Storm Surge - Part 2 (47 page)

He took her boarding pass and looked at it, then waved her through. Gratefully she went to the belt and reclaimed her overnight bag and briefcase just as Dar appeared behind her. They got their stuff and continued on moving down the hallway and then pausing to wait for the others.

Andrew was being held up in the line. Dar watched as her father produced a card then waited, his arms crossed as it was examined. "He's got metal plates in him."

"I know. I remember when we went into the Federal building during my father's hearings," Kerry said. "Should we go help out? Oh, here he comes."

Andrew shook his head, and picked up his bag. He slung it over his shoulder before he joined them. "Can you take it out?" He mimicked the guard's question. "These people are some idiots sometimes. I swear."

Kerry smiled. They walked slowly toward their gate, the rest of the techs in a group behind them. They all stopped at one gate, and then Alastair, Hamilton and Nan started their good byes to go on to their own.

"I can't say this was fun," Nan said to Dar. "But it certainly was something I will never forget." She shook Dar's hand. "Thanks for letting me be a part of it."

"Thanks for volunteering," Dar responded. "I know the Virginia office will be glad to get you back."

Nan moved on and faced Kerry. "I hope you feel better."

"Me too." Kerry worked her left hand out of her pocket and reached over to squeeze Nan's. "Take care, Nan. I know I'll be talking to you on the phone." She paused. "And make sure you get your brother's resume in."

Nan blinked. "You remembered that? Wow." She laughed a little in surprise. "I feel like it was a year ago when we had that conversation."

Kerry smiled. "I have to catch the details." She waved at Nan as she walked toward her gate. "Have a good flight."

She turned to find Hamilton standing there. He reached out and put a hand on her shoulder and gave her a wry grin. "Boy, I hope we don't meet like this often," Kerry stated, catching sight of Alastair giving Dar a bear hug nearby.

Hamilton laughed. "You and me both, Kerrison Stuart." He patted her gently. "Take care of the Maestro, will you please? I owe her one for this little shindig."

"I will." Kerry watched him step aside then she was being gently hugged by Alastair. "What a week." She gave him a one-arm hug back. "Hope you have a safe trip back to Houston, Alastair. Come visit us soon, okay? I want to see Dar teach you to scuba dive too."

Alastair chuckled. "You're on, Kerry. You all have a safe trip home too." He gave the group a wave, and then he followed Hamilton down the hallway toward the next set of gates.

Kerry exhaled, as she turned and Dar put her arm around her shoulders. She looked up at her partner, seeing the exhaustion in her face."I like Alastair."

"Me too." Dar agreed. "He's seriously thinking of retiring," she added in a quiet tone. "That's what he just told me."

"Wow." Kerry looked back down the hallway. "I don't blame him, but--"

"Yeah, but." Dar mused. "I don't want to work for anyone else."

"Me either."

"Dar, they're starting to board." Mark came over and touched Dar's arm. "I know you guys want to get on and sit down."

Kerry was glad to head for the jet way. She was glad to hear the beep as her boarding card was processed and the motion under her feet as she walked down the ramp to the airplane door and passed inside,greeted by the flight attendant who stepped aside and indicated her path to her first class seat.

They all had them. Dar had told Bea to book the whole team as first class, so she settled into her leather seat surrounded by the chatter of the techs and Dar's low, burring response as they filled the first class cabin.

"Can I get you something to drink, ma'am?" the cabin attendant asked. "Some coffee maybe? You look a little tired."

Kerry looked up at her. "How about some warm milk?" she asked."Can you manage that?"

"Sure."

She sat back in her seat, resting her elbows on the arms. She was in the front row of the plane, and she could see the cockpit, a crude metal plate hastily covering it and it reminded her all over again of what had happened less than a week ago.

Were they safe? She looked around the first class area, which was mostly full of their people. What if there was a bad guy, or more than one in the back? She watched the crew. They looked wary and worried,their eyes taking in everyone and everything.

Including Kerry and the rest of them here in first class, who she realized, included Kannan's exotic features, and Andrew's scarred intimidation. Was the crew worried about them? Should they be?

The flight attendant returned with a steaming cup. She set it next to Kerry's hand, and set down a small dish of warm nuts next to it. "Here you go."

