”Well...” he paused. ”It’s not good, Dar.” His cheerfulness vanished. “I’ve had a few calls from the board. Apparently some of them know some of the companies affected and they’re getting pressure too. They think for some reason I’m shielding them from what’s going on.” He paused. “Or shielding you.”
Dar’s eyes drifted out to the rainy ground. ”I see.” A dull throbbing started in the back of her skull. ”Nice.”
”Didn’t know until after six, you’d already left for the airport,”
Alastair told her. ”And anyway, what more could I do? You’re the best we have, Dar. If you can’t solve it, no one can.”
Dar rubbed her temples. ”All right. I need someone from Legal to call whoever’s in charge of that damn extinguisher company and threaten them with a full liability lawsuit, naming the officers as personal respondents if they don’t give the people here the name of the stuff they put in that goddamned system.”
”Hell with Legal. I’ll call him. I know him. He’s my second wife’s third ex-husband’s brother-in-law,” Alastair advised her. ”Call you right back.”
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”Right.” Dar disconnected, studying the building thoughtfully.
Then she dialed again, glancing over her shoulder ”Call Bellsouth. I’m going to need someone very high up in their provisioning department.”
Her voice had taken on a grim tone.
”Okay.” Kerry got out her own phone, and her palmtop, and checked the number, then dialed, sensing the sudden change in her lover, and feeling a sick gnawing in her guts.
Dar listened for a minute, then heard Mark’s voice. ”Evening.”
”Ah, Dar, hi.” Mark’s voice sounded blurry. ”Um... I was just...
uh... ”
”Sleeping at your desk,” Dar remarked dryly. ”Listen, I need an inventory check. Can we duplicate the setup in NC?”
Momentary silence. ”You’re kidding, right?” Mark answered, faintly. ”You know we can’t do that.”
”Thought so, call up Cisco and find out what they have on hand.”
Dar sighed. ”We’re locked out of here.” She hung up and faced the doctor. ”I need to get in there and get equipment out.”
”No way,” The woman answered instantly.
”Look,” Dar started.
”Hey, I said, no way.” Anne put a hand up. ”So don’t try it, lady.
I’ve said no to a lot worse than you.”
Kerry put her hand over the mic on her phone and stepped artfully between the two women, seeing the sudden icy glare settle over her boss’s face. ”Here Dar, it’s some Executive VP of something or other.
Was that high enough?” She passed her the phone, watching the flare of Dar’s nostrils as she took the instrument.
”Yeah. That’s fine,” she muttered, taking a breath before half turning away to talk.
”So.” Kerry gave the doctor a grim smile. ”Any coffee around here?”
“WELL, THAT’S IT.” Anne Simmonds closed up her cell phone.
”All right, guys, pack it up,” she yelled to her team, then turned to a waiting Dar. ”Sorry. They’re going to have to bring in a team to scrub the place. Thanks for getting me an answer, though.”
Kerry shot a glance at her boss. ”What does that mean?” she asked.
”Means the stuff is so toxic we can’t go in there without environmental suits.” The doctor answered succinctly. ”And I’ll be glad to get out of this weather. You might as well do the same.”
”How long?” Dar spoke for the first time, her voice sharp.
The doctor shrugged. ”Who knows? Take the team a day, maybe two to get here, then probably a week or so.” She packed up her kit.
”I can’t keep this facility closed a week,” Dar stated flatly.
”Well, that’s just too bad,” Simmonds replied. ”Because I’m leaving a trooper here to keep everyone out.” She gave Dar a grim smile. ”Have Hurricane Watch
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a nice day.” She shouldered her bag. ”Oh, and Ms. Roberts?”
Cold blue eyes watched her silently.
”My boss, Shari, says have a nice day too.” She turned and walked off, joining her group as they got into their van and closed the door, driving off and leaving them in the fitful, freezing weather.
Kerry watched them, then turned and studied her boss’s face, which had gone dark and cold, with a glittering anger in the pale blue eyes that sent a chill down her back. ”What was that all about?”
Dar felt the sour taste in the back of her mouth. ”Old history,” she replied, then returned her attention to the building. ”All right. C’mon, we’re going to have to do this the hard way.” She started towards the tarp the rest of their assembled group was huddled under at a brisk pace.”But.” Kerry caught up to her, tugging her collar up a little. ”Dar, I don’t, um.”
”Okay, folks,” Dar stated, as she ducked under the blue plastic.
”Bad news. We don’t get in for a week, at the least.” She pointed to the Bellsouth regional service coordinator who had just arrived. ”I need all the circuits in that building stripped and redropped, and I need them tonight.”
His jaw dropped. ”You’re joking, right?”
”No.” Dar stared him down. ”Just get started. I’ll let you know where I need them dropped.” She turned and faced the building manager. ”I have seventy Cisco 7200's headed here on a charter, find someone to go pick them up.”
His jaw dropped too. ”What in the hell are you doing, Dar? You make it sound like we’re rebuilding the goddamn complex.”
A dark brow lifted. ”We are.”
”That’s impossible,” he told her flatly. ”There is no way this facility is going to be duplicated overnight.”
”Have you ever tried it?” Dar countered her temper building. ”No?
Then how do you know it can’t be done?” She pointed. ”Just get moving, and get me someone here with a truck, who knows the area, and you,” she pointed at another woman who was muffled in a large mackinaw, ”start getting your people back in here.” The staff had been sent home earlier.
”Look, Dar,” the regional manager objected.
She whirled on him and jabbed a finger into his chest. ”You want a job tomorrow morning?”
Silence.
”Then start moving your ass,” she snarled. ”All of you!”
A low muttering sprang up as people started to move, more than one whisper of ”crazy” leaking back to Dar’s ears. She turned her back on them and walked to the edge of the tarp, staring out into the darkness and trying to calm the churning tension in her guts.
Kerry took a breath, then stepped up next to her. ”Hey, look Dar. I 194
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think he’s right, this is really crazy.”
The back facing her stiffened, and it was a long moment before Dar turned her head and looked right at Kerry. Her face was an unreadable mask, but the turmoil in her eyes was unmistakable. ”If you don’t want to help out just go back to the car and wait,” Dar spoke with low intensity. ”But don’t stand here and tell me what I can’t do. I don’t need that from you.”
Kerry felt her knees start to shake and she sucked in a shocked breath, having not expected the response. She tried to think of something to say, but before she could, Dar simply turned and walked away, out into the darkness.
THE FREEZING RAIN now matched her mood completely. Dar stared into it, hardly even feeling the sting against her face as the last warm spot inside her dissolved, replaced by a damp bleakness that already regretted her words to Kerry.
Damn it. She tucked her hands under her arms, ignoring the pain the cold was inserting in her joints, and took a quick glance over her shoulder. Kerry had disappeared. The knowledge sank into Dar’s guts, and she felt a long moment of just wishing she could scrap the entire night, and go after her.