Kerry gazed at her in concern. Dar’s face and arms were covered with smudges of dust and dirt from the equipment, and there were dark circles under her eyes, visible even in the dim light. ”Dar, if you didn’t believe this was going to work you wouldn’t have done it.” She sat down next to her boss. ”I brought back food for everyone, that should help, and I can program the routers, if you give me a chance to change first.”The bloodshot blue eyes lifted and regarded her. ”That’s right. You are Cisco certified, aren’t you?” Dar let a reluctant smile tug her lips.

”Go change. I have them making up cables for the laptops. If we both work on it, we can get enough done so that the other techs can get in and start downloading the routing tables.”

”You got it.” Kerry slung her bag over her shoulders and headed for the rest room, changing quickly and hanging her wet clothing next to Dar’s. She returned to find her boss hunched over a box, studying the screen on her laptop.

The silvery reflection flickered over her tanned features, which shifted as Kerry put her own laptop down next to her. ”Okay.” Kerry smiled as a tech handed her a cable. ”Thanks.” She plugged it in, then ran the other end to one of the routers. ”Oh. I’ll be right back.”

Dar nodded, absorbed in her screen. ”Let’s hope I remember how to 202

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do this,” she muttered, shoving down her annoyance that they’d been unable to locate the hardware group for the facility, meaning that only she and Kerry really knew how to get in and program the complicated devices. ”It’s been a while.”

The scent of cooked food spread through the room and most of the techs had wandered over to where Kerry had left the boxes, leaving Dar in relative isolation as she puzzled through the software.

The screen started to fuzz out and she stopped after what seemed like the twentieth screen, leaning back and rubbing her eyes, as her back protested against her hunched posture. ”I think that’s it,” she commented to Kerry, who knelt at her side. ”Wh...”

”Open wide,” Kerry instructed, capturing her gaze.

Dar stared, uncomprehending, then hesitantly opened her mouth, startled when a spoonful of cold, chocolate ice cream was deposited into it. She blinked a few times. ”Mm.” She swallowed the rich cream. ”Was that Haagen Daz?”

”Yes,” Kerry informed her, offering up another spoonful. ”And don’t you ask me where I found chocolate Haagen Daz in the middle of backwoods North Carolina, okay?” She watched Dar’s whole attitude perk up, and was convinced if the dark haired woman had possessed a tail, it would have wagged enthusiastically. ”It’s amazing what ice cream does to you, did you know that?”

Dar licked her lips. ”Hey, it beats recreational drugs,” she remarked wryly. ”What did you bring the rest of these guys?”

Kerry glanced over her shoulder. ”The best of Big Fat Boy’s Eat ‘Em All buffet,” she told her boss, taking a spoon of ice cream for herself.

”And a box of Twinkies, Snowballs, Ring Dings, and Mallomars.”

Dar covered her mouth quickly and stifled an almost hysterical laugh. ”Did you get some buffet?” she managed to ask. ”Damn, I thought it was more, uh...”

”You’re joking, right?” Kerry fed her more ice cream. ”I’d like to live to get back to Miami, thanks, and I got the lecture that yes, during the day, it’s much more sophisticated around here, but those places roll up the sidewalks at night, because all the workers go home.”

”Well.” Dar accepted another spoon and chewed it contentedly. ”It was a good idea, though. It might give everyone enough energy to get through the morning.” She paused, and regarded her lover. ”So, no buffet for you?”

Kerry sucked on the spoon. ”Um, no, actually, I...” She made a tiny face. ”I have a weakness for Snowballs,” she admitted, a touch embarrassed. ”That was enough sugar to get me going.”

Dar laughed. ”Ah! I see.” She teased gently. ”Those white ones with the chocolate insides?”

Green eyes batted their golden lashes at her. ”Yeah,” she confessed, a little shamefacedly.

”Wanna share a pack?” Dar inquired, one brow lifting.


