Stormy Waters: Book 10 in The Dar & Kerry Series (46 page)

She closed her eyes.

"Let me see." Dar took her hand and gently opened it, studying the slice on her palm. "Ouch."

It wasn't working. "Dar," Kerry whispered. "I'm going to throw up."

"Aim down." Dar circled her wrist with gentle fingers and pressed against the inside of it.

Kerry opened one eye, to see the waters of Government Cut far below her. "Down?"

"Down."

Kerry watched the wavelets ripple past the ship, bumping into the hull. A bird flew lazily past, and then unexpectedly, plunged into the water after a fish.

She took a breath, then a second, filled with clean salty air, and felt the nausea subside. She released a breath, and looked over at Dar. "I think I'm okay." She took another few lungfuls of air, then glanced down at the deck, to study her partner's exposed feet.

The sandals were covered, almost up to the edge of the bottom, with an oily brown guck, but Dar's tanned skin was unmarked. Kerry's shoulders relaxed a little. "You escaped the crap monster."

Dar looked down. "Oh. Yeah," she murmured. "So I did." She turned Kerry around and examined her carefully. "So did you." She noted. "Except...er..." She glanced at a long, dark stain down the side of one leg.

"New rack crud." Kerry sighed. "I had to climb out of it."

Dar frowned.

"In the dark, in a room with roaches flying all around, and poop flowing on the floor. Dar that was not covered in my infrastructure classes." Kerry leaned against the railing, exhausted. "But at least we got the damn thing in."

Dar turned and leaned as well, looking back at the ship. Contractors were pouring out of it and heading for the upper gangway shaking their heads, while inside, bells were still ringing and alarms going off. "One down," she agreed with a sigh. "Seven to go."

It wasn't a very auspicious start.

KERRY LEFT HER boots outside the terminal, and in fact, crossed through it and out the front door heading for the Lexus. She remembered they had spare clothing in the back, and she fully intended on changing into it to get rid of the sewer scent she was convinced still clung to her shirt.

As she crossed to the parking lot, a small pickup swerved toward her and pulled up alongside. "Hi." Ceci waved, tipping her sunglasses down. "How's it going?"

Kerry walked over and leaned against the doorjamb. "You really want to know?"

Her mother in law grimaced. "Andy called me. Said they got thrown out of the boat while some repairs were on. I brought him some lunch," she said. "Tough day?"

"Ugh. Yes." Kerry agreed. "We're so behind schedule now, and we don't know when they're going to let us back on the ship."

Ceci leaned on the seat back. "Kerry, can I ask you a question?"

Hmm. "Sure."

"You and Dar, you're corporate officers."

"Yes." Kerry nodded.

"Maybe it's different here in Miami, but where I come from corporate officers don't do what you're doing." Ceci said bluntly. "They manage."

"I know."

"So?"

Kerry let her hands rest on the window frame, feeling the heat of the metal sting her cut hand. "Usually we do manage," she admitted. "Usually, someone else does this, but this job--Alastair asked Dar to handle it personally."

"Ah."

"There's a lot behind it," Kerry explained. "So here we are."

"We."

Kerry smiled.

Ceci reached over and patted her hand. "Good luck," she said. "How's Dar doing?"

How was Dar doing? Kerry thought back to the last sight she'd had of her partner, pacing back and forth in the terminal unable to do anything constructive. "She's a little freaked out because of the wait."

Ceci chuckled. "That's nothing new." She advised Kerry. "She absolutely positively hates waiting for anything."

Hmm. True and that reminded Kerry. "I know, in fact, maybe lunch is a good idea. I'll get her out of here for an hour or so until they reopen the ship." She tapped the window. "Thanks for the idea!"

Ceci pushed her sunglasses down and waved waiting for Kerry to step back before she continued driving out of the parking lot.

Lunch. Kerry continued over to the Lexus and keyed the lock open. She pulled the back door latch and peered inside, snagging her gym bag and tugging it over. "Let's see what we've got here." She unzipped it and rummaged through its contents.

"Okay, good." A pair of jeans landed on the seat, shortly followed by a shirt. She tended to keep changes of clothing for after work, as did Dar, since neither really wanted to get back into business clothing after working out.

Kerry reviewed her options, and fingered the shirt, which was a sleeveless muscle T. "Hmm. Not quite the image I was looking to project." She peered at the jeans. "And these are reeeally old ones, but at least it's clean." She pushed the jeans and shirt back in the bag, which already held her sneakers. Then she dug in the back of the car to see if she had anything for Dar stowed away anywhere.

