Stormy Waters: Book 10 in The Dar & Kerry Series (7 page)

"Thanks." A low beep interrupted this enlightening conversation. "Excuse me." Dar pulled out her PDA and glanced at the screen. "Ah, heh."

Hey sweetie. Bet you'll never guess where I am!

Dar pulled out her stylus and scribbled a reply.
Can you toplying under a router rack being grilled about our waterbedactivities by the ops staff?
She hit send, and then waited patiently until she saw the light stutter on.

Uh...no. Not by a long shot. How did that happen?

Dar tapped.
Eh, good question. Got myself into it somehow.Anyway, where are you? Thought you were going to the ship?

I'm in the morgue.

Dar stopped, blinked, and put her PDA down, pulling out her cell phone instead. She speed dialed Kerry's number and kicked impatiently at the corner of the rack until the line was answered. "WHAT?"

Her partner delicately cleared her throat before answering. "Hi, honey."

"Where are you?" Dar dispensed with the niceties.

"Not nearly in as much trouble as you are, apparently." Kerry answered with a wry chuckle. "I'm in the ship's morgue. Did you know they had morgues? As well as a whole lot of other places?"

"Uh..." Dar collected her composure. "Well, I guess I did. I mean, they have to. What else are you gonna do if someone croaks on a cruise? Put 'em in the freezer? That'd be gross."

"Sure would," Kerry said. "Now, tell me about our waterbed?" Her voice took on a slight echo, as though she'd cupped her hand around the phone. "You're not really talking to them about um...you know."

Dar glanced at the techs that were pointedly not looking at her. "About what we do in bed? No." She admitted. "They wanted to do me a favor and I'm giving them a hard time. So, how's it look?"

Kerry sighed. "It's a mess." She replied. "Dar, it's going to be such a pain in my butt getting cabling in here. They're going to have to puncture solid steel firewalls."

"Ig."

"And it all has to be shielded twisted pair."

A sigh. "Yeah, I figured that. It is on the Navy ships," Dar said. "Though I think there's less interference running around a cruise ship than on one of those."

"You'd think." Kerry said. "I'm going to have the tech team come in here and start estimating for cable, but Jesus, Dar, they barely have telephones here! They still use handsets they plug into a live line!"

Dar winced. "It's going to be like cabling Grant's tomb," she said. "Okay, tell the guys to do it right. Find out every place they're gonna need anything, and let's just get out the bad news first."

"Will do." Kerry said. "Hey, Dar?"

"Mm?" Dar shifted, crossing her ankles and gazing up at the bottom of the routers. "Did you know you could see the fiber optic LEDs from underneath these things? They look like Christmas trees."'

Silence. "Uh, sweetheart, why didn't you have the guys run a serial line for you?" Kerry asked. "Instead of you lying under the racks?"

"That'd be too easy." Dar muttered, peeking at the techs. They peeked back at her with nervous little grins. "So, what did you want?"

"Eh?"

"You said, 'hey Dar.'"

"Oh." Kerry pondered a minute. "You distracted me, and I realized I wanted the waterbed with you in it. But that wasn't what I was thinking about. Give me a second here."

Dar watched the LEDs flicker over her head, idly daydreaming about the scent of clean linen while she listened to Kerry's faint breaths on the other end of the line. "Glad I wore jeans today, or this could have been really scandalous."

Kerry muffled a snorted giggle. "You're so bad. Okay, I remember now. I've been hearing music from the Hard Rock every time I go out on deck. You want to have dinner over there when you come out later?"

"Sure." Dar replied, watching her monitor now. "But do you really need me to come out there? Sounds like you've got it all worked out. I could just pick you up." She juggled the phone against her ear and typed a command. "How about it?"

Kerry didn't answer for a bit, and when she did, her voice had changed, a touch of uncertainty entering it. "Yeah, I guess," she said. "But don't you want to see the place for yourself?"

"Not really. I trust you."

"Dar, you said this was really important."

Dar released her laptop and took hold of the phone again. "It is, and you're really good at what you do, and I'm perfectly happy to leave it in your hands. Is there a problem with that?" She queried, unsure of what was going on with her partner. "Ker?"

