Storm Surge - Part 2 (25 page)

Dar held a hand up. "Okay, go ahead and keep rolling it out. We'll deal with it on our end." She said, in a brisk tone as she came up next to where the men were lounging. "We're running out of time."

The crew leader turned in surprise. "Yeah? This is the wrong stuff though," he pointed out. "You said so."

"Not a problem," Dar replied steadily. "I'll handle it. Just get the cable rolled out. We've got a solution."

The man studied her. "Awright." He shrugged. "Overtime for us,and not doin what those guys down town from here are doin. Sounds good to me. Okay boys?"

The techs dusted their gloved hands off, most of them nodding."Better than digging out pipes," one agreed. "At least it's quiet down here, and no dust."

The men got to work, standing up and taking hold of the spool."Down the line here." The crew leader motioned Dar and Kerry out of the way. "Scuse me, ladies. We got work to do."

"Sorry, we definitely don't want to hold you up." Kerry gave him a smile."We'll be waiting for you on the other end. Thanks for taking the time to let us know about this, by the way. At least it gives us time to get a solution in place before you get up there."

The man nodded briefly at her. "You the people with the bus?"

Kerry nodded back. "We'll send some snacks down the line to you when we get back. We really appreciate you guys coming through for us with this."

The men reacted to Kerry's charm and sincere tone. They gave her brief smiles, and one of them touched the rim of his hard hat as they rolled the spool by. "See you down at the Rock, pretty lady," he said, giving Kerry a wink.

Kerry gave them all a genial wave. She waited for them to moved down the curve of the track before she turned and looked at her partner. "Come up with a plan?"

"Nope." Dar had her hands in her pockets. "I haven't a damn clue what I'm going to do."

Kerry turned her head and looked at the men, then swiveled back to face Dar. Her brows lifted. "Is this something maybe you can come up with a fix for?"

"Probably not."

"Hon? Is there a reason you want these guys to work all night doing this then?" Kerry asked, gently. "I know you hate to give up, so do I , but there's a lot of work they could be doing too, huh?" She laid a hand on her partner's arm to ease any sting from the words.

Dar merely lifted her shoulders in a mild shrug, though. "I can't just tell them to stop," she said. "Even if I know it's probably going to be a waste of time."

"Probably?"

"Well--" Dar removed one hand from her pocket and raked her hair back from her eyes. "I know the physics of it, Ker. But let's go back to the Rock, and I'll get on the phone with some of the eggheads I know up at our network vendor and see what they say."

Kerry studied her face cast in the shadows from the skylight's grill.Even she could see the doubt in her partner's eyes, and from her own knowledge of the technology she faced, the understanding that this time Dar really was just tossing crap in the air.

Sobering.

"Okay." Kerry said, after they were both silent for a minute. "We really don't have much choice, do we?"

"No."

"Then let's boogie." Kerry turned around. "Scuzzy? You around here? We've got to get going."

Scuzzy trotted down a set of steps in the center of the curve. "Man, this is amazing," she said. "I ain't never seen nothing like this place. You know what this is?" She came over, full of enthusiasm and oblivious to the nerdish gloom around her colleagues. "This is like the very first station in the subway."

"Is it?" Kerry looked around again. "It's really interesting."

"Yeah. I found a plaque over there." Scuzzy pointed. "This is where it started, you know? The first station where all the trains left from back in like in 1904. " She looked up. "Man, they used to make things cool, huh?"

"Why don't they use it anymore?" Dar spoke up. "Seems like a waste to leave it here."

"Oh." Scuzzy pulled out her phone. "Hang on a minute, that driver told me to like call him when we needed to get out of here. Walking down the track is not cool." She dialed a number, turning her head to one side and covering her ear as she waited for it be answered.

Her decision made, Dar turned her attention to her surroundings. She walked over to the plaque and studied it, tipping her head back to look at the mosaic sign above. There was an elegance and an architectural beauty to it that surprised her, and she allowed herself to be distracted by the artistry in the tiles and the arches.

She felt a moment out of time, hearing the echo of a different era as Kerry walked quietly up behind her coming to stand at her side, sliding the fingers of one hand into Dar's front pocket.

