"Yes, ma'am," Danny said. "We logged them in yellow, though. The other four we were missing turned up last night. Said they were helping people get out all day and didn't get a chance to get online," he explained. "It was really crazy here yesterday."

They moved through inner hallways, mostly empty, the air still and almost stale. Kerry felt sweat gathering under her shirt and she fought the urge to pull the mask off her face as she followed the group along one wall.

Everyone was pretty quiet. The masks muffled speech and the lack of power and air conditioning let them hear creaks and pops in the walls around them. Kerry felt anxious, and she walked a little faster even though they'd been told several times the building was safe.

Inside, it was hard to picture the destruction she'd faced on the outside of the building. The walls of the structure looked very much like some huge giant had taken a hatchet and whacked the top side of one of the five sections, cutting right through the concrete and exposing inner offices as it collapsed inward.

Chillingly bizarre. At the edge, you could see file cabinets. Chairs. The beige inevitability of computer monitors.

It felt so unreal. Just as it had when she'd been in the hospital collapse, the familiar turned strange and frightening, making her want to get past it, get out, and feel cool, fresh air again. She heard voices ahead, and she looked up and past Mark's shoulders to see a cluster of men in work clothes ahead at the junction of two hallways.

"Uh oh," Danny said. "Those are the electrical guys."

Kerry patted him on his uninjured shoulder and eased past, coming up even with Mark as they approached the crowd. There were men in fatigues mixed in with the workers, she now realized, and several others were in more formal military uniforms. "Damn."

"What?" Mark whispered. "What's wrong?"

"Wish Dar was here."

Mark eyed her wryly. "44 75 68, boss."

Kerry's brows knit, as she allowed herself to be briefly distracted. "Hex?" she finally hazarded a guess. "No, not for the reason you're thinking. She's just a lot better at relating to the guys in uniforms than I am."

"Uh huh." Mark slowed and came to a halt since the crowd was blocking the hallway. "Let's see what's up with this now." He removed his mask. "Driving me nuts."

Kerry had about enough herself. She eased the mask off and sniffed the air, relieved to smell nothing more ominous than a little dust, this far from the destruction. The rest of the crew did the same, clustering warily behind Kerry and Mark as they eased closer to listen.

"Okay, here's the plan. Everyone has their clipboard?" one of the men in uniform was saying. "You have your sectors. I need to know the power, status, ability to work in, and damage in every square inch of the four sections not involved in the crash."

He glanced up as he sensed motion and spotted Kerry and her group standing there. "Excuse me," he said, in a stern tone. "Who are you people, and what are you doing in here?"

Kerry nudged her way to the front and met his eyes. "We're from ILS."

The man looked blank.

"Those are the IT people, chief," one of the men in fatigues supplied. "The computer guys."

"Oh." The officer nodded at them. "Well, none of the computers are working."

"We know," Kerry agreed. "That's what we're here for. To get them working again." She stuck her hands in her pockets.

The officer looked at her with interest. "Okay, hang on a second." He turned to the group. "Move out, gentlemen. I expect you to report back here in four hours."

The men dispersed, easing around Kerry and her crew and moving down the hallways in groups of three or four. They led the way with flashlights, the beams flickering around the half darkened walls in an odd and disjointed rhythm.

"Now." The officer faced Kerry. "Sorry, let's start this again. I'm Billy Chaseten." He held a hand out, which Kerry gripped firmly. "You said you were from what company now?"

"ILS," Kerry said. "My name is Kerry Stuart. My team and I are here to start the process of restoring communications to the facility." She glanced at his name plate. "For starters, do you know when they're going to turn the power back on, Captain?"

"Still got people cutting the live lines into the bad section," the captain said. "They can't turn the juice on until that's secure," he added. "You all the ones who handle the internet, and the phones and all that too?"

"That's right," Kerry said. "Our main core space was destroyed. We need to get rolling on replacing it." She smiled at the captain. He was tall, and had a handsome face under a brown buzz cut. "I know everyone's scrambling."

"That we are, and I don't want to get in your way, ma'am." The officer smiled back at her. "Anything I can do to help you?"

"Well," Kerry cleared her throat gently, "actually you can get out of our way. You're standing in front of the door to our backup core center."