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203

Kerry cleared her throat. ”Oh no, I’m okay. I...” Then she glanced up. ”Well, maybe one.”

Dar grinned, finding the energy to stand up, and stretch. She could feel her own determination returning, and she glanced out over the room, planning her next move.

DAWN BROKE, TURNING the darkness outside to a dull gray as the rain continued. Inside the warehouse it was marked only by a break for coffee, from the multitude of thermos bottles that littered the worktable.

”All right, Mark.” Dar leaned against the wall, crossing her ankles and taking the weight off her knee. ”Can you see them?”

Clicking. ”No. No, wait.” More clicking. ”Ah, yep, there they are.”

Dar closed her eyes in utter relief. ”All of them?”

”Wait, I’m getting Unicenter booted,” the MIS chief muttered.

”Hang on. Hang on, okay, yeah,” he confirmed. ”I’m seeing all the gateways and both backbones.” A beat. ”Wow, tremendous work, boss, that kicks ass.”

Dar let her head rest against the wall. ”I had a lot of help,” she muttered. ”Okay, now I’m going to boot the fiber hub.” She reached over and flipped a switch.

Across the room bodies were slumped on the carpet or leaning against the far walls, and the door kept opening fitfully, letting in cold, damp air.

”I don’t see it,” Mark’s voice cut through her exhaustion.

”Shit.” Dar shoved her body off the wall and examined the piece of equipment. ”I don’t, it’s connected, let me...”

”Did you set the IP?” Mark asked, gently.

Dar thought about it. ”I don’t remember.” She glanced up as Kerry came over. ”Mark sees the backbones and the routers, but not this box.

Did we program it?”

Kerry brought the laptop over and connected it, then ran through a few screens. ”Nope.” She typed in a few commands, then reset the unit.

”Try now.”

Mark clicked a bit, then grunted. ”Got it.” He entered several commands rapidly. ”Needs the secondary table though. Hang on, I’m in there. I can download it from here. Wait, okay.” He sighed. ”Got it, got it. You’re going to have to IPL the mainframes, though.”

Dar and Kerry exchanged glances. ”What?” Dar asked. ”I thought they were up?”

”They are,” Mark said. ”But the ports shut down when you don’t have activity after a certain point. It’s a bug or something. You need to reset them.”

Dar let out an explosive breath. ”Son of a fucking bitch. Mark, we can’t get in there,” she told him. ”Can’t you remote IPL?”


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”Has to be a hardware reset,” the MIS chief responded. ”God, Dar.

I’m sorry. I knew that in the back of my head, I should have told you before. I didn’t realize...”

No. Dar let her head smack against the wall and she cursed softly under her breath.

Kerry chewed her lip in thought, watching her lover anxiously.

”What if we cut the building generator off and on?” she asked suddenly.

”It’s outside.”

Dar stared at her, then dropped the phone onto the fiber rack and took hold of Kerry, kissing her soundly in full view of the room. ”I love you.” She patted Kerry’s cheek, as she headed past her towards the door.Kerry stood rooted in place, stunned beyond speech. She had her back to everyone and could almost feel the eyes beating against the back of her head. Finally, she picked up the cell phone and cleared her throat.

”Um, hi.”

Mark also cleared his throat. ”Hi,” he responded. ”Guess she liked that idea, huh?”

”Uh, yeah.” Kerry winced as she slowly turned, relieved to see most of the techs still passed out and paying no attention to her. There were a handful of bemused faces, though, and she mustered a weak smile for them. ”I just hope it works.”

”Hey, that sure beats Q bucks,” one tech laughed. ”I think I’ll move down to Miami, they got a better bonus plan.” A round of tired laughter followed.

Kerry scrubbed a hand across her reddening face and sighed. ”I’m gonna kill her for that,” she muttered, then glanced up as Dar reentered the building.

”All right folks, we’ve got fifteen minutes, and we’ll know if this has all been worth it,” Dar announced. ”And if it is, or isn’t, I’d like to say thanks to all of you who hung in there. I know we asked a lot.”

