Tropical Convergence (25 page)

"Then I guess you won't mind if we beat you on this one. Because I absolutely intend on it," Michelle said. "Maybe you weren't looking for a head-to-head challenge, but we certainly were."

Kerry tipped her glasses down, revealing her misty green eyes. "Give me a break."

"Sure you don't want to reconsider? Could be embarrassing for you."

The passenger door opened and Dar climbed in, tossing the folder in the back seat and giving Michelle a brief glance. "Let's go. There are goats to pet and tigers to take pictures of." She glanced past Kerry. "Morning."

"That would be no," Kerry answered Michelle's last question. "Excuse us. We've got places to go and characters to see." She rolled the window up as Michelle stepped back, then put the SUV in drive and released the parking brake. "Sheesh."

"Sheesh what?" Dar settled back in the passenger seat, content to let Kerry navigate through the vast grounds to their destination.

"Michelle was fishing." Kerry paused at a stop sign, waiting to turn. "I threw a tin can on her hook." She headed toward the signs pointing the way to the Animal Kingdom. "She seems to think we're in this game because of them."

"We are," Dar responded in a placid tone.

"I know. I wasn't going to give her the satisfaction of knowing that though." Kerry pulled into line at the parking entrance. "Hell with them."

"That's my view." Dar had her sunglasses firmly on her nose. She was dressed in a pair of cotton shorts and a tank top, and had her hair pulled back in a ponytail. "Glad we decided to stick around today."

"Me too." Kerry pulled through and followed the line of cars to a parking spot. She stopped the Lexus and they got out into the warm, muggy air. Kerry settled a ball cap on her head to shade it from the sun and waited for Dar to join her before she started the walk toward the front of the park which could barely be seen through the trees.

Their luggage was stored in the back of the SUV. Now Kerry was triply glad they'd decided to drive, since it gave them so many more options on how to spend their time. No running around, no airports...

"I hear they have a room full of bats," Dar remarked. "I'd like to see that."

Kerry tugged her hat more firmly onto her head. "Lead on." She showed her pass to the gate agent, and was clicked inside. "Into the wilds. Rowr!"

DAR WHISTLED SOFTLY under her breath as she turned onto the causeway and headed toward the office. The early morning sun was pouring through the tinted windows, and she was very glad she'd already put on her sunglasses. "How's your back feeling?" she asked her companion.

"Ugh." Kerry had her eyes closed against the glare. "I wish I didn't have clothes on."

Her partner made a small, snickering noise. "I could go for that," she agreed solemnly. "Told you not to fall asleep before dinner yesterday."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Kerry waved a hand at her, wincing as the motion caused a pang from her sunburned shoulders. "It was four o'clock, Dar. Jesus, the sun should have been down by then." She pointed at her companion. "And you could have woken me up, you little rat fink."

"Chitter." Dar made a face, baring her teeth. "I was out doing your shopping, remember?"

"Ermf." Kerry rested her chin on her fist and watched the palm trees go by as Dar skillfully negotiated the morning causeway traffic. "Eh, I had fun anyway," she conceded. "I had a great time at the animal park."

"Me, too." Dar drummed her fingers on the steering wheel lightly. "Damn, I'm tired though," she admitted. "Late night last night."

"Early morning this morning," Kerry countered. "Two hours sleep isn't much to start the day on." She poked Dar in the ribs. "Aren't we getting too old for all nighters?"

Dar turned into their office parking lot, dodging a delivery truck and scooting the Lexus into a spot near the front of the building. "Depends on what we're doing all night." She gave Kerry a saucy grin. "You could have slept on the way home."

Kerry popped the door open and slid out, shrugging carefully into her jacket before she took hold of her briefcase by its handle and shut the door. She pushed her sunglasses higher on her nose as she circled the front of the car and joined Dar for the short walk to the building entrance.

Yeah, she could have slept, she agreed silently, falling in step next to the taller woman. But it had been more fun to force herself to come up with games to keep them both alert for the long, dark drive home in the small hours of the morning.

They'd meant to leave after dinner, but the lure of the parks had gotten the better of them and they'd ended up closing the place and stopping for ice cream on top of it. They had left after midnight, trading their night of fun for going to work mostly without any rest.

