Storm Surge - Part 2 (33 page)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Multimode," answered Dar.

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

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

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

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

"I know."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"By tomorrow morning?" Marks asked.

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

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

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

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

Kerry chuckled under her breath.

"Manual or electric?"

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."