Storm Surge

Chapter Twenty-Three

"KERRY, THE GOVERNOR of New York is on the line for you again." A quiet, apologetic voice broke into the chatter. "I told him you were working at the Pentagon, but he wants to talk to you anyway."

Kerry rested her head against her fist, her body curled up in one of the bus's leather chairs, finally vacated by one of the busy military officers. "No problem, give me a minute." She clicked her mic on, resisting the urge to rub her eyes. "Believe me, Newark, we're going to the wall here to pull the Pentagon traffic off your grid and put it back where it belongs."

"We know that, ma'am. I tried to explain that. I just--" The satellite supervisor sounded as exhausted as Kerry felt. "He just doesn't want to take that answer. I think he's as frustrated as we are."

Kerry reviewed the status on her teams. "Maybe he'll let me send the remote sat trucks in then," she mused.

"Would you like some coffee, ma'am?" One of the bus's seemingly tireless attendants stopped by with a tray. "We have some fresh cookies baking too."

"Sure." Kerry checked her watch, wincing a little at the time. "Strong as you got it. Thanks." She rattled at her keyboard and settled her ear buds more firmly. "Okay, go ahead and call my cell, Newark. Patch me into the governor."

"Stand by, ma'am."

Nearly midnight. Kerry leaned against the chair arm, glad it was big enough for her to curl up in, tucking her tired legs up under her in relative comfort. She knew herself to be far luckier than her partner. Dar was half buried in cables in that dry and dusty room faced with an almost never-ending task before her.

Kerry felt a little abashed, in fact, that she was here in the bus instead of at Dar's side, but there wasn't any way for her to connect to the conference in there and there was just so damned much to do.

So damned much. Her cell phone rang, and she closed the mic off to open it up. "Kerry Stuart," she announced quietly, turning her head a little as the attendant came back with a big, steaming mug that smelled of hazelnut.

"Hello, Kerry?"

Poised to deal with an annoyed politician, Kerry had to rapidly ratchet through her mental gears to deal with another one altogether. "Hello, Mother," she said. "Sorry, I was expecting the governor. "

"Oh. Well, of course, I'm sorry I disturbed you, ah--"

Kerry smiled, and picked up her coffee cup. "No problem. I'd rather be talking to you since you probably aren't going to ask me to do something impossible."

Dead silence for a moment. "Ah, well, yes, I see. Of course," Cynthia spluttered. "My goodness, that sounds terrible. Are you still working? It's so late. I just wanted to find out where you and Dar ended up this evening."

Was I supposed to call her? Kerry suddenly wondered. "Right now, we're at the Pentagon," she said. "Dar is hip deep in cables and I'm still working on issues from our bus."

"Oh my!" her mother said. "Kerry, it's midnight!"

"I know," Kerry acknowledged. "It feels like it's midnight. But we don't really have a choice. We have to get things fixed here, so we can get things moving for the governor, so we can get out of here and head to New York where apparently we're needed to save the Western world." She paused. "Or something like that."

"My goodness."

"By Monday," Kerry added. "So anyway. How was your day? When do you head back home?"

Her cell phone buzzed a second incoming call. She briefly toyed with the idea of letting it go to voice mail then sighed. "Hold on a minute, okay? I think that's the governor."

"Of course."

Kerry put the call on hold and answered the second. "Hello?"

"Ms, Stuart, I have the governor for you." The sound of the Newark ops manager's voice echoed softly in her ear. "Okay to conference?"

"Sure." Kerry sipped her coffee and waited for the click. "Good..." She checked her watch. "Morning, governor. What can I do for you?"

"Yes, Ms. Stuart, good morning to you too. Now listen, I know we spoke earlier but things are getting fairly critical here and--"

"Governor." Kerry interrupted him gently, but with force in her tone. "Things are critical here, too."

"I do understand that," the governor said. "But here's the situation. Our emergency command center was in 7 World Trade. Never even been used. We're working to set up a center to replace it but without being connected to anything we might as well be setting it up on a boat on the Niagara River."

Kerry closed her eyes in frustration. "I know--please understand sir I do know you need to--" She stopped and took a breath. Stop, think, then act, Ker. "Where are you setting up a command center, sir?"

"Pier 92," the governor said. "It's the old passenger cruise terminal. Right on the Hudson."

On the Hudson. Kerry racked her brains for a long moment. "I don't think we--" She paused. "Wait. That's right next to the Intrepid Air museum, isn't it?"

"Yes, yes it is," the Governor agreed. "Just down from there. Does that help? Is there something you can do? Come on, Ms. Stuart. We contracted with you because you people were supposed to be the best. Now, I need the best. We don't have a choice."

"We might be able to," Kerry said, after a pause. "I need to pull up our schematics in that area. I will have to get back to you on it."

"I need an answer, Ms. Stuart."

"You need an answer that's meaningful and correct, Governor. Not bullshit I'm pulling out of my ass just to make you get off the phone." Kerry could scarcely believe she'd just said that. "I'll do my best. That's all I can give you right now."

The man sighed. "When can I expect to hear from you? We're running out of time."

"As soon as I have the answer, you'll hear from me. That could be in ten minutes, or it could be tomorrow morning. Depends on how much detail I need, and if I can get hold of someone on the ground there," Kerry said. "You may need to clear some obstacles for us."

