"What a mess." Dar had come up behind her, and now Kerry could feel the warmth along her back as her partner came into her space. "These people are coming back to Hell." She leaned back into her partner's chest. "What a nightmare."
"Reminds me of Hurricane Andrew." Dar let her hands rest on Kerry's shoulders. "We sent a bunch of people down south to help clean up. Some of our staff lived down there. Total disaster."
"Did you go?"
"Sure," Dar replied. "Ended up puncturing my hand with a rusty nail and getting hauled off to the first aid station. They have picture of me sitting there with two guys hanging on to my paw with a three inch piece of iron sticking out of it."
Kerry turned her head and stared at her. "You didn't pass out?"
"Only by a whisker." Dar overturned her left hand and flexed it. "Only my ego kept me upright. I wasn't going to take a dive in front of half the company." She looked up to find Kerry gazing indulgently at her. "It was damn close though."
Kerry could imagine it. She knew how squeamish her partner was about injuries and she could just picture the stubborn set of Dar's jaw as she fought to remain unfazed. It had nothing to do with courage. Dar had more of that than most. "You poor thing." She leaned over and gave Dar's palm a kiss. "Too bad I wasn't there to take care of you."
"Mm." Dar glanced past Kerry as the bus came to halt and the air brakes blasted out a hiss. "Here we are." She drew in a breath, and then let it out. "Time to pay the piper."
Kerry turned all the way around and bumped Dar lightly with her fists. "I'm right with you, tiger." She followed Dar down the aisle to the center of the bus where the team was getting their masks together and testing radios.
Dar took up a position near one of the doors and folded her arms over her chest. "Folks, listen up."
Kerry stuck her hands in the pockets of her jumpsuit and stood just a half step behind her boss, underlining her support. She watched the faces of the techs as they stopped what they were doing and turned toward them.
"We've had a major screw-up." Dar got right to the meat of the matter."Those guys running the cable are running the wrong kind."
The techs all blinked in surprise. Mark put his backpack down and leaned on the bar. "Huh?"
Dar nodded. "We found out after they'd already started rolling it. The right stuff won't be here until Tuesday at the earliest."
The techs looked at each other, then at Mark, then at Dar.
"How wrong is it?" Mark asked. "The wrong micron?"
"Multimode," answered Dar.
"Oh no." Kannan groaned. "That will not be good."
"Shit." Mark looked non plussed."What are we doing down here then? We'll just have to do it again on--like on what, Wednesday? You going to tell them to stop?"
"No." Dar shook her head. "We're going to make the connections as though the cable was the right kind. I knew they were using the wrong type yesterday, and told them to keep going."
Even Mark looked at her with confusion and disbelief. "Bu--" He started then stopped. "Bu--" He started again. "Boss, that's not gonna work."
"I know."
Kerry decided to keep quiet. She edged a step closer to Dar and leaned against the wall, looking steadily from face to face, mildly wondering what Dar was going to tell them.
"There really isn't any option," said Dar. "They expect this to work tomorrow. I know it won't work until Wednesday at the earliest--if they can get that other cable run. But at least we'll have all the connections in place and ready to go."
"But--" Mark hesitated. "Won't they be pissed? I mean, I heard them talking, boss. This is serious shit."
"They'll be pissed," Dar agreed. "But that's not your problem. That's mine and Alastair's problem."
"Mine too." Kerry piped up. "I'll walk the plank with you, Captain Roberts."
That got a nervous smile from the techs. "And," Dar shrugged lightly, "we've got some people looking at the technology to see if there's anything to be done."
"That will be very interesting if they discover anything," Kannans said."It will be very difficult I think."
"Very interesting," Dar said. "So just go in there, and make like everything's normal. Set up the connections and put the patch in. Don't talk about the cable being a problem. Let's get in and get our part of this done, and get out of here. "
"Right." Mark nodded. "Sounds good, boss. You guys got all your gear? Let's get moving." He shouldered his pack and slipped the smaller of his two masks over his head to nestle under his chin. "You think we need the full ones?" he asked Andrew, who was lounging nearby.
"Figure you should take it." Andrew held his up. "Sure as hell if you don't, you'll need it."
The techs trooped out the door and down onto the sidewalk, all with laden backpacks and leg pockets stuffed with tools and water bottles. The bus driver came up behind them as Andrew started to follow.
"I'm going to park it here. The cops say that's all right," said the driver. "I'll pop out the SAT dish and see what I can pick up in the way of news." He held up a radio in one big hand. "I'll let you know if anything stirs up."
"Thanks." Dar glanced out the door where the techs were gathering. "Hopefully this won't take long." She patted Kerry on the hip."C'mon pirate. Let's get this done."
Kerry followed Dar down the steps and blinked her eyes already stinging a little as she drew in a breath of dusty air. "Ugh." She slipped on her mask and adjusted it, hoping it would block out the stench an errant puff of air brought her.
Dar adjusted her credentials and edged through the crowd. "Let's go." She started for the steps to the Exchange, aware of the armed guards at the top of them. "Ker?"
Kerry dodged around Mark and joined her. "They took that pretty well." She uttered in a low tone as they trotted up the steps to the building.
"There's an advantage to having everyone too scared to disagree with you. Sometimes, when you really need it, they just shut up and do what you tell them to."
"Dar," Kerry patted her side, "they always do what you tell them to. If you told them to wrap our building in twisted pair cabling and paint Alastair's car pink, they'd do it."
"You wouldn't." Dar gave the guards at the top of the steps a brisk nod, and went right past them, reaching out to open the door and hold it open.
"Paint Alastair's car pink? I might."
"Ma'am?" The guard moved to intercept her. "This is a restricted area."
"Damn well should be."Dar presented her credentials. "If they didn't put us on the access list they will as soon as we get in there. Excuse us." She motioned the crew through. "Kerry, go in there and find whoever's in charge and get them to give this gentleman the right data."
"Yes, ma'am." Kerry marched past without hesitating watching the guard try to untangle his tongue as they slipped past and into the building. "I'll get right on that."
"Ah. But--ah--" The guard glanced at Dar's credentials. "Oh, well, okay, I'm sure that's fine," he said. "I think I remember some people from your company here earlier, right?"
"Right." Dar agreed. "Thanks." She pointed at the bus. "There are hot drinks and snacks in there if you get tired of holding the wall up out here." She went past into the building and let the door shut behind her catching sight of Kerry waiting patiently not far away.
"See?" Kerry commented to the techs waiting nearby. "It's like having a beautiful animated can opener sometimes."
Dar stopped in her tracks, both eyebrows shooting up. "Excuse me?"
A loud argument down the hall distracted them, and Kerry was saved from answering as they turned and looked toward the noise. A group of men were coming out of a room all talking at once. They were dressed in business shirts and slacks, most carrying jackets.
"Move!" The man in the front ordered them. "What in the hell are you people doing up here? Get back to where you belong!" He was relatively short, but had bristling gray eyebrows and hair, and a pair of what would be extremely shiny patent leather shoes if they weren't currently covered in dust.