Storm Surge - Part 2 (42 page)

The cable slithered forward as Dar fed it up, past Kerry's shoulder. "That's enough," Dar called back. "Tie it off for strain relief, Mark."

"Doin' it!" Mark called back. "Dar, for Christ's sake don't fall, okay? I don't think I can catch you and we're both gonna end up across those freaking tracks!"'

"I'm all right." Dar leaned on the sill again. "You okay?" She focused on Kerry.

"Absolutely not." Kerry reached over and extended her hand which Dar clasped. "We're not done. The part's here, Dar. We've got to get it down to the exchange."

"I know," Dar said. "And I've got to be here to configure this end of it when the traffic starts coming down. I told the router on that end to send me everything. I'm going to split it up here."

"We're insane." Kerry rested her head against her arm. "I'll get the part and go to the Exchange. If they won't let me in, at this point, I'm going to start biting and kicking people so get the bail money out."

"Ker, we can send someone else," Dar said. "I'll send Mark."

"Who do you think has the best chance of getting in there?" Kerry kept her eyes closed. "Honestly."

Dar sighed.

"You're taking me to dinner at Joe's Stone Crab tonight, Paladar."

Dar pulled her hand closer and kissed her knuckles. "Ker, I'll buy Joe's Stone Crab for you if you want, but--ah--can you move back out of the way?"

"Huh?"

"Gotta jump up here." Dar looked behind her.

"Boss! Watch it!" Mark yelled suddenly. "Watch it!"

Kerry's eyes popped open. "Honey you're not fitting through here. Dar, wait--no wai--Dar!"

With a sudden surge, Dar hauled herself through the opening. "Mark! Move!"

"Outta here boss!"

There was thundering huge crash behind her, and far off, the sound of alarms going off. "I think we just blocked the tracks." Dar reviewed her options in the tiny, cramped space. "I think I'm gonna end the day pissing a lot of people off."

Kerry was wriggling backwards as fast as she could, trying not to kick Shaun and Kannan who had descended over the cable and were working furiously.

"Guys?" Dar said. "Stop."

Shaun looked up. "Ma'am?"

"Pull Kerry out of there." Dar pointed. "Just grab her legs and pull gently before she passes out." She looked up, then jumped and grabbed a pipe, pulling her body up and over the top of it. "C'mon people, we're out of time."

Chapter Seventeen

KERRY BOARDED THE subway train with Andrew right behind her, her hands pushed into the front pocket of her hastily donned hoodie. One hand clutched the optic device as she was shepherded to a seat by her tall companion.

"This is a crazy thing." Andrew sat down next to her in the half full train.

"It is." Kerry was aware of every minute ticking by. "But Scuzzy said it would be faster to do this, than try to drive down there with everything going on. I trust her to know New York."

"Some right." Andrew acknowledged. "Lots of traffic now up there."

"Lots." Kerry sat back, feeling utterly exhausted. Part of that was the drug she was taking for her ribs she knew, but there was a bone deep tired along with it she hadn't felt for a long time. "You know, I said to Dar I was glad we were doing this."

"Not so glad now?" Andrew asked, watching her from the corner or his eye. "You don't look so hot."

"I don't feel so hot," Kerry admitted. "I think besides my ribs I'm coming down with something. I've got that ache all over feeling." She exhaled carefully. "Just my luck."

Andrew patted her shoulder. "Hang in there, kumquat. This here thing's about done ah think."

"I'll be glad to get on that darn airplane, that's for sure," Kerry agreed. "Bet you will too."

Andrew let his big hands rest on his knees. "That is a true thing. Place here's got some of the same things I saw some places I been." He continued in a reflective tone, "a lot of fussing with folks haids. Mad. Crazy. Sad. Hating."

"You mean places you've been deployed?" Kerry asked, after a pause.

"Yeap."

The train rattled through the tunnel, and pulled into a station. A few people got off, a lot of people got on. Most were quiet, as they settled in seats, or took hold of the bars. Andrew scanned them, and then he remained seated, pulling his boots in a little to keep them from tripping anyone.

Kerry checked her watch, and then shook her head.

