Kerry reviewed her options, and fingered the shirt, which was a sleeveless muscle T. "Hmm. Not quite the image I was looking to project." She peered at the jeans. "And these are reeeally old ones, but at least it's clean." She pushed the jeans and shirt back in the bag, which already held her sneakers. Then she dug in the back of the car to see if she had anything for Dar stowed away anywhere.
"Hmm." She pulled out a few neatly folded bits of cotton. Workout shorts and a sports bra. "Much as I'd personally love her to change into this, I don't think it's going to work." Kerry regretfully put the items back, and shouldered her gym bag. Maybe, she considered, they could grab something at the mall when they went for lunch.
With that cheerful thought, she closed and locked the door and headed back for the terminal. Halfway back, she paused to let traffic go by, appreciating the intense light of the sun and the stiff ocean breeze. Being locked in the dark, with the bugs and the stench in that place had been hellacious, and for a moment she'd gained an understanding of Dar's aversion to closed in places.
It had gotten a little freaky in there, with her techs panicking a little, and the sound of those pipes so close. Hearing Dar's voice had been...
She ran her hands through her hair. She really wasn't the type of person who freaked out easily, Kerry knew. She'd handled some intense situations in the past few years, from being locked up in a damn psycho ward, to being trapped inside a burning hospital, to jumping in the raging ocean.
She was cool with it. But being in a dark room with roaches and crap? Kerry shuddered. That had freaked her out completely, and just when she'd been at the point where she'd started to tear at the door with her fingernails, there had been Dar's voice.
Instant no-freak.
Sweetest sound in the world. Kerry ran her fingers through her hair again, and shifted her shoulders, feeling the sun warm her skin. It had made her nuts to think of Dar standing out there in sewage, and that reminded her to get their shoes rinsed off.
Preferably by a firehose spouting industrial disinfectant.
Kerry proceeded across the road and trotted up the steps to the terminal. She entered the building and headed right to the restrooms, ducking inside the women's room. She was not surprised to find it empty. One thing about being in IT--you generally didn't have to wait on the bathroom if you were female.
Certainly, it was better than it was in the past, but still, she and Dar were in the vast minority in the building.
Kerry entered the handicapped stall and hung her workout bag on the hook, shedding her jeans and shirt and tossing them over the door. Briefly, she wished she could shower as well, but after a cautious sniff at the skin on her arm, decided a change would have to be good enough.
Rooting in the bag, she found fresh underclothes as well, and traded off, stuffing the others into a side pocket. "Okay." She removed the jeans from her bag and pulled them on, leaving the buttons unbuttoned. She then pulled the shirt over her head and tucked it in, fastening the jeans over it.
The waistband was a little loose, which surprised her. She dug in the bag, but she hadn't stuck a belt in there. "Hmm..." She turned and faced the mirror, checking the image with critical eyes. She touched her cheek, deciding her face also looked a little thinner than it had been. Was it the stress? Kerry knew they hadn't been exercising more than usual, so probably it was the tension she'd been under lately.
Oh well. She met her own eyes, seeing a wry twinkle there. "Guess I'll have to have an extra milkshake for lunch then." She stuffed her other clothes into the bag and grabbed her sneakers, unlocking the door to the stall and heading back out.
Emerging into the hall, she spotted Dar back at her podium, pecking at her laptop keyboard with one hand while leaning her head on the other. Dar's head lifted as she approached, and the blue eyes turned her way, looking her up and down as a rakish grin appeared.
Kerry set the bag down and leaned on the counter to put her sneakers on. "Something wrong?"
"With you? No," Dar said. "But we've got a big problem, Ker."
Leaving the laces of the first sneaker untied, Kerry straightened. "What's up?"
"They're not going to let anyone back on board for at least twenty four hours," Dar told her. "They've got the EPA in there now. Needs disinfecting before they'll clear us to go back in."
"But...wait." Kerry leaned on the counter. "I thought it was only that one deck?"
"Bacteria," Dar replied succinctly. "Got in the air system, or so they're afraid of."
Kerry closed her eyes. "Oh god." She stifled a reflex cough. "Can we get our lungs fumigated?"
Dar patted her hand. "I think we're okay," she said. "You feel better now?"
Kerry frowned. "Well, yeah, but what are we going to do, Dar? We didn't have enough time to install and test as it was...we lose a whole day. Jesus."
"I know," Dar acknowledged. "Pulling more people won't help."
"No." Kerry exhaled heavily.
The outer door slammed, and they both turned to see Peter Quest enter, spot them, and head in their direction with angry strides.
"Hmm." Kerry took the opportunity to put her other sneaker on, tying the laces as Quest arrived.
"Roberts, I just got out of a meeting with the inspectors," Quest said. "Can you explain to me why they informed me the blockage that caused this entire mess was some of your equipment?"
Dar and Kerry exchanged glances. "My equipment?" Dar pointed at her own chest. "Quest, look around you. My gear's bigger than a breadbox. How in the hell could it have caused a clog anywhere?"
Quest did, indeed, look around. Then he looked back at Dar. "I don't know, they just said it was IT stuff. There's a meeting outside in ten minutes with the ship's officers. I want you to be there, and explain what the hell's going on."
"Do you...um...have the IT stuff?" Kerry interjected. "Might be hard to explain otherwise."
"We have it," Quest said, grimly. "The EPA will be there to show what it was, and you'd better be too. If it turns out this is your fault, you're gonna pay." He turned and walked off, half turning as he did to point at Dar. "Big time."
Kerry stared at his back, and then turned her attention to Dar. "Now what?" She threw her hands up in exasperation. "Dar, I swear, this whole damn job is cursed."
Dar rubbed her temples, giving her head a tiny shake. "Guess you better call John." She sighed. "Since I know it's not our gear, the only thing left is his."
Kerry blew out a breath in a sputter. "So much for lunch." She pulled out her cell phone. "Damn it."
Dar got up. "Can I treat you to a Jamaican patty and a bottle of guava juice?" she asked. "Roach coach just pulled up outside."
Kerry paused. "Hang on, John." She covered the mic. "Dar, don't say roach and lunch in the same sentence to me for the next month, okay?"
Dar patted her on the shoulder, and limped off toward the door.
Damn it.
Chapter Fifteen
THEY MET ON the dockside shortly thereafter. Kerry sucked down the last droplets of her guava juice and dropped the empty container in the garbage outside the terminal door as she followed Dar across the sun bleached concrete.
A semi-circle of people were already out there. She spotted John's tall form and Quest, and several people she didn't know, along with the camera crew, which she did know. They all looked up as Dar and Kerry joined them, the strangers appearing a bit skeptical as they were introduced.
"Well, fine," a tall, thin man with an EPA badge said. "I was hoping...well, anyway. Here is what caused the accident." He held out a cardboard box and opened the flaps. A waft of sewer smell drifted out, and the group cautiously peered inside.