"Obstacles?" the governor asked. "You mean people? Ms. Stuart, you find obstacles, you call me. Understand?"

"I do."

"Hope to hear from you soon. Goodbye." The governor hung up.

Kerry took another sip of her coffee, before she clicked back to her call on hold. "Hello, Mother." She looked up as a wonderful scent of fresh cookies came close, and found a platter almost at eye level to her. "Thank you," she mouthed at the attendant, capturing three of the cookies, their warmth stinging her skin a little.

"Dear, I don't mean to keep you. I hope things are going better," Cynthia said. "I have a flight back to Michigan tomorrow. Is there anything I can do for you here before I go?"

"Hold that thought a minute, Mother." Kerry motioned to the attendant, taking a bite of the warm cookie as the woman came back over. "Could you please have a tray of those and a gallon of cold milk with cups taken to the work site?"

"Absolutely, ma'am. Let me get one of the guys to ride me over," the attendant said. "Not a problem at all."

"Thanks." Kerry smiled at her, then shifted her attention back to the phone. "Mother," she said. "Thanks for hanging on. It's a little crazy here."

"I can hear that," Cynthia said. "Are you going to get some rest? What about poor Dar? She must be exhausted after all that traveling."

Dar must be. Kerry felt faintly abashed. "I'm going to go see if I can get her to take a break right now, matter of fact," she said. "But we've got a lot on our plates and getting more every time the phone rings."

"My."

"Anyway," Kerry sighed. "Thanks for offering. Just travel safe, and give Angie and Mike a hug for me."

"Well, I'm sure they'd be happier if you were coming back with me, but I will give them your best wishes. Try to get some rest," her mother said. "If there's anything I can do to help, just call."

"I will," Kerry said. "Good night, Mother."

"Goodnight."

Kerry closed the phone and gazed at it, as she broke off a cookie half and chewed. That had ended pretty much all right, she figured. If one reasonable thing had to come out of the disaster she was living, maybe it was that she, and her mother, could at least talk again.

She wasn't ready to let it all go. But she also didn't feel like she wanted to hold the rage inside her so much anymore. She was content to think that if things hadn't really moved forward, they also hadn't moved backwards, and she was in a place where she actually wouldn't mind having her mother visit their home.

She chewed her cookie, getting up and making her way through the much smaller crowd to the galley area to find herself some milk. She spotted Nan curled up in a chair near the back of the bus sleeping, and she felt a little bad about keeping the woman around so long.

"Hello, Ms. Stuart" Danny appeared, his sling covered in concrete dust. "Boy, we're sure getting things done here today, aren't we?"

Kerry leaned against the counter as she poured her cup of milk. "You know, we are," she admitted. "It doesn't seem like that to me, because there's so much left to do, but you guys are doing an amazing job."

Danny took a root beer from the small refrigerator and opened it, sucking down half the bottle in a gulp before he answered. "It's dry as heck in that room," he explained. "But let me tell you, Ms. Roberts is amazing."

Kerry felt a smile stretch her face muscles out. "She is."

"I mean--I know you know that." Danny blushed, just a little. "But we never got to work with her before, and you hear all kinds of stories from people but in reality, wow."

"Dar is an amazing person," Kerry said. "And I'm not just saying that because she's my boss, or because we're partners. She really is. In fact, I was about to head over there and see if I could get her to take a break for a few minutes. I know you guys have been at it for hours."

"It's tough work," Danny agreed mournfully. "I just came back to pick up more zip ties. The other guys don't want to take a break while Ms. Roberts is there cause she hasn't."

"Oh for heaven's sake." Kerry drained her milk and set the cup down in the small sink. "C'mon. Let's go back over there. Those poor guys." She dusted her hands off and wiped her lips on a napkin, as Danny hurried to finish his root beer. "I'm going to tell the bridge I'm going offline."

She walked back over to her laptop and put her ear buds in again. The chatter had faded off the last hour or so, only a few sporadic voices coming back on at intervals. Kerry keyed her mic and cleared her throat a little. "Folks, this is Miami exec. Just want to advise I'm going offline for a little while. I'll have my cell if anything's urgent."

"Noted, Miami exec," a soft voice answered. "This is Houston night ops. Everything's pretty quiet right now."

"Great. Check in with you later." Kerry unplugged herself and shrugged her jacket on, then she met Danny at the door and they exited the bus into the chilly night air.

DAR WAS PRETTY well convinced she'd actually died and gone to hell. She braced her tester with its one attached wire and reached for yet another dangling strand, bringing it over to touch it against the probe.

The tester lit up, surprising her. "Son of a bitch," she muttered, unclipping the wires and twisting them together. "Gimme a tag."

Mark handed over a piece of cardboard with a string. "Here you go," he said, his voice slightly hoarse. "Hey, that's ten, isn't it?"

Dar shook her head, re-clipping the wires and reading off the identifier. She scribbled it on the tag then tied the tag firmly to the twisted cables. "First person who gets our circuits gets a 200 percent raise and a month vacation."

A soft chorus of voices answered back. Dar glanced to either side of her, where techs were almost covered in the prickly, copper mass of wiring, testing patiently cable by cable looking for a match.

It was like finding a bird feather, and catching each one you saw to see if it was the one who lost it. Frustrating, maddening, aggravating, uncomfortable--if Dar had possessed a machete the chances were, she decided, that she'd have just gone amok with it and ended the problem in a mass of copper fragments.

