMN SURE did. Dar ruffled her hair dry as she exited the bathroom to find Kerry sprawled on the bed with her arm wrapped around a pillow and a cup of rum laced chocolate nearby. Her forehead had that little wrinkle it got when she was in some discomfort, and Dar fully empathized with her on that subject.

"Ugh." Kerry reached over and picked up the cup, lifting herself up enough to take a sip from it, then putting it back down. "Life sucks."

Dar draped her towel over the chair and climbed into the king sized bed, laying down behind Kerry and slipping one arm over her as she blew gently in her ear. "Could be worse."

Kerry leaned back against her. Despite her current discomfort, she could appreciate the wonderful feeling of that solid connection and was very glad she could simply lay here with Dar wrapped around her and not have to move, or think, or yell at anyone.

Wonderful. "What a long, freaking day."

"Ultimately a successful one. I'm glad we saw that connection through At least we won't have that on our plates tomorrow morning."

"Only thing I want on my plate tomorrow morning is some French toast," Kerry sighed. "But somehow I don't think we'll get that lucky."

"Advil kick in yet?" Dar asked, sympathetically.

"Not yet. But I think you're enhancing its attempt," Kerry told her. "It's nice to just lay here. I'm trying not to think about having to get out of this bed tomorrow morning and go do again what we did today only in a much worse place."

Dar exhaled. "I feel like we busted our asses all day and ended up getting the finger from the city. I appreciate they've having a crisis here, but we're not the cause of it."

Kerry folded her arm over Dar's and exhaled. "Yeah. It's a weird attitude I think it's because they're so pissed off at what happened, and they can't lash out at the people who did it. So they're taking it out on everyone else."

"Peh."

Kerry smiled. "Hey, we're going around saying we're being mean because we're having our periods. Cut them some slack, okay?"

Dar chuckled dryly. "I never needed that as an excuse," she demurred. "Though it sure didn't help today. I felt like doing some surgery on myself there for a while."

Kerry grimaced in reflex. "Ouch."

"Mm."

"Do you think we can get the financial stuff going, Dar? Is it going to be more of what we had to do today? That was kinda nuts," Kerry said. "I mean--" She went briefly silent. "I don't know what I mean."

Dar pulled her a bit closer and felt her eyes drifting shut. "I don't know," she answered. "If it's as big a cluster there as I think it is, maybe we don't have to do anything. Or maybe we have to come up with some wild ass scheme no one's thought of yet."

"Ah."

"Or maybe someone else will be brilliant for a change."

Kerry felt her own eyes closing, and she relaxed against Dar's warm body, setting aside the aggravations of the day and letting them go for the moment. Far off, she could hear the late night sound of the city, but that too was fading, and before she could take another breath she was asleep.

Dar was awake a bit longer, savoring the peace and quiet after the long day. She felt Kerry's body go limp against her and her breathing even out and hoped they'd be able to get through the night without any calls, or demands, or--

Screw it. She reached over and turned Kerry's phone to silent. Then she closed her eyes, and tugged the covers up over them.