"WELL, DAR, WE knew it would be down to the wire but--"

"Sh." Dar staked out a spot on the floor behind where Kannan and Shaun were feverishly working. "Don't get me wrong," She paused and looked over her shoulder, "I am deeply grateful to all of you for doing this, but if we don't get finished, it's not gonna mean much."

"Sure." Chuck found a spot near the wall. "Mind if we watch?" He indicated his companions; two men in khakis with tucked in short sleeve shirts and actual, real pocket protectors. They had glasses, and that intense look that rocket scientists have.

"No." Dar plugged her laptop into the router and started it up. "Sit down, it'll be a while." It was already stuffy inside the room without the extra people in it, and she felt the sweat gather under her jumpsuit adding to an already significant discomfort. "Hell."

"Dar?" Mark's voice erupted near her ear. "I've got good uplinks--you want me to--what do you want me to do up here?"

"Hang on." Dar unzipped her jumpsuit and pulled it off her arms and shoulders, exposing her tank top covered upper body to the sluggish air. She tied the sleeves off around her waist and retrieved the mic. "All right, listen. We're taking the whole stream from down there so when it starts up I'm going to have to parse it by IP and set up sub interfaces to route it."

There was a long moment's silence. "You're going to do that on the fly, boss?"

"Do you have another suggestion? Cough it up."

"Um."

"Aside from not trying this at all?" Dar exhaled. "I just hope we've got existing gateways to where this stuff's going." She scrubbed the hair out of her eyes with one hand.

"Wow." Mark said, after another long pause. "You want me to--"

"Capture everything so we can put it all back if this tanks? Sure." Dar logged into her laptop. "Wish me luck? Sure."

"Okay, will do." Mark responded. "I feel kinda lame up here. "

"Just hang tight," Dar said. "It's all in Kerry's pocket right now anyway." She set up her monitoring tools, opening a console to the router in one window and several sessions with the routing systems in the Miami office in others.

"Think we can get a case study out of this when we're all done,Dar?" Chuck asked, as he clasped his hands around his knees.

Dar gave him a sideways look.

"How about you keynote our next tech convention?"

"ONE MORE STOP." Kerry stood up as the train lurched into motion."Ready, Dad?"

"Right with you, Kerry." Andrew stood behind her, one hand resting lightly on her shoulder. They waited for the train to stop, then were the first ones out of the door dodging the rest of the travelers as they reached the steps and headed up them two at a time.

It was loud and bustling under the ground and Kerry got through the exit turnstiles yearning for a sight of the open sky again. She evaded crashing into two men rushing for the entrance and got to the steps outside, running up them and emerging into the open air.

It was gritty and dusty, but there was no time to worry about a mask as Kerry broke into a run toward the exchange. The jolting of her own footsteps sent shocks up and down her side, but she ignored them and focused on the gothic front of the now familiar building a short distance away.

There were people clustered in front of the main entrance. She saw police there, and the military. The streets were blocked off.

Men were yelling. There were two people being held by their arms.

"Kerry that does not look good." Andrew was keeping pace with her."Gonna be a fight."

It was. Kerry could see it. She glanced at her watch and knew they had no time for it. Twenty after nine.

A policeman spotted them running, and pointed. Two military men reacted, and started forward. Kerry took it all in a series of vivid impressions. She realized she had no time to make a decision; her forward momentum was taking her toward the main steps as fast as she could run.

Soldiers ran toward them. "You--have a card you can show them Dad?" Kerry felt her breath coming shorter, and the pain made flashes of black and red on the backs of her eyeballs.

"Lord." Andrew didn't sound happy.

Kerry prepared to haul up as they were intercepted, when a motion caught her eye and she looked down the street to the back entrance, spotting a cluster of suited figures shuffling from a set of black cars.

One moment. One view. Instantly, Kerry changed course. "Hold 'em off." She called back as she bolted down the side street.

"Lord." Andrew dug in his pockets for his identification as he came to a halt in front of the military men. "Whoa there, fellas, Hang on."

Kerry kept going. She ducked between two wrecked cars, her boots tossing up puffs of ash dust as she powered along the sidewalk toward the group of people. The guards at the top of the steps spotted her and turned, and the group on the steps turned to see what was going on.