"Thanks," Kerry said. "Terrible week for you guys, huh?"

The attendant made a face. "The worst ever," she said. "You live in New York?"

"No." Kerry indicated the people around them. "We're from Miami. We work for ILS. We drove up to help out, now we're going home."

"Oh." The attendant looked around the first class cabin. "Are these people all with you?" She glanced back at Kerry, who nodded. "That's good to know. Every time I fly now, I wonder; who are these people? Are they crazy? Are they going to hurt me? I never felt like that before."

"I think we all feel that way now," Kerry commented, as Dar returned to her seat and dropped into it. "Hey. You got that Advil?"

"Sure." Dar got up and rummaged in the overhead bin, pulling the bottle out of her backpack. "Can I get some coffee?" she asked the attendant. "Before we take off?"

"Sure." The attendant gave her a friendly smile. "Be right back."

Kerry watched her return to the service area and talk to her colleague, who had a list in her hand and was reviewing it. She looked at the list, then out at them, and then nodded, a look of perceptible relief on her face.

Wow. Kerry leaned back, as Dar handed her some pills. She popped them into her mouth and swallowed them down with a sip of her warm milk. What would it be like to go to work every day and worry about someone trying to kill you and everyone around you?

It would be like being at war, she guessed. Or being somewhere that bombs going off were an everyday occurrence.

Welcome to the rest of the world, America.

Dar took her seat and reached over the divider to take Kerry's hand curling her fingers around her partner's and letting out a tired sigh. The attendant closed the door to the airplane and they were on their way.

At last.

Chapter Nineteen

"ALL RIGHT, YOU little scamp. Stay still a minute."

Kerry did, closing her eyes as she heard the hum of the X-ray machine. She was flat on her back, the chill of the table cool against her bare shoulder blades and her skin still just a little warm from the sun outside.

The sun of home. The achingly hot sun and the thick, swampy air that coated her with sweat not ten steps outside the door to the Miami airport they'd landed at shortly before.

Heaven.

"Okay, got it." Dr. Steve stepped around the X-ray shield and came to Kerry's side. "That's a hell of a bruise you got there, spunky."

Kerry glanced down at her side. "Yeah. It was so stupid, Dr. Steve.I tripped trying to keep some guy from falling on his face and ended up halfway under a raised floor."

Their family doctor put his fingertip on her nose. "Next time let the guy fall on his head. Don't cause yourself such pain, huh?"

"Twenty-twenty hindsight." Kerry accepted his hand up and swung her legs off the table, easing off it to stand next to the doctor in her jeans and sports bra. "It still hurts like hell. But at least I'm not all foggy from those drugs they gave me."

"Hon." Dr. Steve put his hands on her shoulders. "That stuff could have killed you." He told her bluntly. "You were lucky you were running around like a crazy woman because you could have sat down somewhere and nodded off, and not woken up."

Kerry stared at him.

"I am not kidding. Not only wasn't it the right thing, but it was too big a dose for you. That size dose is for someone like Dar's daddy. You are not the size of Dar's daddy. I am going to call up that doctor and read him the riot act."

Kerry took a breath, and then released it. "I don't think he did it on purpose."

"That's not the point. We're doctors. We're supposed to know what the hell we're doing and not deliberately try to kill people. It's called the Hippocratic Oath. Ever hear of it?" Dr. Steve seemed truly outraged. "I'm sure that guy didn't do it on purpose, he was just in a hurry."

"Well." Kerry picked up her T-shirt, holding it in her hands. "It's a good thing Dar called you then, huh?"

"For once, she did. If it had been her, I bet she wouldn't have." Dr. Steve patted her shoulder. "Now, go on in there and keep her company while I develop these. After that prescription, I want to make sure you don't have a tennis ball inside there or something he might have missed."

"Okay." Kerry walked out of the X-ray room and down the hall of the small family practice, passing two occupied rooms with nurses busy at their work. Dr. Steve had cut off the bandage she'd had on, and as she passed the reception desk, she saw the doctor's daughter glance over and wince.

"Yow." The girl stood up and came over. "Wow, looks like you got hit with a baseball bat."

