Kerry heard footsteps and turned her head to see Dar's tall body slipping into her torture chamber. "Hey," she said. "Say hello to my mother."
"Hello Kerry's mother." Dar dropped down into a crouch. "Listen. There's something in the middle of that damn pipe that's stopping the probe. I can't get it to go any further."
"Hang on, Mother." Kerry put the phone on her chest. "So what's the plan?" She watched Dar's face, which had liberal streaks of grime on it. "Is there any way to clear whatever the obstruction is? Can you get inside the pipe anywhere?"
"I can," Dar said, "but it means I've got a good chance of ripping up whatever else is in there. I think it's a damn cable tie that's blocking it."
"A cable tie?"
"Yeah." Dar sat down and braced her elbows against her knees, grimacing. "I feel like such crap."
Kerry gazed compassionately at her. "I wish I could give you a hug, hon, but I don't think this axle grease being all over you is going to make you feel any better." She put the phone back to her ear. "Sorry, Mother. Did you say someone was attacked?"
"I can see you're very busy Kerry. I will be glad to fill you in later, if you want. Please go take care of poor Dar. She sounds terrible," her mother said. "I have another call to take, so we can speak later."
"Okay. I'll call you when I'm somewhere more comfortable," Kerry promised. "Goodbye." She closed the phone and clipped it back on her pocket to free her hand, which she then put on Dar's leg. "Cable tie?"
"Yeah," Dar repeated, gazing at her dirt covered hands. "One of the big half inch ones, turned sideways."
Kerry pictured it and made a face. "How in the hell do we get past that? Why the hell would someone put it in there, anyway?"
"Figured nothing else would need to go in the pipe I guess, or it twisted--who the hell knows?" Dar sighed. "Maybe if I can find a rod long enough, I can put some kind of edge on it and cut through it." She blinked a few times. "I tried to find an outside hatch or something--anything to bring the cable through somewhere else, but I couldn't."
Kerry eased her arm out of the pipe, her skin covered in black goo. She sat up and flexed her fingers, looking around with a vague sense of despair. The light was a bare fluorescent fixture, a pale, dim glare that hurt her eyes and made the metal space even more depressing. "Dar,I'm sorry."
"For what?" Tired blue eyes regarded her.
"Sorry I can't make this better," Kerry admitted. "Sorry we're here. Sorry we can't leave and go rest."
"Me too," Dar agreed. She rested in silence a moment more, then she started hauling herself to her feet. "Jason," she called into the hallway. "You back?"
"Yes, ma'am." One of the techs appeared immediately. "We measured the rope you threw over to the pier, and we've got enough cable,ma'am. You want me to tie the end of the rope to the end of the fiber? John found a hardware store too, so he's going to go get some flexible ducting."
Dar paused, one hand on the metal door sill."He found a hardware store near here?"
Jason nodded his tow colored, curly head. "Little place. Not like a Home Depot or anything, but they got stuff." He glanced over at Kerry who was carefully keeping her greased up forearm away from her clothing. "Wow. That looks gross," he blurted, then looked abashed. "Sorry ma'am."
"It does look gross," Kerry agreed. "I feel like a plumber on a bad day."
"Jason." Dar spoke, suddenly, her eyes a trifle unfocused. "Tell John to get to that hardware store. Get a metal rod, long as he can find, and a stick soldering iron, the narrowest one they have, plus a spool of metal wire."
"Uh." Jason pulled a small pad out of the back pocket of his khakis and started scribbling on it. "A metal rod, ma'am? How big?"
"Half inch. If they don't have rods, get the narrowest conduit they have," Dar said. "Eight or twelve foot length if you can get it."
"Gotcha, ma'am," Jason nodded. "And you want a soldering iron?"
"A soldering iron," Dar confirmed. "And a 16 or 14 gauge extension cord at least twenty five feet long. Got that?" she asked. "And a bar of soap."
"Got it." Jason trotted off. "Not sure what I got, but we'll get it. Be right back."
Dar went to the open hatch and perched on the edge, taking in a breath of diesel tinged brackish water air, letting her hand drop to rest on the coil of rope. She glanced up as Kerry came over to join her. "Ugh."
"Ugh." Kerry sorted through Dar's hair, pulling it out from under her collar and riffling it in the light breeze coming through the hatch. Looking up the river this way, everything looked so normal. She could see the other piers, all old and rusted, and the buzz of activity on the rooftop parking lot of the furthest one down the way that was the emergency center.
A few small boats moved quietly past, police boats with slowly flashing lights. They were too far away to see the two figures in the opening, but they cruised past, obviously watchful. In the distance, the air was hazy and from the right she could hear the muted sounds of the city.
Jason finished tying the rope to the cable, and waved at them. Her stood by the spool, and started unwinding it as Dar sighed and stood up again, taking hold of the rope and starting to haul it in. "Watch it."
Kerry took a step back, holding her grease covered arm out to one side and out of the way. "Want more Advil?"
"Yes." Dar stolidly coiled the rope as it came in, making a neat circle on the deck. "Please."
With a nod, Kerry turned and headed out of the small space, glad to take a break and stretch her legs. She moved down the hallway and into the hangar deck again, aware of the slowly fading light as the sun edged toward the west and left the outside in a haze of blue.
She entered the small office-like room they'd stored their bags and gear in. It had a desk against the wall and filing cabinets on either side. The furniture was functional but plain, and there were banners on the wall celebrating the many functions and trials the Intrepid had gone through.
"Ugh." Kerry paused, as she remembered not to touch her bag with her right hand. She opened the latches with her left, and fished inside the leather sack, finding her bottle of Advil and pulling it out. She removed her bottle of water along with it, and latched the bag shut again, turning to head back out of the room.
Her cell phone rang. She almost reached for it, then stopped again,and cursed. "Son of a--" She went back to the desk and put the bottles down, then grabbed the phone. "Kerry Stuart."
"Hey, Kerry. It's Mark."
Could be good, could be bad. "Hey, Mark. What's up?" Kerry sat down on the edge of the desk. "We're making some progress here in case anyone's asking on the call." She wrinkled her nose at the smell of the axle grease.
"They found our two guys here."
Kerry felt her own breathing stop. The tone of Mark's voice held more explanation than any words could have, and she bit the inside of her lip feeling a deep pang of loss for these unknown to her techs that had, at some level, traced up an org chart to her name. "I see."
"They were in that part that got hit," Mark added, after a moment's silence. "About all they could identify were their badges."
Oh my god. "I'm sorry, Mark. Did you know them well?" Kerry wasn't really sure of what to say, or really of what she was saying. It just sounded like random words.
"I didn't. The guys here did though." Mark sounded somber."Danny's pretty trashed. I sent them off to hang out for a while. My guys are handling the stuff."
Kerry exhaled heavily. "Okay," she said. "Have you told Mariana yet? "
"No. Called you first."
Only right. "Send me their names," Kerry said. "I'll call her. We'll get the process started." She felt profoundly sad. "And contact their families."
"Okay. Will do," Mark said. "Sorry to bring such totally sucky news. Stuff's going pretty good here otherwise. We got a few more circuits in. Those telco guys really helped."