The silent support in the motion both charmed her, and made her feel more than a little guilty. She glanced to the side, catching Kerry's profile in the dim light from the work lamps.

After a moment, Kerry sensed it and turned her face a little their eyes meeting. "Know what I think?"

"Bet I'm about to," Dar wryly answered.

"I think Heaven is really going to be a plane seat heading home."Kerry tugged her a little. "C'mon, boss. Let's get out of here. I think I hear our chariot approaching."

"Here we go." Scuzzy confirmed it, pointing down the track. "Man,I wish I'd took pictures down here. This was freaking amazing."

"I have some. I'll share." Kerry clasped Dar's hand with her own and started toward the edge of the platform. Ahead of them, on the far side where the track seemed unused, the men were already working their way along, flashlights casting odd bursts of light against the soot darkened walls.

"That's cool." Scuzzy joined them at the edge of the concrete. "I mean, I know this is real serious and all that stuff, but I think New York is the coolest city, and I love seeing stuff like this. Like, you been over Brooklyn Bridge?"

"I have," Kerry responded, since her silent partner wasn't looking likely to. "It's an amazing construction," she added. "I know the head of the office here--who died in the attack--was also a big fan of the city wasn't he Dar?"

"He was," Dar said. "I'm sure he would have loved to have seen this place."

The train pulled slowly into the station, its bright number six prominent in the gloom. Scuzzy tilted her head back and looked up at the skylight."Like that stuff. Today, we put these lights everywhere. Back then, they were smart. They used what they had, you know? Got all kinds of light in here from that."

"Using prisms." Kerry waited for the door to open, then she hopped inside.

"Prisms," Dar repeated, as she joined her.

"You people done with all this now?" The driver poked his head out. "My boss said I can't do this no more. They got real pissed at me."

"We're done," Kerry said. "Thank you very much for picking us up."

"Yeah, that was really cool." Scuzzy went over to him. "This place is great."

The driver shrugged. "It's just a tunnel." He went back in his cubicle and closed the door, then closed the outside doors and put the train in motion. They sat down as they left the old, unused station and pulled around, shuttling through only a short period of darkness before they were pulling into Brooklyn Bridge.

Dar settled back in her seat to wait out the ride, folding her arms over her chest as she half closed her eyes and thought about light.

And prisms.

Kerry felt her phone buzz, but she left it on her belt content to merely sit and share Dar's space as she let her mind go blank. There would be time when she got back to the office to continue her never ending problem solving.

Right now she could use the tunnels as an excuse to rest her head against Dar's shoulder and think about something trivial, like the pretty mosaics on the wall back there, and how warm her partner's skin was.

There was no real point in wondering what they were going to do about the problem of the cable. If Dar didn't know what to say about it, no one did.

She really had no idea what they were going to do.

DAR RESTED HER forearms on the mahogany wood surface appreciating the sound proofed walls and the stillness of the office.

On the desk was a phone and her laptop which was closed. The rest of the office was fairly sterile and empty, a spare the staff had rapidly found for her when she and Kerry returned from the subway, moving from an active part of the work back to something a bit more administrative.

For once, Dar was glad. She didn't really want to be around the fiber guys and Mark, who were setting up the gear needed to make the connection she knew wasn't going to happen when it was all said and done.

She didn't want to say anything to them, but she was finding it hard. It was an odd mix of embarrassment, anger, and frustration at the situation and self disgust at her part in it.

Ugh.

She looked at the phone, then removed her PDA and opened it, flicking through the address book as she searched for a specific entry. After she found it she exhaled, studying the phone pad for a long time before she made a move toward it.

A knock at the door stilled her hand in the act of dialing. She released the line and put her hands back on the desk. "C'mon in."

Alastair poked his head in at the invitation. "Hello, there."

"Hey." Dar waved him forward, guiltily glad of the interruption. "How was the interview?"

Her boss smiled briefly. "Well, that went just fine. But you know they followed me back here. Really want to talk to you."

Dar made a face. "Alastair, I'm busy."

