She disconnected the mic and let it drop on her laptop taking a moment to lock the screen before she eased wearily out from behind the desk and went to the panel door. She opened it and went through, glad the interior of the bus was now quiet.
The floor of the bus shifted slightly, she paused and then continue on toward the outer door hoping the motion was just some last loading and unloading, and not anything more ominous.
The haze in the air seemed to have gotten thicker. Kerry wondered if it had, or if it was just her impression. Most of the sun was blocked out, and as she watched, a layer of dust was settling on the table Dar had set up in the center of their technical encampment.
She felt the breeze blow into her face, and realized the wind had changed, and that accounted for the thicker air, and heavier dust. "Crap." She turned and went back into the bus, picking up the mask she'd left near the bar and adjusting it over her head.
It felt gritty, and uncomfortable. However, she tightened the straps and returned to the outdoors, turning her head to look around for the others she expected to find somewhere outside.
It was too quiet, though. Kerry walked around the bus, then around the satellite trucks sitting silently aligned with it. She opened the backdoor to trailer Mark had hauled, but it, too, was empty. "Where in the hell is everyone?"
Past the truck she could see clusters of workers seated in the park with their backs to the wind as they huddled over paper wrapped sandwiches. Nearby on a table she spotted three of the company coolers, and cups that were clutched in many hands, and then, at last, she could sauna of the bus attendants heading back toward her. "Hey, Sharon!"
The attendant skewed her route and ended up next to Kerry. "Oh, hi, ma'am. Did you need something? I was giving those guys some of four sandwiches. They really don't have a lot of supplies down here yet."
"Do you know where everyone else is?" Kerry asked. "And absolutely, give those guys whatever we've got. They look exhausted."
"Well, you know I was wondering that myself," Sharon said. "I was inside cleaning up and then I came out here and everyone was gone.Maybe they went back to the site?" She glanced over her shoulder then sneezed.
"You should have a mask on," Kerry told her. "This air's thick with who knows what."
"I know," Sharon said. "I'm going inside to get one now. It just started to get bad again. I got sidetracked listening to those men talk about that place. My God, Ms. Stuart, they were here when it happened. One of those firemen said bodies were dropping out of the sky all over the place."
Kerry grimaced. "Yeah." She pulled out her PDA and opened it. "Well, let me find out where the gang is. I thought we were trying to get out of here." She typed a quick message to Dar and sent it. "Ah, here are some of the guys now."
Shaun and Kannan were headed toward her, masks firmly settled on their heads and collars turned up on their jumpsuits. Kerry waited for them to come over, then motioned them over to the bus and pointed on the other side of it. "Let's get out of the wind."
"Great idea," Shaun said.
They followed her to the far side of the vehicle and pulled their masks off. "Ms. Stuart, I am very apprehensive here," Kannan said. "My brother has just called me, and has said there are many instances of people from my country being hurt here."
"Here?" Kerry looked around. "What's going on?"
"Everywhere," Shaun said. "Jerks in pickups with guns shotting out convenience stores and some guy got gunned down on the street because he had a turban on. I heard it on the news."
"What?"
"It's true," Kannan said. "My family is very upset. They do not wish me to stay here."
Kerry nodded. "Absolutely," she said. "Where is your family? We'll get you there." She felt her PDA buzz and opened it. "Hang on."
Hey Ker.
I'm in a meeting with the telecom people. Wasting my time mostly. What's up?
DD
"Well, isn't that handy," Kerry muttered. "Hold on a second guys, I need to ask Dar something."
"No problem, Ms. Stuart," Kannan said. "I am glad to be back here, with our vehicles. I am going to go inside our camper there, and perhaps do some wiring while we wait." He headed off toward the camper Mark had brought, but not without glancing around carefully before he crossed between the bus and it.
"That totally sucks," Shaun said.
"It does." Kerry agreed. "Where's his family? In Virginia?"
"Arizona, I think. That's why they're so freaked. One of the killings happened there." Shaun informed her. "So maybe his family should take off and go somewhere else, huh?"
"Could be." Kerry tapped into the PDA. Good timing. I was just on the wire with Houston, and we're getting complaints from all around that we can't get circuits completed. Can you find out if that's a knee jerk one day thing, or if we're in real trouble? Where are you? It's getting creepy here. We should get out of this damn dust cloud.
She hit enter. "Where were you guys? With Dar?"
"No." Shaun shook his head. "We were with some of the Verizon guys, trying to make friends with them. We were in one of the manholes a little bit away from here, just helping them out and stuff."
"Did they say anything?"
Shaun shrugged. "They're just linemen. They're--I don't know, it's hard to figure them out. I think they're pissed because of all the destruction and all that, but they also were almost sort of jazzed because of all the OT they'd be making."
"Welcome to humanity," Kerry remarked dryly. "The one truly consistent trait of the species is self interest. But if that's the case, why are they pushing back so hard in helping us? If they want OT, we're sure offering a lot of it."
"They aren't." Shaun shook his head. "They don't give a squat about it, in fact, they thought the idea was sort of slick, to run a cable up the subway. It's their bosses who are being such a--a PITA."
"Uh huh." Kerry mused. "I wonder why."
"Maybe they want a payoff." Shaun suggested. "I heard it was like that here."
Kerry's PDA buzzed. "Hang on." She tapped the new message.
Charles is calling his head office. He'll let me know. These Verizon bastards won't budge.
Kerry tapped her stylus on the edge of the PDA, then tapped a response. Offer them a payoff. I was talking to Shaun, and he said he talked to the linemen. They're fine with running the cable.
The message came right back. You're kidding me right?
No. Kerry typed back. It's New York, Dar.
We're a public company and I'm an officer of it, Ker. Dar responded. I could get thrown in jail for that.
Kerry somehow doubted it. Then tell Alastair to do it. He's there, right? Dar, I love you but please don't tell me ILS has never paid a bribe to get something pushed through.
ILS has. I haven't.
Despite it all, it made Kerry smile. Ruthless, smart, quick thinking, driven--and yet, there was a line that Dar wouldn't cross. It was a beautiful thing, really. Okay. Just a thought. I can't really think of what else is holding their management layer back, if the line boys don't care. I thought it would be them, the union guys who would be balking.
Good point. Dar responded.
"Hey, guys?" Kannan came running back out. "Did we fix it? Did Ms. Roberts do this already? I am amazed!"
"Huh?" Kerry's head jerked up. "We haven't done anything. Why?"
Kannan skidded to a halt, his thin face crumpling in confusion. "I have just heard, on CNN, that they have tested the systems successfully, for this Exchange? Is that not what we were supposed to be helping with?"