But it had been worth it, Kerry decided. So what if she'd need six cups of Cuban coffee to make it through lunch? She'd gotten the quality playtime with Dar she'd craved, enough to hold her for a little while, anyway. "Morning, John," she greeted the security guard at the door.

"Morning, ma'ams," the guard replied courteously. "Have a great day."

"Do our best," Dar muttered, taking her sunglasses off.

The building's air conditioning was welcome as they entered and headed for the elevators. It was early, and the lobby was still quiet as they headed up, alone in the car as they rode to the fourteenth floor. Kerry stifled a yawn as the doors opened and she stood back to let Dar out first.

They walked down the hall in companionable silence, Dar giving her a pat on the side as they reached Kerry's office. "Take it easy today," Dar said. "If you feel like you need a nap, lock the door and tell Mayte to forward your phones to me."

Kerry gave her boss an affectionate look. "Only if you promise to do the same," she answered. "You're the one who drove all night." She slipped inside the outer door to her office and winked at Dar before she disappeared.

"Mmph." Dar regarded the polished wood with a bemused grin, before she continued down the hallway to her own office in the corner. "Morning, Maria," she greeted her assistant, already at work behind her desk.

Maria looked up in mild surprise. "Buenos dias, Dar," she responded. "I did not expect you here today!"

Dar paused on her way to her inner door. "You didn't?" She frowned. "I did say I'd be back after the trade show, didn't I?"

"Si, si," Maria agreed readily. "But I have this notice here that your airplane tickets were canceled. I thought you and Kerrisita were staying for more time." She held up the slip of paper. "I know Kerrisita likes very much the Disney World."

"Oh." Dar relaxed. "Yeah, we got..." Her nostrils flared slightly. "I mean, we decided to drive up instead of flying. We drove back last night." She turned and pushed her door open. "Really late last night."

"Would you like some cafacito, Dar?" Maria called after her knowingly.

"A bucket of it." Dar dropped into her chair. "Maybe if I stick my head in and gargle, I'll last through the sales conference call at ten." She booted the machine under her desk and leaned back waiting for it to come up.

Contrary to her pleas for coffee , she really didn't feel that bad. Dar mused, as she removed a folder from her briefcase and laid it open on her desk. Inside was the bid proposal.

It was a relatively hefty document, and now she opened the first page, creasing it back to hold it open and reviewing the cover page.

Her PC came up and bleated for her attention. Dar pulled her keyboard over and signed in, rattling in her thirty two character password without hesitation. The machine obediently logged in, but Dar drummed her fingers on the desk, recalling the conversations she had at the trade show regarding security.

She punched a button on her phone. After two rings, it answered.

"Computer Center, M...oh, hi boss." Mark's voice came through the phone over the ever present rattling of keys. "What's up? When'd you get back?"

"Couple hours ago," Dar replied. "Tell me again why we don't have biometric security yet?" she asked, opening her mail program and scanning the dark lines as they began to appear.

"Uh..."

"It occurred to me while I was sitting here completely wasted typing in my password that if I got smashed and gave it to someone, I could blow the entire company," Dar said. "Fix it."

"Uh."

"G'bye." Dar hung up the phone and propped her head up on her fist. Most everyone knew she'd been at the trade show, but she had a mailbox full of notes anyway and she clicked on her flagged column to sort them by urgency.

Then she selected all the urgent flagged ones and deleted them. "If you're stupid enough to send an urgent email to someone who has an out of office notification on, you're too stupid for me to answer you." Dar announced to the screen. "Next?" She clicked on the first non-flagged note and opened it, then turned her attention back to the opening page in the bid form.

Scanning the first few lines, she opened her desk drawer and removed the fish food, opening it and pinching out some flakes, then sprinkling them into her fighting fish tank on the far side of the desk. "How are you guys, huh?" She spared the fish a glance as they gobbled their breakfast. "Wonder what it would be like swimming in a tank full of you?"

The red fish blew a bubble at her. Dar gave it an indulgent grin, and then went back to her papers. It wasn't the original fish, of course. She'd gone through two changes of them since that first visit to the pet store when she'd allowed herself to be coerced into giving them a home on her desk. But she'd gotten used to them and now she enjoyed having them there to give her something to look at between tasks.

