An hour. Dar sighed inwardly. "Damn I wish we could just land in Miami."
The steward looked sympathetic. "Us too," he agreed. "We'll try to make it as comfortable as possible." He gave them a brief smile. "We're about ready to serve, if you want to freshen up." He slipped out again, closing the door behind him.
"Well," Alastair said. "That's a damn shame." He eased past Dar and went back to his seat. "But I think it's better than flying through a storm."
Dar gazed out the small window, feeling more than a little trapped. She hoped things were going well for Kerry, and that the company plan was proceeding.
She hoped there were no more attacks.
"Dar?"
"Hm?" Dar turned and pushed off from the window, walking back down the aisle and stopping by her seat. She sat down on the arm of it, and rested her elbows on her knees. "Guess all we can do is put up with it."
"It'll be fine," he reassured her. "We've got good people running the show, don't we?"
Dar nodded.
"Want a drink?"
Dar slid backwards into her chair, leaving one leg slung over the arm of it. "Not yet."
"How about a tranquilizer? Got a bottle of em."
Dar turned her head and looked at him, her eyebrows lifting.
"If you don't take one, I'm gonna have to," Alastair informed her. "If you're going to pace like a cat for the rest of the flight."
Dar chuckled wryly. "Let me see if they have chocolate milk first." She sighed. "That'll probably be less destructive for both of us."
Chapter Fourteen
"OKAY." KERRY HAD her headset on. She checked her watch as she glanced over the screen of her laptop to see her mother come out from her room. "So what's the status there before we go any further."
Senator Stuart paused as she fastened her earring. She was dressed in a well fitted business suit, and an aide was standing quietly by holding her briefcase. "Are you sure we can't offer you a ride?"
Kerry covered the mic with her hand. "I'm fine. Our office is sending a someone to pick me up,"she said. "I'll rent a car out there." She paused. "But thanks."
Her mother hesitated, then nodded. "Well, take care in that case. Things are very unsettled," she warned her daughter. "Please let my staff know if there is anything you need."
"Hold on." Kerry hit her mute button. "Thanks. I think we have it covered. Take care yourself." She watched her mother follow the aide out, feeling a sense of relief as the door closed behind them. "Okay." She went back to the line. "Listen, I've got about ten minutes before I go mobile. So give it to me fast."
"Boy," the male voice answered her. "That's going to be tough, Ms. Stuart because it's more like, what isn't going on? We've got a ton of stuff hitting now because of deliverables that were missed yesterday."
As she'd expected, the world that had stopped turning the day before had now started up again. "Okay," Kerry said. "Well, obviously we need to put out the message that we're in a holding pattern ourselves for a lot of things."
She sat down and picked up her third cup of coffee, sipping it as she reviewed the laptop screen. On her status map large chunks of the Northeast were blinking red, and to one side, she now had a list of accounts with stoplights by them most of them also red, though with a few yellows sprinkled in here and there.
"Miami exec, this is Houston ops."
Kerry checked her watch again. "Go ahead, Houston."
"Miami, we've got a list of demands from the government groups here," the voice answered. "More circuits, more bandwidth, some extra processors--and they want it all right now."
"Miami exec, this is LA Earthstation," a very tired voice broke in. "We're getting the same kinds of requests too. I've explained transponder space about three hundred times already and it's only 6:00 a.m. here."
Kerry thought a minute. "Okay," she said. "Let's just start gathering up requirements, and getting a list together of our available resources. We can't give everyone everything."
Her cell phone rang. "Hang on," she said, then muted, as she answered the phone. "Kerry Stuart."
"Ms. Stuart? This is Daniel Green. I work for the NSA."
Yikes. Lovely. "What can I do for you?" Kerry asked. "It's a pretty busy morning."
"I can appreciate that," the man said. "As I am sure you can appreciate it's the same for us," he added. "My department has been trying to secure the cooperation of your facility in Virginia since yesterday, and we've had some problems. I was told you could help."
Kerry paused to draw in a steadying breath. "Okay. Hold on one moment, please. I am in the middle of a conference call. I'll be right back to you." She put the call on hold. "Folks, I need to duck out. I have the government on the line here."
"Great," the voice from the Earth Station sighed.
"Okay. Listen up." Kerry stood. "Right now, no one gets anything," she decided. "Just take detailed notes of what is being asked for, and post that to the desktop workspace. Miami ops, are you on?"
"Right here, boss," Mark's voice answered. "We're rolling up the road past you right now."
"Can you please get me an updated resource list and post it on the desktop?" Kerry asked. "I don't want to start pulling circuits until I know what the real priorities are."
"Everyone thinks theirs are, Miami exec," Houston replied. "You know how it is."
"I know," Kerry agreed. "Maybe this guy I've got on the phone can get me to someone who can tell me what the real first in lines are," she said. "Until then, we just listen. Everyone understand?"
"Understood," Houston said.
"Fine by us," LA answered. "We don't have any spare capacity anyway."
"Okay," Kerry said. "I'm signing off until I pick up on mobile. Mark, cover me."
"Covering," Mark replied. "If you need anything, text me boss. We can pull over."
"I'll be back on shortly. I'm off." Kerry hung up the connection and started to close down her laptop, while she took her cell phone call off hold. "Mr. Green?"
"I'm here," the man answered. "Ms. Stuart, I really don't have much time to discuss this with you."
Kerry closed her laptop and maneuvered it into its case one handed. "Well, Mr. Green, let me tell you something," she said. "I have hundreds of customers, including the government, all having all kinds of problems all over the country and halfway across the planet right now."
"I'm sure you do."
"So I don't have much time to talk to you either. I would like to help you," Kerry said. "I would like to understand what it is you need from us. I am on my way to our offices in Virginia right now, would you like to meet there?"
She waited for him to answer, draining her coffee and picking up the last bite of the danish her mother had professed to be horrified by and popping it into her mouth.
"That will be good," Green finally said. "Two of my men are already there, but they aren't being allowed inside the building."
"It's a secure facility." Kerry came perilously close to having to speak with her mouth full, swallowing just in time. "So that sounds right."
Green sighed. "I will meet you there," he said. "I hope we can come to an understanding, Ms. Stuart, without me having to get my upper echelons involved. You won't like dealing with them."
Kerry licked her lips. "Likewise," she said. "See you there." She hung up the phone and clipped it to her belt. She scanned the tray for any remaining edibles, then she lifted her jacket off the back of the chair and slipped into it.
It wasn't really cold enough to need a jacket, but it gave her a place to clip her identification badge, and she felt it was just slightly more formal than her jeans and polo shirt. Technically, since she was making an official visit to the office, she should be wearing a business suit, but she hadn't brought it, leaving the folded suit bag she'd intended on bringing to Europe with her with Angie instead.