The techs wiped sweating palms on their jeans and took hold of the switch again. "Sounded like we woke him up," Carlos commented. "Not like we were sneaking down the hall, you know?"
"Exactly." Kerry turned and shoved the door open, entering the wiring closet and standing aside to let the men enter after her. If the hallway was stuffy, the closet was stifling, and held a hint of plastic and copper as well as old sweat and the faint scent of beer.
Not entirely pleasant. "Let's see what we've got here." Kerry motioned for them to block the door open with the switch as she studied the interior. Most of the small space was taken up by two tall racks bolted to the deck and reaching to the ceiling. In one, panels full of network jacks winked in her flashlight beam. The other was empty waiting for their equipment. "This is such fun to do in the dark." Kerry sighed. "Jesus. Okay, let me get over here." She went around the corner of the rack and tried to get into an angle that would allow her to put the light to good use. "Why don't you...ow!"
"Ma'am?" Carlos leaned toward her anxiously.
Kerry flexed her hand that she unwisely had put into the sharp angle of the rack. A sting alerted her, and she turned the flashlight on her palm that was now stained with blood. "Ugh." The slice was shallow, but long, like a two inch paper cut. "Figures. Watch out for this cross support guys, it's sharp."
"Ow." Carlos murmured sympathetically. "Bet that hurts."
It did. "Nah." Kerry stepped up to her macha. "Heck, if I could get a tattoo, what's this little old thing?"
The two techs stopped in the act of moving the switch into place. "You got a tattoo?" Carlos inquired. "Wow. I went with my cousin when he got his, and he screamed like a...um..." He gave Kerry a sheepish look. "Girl."'
"That's okay. So did I." Kerry smiled at them. "What do you think, here?" She indicated a spot in the rack.
"Yeah, that would be good." The techs picked up the switch and started to angle it into the rack. "Damn this thing weighs a ton."
Kerry watched them struggling. "Hang on." She wormed her way into the rack itself and knelt. "Here, set it on my knee, and then you can swivel it." She instructed patting the denim covered surface. "Otherwise you don't have enough space to really...yeah." She grunted a little as the weight of the device came down on her leg.
"Got it. Carlos, push it in further," the other tech urged. "Yeah...no, wait."
Kerry edged back against the back of the rack as the switch nearly pinned her in place. Her elbow knocked against something, and she heard the rattle of glass behind her, accompanied by the scent of stale beer. "Ah." She felt sweat running down her body, and her nose tickled from the dust. "How's it going guys?"
"Gotta get the rack nuts in," Carlos muttered. "One's in...wait...oh, shit. I dropped it."
"I got another one, here." His colleague handed it over. "Hurry up before we smush Ms. Stuart, and get our asses kicked into the bay."
Kerry smiled, as she took hold of the device with both hands and tried to keep it steady. It was a dead weight, and it was making her leg ache. She tried not to think about the ten others they had to install and leaned her head against the cool steel, blinking salty sweat from her eyes.
"Okay, got it...get that into place and I'll screw it in." Carlos said. "You okay, ma'am?"
"Just fine. Thanks," Kerry assured him. She felt the weight come off her knee as the switch was screwed into place. "Now I'm doing much better. You got it?"
"Got it." Carlos assured her. "You can come out of there now, ma'am."
Kerry eased up off her knees, then realized with the switch bolted into place, she was trapped inside the rack. "Oh, Jesus." She sighed. "Hang on...I need to climb up over the top of this thing." Her PDA beeped and she paused in the middle of getting a foothold on the side of the rack to open it.
I sent some help. They there yet?
Kerry looked around the cramped room. No, sweetie, and there's no room in here for them. I'm trapped inside a rackmyself at the moment.
WHAT?
"Uh oh." Kerry put the PDA away and concentrated on escaping from her metal prison. She got a foot up on the support brace that had cut her and eased herself up and over the switch, catching sight of the two techs caught between wanting to help her and not wanting to be insubordinate. "I could use a hand, guys. If I fall on my head on the floor Dar's not gonna like it."
The techs jumped forward, unblocking the door and allowing it to swing shut as they reached for Kerry's hand. Her flashlight slipped from her sweaty fingers and dropped on the floor, turning itself off and putting them all in total darkness.
Everyone froze. "Um...."
Kerry sighed. "Find it." She eased back into the rack and pulled her PDA out, turning it on and using the meager light from the screen to give them as much help as possible. "This would be funny if it wasn't just so ridiculous."
More sweat rolled down her face as she waited for the flashlight to be found. "This is the glamorous part of our jobs, huh?"
Carlos laughed hesitantly. "Yes, ma'am...I think I got it," he said. "Oh, I think it broke."
Of course. Kerry rested her head against the rack. "Please try to fix it. If I have to call for help to get out of here, I'm never going to hear the end of it."
Her cell phone rang at that moment, and she opened it, not even having to glance at the caller ID. "Hi."
"You're stuck in a rack?"
"In the dark, in a closet, with a broken flashlight. But we're fixing it." Kerry informed her partner. "We'll be fine. Really."
"I'm sending my father to get you."
Kerry sighed. "Dar..." She protested. "We got the switch installed. We're fine. Honestly. Right guys?"
"Right." The two chorused obediently. "Hey." Carlos yelped suddenly. "Something just crawled on me!"
Kerry's eyes opened wide. "Uh..."
"Still okay?" Dar's voice sounded wry. "I heard that. Better hope it's only a roach."
"Urk." Kerry instinctively lifted her hand to the neck of her shirt, and twisted it a little, tightening the fabric around her throat in case something fell on her head and thought a journey inside her clothing would be a fun idea. "Don't suppose Dad has a nice big flashlight, huh?"
A loud bang sounded overhead, and the walls shook a little, producing a rattle of some things falling onto the floor.
"What was that?" Dar asked.
"I don't know." Kerry started looking for another way out, feeling around cautiously. "Hon, can I get back to you?"
"Okay. Hang tight," Dar said, briskly. "Bye."
Kerry clipped the phone to her belt. "Any luck?" she asked. "How about getting the door open?"
"Ma'am, I'm trying," the other tech said unhappily. "It's locked from the outside. There's no lock on this knob." He rattled the door, obviously yanking on it. "Do you hear that?"
"What?" Kerry asked.
"That noise."
They all listened, and Kerry now could hear a sound of water burbling. "Water." She concluded. "This is a ship. That can't be good in any sense." She put the thought of bugs aside and started climbing over the switch again, by feel alone. "Watch out!"
"Ma'am! What are you doing?" Carlos asked nervously. "Please be careful, you can...oh! Oh!"
Kerry felt her balance slipping and she made a grab for the railing, the sweat on her hands making her lose her grip. "Yeow!" She swung over the top of the switch and slammed against it, knocking herself sideways and tumbling over the support rail. "Look out!"
"Ma'am! Kerry!" Carlos made a grab for her, but he wasn't even close, and Kerry landed hard on her side knocking him back against the wall. "Oh!"
"Oof." Kerry felt the breath go out of her and she only barely kept her head from smacking the floor. The sound of water got louder, and she could suddenly smell something unpleasant over the scent of carpet and mildew and new electronics. "Uh oh."