There was no place to sit, no place to relax. You had to stand almost inside the cabinet to reach the wires, and the ones you weren't testing were poking through your clothes like tiny needles.

She and Mark had started off doing the testing. They'd managed to show three other techs how to use the testing sets, but though there were four other units, there wasn't any more space in front of the cabling cabinet so they'd just started plugging through it.

Dar knew she could get someone else to take over her set, and do the testing. She was, after all, their ultimate boss. But she felt all the eyes on her, and understood she had to live up to her reputation, and so she kept slogging.

Her eyes burned. She blinked a little, then a very different odor penetrated all the concrete and plastic and she turned to look over her shoulder as a woman entered the room with a tray and a pitcher. "What do we have here?"

"Cookies and milk," the bus attendant smiled. "Ms. Stuart told me to bring them over here."

Dar could smell the chocolate all the way in the back of the room. "Are those just baked?"

"They are," the woman affirmed.

"Is that cold milk?" Dar asked, as she saw the techs all starting to turn around, faces covered in smudges of dust and eyes exhausted.

"Yes, it is," the attendant said.

Dar held her hands up, letting the tester fall against her thigh. "Did you bring towels?" She displayed her grunge covered palms with a wry expression.

"Ah." The attendant had to admit to being at a loss. "Well, we can go get some."

"Cookies will get cold." Dar eased away from the cabinet, carefully extracting her boots from the snarls of cable. "Take a break, boys. Let's not waste good, warm cookies."

The techs needed no further prompting. They laid their tools down and scrambled out of holes in the floor, stretching out sore backs and shaking out stiffened fingers. "Man, what time is it?" one asked. "I feel like I've been doing this for three days."

Dar wiped her fingers on her shirt to get the worst of the dust off, before she selected a cookie from the tray and accepted a cup of milk from the smiling attendant. "Thank you."

"You should really thank Ms. Stuart," the woman chuckled.

"She'll get hers later," Dar responded, with a somewhat rakish grin, which grew even more wry as a short, blond woman appeared in the doorway, leaning against it as she looked inside. "Well well. Speak of the devil."

Kerry entered, waving at the techs who all called out greetings. "How are you guys doing? Is Dar running you into the ground yet?"

"Hey." Dar seated herself against the bare wall, extending her legs out as she took a sip of her milk. "I'm working here too."

"I know." Kerry sat down next to her, the entire reason for her coming over now moot, but she didn't care in the least. "I came over to see how you were doing." She glanced up at the crowd, but they were clustered around the cookies, moving away once they'd gotten their share and settling down on the other side of the room.

Or wandering outside in the hall. Kerry wondered if they were being given space out of courtesy or just coincidence.

"I'm doing complete and utter suckitude." Dar gazed down at her now empty hand, its palm scraped and reddened. "We've found ten circuits out of a thousand in six hours."

"Jesus."

"If he was here, I'd give him a phone tester and tell him to get his ass working," Dar said. "Ker, this is insane. "

Kerry took hold of Dar's hand and stroked it, clasping her fingers around her partner's. "Can I help?" she asked. "I'm tired of yapping on the bridge. Why don't you go yap for a while, and I'll do this."

"And make me feel like a total zero for sticking you with this nightmare while I lounge in the bus?" Dar eyed her. "I don't think so."

"Are you saying that's what I was doing?"

Dar saw the quirk of Kerry's eyebrows, and the sudden bunching of her jaw. The last thing she really wanted to do this late in this crappy a situation was trigger her partner's temper. Kerry was tired. She was tired. No way she wanted a squabble. "No, hon. I sent you to the bus, remember?" she replied. "Is there any sense in both of us being miserable?"

Kerry studied her face. "Yes." She laced her fingers with Dar's. "Because I was just in that damn bus thinking I was a creep for not being out here with you," she admitted. "I'm tired of people telling me all their problems, and politicians calling to yell at me. The governor of New York wants his new office connected."

"You have got to be kidding me."

"Well, it's their disaster response office," Kerry said. "Long story, and anyway, we can't even look at that until we get through this. So teach me to use one of those things and let me suffer here with you like the sappy love struck goofball I really am."

Dar sighed, looking across at the cabinet with its morass of wires. "I feel like just quitting and going to bed," she admitted, in a soft voice. "Ker, I don't want to sit here and do this. It's going to take days. We don't have days."

Kerry gently rubbed the side of her hand. "Is there any other way to do it?"

"No."

"Can we get the vendor in here to do it? It's really their hairball," Kerry asked, reasonably. "Let me call them again."

Dar was silent for a moment then nodded. "Call them," she said. "I've had enough of this."

Kerry leaned over and rested her head against Dar's shoulder for a brief moment then straightened up and pulled her cell phone out. "You got it, boss."

"Ten freaking lines in six hours." Dar sighed, letting her head rest against the wall. "Most moronic thing I've ever done."

"WHAT DO I want? I want your technicians standing in front of me ready to go help, that's what I want." Kerry heard the sharpness in her own tone, and knew she was close to losing her temper.

"Ms. Stuart, I don't have anyone to send you." The male voice on the other end of the line sounded as harassed as she felt. "I'm not trying to blow you off. I just don't have anyone. We sent everyone--everyone we had to New York."

