Storm Surge - Part 2 (6 page)

"All right," Andrew agreed. "Dar, you be all right here? I think these fellers are going to be okay."

"We'll be fine," Dar assured him. "Thanks for taking care of that for us. Sooner it gets here, sooner we can get this connected." She watched her father and boss walk off, heading for the corner to hail a cab. "Why do I feel nervous all of a sudden?"

Kerry leaned her head against Dar's shoulder. "Honey, I'm sure they can handle this." She exhaled. "Besides, we really need the stuff. I sent a list to the vendor, and he said he had it, but he didn't deliver and wasn't about to start."

"Nice."

"Can't really blame him." Kerry kicked her feet out a little. "We're not really local here. He didn't know me from Adam."

"With your voice, if he didn't know you from Adam I'm scared to be buying fiber from him," Dar remarked dryly. "Okay, here comes our boy. Let's see where this gets us." She got up as the two men approached.

The lieutenant was an older man, with grizzled gray hair and stocky body. He looked tired and harassed, which put him in league with everyone else in the city, she reckoned. "Lieutenant. Thank you for coming to talk with us."

The man nodded briefly. "Ms. Roberts, I've had a call from the mayor's office. We'll give you the access and anything else you might need. Sorry to hold you up. Everything's crazy here." He glanced at the pier."I don't know what the hell's going on."

The other guard looked somber and apologetic.

"Please. Don't apologize, we know how stressed everyone must be." Kerry picked up the conversational ball. "We appreciate that you took the time to get everything sorted out. Is it okay for us to proceed now? I'll get my guys back from the hot dog stand."

"Sure," the lieutenant said. "John, give these folks an escort back to where they need to be, and a few hands to help move whatever this is." He gestured to the spool. "Ladies, have a good day." He turned and walked off. After an awkward moment, the other guard hurried after him, leaving Dar and Kerry alone with their spool again.

"Well," Kerry exhaled, "that was easier than I thought it would be. Want me to go get the gang?"

"Sure," Dar said. "I'll sit here and wish I was under a bus."

Kerry stroked her arm. Dar's face was a little pale, and she could see her biting the inside of her lip. "Honey, why don't you go to the hotel? I can handle this," she urged. "C'mon. You look like hell. It makes no sense for you to sit here and suffer. Go relax and get a heating pad or something."

Dar paused then looked mournfully at her. "I can't." She tilted her head and indicated the returning techs. "My macha won't let me. C'mon." She got up as the techs approached. "All right, folks. Let's get this rig rolling. They're letting us in."

"Your macha can kiss my ass," Kerry growled, earning her a raised eyebrow look from her partner. "I should have made your Dad take you back to the hotel."

"Hey, good deal," Scuzzy said. "You knew how to talk to those guys for sure, Dar from Miami."

The techs put their shoulders to the spool and got it upright, then pulled their gloves back on. They started rolling the spool carefully, laying out the fiber wire behind them as they maneuvered down the slight incline to the entrance of the museum.

The guardsmen drew the barricades aside and two of them came over. "Can we help?" the first one asked, a tall blond with a scar across his mouth. "Where you going?"

The techs looked at Dar. "That way." She indicated a tight path around one edge. "Down that ramp, between those two posts, and then stop by that second hatch panel." She stood back as the guard and the techs wrestled the spool of wire forward. "What was that about my macha?" she asked Kerry.

Kerry stuck her tongue out.

They followed the techs down the ramp and through the truck barricades, past the visitor entrance down to the walkway alongside where the big carrier was anchored. It was quieter here, since the museum was closed, and the sound of the Hudson lapping against the old pier was much louder.

It smelled rank. Kerry's nose wrinkled, as she glanced past the pier toward the shores of New Jersey. Above that, she could also smell the scent of iron, and grease and sun warmed metal, and they stopped just before a big metal housing from which extended thick black cables that ran into a hatch onboard the ship.

Dar studied it. "We need to figure how much we're going to need in slack, and cut it," she said. "That spool can't fit in the hatch."

The techs straightened up, and peered at the ship uncertainly."Wow," the younger one sighed. "Didn't bring my measuring tape."

Dar ducked to one side and looked, trying to measure with her eyes. She shook her head. "Need to extend inside too." She headed for the lower gangway, which was chained off and led to an open shell door in the ship's side. "Let's see for how long."

