"Gag," Dar muttered, getting a sympathetic look from two female crew members who were hurrying in the other direction. "What died?" she asked, pausing to call after them.
"Some stupid person put something down one of the toilets." The woman nearest to her stopped and explained. "It blew up the pipes. I tell you, these people who work on this ship are stupider than most of our passengers ever were."
Well acquainted with cranky marine heads, Dar winced. "Great." She turned and started up the steps again, hoping silently it hadn't been one of her people that had done it. None of them were stupid, but sometimes when you were under stress, you did things out of habit.
Dar took another flight and tugged her flashlight from its holder on her belt, turning it on.
Stop up an air pressure pipe, and what resulted was a blow out, usually in the middle of a wall somewhere, where the term 'shit hitting the fan' came to a new, pungent, and, occasionally, dangerous meaning.
"Ah, the romance of the sea." Dar heard voices up a level, and she redoubled her speed again, powering up onto the landing of the eleventh deck in time to hear someone blaspheme his mother in virulent Spanish.
She rounded the corner of the stairwell to find a dark hallway full of machinery, men, and a growing sludge advancing across the new carpet. Some of the men she recognized as hers. "All right folks. What's going on here?"
Half the crowd turned, obviously relieved to see her. "Ms. Roberts!" the closest one said. "They won't let us go any further."
Two of the ship personnel were blocking the passage, shoving the others back impatiently. "Go back," the taller one of the two said. "You cannot go here. Something is broken."
Dar edged through her staff, most of them backing up as much as they could in the crowded space to allow her through. "Some of our people are in that hallway," she told the crewman. "We need to go get them."
"There's a broken pipe." The crewman shook his head. "It is dangerous. They must purge the system first."
"Let's get outta here," one of the other tradesmen said, in a disgusted tone. "It stinks, and I don't give a crap if this stupid job gets finished or not." He turned and pushed his way out, followed by two others.
Dar heard a hammering down the hall. "Okay, look."
"You must leave, now," the crewman told her brusquely.
The hammering got louder. Dar stepped up to the crewman and tipped her head down slightly, glaring at him. "Mister, I am going down that hallway. You can move aside, or I can go through you. Your choice."
The man stared at her. "What?"
Dar took a step even closer. "Move," she barked. "Now!"
"You cannot--"
Dar shoved him without hesitation, keeping her motions short and hard. The man stumbled back and looked at her in shock, then exchanged looks with his companion and got out of the way.
"You are crazy! But if you want to go there and get hurt? Fine! Go! It will be your fault!"
Dar strode past him with the techs in tow. As they moved down the hall, the stench grew, and the sound of hissing, escaping air got louder and louder. "Kerry!"
"Over there, ma'am!" One of the techs pointed. "That's the door."
Two others approached it eagerly. "We'll knock it down, Ms. Roberts. Just give us a minute."
Dar paused. "Ker! Get back!" She pointed to the door with utter authority, and shone her flashlight on it. "You two get over there, and keep an eye on that pipe."
"Dar!" Kerry's voice came through the partition.
"Yeah!" Dar yelled back. "Hang on!"
Footsteps sounded coming toward them down the hall. "All right you people. Back off! This is a closed area," an authoritative voice said. They turned to see a uniformed officer heading their way. "Move it!"
"Kiss my ass." Dar challenged him. "I get my people out of here, we'll leave. Not before then. I don't care how much crap's going to come out of that pipe."
"You listen to me!" The man came up to them. "I'm the staff captain of this vessel!"
"And I'm the chief information officer of this company." Dar growled right back. "I could buy you and this whole piece of crap shrimp boat for petty cash, so take your stripes and your attitude and beat it, pinhead! "She looked at the two techs. "Do it!"
"You cannot--"
"Watch me!" Dar shot back.
"One...two..." The two techs turned their shoulders to the door.
The staff captain clenched his fists and glared.
Dar glared right back at him.
"You..." He started.
"Am in charge here." Dar completed the sentence.
"Paladar Katherine Roberts, you better not be out there in that damned sewage with your foot!" Kerry yelled at the top of her voice, nearly making the door metal rattle.
The techs all looked at Dar as a momentary silence fell.
Dar cleared her throat. "Do it," she instructed the techs. "Before I get my ass in real trouble."
The techs charged the door without any further hesitation slamming into the panel and crashing it inward. They stumbled inside as it opened easier than they expected, and there was a jumble of moving bodies in two flashlight streams.
A low rumble started up to their right, as the techs stumbled out of the closet and into the hallway, Kerry squished among them.
"You must get out of here. Now." The officer's voice was now more urgent than angry. "Please!"
Dar grabbed hold of Kerry's arm, and she ducked from behind a tall, sweating body. "Hey." She checked her over as best she could in the very dim light. "You alright?"
"Hey. Dar, are you crazy!" Kerry started tugging at her. "You gotta get out of here before you get sick!"
"Let's all get out of here." Dar pointed down the hall. "C'mon!"
The rumble grew abruptly into a roar, and out of pure instinct Dar grabbed Kerry and slammed her against the wall just as a blast of hot, fetid air and worse came down the passage, splatting full into the staff captain and knocking him back against the far bulkhead.
Then the hiss disappeared and silence descended.
"Oh, Jesu." One of the techs nearly threw up.
"Oh. Gross." Kerry muttered. "This is about the most disgusting..."
"Yeah." Dar inched toward the light, staying as far away from the sodden staff captain as she could. "It sure is."
"Ug, ug, ug." Kerry stifled a gag. "Dar, I'm gonna lose it."