"Hmm." She pulled out a few neatly folded bits of cotton. Workout shorts and a sports bra. "Much as I'd personally love her to change into this, I don't think it's going to work." Kerry regretfully put the items back, and shouldered her gym bag. Maybe, she considered, they could grab something at the mall when they went for lunch.

With that cheerful thought, she closed and locked the door and headed back for the terminal. Halfway back, she paused to let traffic go by, appreciating the intense light of the sun and the stiff ocean breeze. Being locked in the dark, with the bugs and the stench in that place had been hellacious, and for a moment she'd gained an understanding of Dar's aversion to closed in places.

It had gotten a little freaky in there, with her techs panicking a little, and the sound of those pipes so close. Hearing Dar's voice had been...

She ran her hands through her hair. She really wasn't the type of person who freaked out easily, Kerry knew. She'd handled some intense situations in the past few years, from being locked up in a damn psycho ward, to being trapped inside a burning hospital, to jumping in the raging ocean.

She was cool with it. But being in a dark room with roaches and crap? Kerry shuddered. That had freaked her out completely, and just when she'd been at the point where she'd started to tear at the door with her fingernails, there had been Dar's voice.

Instant no-freak.

Sweetest sound in the world. Kerry ran her fingers through her hair again, and shifted her shoulders, feeling the sun warm her skin. It had made her nuts to think of Dar standing out there in sewage, and that reminded her to get their shoes rinsed off.

Preferably by a firehose spouting industrial disinfectant.

Kerry proceeded across the road and trotted up the steps to the terminal. She entered the building and headed right to the restrooms, ducking inside the women's room. She was not surprised to find it empty. One thing about being in IT--you generally didn't have to wait on the bathroom if you were female.

Certainly, it was better than it was in the past, but still, she and Dar were in the vast minority in the building.

Kerry entered the handicapped stall and hung her workout bag on the hook, shedding her jeans and shirt and tossing them over the door. Briefly, she wished she could shower as well, but after a cautious sniff at the skin on her arm, decided a change would have to be good enough.

Rooting in the bag, she found fresh underclothes as well, and traded off, stuffing the others into a side pocket. "Okay." She removed the jeans from her bag and pulled them on, leaving the buttons unbuttoned. She then pulled the shirt over her head and tucked it in, fastening the jeans over it.

The waistband was a little loose, which surprised her. She dug in the bag, but she hadn't stuck a belt in there. "Hmm..." She turned and faced the mirror, checking the image with critical eyes. She touched her cheek, deciding her face also looked a little thinner than it had been. Was it the stress? Kerry knew they hadn't been exercising more than usual, so probably it was the tension she'd been under lately.

Oh well. She met her own eyes, seeing a wry twinkle there. "Guess I'll have to have an extra milkshake for lunch then." She stuffed her other clothes into the bag and grabbed her sneakers, unlocking the door to the stall and heading back out.

Emerging into the hall, she spotted Dar back at her podium, pecking at her laptop keyboard with one hand while leaning her head on the other. Dar's head lifted as she approached, and the blue eyes turned her way, looking her up and down as a rakish grin appeared.

Kerry set the bag down and leaned on the counter to put her sneakers on. "Something wrong?"

"With you? No," Dar said. "But we've got a big problem, Ker."

Leaving the laces of the first sneaker untied, Kerry straightened. "What's up?"

"They're not going to let anyone back on board for at least twenty four hours," Dar told her. "They've got the EPA in there now. Needs disinfecting before they'll clear us to go back in."

"But...wait." Kerry leaned on the counter. "I thought it was only that one deck?"

"Bacteria," Dar replied succinctly. "Got in the air system, or so they're afraid of."

Kerry closed her eyes. "Oh god." She stifled a reflex cough. "Can we get our lungs fumigated?"

Dar patted her hand. "I think we're okay," she said. "You feel better now?"

Kerry frowned. "Well, yeah, but what are we going to do, Dar? We didn't have enough time to install and test as it was...we lose a whole day. Jesus."

"I know," Dar acknowledged. "Pulling more people won't help."

"No." Kerry exhaled heavily.

The outer door slammed, and they both turned to see Peter Quest enter, spot them, and head in their direction with angry strides.

"Hmm." Kerry took the opportunity to put her other sneaker on, tying the laces as Quest arrived.

"Roberts, I just got out of a meeting with the inspectors," Quest said. "Can you explain to me why they informed me the blockage that caused this entire mess was some of your equipment?"

Dar and Kerry exchanged glances. "My equipment?" Dar pointed at her own chest. "Quest, look around you. My gear's bigger than a breadbox. How in the hell could it have caused a clog anywhere?"