After a quick look around Kerry followed her, and after a moment, the rest of them did too. They waited for Dar to unlatch the chain and let it fall, then they all trooped across the gangway, its surface flexing under their weight as they made for the entrance.

Dar didn't hesitate. She stepped over the edge of the shell door and entered the ship, ducking inside the next watertight door and into a larger open space.

Kerry got a flashback, suddenly, to the cruise ship. It had the same smell of age and old oil and she rubbed her nose as she carefully stepped over the door sill and followed Dar into the shadows. She found herself in a narrow hallway and spotted Dar ahead of her, sticking her head into an open doorway. "Dar?"

"In here." Dar squirmed into another compartment, this one admitting some light from outside. Kerry poked her head in, and saw the cables running in the opening. "Oh. That's the hole from outside."

"Uh huh." Dar turned and followed the cables to a pipe on the far wall, and tipped her head up. "Oh crap. I forgot it was two decks up."

Kerry looked up at the pipe, aware of the techs behind her. "Hang on guys, Dar's tracing the cable path."

"Dar's wishing she was curled up in a ball in the bilge, actually," her partner sighed. She went to the pipe and stuck her hand in it, then pulled it out and studied her extended fingers. "Might have space," she muttered."Okay, we need to find either a thin cable, or stiff rope."

"Okay." Kerry backed up so the techs could hear. "Did you get that, guys? We need some cable--I guess Dar wants it for a pull string."

"Got a spool of Ethernet in the truck," the nearer tech offered. "That work?"

"Perfect." Dar's head appeared from around the doorway. "Get it,and I'll show you where the demarc room is. We can run a pull cable down here, and pull the fiber up once we get it across from the pier. Ker, while they do that, let's see if we can find a hank of rope."

"Rope. You got it." Kerry backed up so Dar could exit the space and then followed her as she started a methodical exploration of the pretty much deserted ship. They moved out of the tightly confined hallway and into a bigger space, with a tall ceiling that spanned the interior of the ship. "Wow."

"Hanger deck," Dar interpreted the exclamation. "Watch your step. There might be tie downs on the decking."

"Aye Aye, Captain Dar." Kerry shifted so she was walking in Dar's footsteps and put a hand out, hooking one finger on her partner's belt loop. "Did Dad sail on one of these?"

"He did," Dar answered, as she wandered around the big space, peeking behind boxes. "C'mon, they have to have a damn coil of rope inhere. Who the hell heard of a Navy ship without rope?"

"What about over there?" Kerry pointed to something vaguely circular on the wall. "Is that rope?"

They walked over to the wall and looked up. On the metal surface was a hook, and from the hook a loop of thick rope was coiled, with a float fastened on one end. "Perfect," Dar complimented her, then for good measure, she turned and kissed her on the lips. "Absolutely perfect."

Kerry rested her hands on Dar's hips, gazing up into her eyes. After a long pause, they kissed again. "This has to be one of the last places on earth I'd ever expect to be doing this," she admitted, when they paused for breath. "But you know, it's kinda sexy."

Dar's eyes took on a twinkle in the half light. "Sure is. Making my cramps feel better too."

They rubbed noses, then reluctantly parted, as Dar turned to face the wall and started to take the rope down. "However, business first."

"Pfft."

KERRY'S CELL PHONE rang, sounding loud and jarring against the steel she was surrounded by. With a muffled curse, she pulled it out with her free hand and flipped it open, putting it to her ear as she squirmed around into a marginally better position. "Hello?"

"Kerry? This is your mother."

Kerry blinked at the steel wall inches from her face. "Oh. Hi," she said. "Where are you?"

"I have just returned home. Are you terribly occupied? I was wondering how things were going for you there."

How were things going? Kerry felt the cold surface chilling her back through her shirt. "Well." She grimaced as the edge of the pipe she had her arm extended up into bit into her skin. "We're making some progress."

"Are you? Wonderful. Where are you now?"

Kerry heard a curse echo softly down the interior of the pipe. "Lying on my back on the deck of a decommissioned aircraft carrier with my arm shoved up a pipe covered in axel grease," she responded with complete honesty. "You?"

Absolute silence. Kerry wiggled the tips of her fingers in the vain hope of feeling a bit of cable impacting them. Above her, through the pipe's metal confines she could hear Dar cursing, the soft grunts traveling down with wry accuracy to her ears.

