Storm Surge

by Melissa Good

  Angie grinned back. "Actually, I was going to suggest we do that, and then we go out and grab some breakfast somewhere. I gave my cook the morning off because she had a dental appointment."

  "I'm all for that," Kerry agreed instantly. "Let's go for it." She headed for the door. "We can get some ice cubes to get Mike awake."

  "Ker?"

  "Hm?" Kerry paused at the door, with her hand on the knob.

  "You going to go wake him up like that?" Angie asked, pointing at her sister's lack of real clothing.

  Kerry glanced down at herself, and then she shrugged. "This is what I go out jogging in," she said.

  "C'mon. You can't tell me Mike's more conservative than the ghost of Commodore Vanderbilt."

  Angie followed her out, shaking her head. "Guess we'll find out in a minute."

  DAR RESISTED THE urge to stick her hands in the pockets of her dress slacks as she entered the big dining room along with the rest of their team and Sir Melthon's people. There was a huge sideboard set up, and everyone was definitely in a much better mood today.

  Deal was done. Papers were signed. Now they were partners, and as partners, they were no longer the bad guys so everyone was chilled out and a lot friendlier.

  "Hello, Ms. Roberts." The man who had been pounding her mercilessly with questions yesterday was now all smiles. "John Status, by the way." He held a hand out. "No hard feelings, I hope?" He had a distinct, rolling accent that was almost musical.

  "Not at all." Dar amiably gripped his hand and released it. "I like hard questions. People who don't ask them either aren't serious about dealing with us, or don't know what they're doing."

  Status grinned. "Now there's a good solid saying." He took a seat next to Dar at the table. "I'm the lucky man who gets to be in charge of our company net."

  Dar was mutely delighted to be sitting next to another nerd. She left Alastair on her other side discussing grouse hunting with two of the other men. "Gets to be, or is?" She was aware of the servers moving around them and the smell of something roasting.

  "Is," John said. "Am. Whatever," he clarified. "I've been here for about a year, and the first thing I was asked to do is hook us up with a global network provider." He glanced around. "From this side of the Atlantic."

  "Ah." Dar nodded. "We'd heard that." She gave the server a nod as he filled her glass with something that smelled like apples and cinnamon. "It's been tough for us to grow here because of the bias."

  "Eh." John lifted his hands.

  "I understand the bias. If the positions were reversed, it would be the same on our side," Dar said. "No one wants to work with people who are different and hard to understand. Our business methods are very polar."

  The man sat back. "You know though, most Americans don't understand that," he observed. "They just come over here, and try to ride over people with high pressure sales jobs. They never come in and say, well, here's what we do. You interested?"

  Dar smiled.

  "Now, understand it helps that his nib's godson came in like a raving loony about you," John said. "We were all saying, if Hans has his knickers in that kind of an uproar must be something to it."

  "Hey Dar, your admin people in yet?" Alastair interrupted them.

  Dar checked her watch. "Quarter to nine? Sure. Mine is anyway. What do you need?"

  "Can you get one of the big portfolios headed this way?" her boss asked. "The one that shows all the lines of business?"

  "Sure." Dar opened her phone and dialed her office number. "Excuse me." She apologized to John.

  "No problem." John turned to his plate, which had just been delivered, complete with a selection from the sideboard. "Ahh--now that's the thing."

  "Hey, Maria. Good morning."

  "Ah, good morning Jefa," Maria replied. "How are you? How is the England?"

  "So far, very interesting and successful," Dar said.

  "Need a favor."

  "Of course."

  Dar paused, as her PDA buzzed. "Hang on a second." She opened it and glanced at the screen. "Hm. Hey Maria, can you ask Mark to check out what's going on over near Boston? One of the supplemental links just came up and they're using some unusual bandwidth for the links."

  "Surely," Maria said. "Is that all, Dar? How is Kerrisita? Is she having a good time with her familia?

  Dar closed the PDA. "She's fine, and her speech went great," she told her assistant. "Alastair needs one of the circus tent displays sent over here, can you get that in the works?"