Quest did, indeed, look around. Then he looked back at Dar. "I don't know, they just said it was IT stuff. There's a meeting outside in ten minutes with the ship's officers. I want you to be there, and explain what the hell's going on."

"Do you...um...have the IT stuff?" Kerry interjected. "Might be hard to explain otherwise."

"We have it," Quest said, grimly. "The EPA will be there to show what it was, and you'd better be too. If it turns out this is your fault, you're gonna pay." He turned and walked off, half turning as he did to point at Dar. "Big time."

Kerry stared at his back, and then turned her attention to Dar. "Now what?" She threw her hands up in exasperation. "Dar, I swear, this whole damn job is cursed."

Dar rubbed her temples, giving her head a tiny shake. "Guess you better call John." She sighed. "Since I know it's not our gear, the only thing left is his."

Kerry blew out a breath in a sputter. "So much for lunch." She pulled out her cell phone. "Damn it."

Dar got up. "Can I treat you to a Jamaican patty and a bottle of guava juice?" she asked. "Roach coach just pulled up outside."

Kerry paused. "Hang on, John." She covered the mic. "Dar, don't say roach and lunch in the same sentence to me for the next month, okay?"

Dar patted her on the shoulder, and limped off toward the door.

Damn it.

THEY MET ON the dockside shortly thereafter. Kerry sucked down the last droplets of her guava juice and dropped the empty container in the garbage outside the terminal door as she followed Dar across the sun bleached concrete.

A semi-circle of people were already out there. She spotted John's tall form and Quest, and several people she didn't know, along with the camera crew, which she did know. They all looked up as Dar and Kerry joined them, the strangers appearing a bit skeptical as they were introduced.

"Well, fine," a tall, thin man with an EPA badge said. "I was hoping...well, anyway. Here is what caused the accident." He held out a cardboard box and opened the flaps. A waft of sewer smell drifted out, and the group cautiously peered inside.

A grayish brown ball covered in gunk rested on the bottom of the box, a tangle of what Kerry identified as shielded cat 5 cable along with a snarl of the white cording that came in it to separate the strands. She looked up at their cable contractor. "John?"

The big man stepped forward and took the box, examining its contents. "Well, it's the stuff we're using, yeah," he admitted. "Looks like crap."

The camera man focused in on him, gaining himself a suspicious glare from the contractor.

"What does that mean?" Quest asked.

John looked at him. "It's ends left over after we finish a run. Got it all over the place the way we've been working," he explained.

"So one of your people did this? Dropped it in a toilet?" Quest asked, sharply.

John snorted. "I doubt it. Coulda been anyone, stuff's all over the place."

"That's true," Kerry agreed quietly, watching the EPA man from the corner of her eye. "That pipe was down the hall from one of our wiring closets, which was open."

"But," the EPA man objected, "It makes no sense for anyone to be carrying it around except for one of your workmen, does it?" He addressed John. "I mean, one of the other contractors would be carrying some of their supplies, tape, or electrical wire, or that sort of thing."

John shrugged. "Why would anyone be hauling a handful of that crap around?" he asked. "But I don't have anyone stupid enough to drop a ball of it in the toilet. Cigarettes, maybe, but not that."

Dar advanced and took the box. She looked at the ball of wire, noting its egg shape, and the tight wrapping around its middle that showed shredding from its travel through the pipes. With a grunt, she handed it back. "Could have been anyone," she said. "Or, who knows? Maybe one of John's guys left it on a sink somewhere and it got knocked into a bowl."

Quest snorted.

The inspector took the box back. He regarded the ball for a moment, then shrugged one shoulder. "That could be," he conceded. "We'd thought maybe someone did it on purpose, but you know, what you just said makes a lot of sense. I can see it."

Dar studiously did not look at the camera. "All those guys are working up there. I can't see someone doing this so they'd get covered in cr...sewage."

"Huh. Damn straight," John said.

Quest sniffed. "Maybe," he grudgingly conceded. "But now what? You're holding up my whole project in there!" He turned his aggressiveness on the EPA inspector. "So it was an accident, like Roberts said. When can we get back in there?"

"Twenty four hours, Mr. Quest. As I told you. Accident or not, you've got bio organisms in there, and they have to be fogged and sanitized. You don't want to get sued for getting people sick, do you?" The EPA man warned.

The camera swiveled to focus on Quest. From the look on his face, he was trapped and he knew it. "Of course not," he said. "But I want to get these guys back in there not a moment past twenty four hours. Can you guarantee me that?"

The camera moved back to the EPA man, who straightened a little. "Ah..."

