Storm Surge - Part 2 (28 page)

"Can't do much about it anyway." Dar plowed through her lunch. "So let's talk about something else. When they let people back down into the tip of the island, they're going to need communications. How do we handle that?"

Kerry was chewing as she eyed her partner.

"How about those Padres?" Alastair blinked mildly. "You like baseball, Dar?"

Dar looked from one to the other, then shook her head and went back to her sushi. "I feel like I'm having lunch with a table full of abstract art."

Kerry swallowed hastily and smothered a laugh.

Alastair paused in the act of wrangling another piece of his sushi. "Not gonna ask." He concluded. "And none of you say a word to my wife about me having this. She'll think I've joined a cult."

"Cult." Dar mused. "That mean you're going to get a tattoo?"

Alastair stopped chewing and looked at her.

"Just asking."

Chapter Twelve

KERRY TROTTED DOWN the steps, descending to the lower level of their office complex as the crowds were thinning out and the hallways emptying. Outside, it was already dark, and she glanced at her watch as she rounded the corner and headed for the small closet in the back of the stairs.

Time to go. "Hey guys, you back here?"

"In here." Mark's voice floated out.

Kerry ducked inside the doorway to the closet, spotting lights inside. She found Mark and Kannan there, hunkered down next to a box mounted on the wall and a panel full of blinking lights. "How's it going?"

"Not bad." Mark dusted his hands off. "Kannan's finishing the prep on the fiber box."

Kannan looked up from his work. He had a white helmet on with a light in the front, and its beam nearly pegged Kerry in the eyes before she stepped sideways to avoid it. "It is almost done, yes," he agreed. "This will be all right, I think. We left room for them to bring the cable up here, against the wall."

He indicated the path. "Then it is a simple curve into the termination box, here, where we can then connect it up to our router."

The router was on a makeshift shelf, a flash of new steel against old, blackened iron but sturdy enough to hold the square, stolidly blinking device that was already trailing wires that led to the half buried panel they'd found earlier.

"I finished making the hookup." Mark seated a punch down tool in his belt kit. "I think I blurped everyone upstairs, did you see it?"

"Dar did." Kerry's eyes twinkled a bit. "That's how she knew you had to be about done."

Mark grimaced. "She'd probably have done it without a hitch." He groused. "But man, it's dark in here."

Kerry patted his shoulder. "So, we're ready on this end? Ready for them to bring the cable up from the subway, and that's it?"

"Well." Mark sat down on a piece of jutting pipe. "I mean, in terms of connecting it, yeah, that's it. But once it's hooked up, Dar's got to figure out what to do with all those different data streams. I got no clue what's going to come down that pipe and I don't think she knows either."

"Can we get a list of what it is from the Exchange?" Kerry frowned. "That can't be that hard."

"Can't figure out who to ask," Mark admitted. "I talked to a few of those guys down there and they all had different answers. Apparently the people who really knew what was up--I guess two guys anyway--aren't around anymore."

"Ah." Kerry crossed her arms. "Okay, well I'm sure she'll figure it out. But we're done on the physical side."

"Yep." Mark nodded. "Next thing that happens is the cable gets here, and Kannan connects it up to this panel." He patted the structure. "I plug it up, we get blinkies, and then Big D can figure out how to get the bits where they need to go."

Kerry exhaled silently. "What about the other end?"

Mark gathered up his tools. "I figure we can run down and do that end tomorrow. They get any further today? I know you guys were saying they were stuck down there." He edged carefully around the electrical panel which bore a new, shiny clamp with cables trailing from it toward the wall and the equally new socket the router was plugged into.

"They're working on it," Kerry said. "They know what the deadline is. We have to make sure we're ready so we're not the hold up, right?"

"Absolutely," Mark agreed. "C'mon, Kannan, pack up. I'm dying for a beer."

"That sounds good to me too," Kannan agreed. "I think I have enough of these ends to make the connections for tomorrow at the other place. Then I hope they get this done quickly. Once we are finished with this, Ms. Stuart, will we be going back to Miami?"