She'd actually paused to look at a snake the last time they'd been in PetSmart, intrigued by its colors. However, before she could consider adding it to her desktop knick knacks, Kerry had swiftly dragged her outside.

Ah well. Dar glanced up at her screen and deleted the first message, going on to the second one before she continued reading the bid. Maybe she should start small, with a gecko. She pulled her keyboard over and hit reply, glancing at her screen as she typed a response to the mail while she continued to scan the bid contract.

The terms were pretty straightforward. Dar hit send, and then studied the next mail for a second, before simply deleting it. "Nitbrain." She glanced up as the door opened, her nose twitching at the scent of fresh Cuban coffee. "Ah."

Maria brought the small, silver tray over and set it down, then placed the tiny china cup before Dar. She also put down a saucer on the edge of the desk, and balanced a small pot on top of it. "I brought the extra, Dar. They did not have the buckets."

"Thanks." Dar lifted the cup and sipped it. She eyed the tray, which also had a plate full of delicate, flaky pastries on it. "Those for me too?"

"Si, of course." Maria's eyes twinkled. "Did you have a good time, Dar? I saw Kerrisita downstairs and I think that you did."

Now what, Dar wondered, did she mean by that? She rocked back in her chair and sipped her coffee to give herself a moment to consider, studying Maria's face as she did so. Her assistant's expression was open and warm, however. "Sure," Dar answered. "We had a decent show, and Kerry and I got to spend some time out in the parks. How bad could it have been?"

Maria slid the plate of pastries over. "Everyone here was speaking of the interviews about you."

Dar indicated the chair across from her desk. "Were they? I know I kicked some booty that first day," she admitted, with a grin. "But I think it all worked out...did we look okay on TV?"

Her assistant grinned, and removed an envelope from under one arm, extending it toward Dar. "This was from the television program that was on from there. I watched it with my family. We were very proud of you and Kerrisita, Dar. You were wonderful."

Dar set her cup down and stood, reaching over and retrieving the envelope. She opened it and removed an 8 by 10 photo, setting it down on her desk to examine it. "Huh."

It was a shot of their booth, Kerry sitting at the console giving her presentation and caught in the act of looking right at the camera with an appealingly sweet intensity. Dar had been perched behind her, and in the shot, she was also looking right at the lens, her arms folded and her attitude one of intimidating protection. "Don't I look scary," she mused.

"No, Dar, you look very pretty!" Maria objected.

"I was trying to be scary." Dar glanced up from the photo. "There were a couple of people there who weren't friends." She was a little surprised that Maria hadn't heard. "The company who's been moving in on us in the Southeast...Telegenics?"

"Ah." Maria frowned. "I have heard their name, yes."

"It's run by Michelle Graver, and...um..." Dar exhaled, "Shari."

Maria blinked in honest surprise. "No, Dar, not that woman!" she gasped. "I cannot believe it. Is it true? After this long, to have her come back and bother you?" She clasped her hands together. "Never have I disliked a person so as I did that woman."

Maria became her assistant when Dar was promoted to regional manager and chose the woman as her assistant. When Shari came back into Dar's life the first time, Maria had taken the brunt of Shari's caustic comments when she'd discovered who was integrating their account. "Yeah, well." Dar shrugged. "Kerry and I took care of them. But it got ugly a few times."

"Tch."

"Yeah." Dar studied the picture. "She got lucky. I thought Kerry was going to beat her over the head with a chair." She looked up at Maria. "In a way, it almost felt good to see her."

Maria gazed at her. "Because you are happy now," she ventured. "I think that you are."

"Mhmm." Dar nodded. "I am. Damned if it didn't burn her." A rakish grin appeared. "We're competing with them on this." She indicated the folder she was reading. "Something that came up during the show."

"A good thing?"

Dar shrugged. "Could be. Contract's probably worth twenty or thirty million, not a major one for us, but it's a foot in the door of someplace we're not in right now." She flipped through the pages. "Do me a favor? Throw this on the photocopier and send a set up to legal, and one over to Jose's office."