  "I will call over to the Sales right away, Dar," Maria said. "Oh, and Senora Mariana has delivered some packages to the office here for you and Kerrisita. I think they are your softball costumes."

  "What color are they?" Dar chuckled. "Please don't tell me they're either yellow or purple."

  "No, no, it is a pretty blue," Maria said. "And the pants are white. Mayte was showing me hers last night, and they are very, very cute." She paused. "The shoes were very strange. They had nails in the bottom. Is that right, Dar?"

  Her boss chuckled, and then glanced down as her PDA buzzed again. She opened it, and after a minute, her brows creased. "What the hell?"

  "Como?"

  "Maria, can you conference Mark on? I'm getting pages that aren't making any sense. I think the monitor's gone whacky again." Dar paged through the messages.

  "Surely. Hold on for one moment, Dar." Maria put her on hold.

  "Something wrong?" John asked.

  "Ah." Dar shook her head a little. "I think it's just--"

  Maria came back on the phone. "I have Mark, Dar, but--"

  "Hey! Boss!" Mark's voice echoed through the phone, sharp with excitement. "Holy crap!"

  Dar felt a surge of adrenaline, but she wasn't entirely sure why. "What's up?"

  "A freaking plane just hit the side of the freaking World Trade Center!"

  "Jesu!" Maria gasped. "Madre di Dios!"

  Dar absorbed that in silence for a minute. "What? How in the hell did that happen? Someone get lost looking for LaGuardia?"

  "I have no friggen clue," Mark said. "But they just put it up on CNN and it's crazy! Smoke all over the place! People freaking out! There's a hole in the side of that thing the size of the space shuttle!"

  Dar pressed the mute button, and leaned over, touching Alastair on the sleeve. "Alastair."

  Her boss turned and looked at her, his gaze sharpening immediately when he saw her expression. "What's up?"

  "We need to find a television. Something's going on in New York."

  Chapter Eight

  KERRY STROLLED THROUGH the big atrium and paused, looking around and remembering the last time she'd spent time in this space. Her father's funeral reception. It was much quieter now; even the echoes of that tumultuous time were gone along with his presence.

  She suppressed a smile, and continued on into the formal dining room where the rest of her family were gathered, getting ready to sit down to the promised brunch.

  Kerry regarded the trays of salad and light sandwiches with a polite interest, since their early morning breakfast escapade had resulted in a visit to Pumpernickels, and an English Scramble that both satisfied her salute to where her partner was, and adequately satisfied her appetite before their visit.

  "Well, Kerrison, I hear your speech went very well." Her mother took her customary seat, and the rest of them joined her. "Did you enjoy yourself?"

  Kerry picked up her glass of orange juice and sipped it, her brows hiking as she realized there was champagne in the mix. "Mimosas, Mother?" She put the glass down. "I had a lot more fun at the pub afterward, but I think it went well."

  "Well, I thought it would be festive," her mother said. "After all, it's a lovely occasion, having all of you here." She took a sip of her own beverage. "It seemed to me to be a good chance for a little celebration," she added. "Even at 9:00 a.m."

  Kerry had to smile. She set her glass down, and then almost jumped as her cell phone buzzed against her side. "Yow." She unclipped it and glanced at the caller ID,
her smile broadening. "Excuse me a minute." She answered the phone. "Hey hon."

  Unintended, but she could almost imagine the grimace her mother was hiding.

  "Where are you?" Dar's tone, however, wasn't what she'd expected.

  "My mother's." Kerry said. "What's up?"

  "Is she acting like anything's going on?"

  Kerry's brow creased, and she looked across at her mother, who peered back at her with a puzzled expression. "No. Is there something?"

  "A jet flew into the North Tower of the World Trade Center," Dar said. "There's a lot of confusion going on, and I've got some traffic alerts on our net up there."

  "Oh no!" Kerry gasped. "That's horrible! Did it lose an engine, or--" She glanced up, finding her family now quiet, and listening to her. "There's been an accident in New York," she explained. "A plane hit the World Trade Center."

  "Dear God!" Her mother straightened, her eyes widening. "How incredible!"