"No, it's not a problem at all. Thank you for the vote of confidence. I know how critical this is, and I'm glad you trust me to take care of it."

Dar waited. Nothing else was forthcoming. "But?" She prompted.

A sigh.

"But you want me to look at it anyway?"

"You have much more maritime experience than I do." Kerry explained, not bothering to confirm her guess directly. "This is a new world for me, and I want to make absolutely sure I size it right the first time. I would appreciate your insights, yes."

Well, that was true enough Dar admitted to herself. Kerry knew enough about boats to get the Dixie out of dock, but there was no way around the fact that Dar had spent her childhood around big ships, and she just knew a lot more about their peculiarities. "Point made." She gave in gracefully. "Meet you there at six?"

"You're on." Kerry sounded much happier now. "I'll meet you out by the front. Oh." She cleared her throat. "By the way, I'm the Demon of the Dock, I'll have you know."

"You are?"

"I deliberately took all the pairs into the pier to keep everyone else out, and am now making a scandalous profit renting them."

"Bwaahahhahaaha..." Dar started laughing, almost banging her head on the bottom of the rack. "If I stop and get you a pair of devil's horns, will you wear them to dinner?"

"Pffft. Just for that, I'm going to stick you with my pitchfork."

"Just for that, I'm going to grab your--" "Dar, aren't you in the ops center?" Kerry interrupted innocently.

"Ahem."

"See you later. I have to go on the rest of my tour with my new friend Tally." Kerry chuckled. "I get to see the crew mess next. They want to put internet in there."

Dar chuckled as well. "Have fun. See you later." A moment after folding the phone closed, she glanced at the console. Both techs had their faces buried so far into their screens she feared they were absorbing the electromagnetic interference right through their skins.

Ah well. Dar went back to her router. So what were a few more scandalous stories, anyway?

IT WAS TWILIGHT before Dar was walking across the concrete toward the pier building Kerry had specified. The heat had lessened a little, and there was a nice breeze coming in off the water.

Dar sucked in a lungful of it, and paused to look at what she could see of the ship. "Hmm." She rocked on her heels once or twice. "Now ain't that a bucket of coasters being held together by paint chips."

The flag clips on the bare nearby poles clanked in agreement as she continued on across the grass and up onto the building's steps. As she got to the glass doors, one was opened, and a uniformed guard studied her suspiciously.

"Hi." Dar produced her identification dutifully. "Can I come in?"

The man studied her badge, then looked at her carefully before he stepped back and opened the door, allowing her to enter. Dar walked past him into the pier building, her nose wrinkling at the scent of incipient mildew overpowering the air conditioning.

The pier building had seen better days, she decided. The walls were covered in a layer of moderately fresh paint, but it was obvious this layer had been put down over many, many others, and the carpet underfoot did not have the luxury of any padding, the better to resist the persistent moisture.

It had a government feel to it. Dar rubbed her nose, stifling a sneeze. She quickly crossed the back room and stuck her head into the alcove where the office was, noting approvingly the locked door and, even more so, the security guard sitting stolidly outside. "Hi, Don."

The guard looked up from his book, surprised. "Oh. Ms. Roberts." He greeted her with a smile. "I didn't think I'd see anyone else here tonight. They closed up the office about an hour ago."

Dar walked over and inspected the door. "Open it?"

The guard got up quickly and did as she asked, unlocking the door and pushing it open. "There you go."

Dar entered and flipped the lights on with a negligent motion of her hand. She prowled around the small space, examining the newly installed gear, and then gave it her grunt of approval before she backed out and waved a hand at the guard. "Feel sorry for whoever has to work in there."

Don wrinkled his nose. "Smells like three week old bread." He agreed. "You just come here to check that out, ma'am? I could'a just told you over the phone." He lifted his cell.

"Wasn't why I came." Dar headed toward the escalator that led up to the ship's boarding gangway. The moving stairs were turned off this late, but she made light work of trotting up them, pushing her way out the back door and getting her first good look at the bulk of the ship. "Jesus."

She stopped in her tracks and leaned against the metal rail. The ragged, paint chipped surface was rough under her fingertips. Growing up on a naval base meant she'd seen her share and far more of old rusting hulks, ranging from fishing boats to destroyers. But the last vessel she'd seen in this condition was heading out to be sunk for an artificial reef.