Kerry felt her neck start to get hot. "So what am I supposed to tell the generals here at the Pentagon?" she asked. "And by the way, let me make sure I have the spelling of your name right."

"Ms. Stuart, please. Don't think threats are going to get you anywhere."

"I'm not threatening anyone," Kerry said. "I just have to know what the hell I am supposed to say to the military leadership of this country when they ask me why they have no communications."

The man sighed. "Look, we're under a lot of pressure from the political people. They told us to send everyone to New York, and damn it, that's what we did."

"They told us the same thing," Kerry shot back. "But we're intelligent people, and we know better. So fine. That's what I'll tell the people here. That your company abandoned them to go hook the mayor's phone back up and make sure the stock traders can make money."

"Oh come on," the man said, in exasperation. "Would you please cut the crap? This isn't a stupid game anymore."

"I'm not playing anything. That's exactly what I am going to go tell the Joint Chiefs of Staff," Kerry said, in an inflexible tone. "And trust me, when we pull everyone's ass out of the fire here, we're going to take every bit of business you had and make it ours, because that's my CIO in that demarc room punching down your lousy circuits."

The tension and the exhaustion were getting to her. Kerry was on the verge of just hanging up.

"What is it you want from me, Ms Stuart?" the man asked, after a pause.

"I want linemen in here, sorting out your part of the fucking hairball someone left in this facility," Kerry responded, in soft, precise tones. "And if you can't do that, I guarantee not only will the Pentagon not do any more business with you, we won't either and we're a hell of a lot bigger."

A click sounded down the line, and she was listening to nothing but a busy tone. Kerry closed the phone and exhaled, letting her head rest against her hand. She was sitting in the hallway, lit by orange fluorescent lights that made her head pound all the harder.

She checked her watch. Two a.m. "Jesus." She leaned back against the wall, feeling the hard surface cold against her skin. Her skin was covered in dust, and her lack of progress in getting help for Dar and the rest of their crew made her feel covered in dust inside as well.

She heard a sound, and turned her head to see a tall figure approaching her, a little too tall, and too broad to be Dar, but with the same bouncy stride. "Hey Dad."

"Hey there kumquat." Andrew came over and slid down the wall to settle next to her. "You don't look so hot."

"I feel crummy," Kerry agreed. "I can't get anyone to come here and help us. It's so frustrating"

Andrew absorbed this, drawing his knees up and resting his forearms on them. "Hell of a lot of work," he agreed. "Ah was watching Dar do that for a while, made my eyeballs ache."

"Me too. She won't let me take over for her," Kerry said. "We've rotated the other techs in at least once. But she won't stop."

"Stubborn kid," Her father-in-law agreed. "Gets that from me, I do believe."

Kerry leaned over and rested her head against his shoulder. "Can you go talk her into taking a break?"

Andrew's brows quirked. "Ah could try," he said. "But she's out stubborned me before now."

Kerry sighed, and straightened. Then she gathered herself up and climbed to her feet. "C'mon. Let's both try," she said. "Maybe that'll work." She waited for Andrew to stand and then she led the way back to the demarc room, pausing in the doorway to look inside.

Most of the pockets in the floor were now closed. The majority of the techs were now clustered around the back of the room, where four were stolidly at Dar's side working on the cables, and the rest were doing busy work waiting their turn.

Everyone looked utterly exhausted. No one was even trying to leave. Kerry felt a tiny prickle of pride, the hint of a lifting of her nape hairs at the understated loyalty of their staff and the stolid, equally understated leadership of her steadily working partner.

She started across the room, gathering her arguments, steeling herself to maybe even get Dar mad at her, as she straightened her shoulders and sucked in a lungful of air.

"Oh!" One of the techs yelped, as though he'd been bitten. "Ms. Roberts--Ms Roberts--I think this is one of ours!" The man froze in place, gripping the wires in a deathly tight clutch and not taking his eyes off them. "Holy cow!"

Dar clipped her kit to the wall and crawled over the pile of cabling to where he was standing, the rest of the techs edging out of her way as fast as they could. She peered over his shoulder at the readout then she clapped him on the shoulder. "It is."

"Oh holy Christ." Mark came in on the other side. "Dude, you just won the brass ring. That's the fucking backbone management uplink." He looked at Dar. "We can bring up services on this, boss. It's only a T1.5, but it's a hell of a lot better than that portable sat."

Kerry sidled up in back of Dar and looked over the man's shoulder too, her arm slipping around her partner's waist and giving it a squeeze. "Wow. Nice job, Ken."

The tech looked around, and smiled at her. "I feel like I won the lottery," he confessed.

"You did," Dar said. "I promised a 200 percent raise and a month vacation. You got it." She took the cables from him and carefully routed them, winding them through the spools on the top of the punch down and seating them with a double punch of her tool. "Little bastard."

She removed a pen from her pocket and scribbled a mark on the punch down. "Someone cross connect that over to the temp rack please."

"Right on that ma'am." A tech was already routing wires from the other side of the room.

Ken looked around at Kerry. "Is she serious, ma'am?"

"Absolutely," Kerry answered immediately. "She never promises anything she won't deliver on." She waited for her partner to come back over and bump her lightly, stopping next to her instead of going back to the hairball. "Dar, if we've got basic comms back, I think we should let these folks take a break and get some sleep. "

"You think so, huh?" Dar rested her elbow on Kerry's shoulder.