"Or is it going to be one of those government things, were twenty four hours pass, and you all go out to play golf?" Quest pressed him. "I'm all for safety. I'll put this in your hands, but I need to know you're not going to screw me over for it."

Put on the defensive, the EPA man took a step back. "Well, in general, I suppose we can..."

"No general." Quest insisted. "I need to know. A lot of money's riding on this. You want to be responsible for that?"

"Of course not," the EPA man said. "Very well, we... I will guarantee you can be back inside that vessel after the twenty four hour decontamination process is complete."

"Okay." Quest seemed satisfied, holding his hand out for the man to shake. "We've got a deal then. I'll have these docks cleared."

The EPA men made a quick getaway, escaping the sun as they ducked through the gate and left the pier area.

John turned to Dar and put his hands on his hips. "Well, we lucked out. We'd just finished the last room when they rang the bell." He told her. "So..."

"Good work, John." Kerry congratulated him quietly.

"So what are you going to do, Roberts?" Quest interrupted. "I can't change the deadline." He turned and looked at the ship. "This thing'll never be ready."

Privately, Dar agreed completely. But she was aware of the focus on her, as the round camera eye swept across them. "Well, Peter I can't speak for your other contractors here, but my view is, we'll wait for the ban to be lifted, and do the best we can."

"Hmph." Quest made a grunting noise.

"We've gone to the wall on this project, and I'm not ready to drop it now," Dar continued. "If we run out of time, we run out of time, but we're going to be in there until the clock goes off."

Kerry folded her arms, content to let her partner shine in the artificial halogen spotlight.

"Bad luck," the cameraman commented quietly.

"Just another in a long series of challenges." Dar gave him a brisk nod. "Excuse us. We're going to see about securing the gear in there." She touched Kerry on the shoulder and turned to head back toward the terminal. John followed, and behind them they heard Quest and his entourage trooping back off down the pier.

Dar opened the door for them. "Jesus."

"That man figured to nail us with that thing, Dar!" John griped, as he passed in front of her, followed by Kerry. "All my guys in there busting their tails and I get that?"

Dar entered behind them. "John." She paused, waiting for him to turn. "Did you take a good look at that wire plug?" she asked. "That wasn't a bunch of scrap. That was tied up to be a bundle like that."

Kerry leaned on the wall with one hand. "What are you saying, Dar?"

Puzzled, John nodded his head. "Yeah. What are you saying? Someone did it on purpose after all?"

Dar glanced around, noting the techs still moving about the room. She waved them over toward the back corner, and waited for them to follow her. "After everything we've had to go through on this, I find it very hard to believe something like this happened naturally." She stated as they reached the back wall. "John, I'm not saying for a second it was one of your guys, but I don't think it dropped off a sink either. Can you ask all of them if they might have left a ball of the damn stuff anywhere?"

The contractor scrubbed his jaw, then nodded. "Sure, Dar. I'll ask 'em, but we were out of that area since eight a.m. Doubt any of 'em would remember. Some of the guys have gone home already, but I'll see what I can do."

Kerry blinked. "None of your guys were up there recently?"

"No." John shook his head positively. "My super keeps a close eye on 'em. Nice guys, good wire pullers, but they're lazier than hound dogs in summer most of the time."

"Huh." Kerry nibbled on the inside of her lip. "Someone wearing your company shirt was in that wiring closet when we got there."

Dar folded her arms and leaned against the wall, her head nodding slightly.

"Yeah?" John sounded honestly surprised.

"He was in there. We surprised him when we came in," Kerry said. "He was kinda rude," she added. "I made a mental note to talk to you about it. He was a tall guy, with brown hair, kind of curly, and he hadn't shaved recently."

John exhaled. "Could be half of 'em," he admitted. "Okay, let me gather 'em up and talk to 'em. See if any of 'em remember seeing you. I won't say why," he said. "Still doesn't mean he did anything."

"No, of course not," Kerry agreed. "But maybe he can confirm how the wire got near those pipes."

John grunted and nodded, then turned and walked across the room, heading for the front doors.

Kerry leaned against the wall next to Dar. "You really think it was on purpose?"

Dar nodded. "Yeah. Scraps are one thing, but that was wrapped so that it would fit down the pipe." She leaned against Kerry's shoulder. "It's just too coincidental, Ker."

Was it? Kerry pondered. "Or are we just getting paranoid?"

Dar studied the far wall briefly, then chuckled. "Just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get us." She pushed herself upright and laid an arm over Kerry's shoulders. "C'mon. Let's go sit down and figure out where we go from here now that we lost an entire day from our schedule."