Dar turned and hurried down the long walkway. Tied up or not, shallow water or not, having Kerry on board the damn thing gave her a hive and the faster she got her partner off the dangerous and, to her eyes, listing vessel the happier she'd be.

As she reached the entrance to the ship, she spotted Kerry heading her way. "What?" She turned as a man blocked her path, glowering at him until she realized he was just looking to see her ID. She held it up, and then brushed past him as Kerry cleared the inner door and came out onto the deck to greet her. "Hey."

"Hey." Kerry gave her a more than cordial grin. "I was just coming out to find you. You're early."

Dar took her arm and backed up until they were both safely on the metal gangway. Then she stopped. "Anyone else of ours on that thing? Hope not."

Kerry turned and looked, then swiveled back to face her partner. "Huh?"

"It's gonna sink."

"Oh, c'mon Dar, no it isn't." Kerry chuckled. "It's not really that bad inside. C'mon, let me show you around." She hooked a finger through Dar's belt loop and tugged.

"I'm not boarding that damn thing." Dar resisted the pull. "Did you see those holes? Look!" She pointed at the side of the ship, which did, indeed, sport several healthy sized gaps in its metal sheathing. "I've seen bathtubs more seaworthy."

Kerry leaned back against the iron rail. "Hon, it made it across the ocean." She reminded her. "I'm sure it's okay sitting here in the Port of Miami and besides, it's only forty feet deep here. Even if it did sink, I could sit on the pool deck up there and get a suntan while it was going down."

"Mmph."

"C'mon." Kerry gave her another tug. "It's really not that bad, Dar. Once you get used to all the chaos inside. I got a really nice tour of the ship, and honestly, it's better than I thought it would be."

"Uh huh." Dar allowed herself to be drawn toward the deck again. "And you have how many ships to judge this against?" She queried, with a wry grin. "How about letting me judge how scary this crate really is?"

"Okay, sailor girl." Kerry tolerantly led the way across the deck to the inner door. "How's the office?"

"Annoying as usual." Dar paused inside to look around. The air of tattered, tired elegance reminded her of some of the old beach hotels she'd occasionally wander into in her youth, with much of the same scent of age and disappointment.

They were in the center of the ship, a large, somewhat open area that extended up several decks now obscured in scaffolding and torn old wallpaper. There were water stains on the walls under the wallpaper, and the exposed girders were thick with rust. "Point one." Dar said. "Rain inside? Bad thing." She indicated the girders.

Kerry peered at them. "Can't that be from the humidity or the sea air?"

"No." Dar patted her on the back. "But that's all right, cause it means they need to rip all that drywall and plaster out, and that means we can get wiring in at a lower cost than if we have to pull it all."

"Hmm, yeah, I talked to the construction chief about that. He said they'd be ready in about a week to strip everything." Kerry agreed as they walked past worktables and through a propped open glass door at the back of the open area.

Dar found another half destructed space that had a few old desks and walls covered in the typical grunge you often found in office buildings. "Back office?"

"Uh huh. Want to see where they suggested we put the computer systems?" Kerry took her hand and led her forward, shoving open a half stuck panel just wide enough to admit Kerry's slim form and then stepping back. "Here."

Dar gave her a suspicious look, and then slowly poked her head in. After a moment, she drew it back out. "And the joke is?" Her voice rose. "Kerry, you couldn't fit our dog in here, much less what we're going to have to run this thing on, and there's no air conditioning."

"Right. It's a linen closet." Kerry agreed. She peered inside at the room, a scant three feet by six feet not including the hot water pipes running along one wall. "I told them we could use this to store spare parts, but only if they stuck a wall mount AC unit with a drip drain on that long part."

"Good answer." Dar shook her head as she watched Kerry shove the door shut again. "They have no clue, do they?"

"Nope." Kerry leaned against the door. "I told them we're going to need this room instead." She pointed at the larger space. "They freaked."

Kerry walked across the floor, looking up as someone called her name from the outside entrance. "Oh, hi Tally." She turned. "This is my boss, Dar Roberts. Dar, this is Tally. He's been showing me around."

She gave her new buddy a grin. "And watching me shock the pooters out of the construction guys."