"I do," Kerry said. "I know it's just a drop in the bucket, but you all can't keep this up all night and expect to also keep working again tomorrow. Which we have to do," she reminded her partner.

Dar slowly looked around the room. Three of the techs were busy running cables and making connections to the thick panel that then ran out of the room and around the corner, ending at the satellite rig Mark had set up.

The rest were sitting quietly, just watching her and waiting. Everyone would continue working if she said to, and Dar knew that. They were nowhere near in the clear, and stopping now would probably be a mistake, and certainly would lose them time they could not afford.

However.

"I think you're right," Dar said, after a pause.

"Moving the management traffic off the sat will get me enough wiggle room to work with. We can take a break."

She could see the utter relief on everyone's faces. A glance to her right showed a similar expression on Kerry's face, and the shoulder she was resting her arm on relaxed. "Let's go hijack one of those SUVs." She turned to the rest of the techs. "Take a break, people. Get some rest. You all did great work here tonight, and it'll make tomorrow a lot easier.

"Back at you boss," Mark said. "I've got two or three guys in reserve, bunking out waiting for the rack truck to get here. Should be any time, so it's a good deal we're gonna take a break to get out of their way."

Dar nodded. "Let's go." She slipped her arm around Kerry's shoulders and steered her toward the door. "C'mon, Dad. Time to go back to that scandalous hotel of ours."

Andrew had his hands in his pockets, and was nodding slowly. "Been a damn long day," he agreed, as he joined them in leaving the room. "Ah will be glad to wave bye to this here rock pile for today."

"Me too," Dar exhaled, as they exited the door and walked outside into the night air. It was much quieter now, though work was going on at the impact site as they passed it, cranes removing debris, and people moving in and out, there was a hush over everything that let them hear the flutter of the big American flag draped over the building with startling clarity.

A cluster of motion drew their attention, and they turned their heads to watch a group of six people leading dogs fanning out to enter the destroyed area.

"Are those search dogs?" Kerry asked.

"Looks like it." Dar stifled a yawn. "Guess it's safe enough for them to go in now," she added. "So no luck with the Telco vendors?"

"Ugh."

Dar gave her shoulders a squeeze. "Don't stress over it. They really can't do any more than we're doing, Ker. At least we can prioritize what circuits come up if we're the ones punching them down."

Andrew grunted, and waggled his head back and forth. "Them people should be helping though," he disagreed. "Not right for you all to be doing their work."

"Exactly," Kerry said. "I know we can do it. The point is we shouldn't have to. Dar shouldn't have to be standing there for what--eight, ten hours sorting through that mess."

Dar chuckled. "Eh." She shrugged. "At least it was doing something productive. I'm about out of options relieving all the throttle points until we relieve some of the congestion in Newark. There's just too much routing that way."

"Ugh," Kerry repeated. "You know, I gave that guy such a hard time too, about sending everyone to New York. But we're going to have to do that too, Dar. I don't know how we're going to do all that work there, and still get stuff here all going."

They stepped over the dividers into the parking area and headed for the bus. This late, most of the activity had settled down, but still there were techs gathered around the satellite rig, and two unfamiliar ones at the work tables setting up cable rigs. "Good morning all," Kerry called out, as they arrived.

The techs at the table looked up, then went still, their eyes widening as they recognized the figures appearing out of the darkness. "Oh, hell. It's the big cheezes!"

"Big mangos," Dar disagreed, with a wry grin. "You folks getting ready to cut some traffic over? We got one link up in that hell hole in there."

The techs around the sat hurried over. "That's what we heard," one said. "Mark called us on the radio. A T1 he said? That's going to be a lot better than the rig here. We're so maxed on it we can barely get management traffic through."

The door to the RV opened, and two more techs climbed out, rubbing their eyes. "Hey, what's the scoop out here?" one asked. "Anything interesting--oh. Hi Ms. Roberts."

"Ah will go get that car," Andrew decided. "Be right back." He ambled off disappearing between the RV and the bus before they could stop him.

"Guess he figures we'll never get loose of here given our own devices." Kerry whispered. "Want a cup of coffee?"

"Nah." Dar waited for the new techs to join them. "Randy, the most interesting thing that happened is that after ten hours of cable wrangling we got one circuit up. They're moving traffic off the sat."

"Hot damn," Randy stretched. "We're waiting for the rack truck. Mark said it should be here any time. We'll get them in and constructed and the power distribution units in and, hopefully, tomorrow morning the gear will get here."

Dar checked her watch. "Sounds right," she said. "Should be about twelve, fourteen hours from there to here. So we're right on track." She turned to Kerry. "Remind me to talk to Mariana about bonus packages for everyone here, will you?"

"Sure will." Kerry didn't miss the veritable forest of pricked ears suddenly around her. "Even though I know everyone's pitching in because that's the kind of people we have, we need to reward the really spectacular performance we've seen the last few days."

"Yup." Dar looked around, nodding in satisfaction. "We're on the right track here for sure. I think we can schedule ourselves to move on to New York tomorrow. I hope we're as lucky there in terms of staffing."

The moonlight shone down on a small group of smiling faces, as the techs enjoyed the praise. "You know," Randy said, "we don't usually get a chance to really make a difference like this. It's kind of cool."

