“Mm.” Kerry sipped her tea thoughtfully. Their new tech had gotten himself some polo shirts and work style chinos, she noted, remembering they’d been paid the previous Friday. “Everything working out for you?”
He was silent for a long moment, then nodded. “Glad I came and asked for that paper.”
Kerry smiled. “I think we’re glad too.” She said. “Sometimes you just have to take a chance, you know?”
He looked up at her, for a moment expressionless. Then he smiled .
Kerry started to speak again, then paused as the CNN producer stuck her head in the door. “Hi.”
“Hi.” The woman looked harried. “Listen, I’m really, really sorry. And I mean, really really sorry, but we’ve got to pull out of here. There’s some big issue in the banking industry and they need us on it.”
“Oh. Wow sorry to hear that,” Kerry got up. “A technical issue?”
“Something to do with how they talk to each other. Somethings gone wrong. “ The woman said. “Hell, you want to come with us? You probably understand more of it than we will.”
Uh oh. Kerry managed an apologetic smile. “Sorry, we’ve got plans.” She said. “But I’ll be watching tonight to see what it was.”
The woman rolled her eyes. “We’ll get back to you.” She said. “Let me go get my guys packed up.” She bustled out and left them in contemplative silence for a moment.
“Hm.” Kerry leaned against the wall. “Wonder if I should start ordering pizza.” She listened for the reporters and their staff leaving then a moment later Dar came into the room, leaning one long arm against the door frame. “Hi.”
“Inter bank's down.” Dar said.
“Yeah, I figured.”
“Should we just stay here?”
“I was just considering ordering some dinner in.” Kerry sighed. “Let me go tell Mark what’s going on.”
Dar exhaled, and went to the refrigerator, removing a chocolate milk chug and opening it. She turned and leaned against the appliance, eying Scott.
He watched her in silence in return, chewing his fruit salad.
“Your buddies still giving you a hard time?” Dar asked, after a bit.
He nodded. “I keep clear of em.” He said. “Stay around that gym a lot. They let me work in there too a little, at night.”
“Make friends with guys in there.” Dar suggested. “I’ve seen some of the dudes that go in there. They look like ass kickers.”
He nodded again. “They got a pool in there. I like that.” He said, then paused. “There some kind of problem here?” He asked, bluntly. “With them press people, and then everyone running out?”
Dar sat down and rested her elbows on her knees. “No, there’s no problem here.” She said. “There’s a problem where we used to work.” She took a sip of her milk and looked up as Mark skidded around the corner and came barreling into the room. “Hey.”
“Hey.” Mark said, glancing at Scott then back at Dar. “Kerry told me, and I got a call from our old guy at the NAP. Craps coming down”
Dar nodded agreement. “It is.”
“You think they’re gonna call you?”
“I think they’re going to have to.” Dar said. “I’m just sitting here trying to figure out how to tell them all no.”
“Why? This point, it’s all in the crapper, Dar. They can’t blame you for any of it.” Mark said. “You could go in there and show them all up.”
“I know that, but where does it get us? I don’t want to go back in there. I want them to figure out their own problems and leave us the hell alone.” Dar got up. “I fix this, they’ll never let go of me in the short term, and I’ve got better things to do, Mark.” She drained the chug and tossed it in the recycle bin. “I”ll be in my office.”
“K, boss.” Mark shook his head. “Man, I remember the days when I was glad to just be a tech yonk. End of the day, you just go home.”
Scott had finished his fruit salad, and he put the container carefully back in the plain, dark blue holder. “Gonna finish that printer.” He said. “Someone bent the frame, that’s why it keeps jamming.”
“We’ve only had it two weeks. Who had a chance to do that?” Mark allowed himself to be distracted. “Probably the delivery company.”
“Probably.” Scott put the container in his lap and prepared to roll out. “Might need some tools.”
Mark opened the door for him. “Give me a list.” He said. “I’ll get em ordered.”
They emerged into the hallway. “We’ll be here a while so take your time with the printer. “Mark added. “Let you know when chow gets here.”
Scott nodded, and headed off down the hall to the support office.
Mark watched him go and then turned towards the stairs, pausing when Kerry came around the corner to join him. “This gonna be a long night?”
Kerry lifted her hands and let them drop. “Mark, I’ve got no idea. Maybe those guys will find a way around having to call for help. I sure would if I were them.”
“Kerry” Mark eyed her. “Trust me. I lived in that place for long as she did. If its this fucked up, no one’s gonna be able to fix it but her.”
Kerry sighed.
“Pizza?”
“Chinese buffet.”
“Whoof.”
Part 14
“So, are we kidding ourselves, and no one’s not actually calling us, or considering calling us?” Kerry was seated on the windowsill, manipulating a shrimp with her chopsticks. “How long are we going to hang out here?”
Dar was chewing a very red spare rib. “Well.” She paused, and licked her lips. “We just saw them go over the Interbank outage on CNN, and they said they were searching for a senior spokesperson from ILS. Either they’re crapping their pants and trying to find my phone number right now, or they’re going to blow them off.”
“They cant be that stupid.”
“They can. So either they’re going to call me in the next fifteen minutes or we’ll just go home.” Dar took another bite of her rib. “They can’t afford to have all their customers start calling CNN.”
“Well, maybe they’ll figure it out themselves.” Kerry suggested philosophically. “I don’t really want to end up with my ass parked in that mausoleum lobby tonight anyway.”
“I hope they do.” Dar picked up her bottle of green ice tea and took a swallow. “Then we can finally leave them behind.”
Kerry leaned against the windowsill and hiked one boot up on the wooden surface. She fished out another shrimp and bit it in half, swinging her other leg a little to the soft new age music playing in the built in nearby.
Everyone else had gone home, in some cases at their insistence. They were alone in the building and they had the doors locked with the security system in place. The street outside was quiet, befitting the middle of the weekday night it was and she could hear the faint sounds of a softball game going on at the field down the street.
“We could form a company softball team.” Kerry commented, after a moment. “That would be fun. Want me to see if there’s a league around here?”
“Sure.”
“I’d like that I thought that league we started to be part of before 9/11 was going to be fun but it would be more fun if we had our own team. We can get uniforms in our colors.”
“Sounds good.” Dar munched thoughtfully. “You look adorable in those baseball pants.”
Kerry rolled her head around and gave her partner a droll look.
“You do.” Dar insisted. “You’ve got a really cute butt, hon. Those pants show it off.”
Kerry actually blushed. “Dar.”
Dar opened her eyes wide in mock hurt, and lifted her hand up and spread the fingers out in question. “What?”