"I don't understand," Cynthia finally said. "What exactly are you doing?"

"Well." Kerry squirmed a little and extended her fingers a bit more. "It's a long story. I'm helping hook up the emergency management office for the City of New York. In a really material way."

"Ah. I see."

"Ker?" Dar called down. "Anything?"

Kerry stretched and wiggled, closing her eyes as she wished the end of a cable probe into her hand. After a moment, she relaxed. "Sorry hon, no," she called back. "Not a damn thing."

"Shit."

Kerry returned her attention to the phone. "How are things there?" she asked. "Since they're sort of crummy here."

Her mother sighed, "I'm very disturbed. That's why I decided to call you. When I got here, one of my aides informed me that we have had several incidents of people being beaten."

"Beaten?"

"For being--.well, I suppose they were thought to be from abroad."

Kerry heard footsteps and turned her head to see Dar's tall body slipping into her torture chamber. "Hey," she said. "Say hello to my mother."

"Hello Kerry's mother." Dar dropped down into a crouch. "Listen. There's something in the middle of that damn pipe that's stopping the probe. I can't get it to go any further."

"Hang on, Mother." Kerry put the phone on her chest. "So what's the plan?" She watched Dar's face, which had liberal streaks of grime on it. "Is there any way to clear whatever the obstruction is? Can you get inside the pipe anywhere?"

"I can," Dar said, "but it means I've got a good chance of ripping up whatever else is in there. I think it's a damn cable tie that's blocking it."

"A cable tie?"

"Yeah." Dar sat down and braced her elbows against her knees, grimacing. "I feel like such crap."

Kerry gazed compassionately at her. "I wish I could give you a hug, hon, but I don't think this axle grease being all over you is going to make you feel any better." She put the phone back to her ear. "Sorry, Mother. Did you say someone was attacked?"

"I can see you're very busy Kerry. I will be glad to fill you in later, if you want. Please go take care of poor Dar. She sounds terrible," her mother said. "I have another call to take, so we can speak later."

"Okay. I'll call you when I'm somewhere more comfortable," Kerry promised. "Goodbye." She closed the phone and clipped it back on her pocket to free her hand, which she then put on Dar's leg. "Cable tie?"

"Yeah," Dar repeated, gazing at her dirt covered hands. "One of the big half inch ones, turned sideways."

Kerry pictured it and made a face. "How in the hell do we get past that? Why the hell would someone put it in there, anyway?"

"Figured nothing else would need to go in the pipe I guess, or it twisted--who the hell knows?" Dar sighed. "Maybe if I can find a rod long enough, I can put some kind of edge on it and cut through it." She blinked a few times. "I tried to find an outside hatch or something--anything to bring the cable through somewhere else, but I couldn't."

Kerry eased her arm out of the pipe, her skin covered in black goo. She sat up and flexed her fingers, looking around with a vague sense of despair. The light was a bare fluorescent fixture, a pale, dim glare that hurt her eyes and made the metal space even more depressing. "Dar,I'm sorry."

"For what?" Tired blue eyes regarded her.

"Sorry I can't make this better," Kerry admitted. "Sorry we're here. Sorry we can't leave and go rest."

"Me too," Dar agreed. She rested in silence a moment more, then she started hauling herself to her feet. "Jason," she called into the hallway. "You back?"

"Yes, ma'am." One of the techs appeared immediately. "We measured the rope you threw over to the pier, and we've got enough cable,ma'am. You want me to tie the end of the rope to the end of the fiber? John found a hardware store too, so he's going to go get some flexible ducting."

Dar paused, one hand on the metal door sill."He found a hardware store near here?"

Jason nodded his tow colored, curly head. "Little place. Not like a Home Depot or anything, but they got stuff." He glanced over at Kerry who was carefully keeping her greased up forearm away from her clothing. "Wow. That looks gross," he blurted, then looked abashed. "Sorry ma'am."

"It does look gross," Kerry agreed. "I feel like a plumber on a bad day."

"Jason." Dar spoke, suddenly, her eyes a trifle unfocused. "Tell John to get to that hardware store. Get a metal rod, long as he can find, and a stick soldering iron, the narrowest one they have, plus a spool of metal wire."