Eye Of The Storm - DK3 (62 page)

“I envied you,” Dar replied, in a low, but precise voice. “I tried to find that for myself and I failed so miserably, I just finally gave up on it.”

Incredible. She’d learned more about her child in the past thirty seconds than in the past thirty years. “Until it found you.” Dar considered that, then nodded slightly. Ceci sighed. “I’m sorry, Dar. I didn’t know. I don’t think I ever really understood where you were coming from.”

Dar felt the truth of that, as she looked into the eyes of someone she hardly knew.

Someone, if she was honest with herself, that she had never had much desire to know, who had mainly been viewed as either an obstacle or an annoyance to her for a very long time.

Now it was different. She wasn’t sure she wanted or needed a mother back, but another friend was something she could consider having, especially one who was willing to accept Kerry and who Kerry liked.

So. They’d both made a lifetime’s worth of mistakes, and she could either let that poison their relationship now or put that behind her and just go 340
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forward.

Who knew? Maybe they’d even end up liking each other after a while. Stranger things had happened. Dar gave her nerves a moment to settle and forced herself to cover her mother’s hand with her own. “I don’t think I much understood you either.” She kept her voice low. “But I’m glad we’re getting a second chance at this.”

It was far and away more than she expected. Ceci smiled in surprise and relief and seeing a twinkle of that reflected in the blue eyes watching her. Dar’s fingers were warm and strong and she felt the gentle pressure as her daughter squeezed, then released her hand. It made her feel twenty pounds lighter, almost dizzy, and she was glad she was still holding on to Dar to steady herself. “I am too,” she finally answered.

Dar exhaled in relief. She’d been half anticipating and half dreading this conversation and now that it was over, she felt little giddy. Her father would be pleased, though. He’d nudged her again gently this morning to try and spend a few minutes talking with her mom.

Hey.
Dar’s brows knitted.
Wait a minute.
She looked up at her mother, who cocked her head in puzzled inquiry. “Did Kerry say anything to you this morning?”

Ceci was taken aback at the question. She eased up off her knees and sat down on the couch next to Dar, lacing her fingers together. “Well, sort of, I suppose,” she murmured. “She did happen to mention—why, did she say something to you?”

“No. Daddy did.” Dar folded her arms and gave her mother a wry look.

“Ah.” Ceci almost laughed. “Sneaky little schemers, aren’t they?”

“Mmm.” Dar smiled, then glanced up as a knock came at the door.

“Guess it’s showtime.” And if nothing else, talking to her mother had taken her mind right off the impending interview, though scenes of frying pans and hot flames seemed to circle that notion.

“Right. I’ll duck on out of here.” Ceci rose.

“No. Stay.” Dar got up and went for the door, not giving her a chance to answer.

Ceci selected a corner of the couch and curled up in it, tucking her feet up and resting her arm along the back. She watched Dar pause just before she opened the door and straighten her shoulders, pulling the jacket taut over bone and muscle and adjusting the drape over her trimly muscular form.

She opened the door. A stocky man of middling height stood there with a crowd of people and equipment behind him. “Hi,” Dar drawled, glad if nothing else for the fact that her mother had neatly taken her mind completely off the interview.

“Oh, hello. Sorry, I was looking for Dar Roberts?” the man responded briskly. “I’m John McAdams, from CNN Business News?”

Dar extended a hand to him. “You’ve found me.”

He returned her grip reflexively as he stared at her. “You’re kidding, right?”

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“Nope.”

“But…you’re not a middle aged Anglo conservative guy.”

Dar glanced down at herself. “Not the last time I checked, no.” She stepped back. “Would you like to come in or would you rather I find you a middle aged Anglo conservative guy to interview? I’m sure there are a few around here somewhere.”

“No way.” The man held up a hand and grinned broadly. “Lead on, Lady McByte. I’m all yours.”

IT WAS ODD,
Kerry mused as she stood in line to get in the door to the chambers,
to hear everyone else talking about the disaster they’d spent all
night trying to fix.
The change in time and the general chaos had thrown off the crowds of supporters and there were only a few around so far, waving signs and getting organized.