Jaws clamped shut, Dar merely nodded, and nudged her faster. "Walk." She got out from between clenched teeth. Ahead of them, the hallway was blocked by a lot of bodies, men in jumpsuits yelling in a Nordic language.
A bell started to ring. The crowd of jump suited men shoved past them, ignoring everything in their haste to get down the corridor, carrying tool boxes and thick hoses.
"What happened to you?" One asked the staff captain. "Ah, you got shot, eh? Should be used to it."
"Oooohh," Kerry uttered under her breath. "Get me outta here." She squeezed past the men and got to the stairs, where the air was no cleaner. "Dar, I'm losing it."
"Hang on..." Dar got an arm around her, ignoring her own rebelling stomach. "Over here." She moved to the far end of the stairs, bypassing the men running up past them, all in ship jumpsuits.
"How's your foot? Did you get it in that...um..."
"I have no idea." Dar steered her down another flight of steps. "Let's wait till we get outside...hey." The sharp scent of blood reached her nose. "Did you get hurt?"
Kerry held up a clenched fist. "Cut. Nothing major."
They reached the main deck landing and headed for the doors, getting outside just as all the power inside was cut, and the ship was plunged into darkness behind them.
"Ugh." Kerry went right to the railing and hung over it, willing a breeze to come up from the southwest and not from behind her. Her stomach was twisting in knots, the smell from inside the ship still in her lungs, and clinging to her clothing.
She closed her eyes.
"Let me see." Dar took her hand and gently opened it, studyi
ng the slice on her palm. "Ouch."
It wasn't working. "Dar," Kerry whispered. "I'm going to throw up."
"Aim down." Dar circled her wrist with gentle fingers and pressed against the inside of it.
Kerry opened one eye, to see the waters of Government Cut far below her. "Down?"
"Down."
Kerry watched the wavelets ripple past the ship, bumping into the hull. A bird flew lazily past, and then unexpectedly, plunged into the water after a fish.
She took a breath, then a second, filled with clean salty air, and felt the nausea subside. She released a breath, and looked over at Dar. "I think I'm okay." She took another few lungfuls of air, then glanced down at the deck, to study her partner's exposed feet.
The sandals were covered, almost up to the edge of the bottom, with an oily brown guck, but Dar's tanned skin was unmarked. Kerry's shoulders relaxed a little. "You escaped the crap monster."
Dar looked down. "Oh. Yeah," she murmured. "So I did." She turned Kerry around and examined her carefully. "So did you." She noted. "Except...er..." She glanced at a long, dark stain down the side of one leg.
"New rack crud." Kerry sighed. "I had to climb out of it."
Dar frowned.
"In the dark, in a room with roaches flying all around, and poop flowing on the floor. Dar that was not covered in my infrastructure classes." Kerry leaned against the railing, exhausted. "But at least we got the damn thing in."
Dar turned and leaned as well, looking back at the ship. Contractors were pouring out of it and heading for the upper gangway shaking their heads, while inside, bells were still ringing and alarms going off. "One down," she agreed with a sigh. "Seven to go."
It wasn't a very auspicious start.
KERRY LEFT HER boots outside the terminal, and in fact, crossed through it and out the front door heading for the Lexus. She remembered they had spare clothing in the back, and she fully intended on changing into it to get rid of the sewer scent she was convinced still clung to her shirt.
As she crossed to the parking lot, a small pickup swerved toward her and pulled up alongside. "Hi." Ceci waved, tipping her sunglasses down. "How's it going?"
Kerry walked over and leaned against the doorjamb. "You really want to know?"
Her mother in law grimaced. "Andy called me. Said they got thrown out of the boat while some repairs were on. I brought him some lunch," she said. "Tough day?"
"Ugh. Yes." Kerry agreed. "We're so behind schedule now, and we don't know when they're going to let us back on the ship."
Ceci leaned on the seat back. "Kerry, can I ask you a question?"
Hmm. "Sure."
"You and Dar, you're corporate officers."
"Yes." Kerry nodded.
"Maybe it's different here in Miami, but where I come from corporate officers don't do what you're doing." Ceci said bluntly. "They manage."
"I know."
"So?"
Kerry let her hands rest on the window frame, feeling the heat of the metal sting her cut hand. "Usually we do manage," she admitted. "Usually, someone else does this, but this job--Alastair asked Dar to handle it personally."
"Ah."
"There's a lot behind it," Kerry explained. "So here we are."
"We."
Kerry smiled.
Ceci reached over and patted her hand. "Good luck," she said. "How's Dar doing?"
How was Dar doing? Kerry thought back to the last sight she'd had of her partner, pacing back and forth in the terminal unable to do anything constructive. "She's a little freaked out because of the wait."
Ceci chuckled. "That's nothing new." She advised Kerry. "She absolutely positively hates waiting for anything."
Hmm. True and that reminded Kerry. "I know, in fact, maybe lunch is a good idea. I'll get her out of here for an hour or so until they reopen the ship." She tapped the window. "Thanks for the idea!"
Ceci pushed her sunglasses down and waved waiting for Kerry to step back before she continued driving out of the parking lot.
Lunch. Kerry continued over to the Lexus and keyed the lock open. She pulled the back door latch and peered inside, snagging her gym bag and tugging it over. "Let's see what we've got here." She unzipped it and rummaged through its contents.
"Okay, good." A pair of jeans landed on the seat, shortly followed by a shirt. She tended to keep changes of clothing for after work, as did Dar, since neither really wanted to get back into business clothing after working out.
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."
Stormy Waters: Book 10 in The Dar & Kerry Series Page 41