  The doors opened, and one of her aides rushed in. "Senator." He got out. "Come quickly. Please." He indicated the door. Visibly confused, Cynthia stood and started toward him.

  Instinctively Kerry got up, her body reacting to the sudden tension in the room and the edge in Dar's voice. She followed her mother as they crowded through the double doors and into the media room where a large screen television was on. "Oh, wow."

  "Are you watching it now?" Dar asked. "We're all here at the client site. Alastair is trying to get hold of Bob."

  "Our guy in Manhattan?" Kerry asked, her eyes studying the horror on the screen. "My god, Dar. Look at that hole!"

  "He was supposed to be at a client meeting there at eight thirty."

  "Good heavens," Cynthia Stuart finally spluttered. "How on earth could they have allowed a plane to hit that building? What was the pilot thinking? Why didn't they stop it?"

  "Oh no," Kerry exhaled. "Hope he's okay--" She stopped speaking.

  Everyone stopped speaking. There was a shocked moment of silence before Mike grabbed the back of a chair and leaned forward. "Holy shit!" he said. "There's another one!"

  "Fuck." Dar's voice echoed softly down the line. "That's no accident."

  Kerry was stunned. She was watching the screen. She'd seen a second plane appear and crash into the other tower. Her mind was unable to grasp what she was seeing, however, as she struggled to make sense of the smoke, and the fire, and the sound of screaming and sirens coming from the television's speakers.

  "Oh my god," she finally said. She could hear exclamations in strange accents from Dar's end of the conversation and it reminded her suddenly of where her partner was. "I don't think we're going to see the Alps, Dar."

  Dar exhaled. "Not this week. No."

  "Oh my god," Kerry repeated. "Dar we've got people all over that area." She finally forced her mind into a different gear. "What are we going to do?"

  "I don't know," Dar answered. "I've got to call my parents."

  "I'll get my laptop. I'll call you back," Kerry said. "I'll call you back in ten minutes. "

  "Okay," Dar said. "No, let me call my Dad, and then I'll call you back. See if you can get on net," she said.

  "Talk to you in a few," Kerry said. "Tell Mom and Dad I love them."

  "I will," Dar's said. "I don't know where this is going, Ker. It could get worse. Talk to you in a few." She hung up.

  Worse? Kerry folded her phone shut, only to have it ring again immediately, the caller ID showing the distinctive number at her operations desk. "Mother, do you have an internet connection in the house?"

  Her mother turned her eyes wide and staring. "W--what?" she said. "What do you mean?"

  Kerry shook her head. "Never mind, I'll find it." She turned and started out of the room as she answered the phone. "Stuart." She paused as she passed Angie. "I'm going to get my briefcase."

  "Okay," her sister answered softly. "Kerry, what's going on? What's happening there?"

  Kerry looked at her. "People are flying airplanes into buildings, Angie," she said. "On purpose." She eased past her sister and headed for the door, putting the phone back to her ear. "Go on."

  Angie watched her go, then turned around to look at the television again. "Why?" she asked. "Why would anyone want to do that?"

  DAR HELD ONE hand over her free ear as she waited for the line to be answered. Behind her, the room was raucous with all the consternation over what they were watching; only Alastair wasn't joining in as he was still, as was Dar, on the phone.

  The line picked up. "Hello?"

  "Mom?" Dar said.

  "Well. That's one checkbox off my list." Ceci sighed in relief. "By the Goddess, this world has gone completely insane."

  For once, Dar found herself in complete and total agreement with her mother. "How's Dad?"

  "Freaking out," Ceci said succinctly. "So am I. Did you see those poor people jumping?"

  "Yeah," Dar said. "It's horrible. I was on the phone with Kerry when the second plane hit." She glanced up as Alastair approached one hand over the mouthpiece of his cell phone. "Did you get Bob?"

  "No," her boss said. "But John Carmichael just got through to me and he says they think there's more." His face was set and grim. "We need to start getting our people under cover."

  "Right." Dar turned back to the phone.

  "I heard," Ceci said. "Dar, please be careful. You're the only child I have and believe me, there aren't going to be any more."