"Yeah." Kerry smiled as Dar jumped up and headed over. "Hon, give me a hand with the shirt. The doc's looking at my X-rays."

Dar took the garment and gathered it in her hands. "If I'd known your ribs looked like that two days ago we'd have been home way before now." She frowned at her partner, getting the clothing over her head and settling it around her carefully.

"I don't care what they look like." Kerry leaned against her. "I just want to go home and spend a few hours in our hot tub, have something scandalously decadent delivered for dinner, and crash with you in our waterbed after that. "

Dar paused and looked slightly overwhelmed. "Boy that sounds great," she said, after a minute. "No laptops, no pagers, no pain in the ass government officials--"

"You guys had a rough time up there, huh?" Sheryl commiserated.

"We did," Kerry said. "We're glad to be home."

Dr. Steve came out of the hallway, and crooked his finger at them. "C'mere, kiddies."

Dar and Kerry joined him in his small office, where he put the X-rays up on a screen and turned it on. "Look here." He pointed at a curved shadow on the picture. "That's your rib, Kerry. You have not one, but three hairline fractures." He indicated three things that looked like scratches. "A little more pressure and that would have been a real fracture, and probably caused you a hell of a problem."

"Yow." Kerry grimaced. "So what do I do?"

"Nothing," Dr. Steve said. "They're already healing, see here?" He indicated a blur on one end. "We wrap you up and you go home and relax, which I gather is what you want to do anyway."

Kerry nodded vigorously.

"I will give you something to take the edge off." Dr. Steve continued. "Can I talk you into taking a few days off as well?"

"Absolutely." Dar answered for her. "We're both taking the rest of the week off."

The doctor stared at her suspiciously.

"Thanks boss." Kerry gave her a kiss on the shoulder. "Can we go out on the boat?"

"Absolutely." Dar agreed.

"Let me get you wrapped up before this pipe dream disappears." Dr. Steve waved Kerry out to the hallway. "I should take an X-ray of her head, the way she's talking."

TWILIGHT FOUND KERRY seated on the porch, a tall glass of ice tea by her side, and a Labrador at her feet. She rocked the swing chair back and forth with one foot braced against the railing, and savored the salt tinged air wafting past her face.

It was so good to finally be home. She reached down and scratched Chino's ears. "Hey Cheebles. You glad we're back?"

Chino stood up and licked her knee, laying her chin there and staring soulfully up at Kerry. "Gruff."

"I'm glad we're back too." Kerry told her pet. "I missed you." She watched Chino's tail wag, and felt like wagging her own in response."Thanks for being good for your grandma."

The sliding door opened and Dar appeared, wandering over to join her and stepping over Chino to take a seat next to her.

"Ahhh." Dar propped her feet up on the rail, and put her hands behind her head. "Damn I'm glad to be here."

"Me too." Kerry took a sip of her ice tea. "Listen to those waves."

The ocean was crashing up against the beach and the seawall, and they could hear rollers coming in. "Dad just called. He and Mom just made it back over to South Point," Dar said. "He said we should get together for dinner sometime later on this week."

"Sure." Kerry leaned a little and kissed Dar on her bare shoulder. "Whatever you want to do is cool with me."

Dar put her arm over Kerry's shoulders and let her head rest against her partner's. "I want to put you in the hot tub,"she said. "I have some cold apple cider chilling next to it and a bowl of cherries."

Kerry was more than ready for that. She was already in her swimsuit and she joined Dar on the steps to the tub, easing down into the heated water as the scent of chlorine rose around her. The warmth stole into her bones and she felt a sense of relief as she settled in place and the bubbles rumbled around her soothingly. "OOohhhh."

Dar slid into place next to her. She tipped her head back and looked up, to see a partly cloudy sky just starting to show a few stars scattered around. They usually visited the hot tub at night when the shadows and indirect lighting let them dispense with the swimsuits, but it was very nice to just float weightless in the water as the sky turned dark. "Feel better?"

Kerry let herself relax, and felt the tension drain from her as the bubbles flowed gently over her body. Her muscles relaxed, and even the ache in her ribs subsided a little as she no longer bore weight on her chest. "That feels wonderful," she admitted.

"It does. If you didn't have cracked ribs I'd suggest we go out for a night dive."