Red Sky At Morning - DK4 (58 page)

“Heh.” Andrew produced a rakish grin, amazingly like his daughter’s. “Never did hear a man make a sound like that one before.”

“Ow,” Kerry winced. “So you guys were rivals?” she asked curiously.

Andrew shrugged. “Naw.”

“Yes,” Ceci corrected him. “Don’t look at me like that, Andrew.

You know you were.” She picked up her cup of coffee and sipped it.

“Jeff always had to be first. His family had to be first. His kid had to be 316
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first,” she said. “I think that’s what busted his chops so bad. He tried so hard, and pushed Chuck so hard, and neither one of you ever had to try hardly at all.”

Andrew and Dar exchanged glances. “Now, Cec,” Andrew rumbled, “wasn’t really like that.”

Ceci rolled her eyes. “Yes, it was. The two of you just never noticed,” she informed her husband and child. “Andy, you made your grades before he did, got the jobs he wanted, and copped the medals he coveted, and you never gave two whoops about it.”

Andrew folded his arms across his chest and gave her a sober look.

“And you,” Ceci gazed over at Dar with a half smile. “I’ll never forget the night Jeff and Sue were over, talking about how Chuck was going to enlist so he could save some cash for vocational school, remember?”

Dar nodded. “I remember.”

Kerry turned her head and looked at her. “What happened?”

Dark lashes fluttered as Dar blinked. “It was just a coincidence,”

she murmured. “I’d gotten my acceptance letters that day.”

Kerry studied her profile. “For college?”

Dar nodded silently.

“How many?”

She shrugged. “A couple.”

“Seven,” Ceci corrected her.

Dar rolled her eyes.

Kerry returned her attention to Dar’s mother. “Seven?”

“Mm-hmm,” Ceci agreed. “All full scholarship.” She folded her hands across her stomach and gazed at her child.

“That was a damn proud day for me,” Andrew said suddenly.

Everyone now looked at Dar, who looked back pensively. “I didn’t even think about it,” she admitted honestly. “That’s why I dropped them on the dinner table while they were there and told you.” Her thumb rubbed idly against Kerry’s side. “I thought it was pretty cool.”

“So did we.” Ceci smiled. “But you didn’t see Jeff’s face,” she sighed. “He and Sue were so jealous. I’m not surprised, Andy, if he went along with whatever those crooks wanted, if it finally got him the good life he’d always craved.”

Andrew shook his head a little. “Don’t make sense. He never did that poorly, Cec,” he protested. “Collected him plenty of rank, and pretty good jobs, I figure. He just never wanted to have to work hard for it.” It was a long sentence for him. “Dardar, you figure you got something on them people? Jeff thinks there ain’t much chance you do.”

Dar shifted a little, her eyes unfocused in thought. She felt Kerry twine her fingers around the hand she had draped over her partner’s body, and she breathed in Kerry’s distinctive scent as the thoughts tumbled over in her head. “I don’t know,” she replied truthfully. “If we got everything, and I can reconstruct it, yes.” Her eyes flicked up and
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met her father’s. “I’ll have it.”

Ceci leaned forward. “Have what, Dar? What the heck were they doing?”

An almost introspective look crossed Dar’s face. “Laundering money,” she answered simply. “Millions and millions of dollars, funneled from the sale of contraband and government property.”

Jaws dropped.

“You mean to tell me,” Kerry finally said, “they used the government’s own computer systems to do that?”

Dar nodded. “Feel better about your tax refund?”

Kerry covered her eyes with one hand and groaned.

“Jesus P. Fish,” Andrew blurted.

“Well,” Ceci murmured. “And here I thought maybe you’d found the truth about Roswell.”

Dar shrugged modestly. “Want me to audit there next?”

KERRY PUT THE piece of paper down on her desk and dropped into her chair, leaning forward and resting her head in her hands.

What a day.
She scrubbed her face wearily. It was Thursday, Dar’s first day back; and her lover had spent the entire time since seven that morning holed up in the MIS command center, sequestered in a quiet, plain office around the corner from Mark’s, refusing to take a break even though Kerry could plainly see she badly needed one. She’d taken off her arm sling, and by the very messiness of the dark locks framing her face, it was obvious she’d been running her fingers through her hair.

Always a sign of frustration, Kerry knew.

So here she was, about to order in a pile of Thai food in hopes that, at least, would get her boss to kick back for a few minutes and relax.

Kerry reread the order, making sure she’d gotten everything down, and quickly typed it into a fax form, which she sent on its way.

To be fair, Dar had been exceedingly good for three days. She’d kept her promise and remained resting at home, though by halfway through Wednesday, she was already prowling around the island and spending a couple of hours swimming in the heated pool.

Her headaches had disappeared, and she’d started to use her arm, careful not to overstress the shoulder joint. They’d gone out on the boat the night before and had dinner under the stars, and Dar had remained alert the entire time; in fact, she’d ended up driving the boat back after Kerry had fallen asleep on the bow.

The pressure from Washington was getting critical, though.

General Easton had called twice, each time reporting the minor issues the security team had found and the fact that he was under a lot of pressure to back off the project entirely.

Someone had gotten annoyed, it seemed, that a private company 318
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was prying into military affairs. If they didn’t come up with something more significant than fouled-up accounting and some black-market supplies, the entire contract was in jeopardy.

So, despite the fact that Kerry thought the enforced rest was doing her partner a lot of good, she had to admit she’d been glad to have that tall form pacing at her side when she’d entered the building that morning.