They were probably still mobbing the ATM machines.
She allowed herself an uncharitable thought.
Or raiding the discount beer stores.

Now now, Kerry
. She gave herself a quiet scold.
You know better than to
make those generalizations. Not all white supremacists drink beer
. She peered at the milling crowd.
Some of them probably like Boones Farm.
She sighed.

Bad Kerry. Obnoxious, stuck up, WASP Kerry. Cut it out
.

“Likely lookin’ bunch of pansy ass rednecks, ain’t they?” Andrew drawled from behind her, his arms crossed over his chest. “They give my Southern Baptist butt a hive and a half.”

Kerry bit her lip to keep from laughing, then exhaled, trying to relieve a little of the tension building up inside her. No sign of her family, of course, since they were probably inside already, but she was getting sideways looks from the people standing around her, which made her realize she was being recognized from the previous day.

People were giving Andrew little glances too, and she half turned, giving her companion a little smile. He really was a distinctive looking person, she realized, with his height and muscular body and the sense of presence he carried himself with. And of course, the patchwork of scars across his face, which she didn’t really even see anymore. At least the two worst were gone, replaced by the slightly rough covering of synthetic skin that restored his face to something approaching normality. She’d understood his need to remain hidden before, but she had a feeling that now, since the one opinion that really mattered to him was secured, he’d have discarded the hood even without the surgery.

And the eyes. Dar’s pale, electric blue, set off by the tan skin creased in wrinkles on either side of them. Right now they were roaming everywhere, drinking in the crowd, the guards, the protestors—alive with interest and curiosity.

She was glad he was here. It made her feel utterly safe to be standing next to him. “Hope this doesn’t last long.” Kerry sighed. “I think I’d rather be getting dental work.” She walked forward at the guard’s request and edged through the detector, then turned and waited for 342
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Andrew to follow.

“Ahm gonna set that off,” the tall man drawled to the guard as he ambled through, sure enough making the machine react. He stopped on the other side of it, watching the nervous reactions. “Don’t get yer britches in a square knot. I got me two plates here.” He tapped his upper thigh. “And a couple odd shells tucked up inside me somewhere.”

The guard approached cautiously and ran a hand held device over him, getting readings near his leg, and stomach. “Um…”

“Ain’t nothing up mah sleeve.” Andy lifted his shirt and displayed a scarred, but still muscular abdomen. “Here.” He pulled his identification wallet from the back pocket of his jeans and flipped out a card. The guard took it and examined it, then handed it back respectfully.

“Go ahead, sir.” He lifted his wand in a little salute as Andrew moved past him and joined Kerry at the door to the chambers.

“Jest goes to show you, stay in the damn Navy long enough, something’ll salute you,” he muttered, half under his breath.

Kerry grinned and tucked her hand inside his elbow as they walked inside. “You didn’t make the airport one go off,” she commented curiously. “And those catch my car keys, for heaven’s sake.”

“Looking fer different things,” Andy replied cryptically. He paused as they reached the threshold of the inner chamber and looked around, since the people in front of them were deciding where to sit. A cluster of people were around the defense area and heads turned as they entered.

“C’mon.” Kerry wanted to sit down and be out of the spotlight.

“That yer folks?”

She nodded as they walked down the center aisle, chose seats, and watched the room fill up around them. Michael, she noted, wasn’t there and neither was Angie this time. Just her mother, father, and the lawyers.

She felt a little nervous at that, since it appeared she was being singled out. Kerry folded her hands in her lap and regarded them, her fingers twisting her joining ring idly.

I wish this were over.
She silently sounded the words.
I wish it was over,
and I was out of here, and we were home
. Her stomach was tied up in knots, having rejected breakfast, and her head hurt from not sleeping.

A hand touched her arm and she looked up. “Kinda loud in here.”

Andy gazed at her. “You all right, kumquat?”

Kerry sighed. “I’m tired, I’m cranky, and I don’t want to be here.”

She hesitated. “And I’m a little scared of why they want me back to testify.”

The room quieted then, as the session got under way. First, there were some meetings, then they talked about procedure.