Kerry circled Dar's waist with her arm as they walked, both of them slowing as they spotted their erstwhile friend reporter Cruicshank near the door, complete with a few of her camera people. "Oh, poot."

The reporter came forward. "Hello, ladies," she greeted them. "Now that the stakes have risen again, care to share a few words with me?"

Aware of the camera's red light turning on and focusing on them, Dar didn't so much as twitch, or remove her arm from Kerry's shoulders. "Sure," she replied amiably. "We've got plenty of time right now."

The television light turned on, framing them in silver. In the shadows beyond them, the techs paused, gathering to watch curiously as the reporter closed in, and opened her note pad. "Great. Tom, give me about sixty seconds, and then roll, all right?"

"Right."

Dar noticed the Herald reporter arriving too, taking a seat on one of the folding tables back out of the way and just watching.

One dark eyebrow curved up, and Dar's brow puckered in thought.

"All right, Ms. Roberts." Cruicshank began. "Now we have a situation where all of a sudden, you're the underdogs. How does that make you feel?"

Dar exchanged looks with Kerry. Then she looked back at the camera. "I'm not sure we haven't always been the underdog in this," she commented with an easy smile. "Are you?"

Cruicshank looked up from her pad, pausing for a reflective moment. "Interesting question."

"Isn't it?" Kerry murmured.

"OKAY, SO NOW WHAT?" Kerry sat on a desk, swinging her feet a little. It was late afternoon, and the chaos had finally settled down. Cruicshank had left, the reporter had left, and she and Dar were alone in the small office.

Dar was lying on her back on the spare desk against the wall. "Let's take everyone out to dinner," she replied, her eyes closed. "Do some team building for the hell it's going to be from tomorrow on."

Kerry studied her denim covered knees. "Okay," she said." Someplace around here? Hard Rock, maybe? Or Bubba Gumps?"

"Hooters."

"Dar."

A blue eye opened. "Too politically incorrect, huh?"

"It's one thing for us to go to lunch there," Kerry said. "But taking the staff? Hon, there's two or three women in the team out there. How comfortable would that be for them?"

"Mmph." Dar grunted. "Yeah, I get you. Call Hard Rock. See if they have that side room available. What do we have, thirty?" Privately she doubted anyone on their staff would really mind, or kick up a fuss, but you never knew with people.

It didn't pay to take a chance, and she was a little abashed that Kerry had found it necessary to remind her of that. "Sorry. I was just in the mood for chicken wings," she added sheepishly.

"And a nice cold draft beer, yeah. But I'm sure we can get that somewhere else." Kerry got up and sat down in the desk chair instead, calling up a browser. She typed the restaurant's site in and got back a list of addresses, from which she selected the Bayside one.

Pulling out her cell phone, she dialed the number. "Did you say thirty?" She paused and held her hand over the mic. "With us?"

"Yeah." Dar nodded. "Twenty nine, something like that. Just say thirty."

"Gotcha." Kerry cleared her throat gently. "Hello, I'd like to speak to someone who can help me with a group reservation." She listened. "For thirty people." Listened again. "That's what I thought. I'll hold. Thanks."

Outside, their team was still getting gear ready for installation, soft clanks and thunks audible along with a low buzz of casual chatter.

Despite the problems with the ship, the atmosphere was one of efficient industry, and walking through the crowd Dar hadn't heard any griping at all.

Nice. Dar waited to hear Kerry say the words "You do? Okay. I'd like to reserve it." Sticking her head out, Dar observed the activity, then she sauntered out into the center of the large room and stood there, putting her hands on her hips.

She didn't need to say anything. One by one, the techs all stopped what they were doing and focused on her, the chatter in the room subsiding to nothing in about thirty seconds. Dar waited a few seconds more, then cleared her throat. "All right folks. You know what the story is. We're dead in the water until tomorrow, and then we're way behind the eight ball."

Thirty sets of eyes were pinned on her. "Better we bust our ass tomorrow than have to hang out in there today," Mark commented. "Man that stunk."

The two techs who'd been with Kerry nodded their heads vigorously. "Yeah, and working in the dark, that sucked too!"

Dar waited until silence fell again, then she resumed speaking. "It's going to be a tough couple of days. There'll be company support there while we're doing it, but before we start, I'd like you all to come over to the Hard Rock and be our guest for dinner tonight."

She could feel the shock in the room, as she flicked her eyes over the faces and caught the reactions. Surprise, certainly, and then muted delight. Dar smiled at them. "So get this stuff locked down, and we'll head on over. Okay?"

"Yes ma'am," Mark responded quickly. "You don't need to ask us twice...right guys?"