"I know. We found them." Kerry said, leaning against the counter as she watched Dar wander around the lobby examining it. "I think we got that all sorted out. Hopefully they won't be bothering us again."
"Okay, here you go ma'am." The receptionist handed over the visitor badge. "Should I let them know you're here?"
"And spoil my fun?" Dar took the badge from her and winked. "Nah."
"Thanks." Kerry smiled at the woman and led her troublemaking spouse toward the inner door. "We can use that office they assigned to me. It's big enough to party in." She scanned the door open and held it as Dar went past her. "So what's the plan?"
"What's the plan? " Dar sighed, as they walked down the hallway side by side. "I wish I knew what the plan was. I need to sit down and think for a few minutes and try to figure out where the hell to start."
She said. "Want to stop in at ops first? You said they were a little rattled at my locking them down."
"Good idea." Kerry led the way to the security door and swiped through it, leading Dar into the inner operations center. Their entry caught the group by surprise, and voices fell off as people's heads turned as they spotted Kerry.
Kerry watched their eyes, as they shifted to her companion and stayed there, putting two and two together a lot faster than the receptionist did. "Good morning folks," she said. "As you can see, I called in the cavalry. Dar and I have just gotten back from the White House, and I think we've gotten a few things worked out that will take some of the stress off you all."
No one said anything for a very long moment. Then the shift supervisor, a different man than the previous day, came over. "Oh, well. Wow. That wasn't expected. Ms. Roberts, it's an honor." He timidly extended a hand, which Dar clasped in a genial manner. "Don Abernathy. We've been on conference calls a few times."
"We have," Dar agreed. "Someone want to vacate a seat so I can check things out in here?"
Kerry took a step back and amused herself in watching the staff as they scrambled around to make space for Dar on both the government and commercial side of the monitors. They had all been extremely respectful to her the previous day, but their attitude toward her partner was one of utter awe, and completely different in scope.
People usually did react to Dar differently. Kerry expected that. But she spent so much time around her at their Miami office that she often forgot how the rest of the company viewed her, since everyone in Miami was pretty much used to having her around.
Dar slid into an emptied chair and rested her long forearms on the console surface, pausing a moment to review the screen before she logged the user out and logged herself in with a patter of rapid keystrokes that sounded ridiculously loud in the suddenly quiet room.
Dar seemed to realize it. She stopped, and looked slowly around, first one way then the other. "People, sit the hell down. They don't pay me to teach typing."
Kerry chuckled under her breath, as the staff sidled back to their seats, save Don, who had an excuse to remain standing near the front of the console. "Dar, be nice." She chastised her. She walked over and put her hands on her partner's shoulders. "I'm going to go get some work done. Come get me when you're done showing off."
Dar leaned back, her head thumping gently against Kerry's chest. "Get me that laptop if you can. We're also going to need a video conference with Hamilton and his friends about what contacts we have in New York."
"Okay." Kerry just barely resisted the urge to give her a kiss on the top of her head. "I'll get that set up and let you know when it's ready."
Dar winked at her.
Kerry squeezed her boss's shoulders and then she stepped back and headed for the door, leaving a lot of bemused faces behind her.
She was used to that too. She made her way through the hall to the office she'd been issued and shouldered her way into it, crossing the carpet and putting her briefcase down on the desk. Before she opened it though, she went over and used the hot water dispenser tucked in one corner, getting a cup and a teabag sorted and steeping in short order.
A soft knock came at the door. "C'mon in." Kerry looked over her shoulder as the door opened, and Nan's dark head poked itself in. "Good morning, Nan," she greeted the woman. "How are you doing today?"
"Oh, hi. You are here. I'm doing okay, thanks." Nan slipped in. "Everyone's looking for you, though." She told Kerry. "In a bad way."
"Not the NSA again?" Kerry slipped her laptop out and opened it.
"No. Everyone but them," Nan said, frankly. "We're getting pounded for resources from all sides. I've been here since six and the phone hasn't stopped ringing off the hook."
That sounded a little strange. While the center did house a lot of systems, both government and civil, Kerry didn't really understand why the overall need would have surged now. "Okay," she said. "Let me get booted up, and I'll get on the bridge. You can also have them transfer any real trouble to the phone here." She circled the desk and slid into the chair. "And if it gets too scary, we'll throw Dar at them."
Nan cocked her head. "Literally?"
Kerry glanced up and grinned over the top of her screen. "She's in the ops center. If they all know what's good for them, they'll just be understanding and reasonable."
"Wow. I didn't realize she was here," Nan said. "I don't think anyone did--er, does." She put her hands in her pockets. "I'm sure I'd have heard if they did."
"We just got here." Kerry logged in as her laptop finished booting. She reached for her ear buds as she waited for the desktop to launch and key in the conference bridge. "We had a meeting we had to go to earlier."
"Okay, well, I'll let everyone know you're here then," Nan said. "I know they'll be glad to hear it. Anything else you need?"
Kerry paused before hitting the mic. "Matter of fact there is," she said. "I need to get my hands on the highest end laptop you've got here," she said. "Biggest hard drive, biggest chunk of RAM, highest screen resolution."
Intrigued, Nan removed her hands from her pockets and crossed the office, taking a seat in the visitor chair across from Kerry. "Okay," she said. "Most of the staff uses the standard type."
"I figured." Kerry started scanning the screen. "But that won't do, unfortunately. What else do we have here?" She read down the list of requests posted on the desktop, grimacing a little at the blinking red lines that had moved from requests to demands.
"Well." Nan frowned. "You want something like what you're using? I think we have one or two of that model around, maybe in the test center. I'd have to check on the RAM though. Mine's last year's model and it's got a gig."
Kerry glanced at the opposite wall briefly. "No. Has to be more horsepower than this one," she said.
"Would a server work?" Nan suggested. "I'm pretty sure we don't have anything even close to that in a laptop."
Kerry imagined her partner tucking one of the big suitcase size items under her arm to walk out with. "Ah--no--hang on," She clicked the mic on. "Miami ops, this is Miami exec. You on?"
"Go ahead boss," Mark answered. "You still with the goons?"
"In Herndon," Kerry answered. "You have any laptops with you?"
"Sure."
"Big enough to take the Godzilla image?"
"Miami exec, this is Newark Earthstation," a voice broke in. "We're maxed here, and I have the city of New York on the line demanding we give them priority on the birds."
"Hang on Newark. Mark, do you or not?" Kerry repeated.
"Yowp hang on one sec, Boss, we're checking the back tank," Mark called out, his voice obviously away from the mic. "Big Kahuna's box take a dive?"
"It's in Miami."
"Crap."
"Newark, this is Miami exec," Kerry said. "What traffic are they asking priority for?"
"Boss, we don't have anything close," Mark said. "Not that'll take the image for that beast without rolling over and crying, even mine."