The man blinked, then he turned, shining his flashlight on the big metal door he'd been leaning against. "Well, shoot. I am." He moved aside. "Sorry about that."

"I've got the keys." Danny moved forward, going to the door and fishing a set of thick silver keys from his pocket. "They hadn't even put the scan locks in yet."

The soldier sidled over closer to Kerry as Danny sorted amongst the keys. "You folks lose a lot of stuff? I was talking to the security system people and they said they had a ton of rewiring to do."

"Got it." Danny unlocked the door and opened the room, pulling the metal portal toward him and back against the wall.

The inside of the room was dimly lit with emergency lighting, and they all shuffled inside, Mark and one of the other local techs shining their flashlights around to illuminate the space.

"Well," Kerry sighed, "We lost enough equipment to fill this room." She glanced at the captain, who was still at her side. "Unfortunately."

"Ouch." The captain shook his head. "I heard my CO going on or really, going off about nothing working in the rest of the building. He know you all are here?"

"Probably not," Kerry admitted. "We--well, my team came up from Miami with our equipment truck and I--just got here from Michigan. We didn't talk to anyone first."

The captain looked at her strangely.

"We know what to do." Kerry smiled briefly. "It's not like someone had to call us to tell us there was a problem."

"Hey boss?" Mark called over. "This room wasn't near ready for occupancy. They haven't run the power, or the environ."

"Ah." Kerry removed her hands from her pockets. "Excuse me." She eased between two of the local techs and went to Mark's side. His flashlight was shining on a very un-terminated power distribution box and a set of wires hanging from the ceiling. "Oh, boy. Nothing easy here."

"They were supposed to put that stuff in next week," Danny agreed glumly. "We didn't even have storage yet, that's why we told them to hold delivery of the gear."

Damn. Kerry exhaled and took a step back, somewhat at a loss. What was that Dar was always telling her? Think out of the box?

Think out of the box. "I think this box just got slammed over our heads," she muttered. "Danny, can you take me to whoever's in charge of the building electrical?"

"Uh. Sure." Danny nodded.

"Mark, start calling in a list of PDU's and racks to APC," Kerry said. "Bring what you can in here. Let's just do what we can to start."

"Got it, boss," Mark said. "Okay guys, go get the lanterns, and get the trolleys out and unfolded. Let's get moving."

The techs trooped out. Kerry and Danny were the last ones out, and he turned to close the door and lock it behind him. The captain was still standing there, leaning against the wall.

"Ah, hey. Ms. Stuart?" The captain pushed off as she cleared the door. "Heard you say you needed to talk to the building people. Maybe I can help with that? My CO's got some push."

Kerry patted his arm. "I'll take any help I can get. C'mon with us." She motioned Danny ahead of her and they trooped off down the hallway. "Thanks for the offer, Captain."

"Call me Billy," the officer said. "All my friends do."

"Ma'am?" Danny cleared his throat. "Maybe we could invite the facilities chief to the bus for lunch?" he suggested. "He's been here all night." He peeked over at the captain. "Maybe we could all go?"

Kerry chuckled wryly. "Hungry?" she asked. "Sure. I think that's a great idea. We can meet in the bus if the chief is up for it. You're invited too, Billy."

"Sounds good to me." Billy was more than willing to go along. "Let's take a shortcut through here." He indicated a guarded hallway. "I'll stop and give my CO a heads up. I know for sure he's very interested in this whole computer thing."

"Lead on." Kerry checked her watch. "Jesus--half past one already?"

"Day's flying," Billy said. "Not like yesterday," he added. "Every minute yesterday lasted an hour."

They all sobered, as the guards opened the doors on their approach and they entered a cooler, grayer hallway, with metal doors on either side of it. Billy headed for one, his hand on the knob as Kerry's cell phone rang.

"Hang on." Kerry unclipped the phone and glanced at the caller ID, stopping and staring at it for a long moment before she hastily opened it. "Dar?"

"Hey, love of my life."

Kerry felt like she had electrical prickles heating her skin. "You guys go on. I need to take this," she told Billy and Danny. "I'll catch up with you."

"Yes ma'am." Danny went over to where the captain had paused. "That's our big boss," he explained, as they entered the office and closed the door behind them.