The techs nodded. "Yeah," another one said. "It sucks big time that this happened, but coming here, and doing this stuff--it makes me feel good. My parents are all excited back home that I'm here, helping the country out."

"Better than being stuck in the configuration room in Miami?" Kerry smiled warmly at them.

"Heck yeah. Plus the bus is here," Randy said, with a rakish grin. "We don't get brownies made for us back home."

Everyone laughed, and both Dar and Kerry joined in. "We'll have to look at that when we get back." Kerry mused. "And those fresh cookies were pretty good too."

"Fresh cookies," Randy said. "Where? In the bus? Man, let's go get some and some coffee before that truck shows up and we've got to hump all that tonnage inside." He trotted toward the bus with his partner chasing after him. "Thanks Ms. Stuart!"

"Anytime," Kerry called after him.

A low rumble caught their attention, and they turned to see one of the company SUVs trundling its way toward them. "Our chariot," Dar said, with a sigh. "Damn, I'm so tired I actually don't mind my father driving it."

A cheer went up from the sat rig. "Circuit's up! Yeah! I'm seeing frames from our net!" One of the techs almost yodeled his excitement. "Boy is it great to see that router again!!"

Dar unwound her arm from Kerry's shoulder and walked over to them, peering over their shoulders at the laptop propped up on one end of the sat rig. "That's ours, all right," she commented. "Good."

"We did it." The tech shook his head a little. "On tin cans and strings and a lot of duct tape, but man, we did it."

Standing there, in the fluorescent lit glare, in the shadows of so much destruction, Kerry knew a moment of relieved triumph. They had done it. No one would ever probably know they'd done anything, no one would probably care, save those few people who had worked with them, but here in the chill of an early morning she knew they'd surmounted a lot of odds in a single facet of the total disaster.

One small step. One small achievement, but in all the chaos and all the grief surrounding them it felt good.

"Hey, Ms. Stuart!"

Kerry turned, to see Billy approaching. "Well, hello there," she greeted the captain.

"My guys told me something just happened," Billy said. "All of a sudden, our stuff's moving."

Kerry indicated the sat rig. "We got one of our circuits up," she said. "Only one, but it's a start." She smiled as the techs all started cheering, and doing a little nerd dance around the rig. "I think they're as excited as your guys are."

The captain had been talking into a mouthpiece, a cable trailing down from his ear to a radio rig clipped to his shoulder. "That is one fantastic piece of news." He put his hands on his hips and exhaled. "We've been feeling a little like second class citizens around here. Everyone's focused on New York."

Kerry nodded in understanding. "I got that sense also. But you know Dar and her father are personal friends of Gerald Easton's. They understand how important it is to get you up and running again even if other people don't."

"That's what I heard," Billy said. "You're good people, Ms. Stuart. Thank you."

Kerry felt tears sting her eyes. "You're good people here too, Billy. Thanks for putting it on the line for us."

He blinked, and Kerry saw his jaw muscles clench.

"Ready to go, Ker?" Dar came up next to her. "Hello there. Guess you heard the good news."

Billy nodded. He held his hand out to them. "Thanks." He gripped Dar's and then Kerry's. "Get some rest, you all. That's what I'm going to do now." He walked off, pausing to rub his face on his sleeve before he disappeared between two trucks and into the shadows.

Kerry looked very thoughtful as they walked toward the waiting SUV. "You really giving Ken a 200 percent raise?"

"Yep."

"You realize he'll make more than most of our VP's."

"Don't give a damn. It's my budget, I'll be glad to be on the line for it." Dar rocked her head from side to side, exhaling. "It's worth it. I'm so tired I can't see straight. He probably saved me from cross-connecting an electrical lead into my damn navel."

Kerry put an arm around her waist. "Me personally, I'd be more excited about the month vacation."

"We get that too. Everyone involved in this gets that."

"After we fix New York."

"Yeah." Dar opened the door and climbed in, surprised when Kerry climbed right after her, and settled squished in the seat half sprawled over her lap. Then she laughed faintly and shut the door, burying her face in Kerry's shirt and letting the tension roll out of her. "Let's go."

"You got that right, rugrat." Andrew started the SUV forward. "This here be the end of this day."

CRAWLING INTO BED was an exquisite relief.

Kerry felt sore and exhausted, her legs aching from the constant activity they'd been experiencing since early the previous morning. She lay there limp in the middle of the bed, dressed in just a T-shirt.

It felt amazing to be laying still. But in the back of her mind, the press of all the things that she knew still needed doing, needed checking up on, needed arranging for was making her head hurt and her stomach queasy. "Hey, Dar?"

"Uh huh?" Dar entered the bedroom, rubbing her eyes. She dropped onto the bed with atypical gracelessness and exhaled audibly stretching her long body out before she rolled over and pulled Kerry into an embrace. "I think I want to stop time for a few hours."

"Only a few?" Kerry silently savored the heat of the contact. "I just want to go home."

"Do you?" Dar reached over and turned the bedside light off, leaving them in darkness. She settled her arms back around Kerry and lightly rubbed her back. "We're caught in a pretty tough situation here."

Kerry draped her arm across Dar's waist and sighed. "I feel so crappy."

"Tired? Me too." Dar nestled closer and nibbled her ear.

"Frustrated," Kerry admitted. "Besides being tired. I feel like we're just starting to climb a really tall mountain full of angry people and bad situations.'

