"You guys actually have time for the gym?"
"We make time for it." Kerry paused and studied her target, and then she selected a different spot and slammed the hammer against the edge of the door near the frame, seeing flecks of brown wood under the black paint.
"Nine o'clock," Robert said. "Ms. Stuart, they're back with that part--upstairs just paged me."
"Go down into the subway and get Kannan and Shaun back up here." Kerry felt her breath coming fast, and her heartbeat hammering against her chest. "Tell them to get ready."
"Yes, ma'am." Robert disappeared again.
"C'mon. C'mon." Kerry closed her eyes and just concentrated on the hammer, blocking out the pain and the burn in her arms. She banged the tool against the wood again, and again, and again, and again.
Faster.
Slam.
Slam.
Slam.
"KERRISON! STOP!"
Kerry almost jumped and smacked her head against the pipes, the voice so loud in her ears it hurt. She dropped the hammer and let out a gasp as the surface she'd been pounding disappeared into a black hole and gust of cold, oil scented air blew hard against her face.
She stared at the opening until Dar's upper body appeared, her arms resting on the depressed floor. "H--hi."
"Sorry I yelled," Dar said. "But one more smack and you'd have gone through the damn door and knocked me off this stack of crates and old railroad ties I'm standing on." She disappeared. "Hang on."
Kerry was very glad to stay completely still, blowing her hair out of her eyes with a puff of relieved breath.
"Wow," Nan said. "Just, wow."
"Here." Dar reappeared with something in her hand. "Feed this in." She got a good look at Kerry's face, and then shifted her focus."Nan, grab this please. Pull it forward to the rack." She had a cable end in her hand and now she fed it through under the rusted iron pipe work.
"Got it." Nan took hold of the cable and squirmed backwards. "Got it, got it--whoa!"
"Hey!" Shaun skidded to a halt, breathing hard. "There's the cable!Kanny! Move it, buddy!!"
The cable slithered forward as Dar fed it up, past Kerry's shoulder. "That's enough," Dar called back. "Tie it off for strain relief, Mark."
"Doin' it!" Mark called back. "Dar, for Christ's sake don't fall, okay? I don't think I can catch you and we're both gonna end up across those freaking tracks!"'
"I'm all right." Dar leaned on the sill again. "You okay?" She focused on Kerry.
"Absolutely not." Kerry reached over and extended her hand which Dar clasped. "We're not done. The part's here, Dar. We've got to get it down to the exchange."
"I know," Dar said. "And I've got to be here to configure this end of it when the traffic starts coming down. I told the router on that end to send me everything. I'm going to split it up here."
"We're insane." Kerry rested her head against her arm. "I'll get the part and go to the Exchange. If they won't let me in, at this point, I'm going to start biting and kicking people so get the bail money out."
"Ker, we can send someone else," Dar said. "I'll send Mark."
"Who do you think has the best chance of getting in there?" Kerry kept her eyes closed. "Honestly."
Dar sighed.
"You're taking me to dinner at Joe's Stone Crab tonight, Paladar."
Dar pulled her hand closer and kissed her knuckles. "Ker, I'll buy Joe's Stone Crab for you if you want, but--ah--can you move back out of the way?"
"Huh?"
"Gotta jump up here." Dar looked behind her.
"Boss! Watch it!" Mark yelled suddenly. "Watch it!"
Kerry's eyes popped open. "Honey you're not fitting through here. Dar, wait--no wai--Dar!"
With a sudden surge, Dar hauled herself through the opening. "Mark! Move!"
"Outta here boss!"
There was thundering huge crash behind her, and far off, the sound of alarms going off. "I think we just blocked the tracks." Dar reviewed her options in the tiny, cramped space. "I think I'm gonna end the day pissing a lot of people off."
Kerry was wriggling backwards as fast as she could, trying not to kick Shaun and Kannan who had descended over the cable and were working furiously.
"Guys?" Dar said. "Stop."
Shaun looked up. "Ma'am?"
"Pull Kerry out of there." Dar pointed. "Just grab her legs and pull gently before she passes out." She looked up, then jumped and grabbed a pipe, pulling her body up and over the top of it. "C'mon people, we're out of time."
Chapter Seventeen
KERRY BOARDED THE subway train with Andrew right behind her, her hands pushed into the front pocket of her hastily donned hoodie. One hand clutched the optic device as she was shepherded to a seat by her tall companion.
"This is a crazy thing." Andrew sat down next to her in the half full train.
"It is." Kerry was aware of every minute ticking by. "But Scuzzy said it would be faster to do this, than try to drive down there with everything going on. I trust her to know New York."
"Some right." Andrew acknowledged. "Lots of traffic now up there."
"Lots." Kerry sat back, feeling utterly exhausted. Part of that was the drug she was taking for her ribs she knew, but there was a bone deep tired along with it she hadn't felt for a long time. "You know, I said to Dar I was glad we were doing this."
"Not so glad now?" Andrew asked, watching her from the corner or his eye. "You don't look so hot."
"I don't feel so hot," Kerry admitted. "I think besides my ribs I'm coming down with something. I've got that ache all over feeling." She exhaled carefully. "Just my luck."
Andrew patted her shoulder. "Hang in there, kumquat. This here thing's about done ah think."
"I'll be glad to get on that darn airplane, that's for sure," Kerry agreed. "Bet you will too."
Andrew let his big hands rest on his knees. "That is a true thing. Place here's got some of the same things I saw some places I been." He continued in a reflective tone, "a lot of fussing with folks haids. Mad. Crazy. Sad. Hating."
"You mean places you've been deployed?" Kerry asked, after a pause.
"Yeap."
The train rattled through the tunnel, and pulled into a station. A few people got off, a lot of people got on. Most were quiet, as they settled in seats, or took hold of the bars. Andrew scanned them, and then he remained seated, pulling his boots in a little to keep them from tripping anyone.
Kerry checked her watch, and then shook her head.
"WELL, DAR, WE knew it would be down to the wire but--"
"Sh." Dar staked out a spot on the floor behind where Kannan and Shaun were feverishly working. "Don't get me wrong," She paused and looked over her shoulder, "I am deeply grateful to all of you for doing this, but if we don't get finished, it's not gonna mean much."
"Sure." Chuck found a spot near the wall. "Mind if we watch?" He indicated his companions; two men in khakis with tucked in short sleeve shirts and actual, real pocket protectors. They had glasses, and that intense look that rocket scientists have.
"No." Dar plugged her laptop into the router and started it up. "Sit down, it'll be a while." It was already stuffy inside the room without the extra people in it, and she felt the sweat gather under her jumpsuit adding to an already significant discomfort. "Hell."
"Dar?" Mark's voice erupted near her ear. "I've got good uplinks--you want me to--what do you want me to do up here?"
"Hang on." Dar unzipped her jumpsuit and pulled it off her arms and shoulders, exposing her tank top covered upper body to the sluggish air. She tied the sleeves off around her waist and retrieved the mic. "All right, listen. We're taking the whole stream from down there so when it starts up I'm going to have to parse it by IP and set up sub interfaces to route it."
There was a long moment's silence. "You're going to do that on the fly, boss?"