A weary silence fell over them and everyone settled in to watch the routers, whose traffic LEDS were dark. Dar walked over to where Kerry was standing and slid down the wall, clasping her hands lightly in front of her.

Waiting.

Kerry sat down next to her and fiddled with the phone, sitting cross legged and resting her elbows on her knees.

Fifteen minutes passed and there was no change in the lights. Dar closed her eyes and let her head drop in defeat, hardly feeling Kerry’s hand on her arm. Of all the times to fail, she had to pick this one. She refused to hear the disappointed murmur that echoed around the ill lit room, as the tired waves finally crashed over her.

”It was a damn good try.” Kerry rested her head against Dar’s shoulder.

”Not good enough,” came the whispered reply.


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205

Kerry moved closer, accidentally jerking the power plug of the fiber hub from the wall. “Oh, crap.” She shoved it back in with an annoyed grimace. ”For all the good that’ll do,” she muttered, turning her attention to her lover. ”Hey, c’mon, no one could have done any more, Dar.””Hey!” A tinny voice distracted her, and she lifted the phone.

”What is it, Mark? It didn’t work,” Kerry admitted.

”Bullshit. Yes it did!” The MIS chief yelled. ”I’m getting packets!”

Dar’s head jerked up on hearing that and they both stared at the router racks, where LEDS were coming alive in an electronic dance.

”Son of a bitch.”

Yells were now coming from the techs, who were pointing at the routers.

”Wow!” Kerry let out a surprised and delighted laugh. ”I guess it just took a few minutes longer.”

”No.” Dar looked up at the hub over her head. ”You did it. You reset the optics hub.” She grabbed Kerry and hugged her. ”You did it!”

Dumbfounded, Kerry stared at her. ”I did it?” She jerked around and looked at the plug. ”It was an accident!”

”Waaahoo!” Mark yodeled through the phone. ”Infriggingcredible, Dar! Give that woman a kiss for me.”

Blue eyes now alive with mischief fastened on Kerry's face. ”Oh, I think I can do that.” She stood up and pulled Kerry up with her, as a round of tired cheers went up around the room.

”Uh, Dar?” Kerry whispered frantically. ”Um, you know, I love when you kiss me. I really, really do, but um, could we just kinda...” She jerked her head in the direction of the watching technicians. ”I feel like a video game.”

Dar chuckled. ”All right,” she relented, draping an arm over Kerry’s shoulder instead, and walking towards the now excitedly talking group. She took the phone from Kerry. ”So, everything coming online?”

”Oh, yes.” Mark chuckled. ”Oh wait, there’s the hotline, figures, sun just started coming up.” He rustled around. ”MIS Ops, Polenti.” A pause. ”Hmm? Oh, yeah, we’re up, no problem.” Another pause. ”Yep, that too. The whole network’s online.” A longer pause. ”Yeah, I’ve got her on the other line. Wh...ok...I'’ll relay that, thanks.” He hung up.

”Hey Dar?”

”Yeah?” Dar replied, accepting the cries of congratulations from the crowd.

”Alastair said to tell you he slept like a baby,” the MIS chief related.

”He said you’d understand.”

She let a brief, humorless smile cross her face. ”Yeah, I understand,” she replied. ”All right, let me get off this thing. I’m going to make sure this is stable, then go get some sleep.” The thought of a warm bed and snuggling with Kerry was suddenly overwhelmingly 206

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attractive. ”Later.” She hung up and tucked the phone into her pocket.

Fresh staff was entering the building, cautiously peering around the doorframe until they spotted familiar faces. A supervisor was busy making a schedule, and two other new faces were pulling out monitoring consoles from boxes and setting them up. ”We did it,” Dar stated, in a wondering tone. ”I don’t believe it.”

Kerry exhaled. ”We sure did,” she confirmed.

They both looked up as someone called out Dar’s name. A man trotted towards them, pulling up as he reached their sides.