"Yes," Kerry answered, in a definite tone. "We have a lot to do back home getting our own house in order. I'm glad we're helping out the country here, but we're at the end of our ability to extend ourselves while our own people and customers also need help."

Kannan nodded.

"Too right." Mark tucked his gloves into his belt. "I think these guys are taking advantage of us. We're too freaking convenient. I heard those dudes down at the exchange talking about how they'd get us to do all this stuff for them and then they'd bill the feds for it."

Kerry stared at him. "Are you kidding me?"

"Nope." Mark shook his head. "I've been meaning to tell you about it. I kept forgetting with all this crap going on. I mean," he held one hand up, "like, they're happy we're helping and they think it's great we're doing this, but they're also checking to see how they can line their own pockets at the same time, if you know what I mean."

"I know what you mean." Kerry stepped back and held the door open. "Let's lock this and go get that beer. Dar and I have some work we need to catch up on tonight, so we'll pass on dinner, but she wanted to buy the first round of drinks."

"That is very nice." Kannan shouldered his backpack as he and Mark moved past Kerry and she shut the door behind them. "It is difficult, these things we are doing, but all the same satisfying. It is good to do hard work."

They walked around the back of the stairwell and headed for the steps up to the lower level of offices. Most of the shops were closed, though the restaurants were still open, and there was a small scattering of people still walking around.

Near the entrances, there were National Guard troops standing near the walls and watching the remaining people, their eyes following the odd one walking along as their hands cradled their rifles.

It brought home, again, what had happened. Kerry had realized she'd started to forget, caught up in the moment of doing what they were doing until she was pulled back into focus by seeing one of the guardsman, or hearing someone talk.

Seeing the pictures of the site. Pictures of the dust covered firemen doggedly searching through the wreckage for survivors, or signs off their lost comrades.

Resolutely she turned her back on the guard and led the way up the steps, reaching the lower level and heading to where Dar and the rest of the team were waiting.

The offices above were already quiet. The staffers had gone home-- those that could--and the rest were going with them to stay at the hotel until they were allowed back downtown. Alastair had visited the hotel manager and leased out a floor of the place to give the dispossessed a place to call home that wasn't the office they'd been camping in.

Life was moving on. One of the salesmen had commented on it as they'd broke up and closed the office down for the first time since the attack. There was a sense of sadness about that, a grief that was only partially acknowledged, and not yet dispelled.

She could see Dar, leaning against the wall, her hands in her pockets as she talked to one of the New York staff. Her partner looked tired.There was an uncharacteristic slump to her body posture that was visible to Kerry, if not to anyone else, and she felt a moment of impatience that they had to postpone a retreat to their room if even for the best of motives.

Dar sensed their approach and looked up, past the person she was talking to right into Kerry's eyes. Her expression shifted and one brow raised, the message as clear as the crystal goblets in the store fronts she was passing.

Absolutely expressive. Kerry could recall only a few times she'd seen that particular look, usually at the end of a very long day, when the inner door to her office would open, and Dar would be leaning on it looking at her with that look, and saying "Take me home."

Everything went into the to-do folder when that happened. No matter if she was working on who knows what urgent problem, she'd put her phone on voice mail, pick up her laptop, and they'd go. That look was where the line was drawn, and always had been.

"All right, we're all accounted for," Kerry said, as she reached her partner's side. "Let's roll, people." She waited for Dar to push away from the wall and then she put an arm around her, giving her back a little rub with her fingers.

They climbed up the steps and out into the night, crossing the marble courtyard and heading for the streets beyond. Traffic had picked up a trifle, and the streets seemed busier, but Kerry wasn't sure if that was something really different or if it was because it was Saturday night and more people would be out.

Dar's arm settled over her shoulders with welcome warmth. She looked up at Dar. "Tired?"

"Headache," Dar replied briefly. "Looking forward to kicking back and chilling."

"Me too." Kerry exhaled. "I think I'll settle for a bowl of soup for dinner and a bubble bath."