"Watch it! Stop her!" One of guards yelled. A policeman standing nearby lunged at Kerry, but missed her as she ducked past. "Hey! Stop! Stop!"

The guards pulled their guns off their shoulders, one hopping over the railing and falling to the ground with a grunt as he tried to get in between this oncoming threat and the people on the steps. "Stop!"

"Kerrison!" Cynthia Stuart blurted in surprise, as Kerry closed in on them. "What on earth!" She pushed to the front of the crowd. "Wait, stop. That's my daughter!"

The guards hesitated, just long enough for Kerry to slide past them and get to her mother's side. "Wait-- ma'am!"

"Mother." Kerry got hold of Cynthia's arm. "I have to get inside. There's no time to explain." She uttered. "Trust me, please."

Cynthia stared at her for a long heartbeat as their eyes met. Then she blinked. "Well, of course. We must go. Excuse us gentlemen. Sorry for this disturbance. I'm sure Kerrison just didn't want to be late for the opening."

Nine twenty five. Kerry barely held her impatience as they filed in the door among the group of senators, most of them looking at her with varying levels of surprise and distaste.

No time. Kerry broke from them the minute they cleared the inner door, past the guards, past the security in black jackets, past the secret service stationed carefully long the walls. She dodged a set of outstretched hands and went down a hallway, hearing yells behind her.

Ignoring them. Down a set of stairs, around a corner, and she was in the lower level again. Two doors down on the right, and she was throwing her shoulder against the surface as her hands turned the knob, almost falling inside.

Men inside. Startled, they turned, hands outstretched.

Kerry avoided them, her eyes focused on the setup in the corner, the one they'd left there, blinking quietly untouched.

Untouched.

The men were yelling at her, but all she could hear was her heartbeat thundering as she dropped to the floor and slid the last few feet,her hands wrenching at the static wrapping around the module she'd brought.

Footsteps. "Don't touch me!" Kerry yelled in warning, as she felt people closing in and her fingers felt cold steel instead of plastic. She got the optic out and shoved it into place, then grabbed for the patch cable as hands grabbed her.

Digging her boots in she leaned against the yanking, almost blacking out as a jolt of fire went through her chest. "Ahhhh!"

The pull relaxed for an instant, just enough for her to fall forward on to the router and get the end of the cables into place, shoving them home with a set of soft, unremarkable clicks.

So close to her eyes, she couldn't make out the features. For a moment, nothing happened.

"What the hell is that crazy woman doing?'

Then a soft, green light came on. It lit her face up, and as she blinked sweat out of her eyes she swore she could almost taste the green on the back of her tongue.

"Leave her be."Andrew's voice cut in, loud and uncompromising."Let her loose fore I rip your damn arms off and choke you with 'em."

Nine twenty seven.

Kerry felt the grip come off her, and she rolled over to sit on the floor, legs splayed, breathing hard, and flashes of red in her vision timed with her heartbeat. There were three men in the room aside from Andrew, and they were in logo shirts and pressed chinos.

"It's that crazy lady," the tech who'd been in the room when she'd gotten hurt blurted. "What in the hell are you doing?"

Kerry licked her lips. "Finishing what we started." She got to her knees and then had to stop.

Andrew came over and held his hands out. "Here." He took her hands and lifted her up. "You done now? This thing working?"

Kerry turned to look at the router that was now flashing with a lot of activity lights on the front. "Something's going through. Whether it works or not is in Dar's hands now."

"Wait--are you saying you're fixing this thing after all?" One of the other men stepped up. "They told us you weren't. Some guy came in here and said--there was an FBI agent here asking questions, said they were--that you--"

The tech was looking at something on his screen. "Well, something's happening because all of a sudden this stuff's trying to work,"he said. "So if those guys are going to arrest these people they probably should wait a few minutes."

"I should call them--" The man hesitated. "But if you're fixing it--"

Kerry held her hand up. "Spare me the details," she said, exhausted. "We're doing what we can." She turned to Andrew. "Let's go find my mother again. She's going to kill me for using her like I just did."

"Wait, you can't leave." The supervisor started to block the door,then found himself against the wall, pushed there by Andrew's big fist. "Okay. Maybe you can."