"Yeah, we are," Dar agreed. "But y'know, Ker, I decided tonight when I felt like taking a weed whacker to that panel that we just have to look at the whole damn thing as one big challenge. We can't freak out, and we can't just chuck it."

"Even if we're being asked to do the impossible?" Kerry felt her body relaxing, Dar's light touch on her back easing away the aggravation of the day.

"Sure. What fun would it be if it was easy?"

Kerry looked up at Dar, her eyes adjusting and seeing the angular profile tilted toward her. "You amaze me sometimes."

"Do I?" Dar smiled.

"Yes, you do." Kerry kissed her on the shoulder, pulling the fabric of her shirt down a little so she hit skin instead of cotton. "I think you did a fantastic job of leadership tonight. I was so proud of you, and the rest of our guys."

"I was just glad that line tech found that damn circuit," Dar admitted. "I don't know how much more of that I was going to be able to take. Talk about timing." She nibbled Kerry's ear again. "The only worse thing I could think of happening was starting my period."

Kerry blinked, feeling her lashes brush against Dar's skin as she silently called up a mental picture of their joint calendar. After a moment she thumped her forehead against Dar's shoulder. "Oh mushrooms. We're both due." She exhaled in aggravation. "Did you even bring--"

"I'm sure this swanky hotel has a concierge who'd love to go shopping for supplies for the owner of the penthouse mansion in the morning," Dar reassured her. "I was just glad to get out of there before anything started. My bleeding on those cables woulda thrown every damn thing into a royal spin."

"Yikes," Kerry said, after a moment's reflection. "I don't think I'd want that to end up in the departmental newsletter."

"Me either," her partner stated firmly.

"No wonder I've been in such a pissy mood all day." Kerry now, belatedly, recognized the symptoms. "Jesus I wish you'd said something before."

"I was busy," Dar reminded her.

"I know. Me too." Kerry sorted through what she had packed, and sighed in relief when she realized pain reliever was among the items. "Damn we're going to have to run around all day tomorrow too." She closed her eyes, as the nibbling moved around the edge of her ear to her earlobe.

Hard to stay in a bad mood with that sensation, she reckoned. Hard to stay in a bad mood when the warmth of their bodies pressing against each other penetrated all the aches and the stiffness, and she felt her breathing slow.

Felt her breathing come to match Dar's rhythm, an odd synergy she'd started to notice more and more lately.

Tomorrow might be hell. Kerry let the worry slip from her, savoring instead the immediate reality of this comfortable bed and the intrinsically greater comfort of Dar's embrace. "Mm."

"Mm." Dar exhaled against the skin on Kerry's neck. "I've been dreaming all day of this moment."

Kerry felt a little happy chill go up her back. She slid her arms around Dar and gave her a hug then relaxed against her body with a satisfied wriggle. "I always dream of this," she admitted. "Especially during sucky days."

Dar chuckled softly, almost soundlessly, more a motion than a sound.

"I have the weirdest dreams with you and me in them." Kerry closed her eyes. "Did I ever tell you about the one with a penguin?" She took a breath to go on then found she couldn't because Dar's lips were blocking the sound.

But that was all right too.

AS IT TURNED out, it wasn't quite their time the next morning. Kerry was glad enough for any reprieve. She started eating her blueberry pancakes, listening to the conference bridge with one ear and to Dar's pacing ramblings with the other.

It was just seven o'clock. Getting up that early had been painful, but Dar had gotten a call from the board, and her consolation prize had been this plate of excellent pancakes and acceptably crisp bacon.

"Hello, is Kerrisita there?"

Kerry swallowed her mouthful hastily and switched on the mic. "Right here, Maria," she said. "Is there a problem?"

"No, no problema, Kerrisita. The FedEx says they can come pick up Dar's package. I was wanting to make sure where to send it."

Ah. "So, FedEx is flying again," Kerry said. "Miami ops, did you hear that?"

"Boo yah!" Mark's voice erupted, sounding a touch sleepy. "Right from the RV, boss. I hear it. That's great news. Hang on, let me get status here."

Kerry took a sip of her coffee. "Hang on for me too, Maria. Let me talk to Dar and see where we're going to be." She clicked off and got up, putting her ear buds down as she went into the next room where Dar was using the room's speakerphone. "Hey."

Dar had stopped and was leaning over the phone with both hands braced. She glanced up at Kerry, her dark bangs falling into her eyes. "Hold up, people. I need to check something." She put the call on hold. "Que Paso?"

"FedEx is moving again," Kerry said. "Maria wants to send your ID and phone."

"Great."

"Where?" Kerry held still as Dar circled the desk and nuzzled against her, licking a drop of syrup from her lips in a miniature cascade of sensuality. "Ah." She closed her eyes and they kissed again, the silence going on for quite some time.

"What was the question?" Dar asked, opening one eye and peering down at her.

Kerry had to admit her mind had gone completely blank. "I have no idea," she muttered. "I'm sure it was important. I came all the way out here about it."

"I remember." Dar rested her forearms on Kerry's shoulders. "Where to send my damn wallet," she said. "Paradox, again. I'd say here, since it'll be easier to get here at the hotel, but we need to go to New York and it'll probably be this afternoon. So to the Rock, please."

"Okay." Kerry obediently nodded. "I'll tell Maria. Do you think you'll be able to fly though, without ID?"