"I know," Alastair said. "But they're right in back of me, lady. Don't make me turn around and boot them. They're not bad folks. Just want a few minutes of your time."

Silver linings. Dar sighed. "Okay, sure. Might as well get it over with before I get on a conference call." She shifted and rested her chin on her fist. "Bring them in."

Alastair smiled again, this time far more warmly. "Thanks." He drew back for a moment, then opened the door and entered, holding it open for the rest to follow. "C'mon in, folks. Dar's got only a minute, so please keep it brief."

A group of four people entered, two men dressed in khakis carrying cameras with pockets full of technical items, a tall man in a turtleneck and a jacket, and a medium height woman in a leather coat and boots.

"Hi." Dar briefly wished Kerry was in the room. "What can I do for you folks?"

The tall man approached the desk. "John Avalls." He held a hand out. "Thanks for taking the time to talk to us, Ms. Roberts. We won't be too long."

Dar stood and took his hand. "I'd appreciate that. We're in the middle of a lot of activity here."

"This is my colleague, Sarah Sohn." The man indicated his female companion. "And our cameramen John and Barry."

Dar gave them all a brief nod. Then she stuck her hands in her pockets and waited.

The reporters came closer to her while the camera people set up their gear. Alastair loitered in the background perching on a credenza that held a set of glasses and probably hid a large screen television panel.

"Okay." Avalls was flipping through a notepad. "Sorry, Ms. Roberts. It's been a long couple days for us too. I'm trying to get my questions straight here so I don't waste your time."

"No problem." Dar watched the cameramen wrangle their gear. "I can imagine that you folks have been going without any sleep just like we have. "

"Exactly." Sarah nodded. "You almost feel guilty taking a nap, like you're going to miss something if you do." She had a portfolio open, and she took up a position near the short edge of Dar's desk. "For a while there, even going to the restroom felt like that."

Dar nodded. "Can't be like that forever though."

"No," Sarah said. "It's funny you say that because I was thinking that this morning before we met Mr. McLean, I had so many other things to do--personal things, laundry, you know, shopping--that I haven't even thought about since Tuesday. "

"Life's moving on," Alastair suggested. "I know we feel it. Our customers were completely understanding the first few days, but now, their priorities are changing too."

Avalls looked up from his notes and nodded. "I found myself hoping over coffee this morning they'd find me an assignment somewhere else," he said, honestly. "You can just take so much. I felt like going to cover baseball in Wisconsin."

Dar nodded slowly. "Wish I was home in Miami, myself, matter of fact. Alastair and I were in London when it happened, and we've been going full out since then."

"I was at my in-laws in Virginia," Avalls said. "My father in law was having his sixtieth birthday party, and we had the whole family in for a big barbeque." He glanced up from his notepad. "Now he never wants to celebrate his birthday again. "

They were all silent for a moment. "Tough to know who to be mad at, isn't it?" Alastair came over and settled on the far edge of the deskDar was standing behind. "Anyway, here we are."

"Here we are," Avalls said. "John, you ready?""

"Yeah. I think there's enough light in here not to use ours," the cameraman said, peering into his lens at Dar's image. "We're good."

"This is a high pickup mic," Sarah said, "so we don't need to do the whole stick it in your face thing. It's picking you up fine." She looked at a meter on the device she was wearing over her shoulder. "And it's quiet in here."

"Great." Dar rocked up and down on her heels. "One warning. I'm tired, and I'm not a talking head," she said. "Don't ask any questions you don't want to hear the answers to."

Sarah looked up and smiled at her. "We know. Ms. Roberts, I've bee a fan of yours since you did an interview about that ATM breakdown for a colleague of mine. I can't speak for John, but we're not here looking for a headline on the crawler. We just don't understand some things we've seen happening and we'd like to, and we think you have the answers."

"You speak for me,"Avalls said, mildly. "I am just the talking head."

Dar relaxed, sensing a weary doggedness in the little crew she understood at a gut level. She was usually wary of the press, given her recent experiences with them sometimes more than wary, but in this time, in this place, she felt like it was going to be okay.