"Mmhg." Dar made a low sound of appreciation. "And ice cream," she added.

"Of course."

They followed the group along the sidewalk, not at the very back, but near it. Kerry was glad the pace was casual, since the long day of running around had tired her out. She also had a slight headache, and the cool breeze felt good despite the city scents in it.

She felt a little sweaty, a little dusty, and another thought crossed her mind. "Hey Dar?"

"Mm?" Dar seemed supremely content to amble silently at her side.

"That hotel has a pool, doesn't it?"

"I think so. Wow. A swim sounds like a great idea." Dar perked up a little bit. "What made you think of that?"

"You in a bathing suit," Kerry answered. She felt Dar twitch a little, then start to laugh. "You asked."

"I did." Dar chuckled, giving her a one-arm hug.

A tall figure dropped back to join them. "Hey there." Andrew greeted them. "What are you kids up to?"

"I was just going to ask you that, Dad," Kerry responded. "We haven't seen you since lunch. What have you been up to?" She tucked her free hand through Andrew's elbow. "I heard some of the guys saying you were yelling at someone before."

"Wall." Andrew made a dismissive gesture. "I been sticking around that coon ass He got himself mixed up with some of them gov'mint fellers and they was giving him a hive over some reports. Fellers were jackass rude."

"Alastair was telling us about the FBI wanting more reports. Was that it?" Kerry asked.

Andrew nodded. "Yeap. Got my back up when they started saying how they were thinking how cause all them boys of yours weren't from here that we were some suspect or something."

"What?"

Dar craned her neck around to look at her father. "What?"

"Yeap," Andrew said. "Don't know where they got that idea, but ah talked to them about it and I think they're all right with it now."

"Huh." Kerry frowned. 'What's that all about? Dar, we've had non US workers on visa to us here for years. You know as well as I do we take every qualified network tech we can find."

"I know," Dar said her expression a little grim. "But I also know there's an isolationist streak in this country a mile wide, and I've got a feeling this disaster is going to give that a chance to show."

"Them folks just ain't been much in the world." Andrew remarked.

"My father was one of those people," Kerry said. "He used to say all the time that we had to watch out for what he called that 'foreign element'."

A siren erupted nearby and everyone flinched. But it was only a lone police car pulling around a corner and racing through the taxi crowded street with lights flashing.

"And a couple days ago, what was undeniably a foreign element, killed a few thousand people and brought down two buildings and part of a third." Kerry went on. "So maybe those people feel justified."

They walked along in silence for a few minutes crossing a street at the light and moving along the block toward their hotel. Their colleagues were walking in a group around them, talking in low voices.

"Country's always had people from other places," Andrew finally said. "Ain't nobody hardly can say they b'long here."

"No one likes to remember that in times like this." Kerry agreed wryly. "My father's family, back in the early nineteen hundreds, came from Scotland." She paused. "My mother's came from Germany. "

"Wall." Andrew scratched his ear. "I believe my folks been here a while longer. Dar's mother's folks came with them Pilgrims."

Kerry turned her head and stared at her partner, one blond brow arching sharply.

Dar shrugged. "She thinks it's funny."

"No wonder she made that crack about the turkey last Thanksgiving," Kerry said. "But anyway, here's the hotel. Let's leave this for tomorrow, and take a mind break. Okay?"

"Sounds good to me." Dar was glad to see the doors to the hotel.Her headache had gotten worse during the walk and even the enticing leather chairs of the bar weren't appealing to her. There was noise there, and people moving around, and she wanted none of it.

"Alastair?" Kerry called out softly, as they entered the lobby.

Their CEO turned, spotting them and pulling up. "Well, hello there. Glad to be at the end of this long day as I am?"

"You bet," Kerry said. "Hey, looks like they resumed the games this weekend."

The bar was relatively crowded with most of the screens shifted from CNN's tense pictures to the colorful flash of football and green grass, and the drone of the stadium. One screen, a large one in the back, had the news going, but most of the patrons were around the bar with an attitude of perceptible relief.