"Guess we'll find out." Dar gave her a kiss then bumped her toward the other room. "Go finish your breakfast before it gets cold."

"I'd rather finish you before you get cold," Kerry responded, with a rakish grin, as her partner's brows lifted and her eyes widened. "But I guess I'll settle for pancakes for now." She winked at Dar and ambled back into the other room, taking a moment to drink half her glass of orange juice before she got back on the phone. "Phew."

She clicked the mic. "Maria? You there?"

"Si, Kerrisita. I am here. "

"Dar says to have it sent to the New York office, please. She's expecting us to leave from here today and head up there," Kerry said. "I'm just hoping they'll let her on the plane with no ID."

"Jesu," Maria said. "They were just saying here on the television how strict it is now. Kerrisita, did you hear all the things going on? They went and took someone off one of the cruise ships even!"

Having been involved in cruise ships in the not so distant past, Kerry somehow didn't find that surprising. "One of the terrorists was on a cruise?" she asked.

"They did not say." Maria sounded disappointed. "They found something in the Europe too, in some countries in the north. People they had arrested."

Kerry sat down and cut a forkful of pancakes. "Unreal," she said, before ingesting them. She chewed and swallowed. "Maria, call the airline, would you? Let's find out what Dar's supposed to do so we don't get surprised at the airport."

"Si, I will do that."

"Hey, poquito boss." Mark got back on. "Man, we got good news here. Truck just pulled up with the gear, and the racks are ready and humming for them, and--wait for it--we found another circuit!"

Kerry put her fork down and clapped, hearing the echo in her ear buds. "Nice work!" She complimented her team. "Go go go."

"Miami exec, this is Newark." The earth station reported in. "We do see a decrease in saturation today. Boy. Is that a welcome sight. Good work, you guys." She paused, and studied her plate. "Mark, can you just run down where we are, overall."

"Sure."

Kerry clicked her mic off, nodding a little as she listened and ate more pancakes.

DAR SPRAWLED IN the leather desk chair, her bare feet propped up against the desk and her elbow resting on its surface. She listened to the voices on the conference call with barely contained aggravation, shifting forward suddenly only to relax again, as another voice took up the argument.

She picked up her glass of grapefruit juice and sipped from it. The astringent beverage was cold, and she swallowed a few mouthfuls before there was a gap in the discussion and she saw her chance to dive in. "Hey!"

The phone almost visibly shuddered. "Yes, Dar," Alastair said, after a moment. "Listen, I know things are tough where you are, but we're getting a lot of pressure here from a lot of people."

"Too bad," Dar said. "Have any of you been listening to what I've said the past twenty minutes? It's 8:00 a.m. I got back from the work site at 3:00 a.m. We just got things moving there."

"Now Dar," Hamilton chimed in. "Settle your shorts. Nobody said you weren't working hard. We just made some promises to the government and they want to know when we're gonna keep them."

"I can't see why we're delaying," another voice chimed in. "This is big. We've got a great opportunity here."

Dar glanced plaintively at the ceiling. "What the hell's wrong with you people?" she asked. "Did you not see the hole in the side of the Pentagon on CNN? Do you not know what goes on in that building?"

"Now Dar,"Alastair sighed. "Well listen folks. Today they're doing a big ceremony, and I've got to go get ready for it," he said. "I know your people there are working like anything, Dar. I understand it's important to get things going there. I know you've got a personal responsibility for the place. But damn it, I need you here."

Dar turned her head and glared at the phone. "So, what part of yes, I'm making arrangements to get to the city today wasn't clear?" she asked. "Did that whole five minute spiel from me at the beginning of this call not mean anything to anyone there?"

Alastair sighed. "I was hoping you'd be here this morning."

"I was sleeping this morning," Dar said. "And frankly, you all can kiss my ass. Anyone who thinks they can do this better, c'mon. Bring it."

"Dar, no one said that."

"Then everyone just shut up and do something productive." Dar turned and slammed her hand on the desk, raising her voice to a loud yell. "Instead of tying me up when I should be!" She turned, to find Kerry unexpectedly standing behind her. "Yeop."

"What was that, Dar?" Hamilton asked. "Cat get your tongue?"

"Nothing." Dar leaned back in the chair and let Kerry rub her shoulders. "Are we done?"

Long silence. "Well, I guess I'll see you here later today, huh Dar?" Alastair asked. "The mayor was just on the line, something about an office at the pier--any chance of looking at that first?"

"Sure," Dar said. "Done now?"

"Good bye, all," her boss sighed and gave in. "I'll do what I can here. Going to be a rough day." He clicked off the phone and it echoed a little, then the room was once again silent.

"He sounds pissed."

"He wants me to be there making him look good," Dar said. "Screw that, Kerry. We had work to do here. "

"Uh huh. And we'd better be taking a train to go there," Kerry informed her. "'Cause sweetheart, they're not letting anyone fly without ID," she said. "If we get packing, we can catch a train in an hour, and be in New York in three more after that. We end up in Penn Station. "

"A train," Dar mused. "Think we can get tickets? Probably pretty busy. No one wants to fly."

"Already got them." Kerry kissed the top of her head. "C'mon. Let's just get there. I'll give Dad a call." She held a hand out to Dar. "Shower? We'll save time together."

"Hedonist."

"Takes one to know one."

To be continued...