"Wish I was," Dar said. "They want communications. There's nothing down there, no phone lines, nothing."
"You ain't kidding. I had a cousin used to live under the terminal," Scuzzy stated. "There ain't nothing but rats under there, I'm telling you."
Dar eyed her. "Nice," she said. "Well, I've got some guys going down there to run a big cable from there, down to the Intrepid, the air museum, where I was going when I met you."
Scuzzy nodded. "All right."
"Problem is, we have to get it into where we have an office there, and get them to let us connect it up," Dar said. "In the electrical rooms."
"Oh man." Scuzzy made a sound with her mouth like a mouse screaming. "They ain't going to let you in there to do nothing like that. Not those guys down there. They don't like nobody messing around down by the docks."
Kerry, who had been listening, now spoke up. "We could pay them to do it," she suggested. "It'd be worth it if that would get it done."
"How many fiber optics technicians you figure work off the side of the Hudson, Ker?" Dar put her hand against the wall and leaned on it. "Who haven't already been sucked down into the financial district?"
"Ah."
"Y'know." Scuzzy had been looking at the map. "I got an uncle I could maybe call," she offered.
Dar's lips twitched. "I was hoping you did."
"He does some business down there, you know?" Scuzzy explained. "He's in real good with those guys. You want me to call him,see if he could maybe help us?"
"I do." Dar went over to the conference table and perched on its edge. "Scuzzy, we don't mind paying whatever service fees they want, understand? This is important. We have to get the city emergency center up so those people can do what your tax dollars are paying them to do."
"Gotcha." Scuzzy pulled out her cell phone, a bejeweled item with three or four things dangling off the edge of it. "No problem. Lemme see what I can do here, okay?" She moved to one side, and started punching buttons. "Uncle Jazzy, Uncle Jazzy where are ya in here--"
Dar folded her arms over her chest and turned her head, giving Kerry a wry look. Kerry merely smiled back at her charmingly, letting her chin rest on her hand. "Got that tea?" Dar finally asked, with a mild grimace. "Or a hammer to hit my head with?"
"Absolutely." Kerry got up and slid her laptop over, handing the ear buds to her partner. "Listen in while I'm out doing your every bidding." She winked at her partner, and ducked past, going to the door and slipping outside into the hallway.
Dar sighed, and put one bud in her ear, doing her best to ignore the cramps that were getting on and stomping all over her last nerve. It was even making the back of her eyeballs ache and she swallowed, feeling a little like she was going to throw up.
Like life wasn't a pain in the ass enough as it was, right?
"Miami exec, you on? This is Miami ops."
Dar clicked the mic. "Miami exec here," she dutifully responded."Go ahead Mark. How's it going out there?"
"Boss, we're doing pretty well," Mark said. "Especially since a freaking truck just showed up here with linemen from three of the phone companies dumping into that closet. They're in there giving our guys a break now."
Dar managed a smile at that. "Well, I'll be damned," she said. "That is good news." She spared a wistful thought of the bus, and the crew they'd left behind. The two other community buses were here, and parked downstairs but it wasn't the same thing. "Listen, do we have any fiber guys there? I'm going to need one."
"Hold one, boss." Mark clicked off.
Dar was glad enough to remain silent. She checked her watch to see if she could take more painkillers, sighing and rubbing her temples when she realized she couldn't. She turned and looked out the window, finding her eyes drawn to the east, where a dull plume of smoke was still rising between the skyscrapers in the distance.
Sitting here, she realized, she could have seen the whole thing happen. Had the people here wondered if they were next?
Dar sighed, hearing Scuzzy talking at the other end of the room. She got up off the table and sat down in the nearest chair, resisting the urge to put her head down on her arms as the cramping worsened. She focused on Kerry's laptop instead, moving aside the window with her mail to study her desktop background.
It was a picture of a sunset from the boat. She vaguely remembered it, a lazy Saturday out on the water that had ended with a freshly caught fish dinner and Kerry leaning back against her on the bow snapping shots of the sky.
Dar could almost smell the salt tang on the air and feel the warmth of Kerry's back pressed against her as she rested her chin on Kerry's shoulder and gently blew in her ear.
"Dar?"
The hand on her shoulder nearly made Dar jump out of her skin. She turned to find Kerry standing there with a faintly concerned look on her face, and a cup of steaming tea. "Ah. Sorry. I zoned out for a minute." She took the cup and set it down. "Mark's finding us a fiber man."
"You were a million miles away there." Kerry sat down next to her,glancing past at the still talking Scuzzy, who was now pacing back and forth, gesticulating with her free hand. "You okay?"
Dar took a sip of the hot, minty, honey laced beverage. "Not a million miles," she disagreed. "Only about two thousand or so. I was thinking about the day you took that picture." She pointed at the screen.
"Wishing I was there again right now."
"Mmm." Kerry settled the ear bud in her ear and gazed at the red orange scene. "That was the day you caught the grouper," she said. "What a gorgeous night that was, too. So many stars. The sky was so clear."
"You found so many loony animals in the sky I ended up tossing you overboard," Dar added grinning.
"And I ended up tangled in seaweed half scared out of my mind," Kerry concluded. "I wish I was back there now too."
"Hey, Miami exec? This is Miami ops." Mark came back on. "Found one guy who can do splicing. That what you need?"
"Sounds good, Miami ops. Put him on the train," Kerry answered. "When are you heading up here? We're really short on techs and really heavy on sales folks here."
"Hey, I got him." Scuzzy came back over, and the pace picked up again around them. "He says he's interested in doing business with us,yeah."
"Great." Dar half turned to face her, catching Alastair entering the room with a frown on his face. "Alastair, get your checkbook ready."
Her boss stopped in mid step, and blinked. "Eh?"
"We need to start doing business here," Dar said. "The old fashioned way." She motioned to Scuzzy. "Meet Scuzzy."
"Hey. How ya doin?" Scuzzy held her hand out. "Nice ta meet ya."
Alastair took her hand automatically, his pale blue gray eyes going wide. "Charmed." He looked over at Dar. "I'm sure."
Dar smiled briefly at him. Then the door opened again, and one of the sales staff poked their head in, and a flashing alert went off on Kerry's screen. In the distance, a siren went off.
And it still wasn't time to take more drugs.
"DAR." KERRY LOOKED up from her laptop, and across at her visibly miserable partner. "I'm sorry, sweetie, but they're going to need you to go down there." She grimaced in sympathy at Dar's hunched over posture.
"Fuck." Dar had her eyes covered with one hand, having just swallowed a second set of pills. "Why?"
Kerry felt as emotionally miserable as Dar was physically. "They won't let them in the demarc room at the Intrepid. Not even our local people." She got up and circled the table, putting her hands on Dar's shoulders and beginning a gentle massage. "Want me to go? If you tell me what to look for, and I take Dad, maybe we can do it."
"Stupid fucking bastards. What do they think they're going in therefor with a three hundred pound spool of fiber optics? Wiring the admiral's urinal?"