Then they called her up. Kerry stood and took a deep breath, then carefully made her way out of their row and towards the table, getting a comforting pat on the leg from Andy as she went past him. She took her seat and folded her hands as her father’s lawyer came over to face her.

It was a very lonely feeling. She knew the man, and had for years, but it was as though he considered her nothing but some trash off the
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343

street, given his expression. Not to mention her parent’s faces. Cameras flashed, and her peripheral vision caught the round, black single eyes of the television crews.

“Ms. Stuart,” the man hardly looked up from his papers, “you work for a company called ILS, is that correct?”

“Yes.”

“For how long?”

“Almost a year.”

He scribbled a note. “When was the last time you spoke with your parents, Ms. Stuart?”

Kerry felt the heightened interest almost beating against her skin.

“Thanksgiving of last year,” she answered quietly and heared a faint murmur rise.

“Why is that?” The man looked up.

“Why do you want to know?”

“Excuse me?”

Kerry shifted. “I asked, why do you want to know? What does something personal between my parents and myself have to do with anything here?”

He tapped his pen on his pad. “Because, Ms. Stuart, there was some very damaging and potentially libelous material released to the press last year, coincidentally,” he put a sting on it, “a day after the last time you spoke to your parents.” He paused. “So I ask you again, Ms. Stuart.

Why?”

Oh shit
. Kerry caught Andrew sitting forward, gazing at her in concern.
I am in such deep trouble
. She sucked in a breath though and collected her thoughts.
Don’t let them rattle you
, Dar’s voice intoned in her mind.

Think
.

“We had a disagreement about the direction my life was taking,”

Kerry answered carefully. “It happens all the time, in families.” She paused. “Or so I’m told.”

He nodded. “A disagreement so severe, it caused you to break off contact with your family entirely?”

“No.” She shook her head. “I speak with my brother and sister and our extended family.”

He made another mark. “Several years back, your uncle was fired by ILS.”

“That’s true,” Kerry agreed.

“And yet, you chose to go work for them.” He paused and looked at her. “Why?”

That, at least, was an easy question. “I’m an information services professional. They’re one of the largest IS companies in the world and they offered me a promotion, with a thirty percent pay hike.” Kerry cocked her head. “It wasn’t exactly rocket science.” Several of the senators behind her laughed.

“Even though your father was actively campaigning against them and was working to have them thrown out of government contracts in 344
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Michigan?”

“Because he held a grudge due to Uncle Al. Yes,” Kerry answered back, a trifle sharply. “I investigated the files regarding that when I became an employee of ILS and I was satisfied that the company acted fairly.” She folded her hands.

“As a matter of fact, your current…supervisor…fired him. Is that right, Ms. Stuart?”

Uh oh, take two.
“Given the information we had on him, sir, I would have fired him,” Kerry answered quietly. “But yes, in answer to your question, it was Ms. Roberts who did it.”

The lawyer nodded. “Exactly.” He leafed through a few sheets of paper. “It was the first step, in fact, in a plan to discredit your father.” He looked up. “And you played right into it.”

Kerry blinked. “What?”

He leaned on the table. “We know where that libelous information came from, Ms. Stuart.”

She didn’t answer him, her pulse racing against her skin.

“It’s been a careful, underhanded campaign to discredit your father and turn you against him and it’s resulted in this hearing, where these gentlemen are forced to question your father’s very morals.” The man turned, making sure the cameras had a good shot at him. “I put it to you, gentlemen. The company who stood to lose by the senator’s investiga-tions, who duped his daughter into working for them, who had the ability, and the resources to manufacture this information…it’s so obvious.”

Kerry could hear the murmurs of agreement. “You have no idea what you’re talking about,” she pronounced carefully. “ILS didn’t manufacture anything.”

“They could have, though. What about that problem this morning?”

One of the senators behind her leaned back. “Damn computers are too powerful nowadays.”

The lawyer circled her. “Don’t you see, Ms. Stuart? You’ve been tricked by your boss. It’s obvious that she made this stuff,” he slapped the dossiers on the desk, “up and sent it out, to stop Senator Stuart from canceling those contracts.”