  The moment of macabre humor set her back a step, but Dar smiled anyway. "You guys be careful too. Glad none of us is anywhere near New York," she said. "I'll call back in a while. Stay put, that condo's built like a bunker."

  "So your father said. Talk to you later, Dar." Ceci hung up.

  Dar closed her phone, and looked up as John approached his face ashen. "What a way to ruin a lunch. Huh?"

  "Is there anything we can do?" John asked. "We've already sent word to our people in upper Manhattan to get out of town, but I know you probably have a much bigger presence there."

  "We do," Dar said. "I need net access. Can I get it here?" She looked over at Alastair. "I'm going to activate global meeting place."

  "Absolutely, just come with me." John led her out of the room and through a wide oak door. They went into a smaller room, with several desks positioned around its edges. John indicated one of them. "There, and give me a minute and I'll get a line run."

  Dar put her briefcase down and got her laptop out, sitting it on the desk and opening the top. She started it booting, while she removed her power plug and added the adapter that would allow it to connect to the UK power strip fastened neatly to one desk leg.

  It was all mechanical. Her mind was going seventeen ways to Sunday in every possible direction, a brain cell overload that wasn't really helped when John flipped on the television in the corner on his way back over with an Ethernet cable.

  She sat down and took a deep breath, exhaling slowly.

  John glanced at the screen, shaking his head. "Here you go." He handed over the end of the cable. "You have an office in one of those?"

  Dar plugged the cable in and waited for her logon screen. "No," she said. "I had a three week long screaming argument with the New York office when I refused to rent space there, and put them in Rockefeller Center instead."

  "Bet they're thanking you now," John remarked.

  "Bet they are," Dar said. "But we have probably two dozen clients in the towers and a lot more in that area."

  "Ah."

  Alastair entered the room. "There you are," He said. "I can't reach anyone in the Northeast. Damn cell system says all lines are busy."

  "I bet." Dar entered her password and watched her desktop appear. She triggered the VPN tunnel to the office, and watched as the authentication system ran its routine.

  Alastair perched on the edge of the desk, watching the television. John sat down in a nearby chair, doing the same.

  After a moment, Sir Melthon entered, his face grave. "McLean, how about you and your lot moving here until this is
sorted out. We've got space, and better facilities than the damn hotel." He glanced at Dar. "Who knows where this mess is going to end."

  Alastair looked at Dar, who nodded. "Sounds good. Thanks, Sir Melthon," he said quietly. "We've got things there."

  "Right. I'll send a man over for them." The magnate left, all his air of country squire completely vanished. "Things can spread. We're closing the gates."

  Dar felt a headache coming on. She rested her chin on her fist as her work desktop appeared, and there, in the corner, a violently blinking box.

  Global Meeting has been initiated. Please sign in immediately. "Someone beat me to it." Dar logged in. "Damn I hoped we'd never have to use this," she said, as Alastair came around the corner and sat down in a chair next to her. "Here we go."

  "Here we go," Alastair murmured. "Damn it."

  KERRY SHOULDERED OPEN the door to her father's inner office, flipping the overhead light on and scanning the walls as she crossed the carpet over to the wooden desk. Her mind was so packed with dealing with the situation she felt no emotional charge on entering, focusing intently on finding a connection instead.

  No wall jacks. She went to the desk and dropped her laptop on it, pulling the chair back and dropping to her knees to investigate the space underneath. Seeing nothing, she frowned, and started to get up again. "Guess it's the cell card. Damn."

  Halfway up, she paused, suddenly aware of a soft humming sound. She thought it was her laptop, but as she moved away from the back of the desk it got softer instead of louder. She looked around the top of the desk, but saw nothing mechanical.

  Puzzled, she got back down on the floor and turned over to lay flat on her back, inching forward so she could look between the desk and the wall to see if perhaps that was where either the elusive sound or the equally elusive connection might be.

  There wasn't much space, but she managed to get an eye into position to look up and she immediately blinked at a box with blinking lights and a familiar logo. "Huh." Kerry reached up and freed an Ethernet cable already connected and coiled neatly, and brought it back with her as she wriggled back into the light.