When the phone rang, Kerry glared at it for a moment, then hit the answer button. “Operations. Kerry Stuart speaking.”

“Good evening, Ms. Stuart.” Alastair’s voice was cordial.

“Evening, sir,” Kerry replied. “How’s Texas doing?”

“About the same as it usually is, this time of year,” Alastair replied.

“Getting on to Christmas.”

“Yeah.” Kerry perked up a little. “And close to Dar’s birthday.” She leaned forward. “You’re going to send her a card, right?”

A little chuckle came down the line. “Oh, I’m sure she’ll get a few of those. So, how are things there?”

Kerry sighed. “Slow going,” she admitted. “Dar’s been at it all day, and to be honest, what she’s doing looks like so much hex gibberish to me.”

Alastair sighed as well. “Kerrison, Dar’s been hex gibberish to 90

percent of this company for fifteen years, so don’t feel bad.” He paused.

“I’m getting a lot of pressure on this.”

“Mm.”

“It’s not that anyone doubts what we did, but I got a call from the JAG’s office today. They’re considering filing a reckless endangerment lawsuit against us.”

Kerry glared at the phone. “Those pissants.”

The CEO chuckled dryly.

“I mean it,” Kerry replied. “They know something’s wrong there, and they’re just covering their friends’ starched olive very drab butts.”

“Y’know, I think some of your shyness is disappearing,” Alastair commented. “Must be Dar rubbing off on you.”

“I’m not shy,” Kerry reminded him. “I told Dar to kiss my ass, remember?”

“And she certainly did tak—” Alastair stopped abruptly. “Good heavens! I beg your pardon, Ms. Stuart.”

Kerry blinked, also a little startled at the retort. “Uh, that’s okay,”

she told him. “I kind of opened myself up for that, didn’t I?”

Alastair chuckled. “I try to be good,” he said. “Anyway, as I said, I’m under a lot of pressure, here, Kerry.” He turned serious again.

“They want a meeting tomorrow in Washington. I’m going to have Hamilton get hold of that JAG officer and shake him up a little, but I’d really rather not go into the meeting, ah...”

“In nothing but your boxers?” Kerry asked.

“He wears briefs,” Dar’s voice burred. “White cotton ones.” She
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closed the door to Kerry’s office and walked over to the desk, hitching up the leg on her khaki cargo pants before she sat down on the edge.

“Hello, Alastair.”

“Ah. Hello, Dar,” the CEO replied. “Good to hear your voice.”

One of Dar’s dark brows lifted. “Why, you been listening to Eleanor again?”

“The Navy wants to sue us for reckless endangerment,” Kerry told her.

A chuckle. “Oh, really?” Dar leaned on her good arm and addressed the phone. “Who did a bunch of unarmed IS workers endanger, Alastair?”

“I don’t know. I’m having Ham handle it,” her boss said. “Listen, Dar, I know you’ve been on this all day, but what’s the word? Do we have something or not?”

“Alastair, this isn’t an Internet search,” Dar answered, a touch testily. “It’s a fifty-gigabyte drive array that I’m having to reconstruct in hex, sector by sector.”

There was a reverent silence following this pronouncement, as everyone gave the information its due respect.

“And?” Alastair asked briskly.

Dar sighed, and rubbed her eyes. “I’m not done,” she said. “But so far, so good.”

Kerry got up and walked around the desk. She put her arms around Dar and gave her a gentle hug and a kiss on the cheek. “You are so my hero,” she whispered in her lover’s ear. “Can I be you when I grow up?”

Dar blushed, her tanned skin darkening appreciably. “I can’t promise anything,” she muttered.

Alastair chortled. “Will you let me know tomorrow? They want me on the carpet first thing Friday morning in DC.”

“I said, I can’t promise anything,” Dar repeated. Alastair remained prudently silent. Kerry gazed confidently at her. Dar sighed. “I’ll call you tomorrow after lunch.”

“Right. Have a great night, Dar,” the CEO agreed. “Night, Kerrison; nice talking to you.”

Dar released the line and gave Kerry a look. “One of these days, I’m not going to be able to deliver him the River Nile in a coffee cup, and we’re going to be totally screwed.”

Kerry smiled and reached up to straighten the unruly dark locks.

“You look bushed, sweetie.”

“I am,” Dar admitted with a nod. She blinked, then rubbed her eyes again. “Ow.”

Kerry gently took hold of her jaw and tilted her head toward the office light. “Your eyes are all bloodshot,” she informed her lover.

“Hang on.” She went to her desk drawer and retrieved a bottle of eye drops, then came back. “Hold still.”

Dar patiently did as she was asked, watching the ceiling as Kerry 320
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administered the treatment. She blinked as the liquid hit her eyes, stinging momentarily as her lover wiped off the excess with a fingertip.

“Thanks.”

“No problem.” Kerry capped the bottle. “These are designed for us, you know.” She examined the label. “Imagine, an entire product line based around the IS industry.”

Dar peeked at it. “Wonder if it’s any different from garden-variety Visine?” She rested her chin on Kerry’s shoulder.

“Probably not.” A smile. “But I felt so virtuous buying it in Office Depot, along with that gel wrist pad I got you and my new trackball.”

“Mm.” Dar straightened and stretched her back out. “You order dinner?”

“Yep.” Kerry looked up as her intercom buzzed. She reached around Dar’s body and hit the key. “Yes?”

“Ms. Stuart, this is Security at the front door. Did you order something?”

“Ooh. Nice timing,” Dar purred into Kerry’s conveniently close ear.

Kerry managed not to laugh. “Yes, thank you. I’ll be right down.”

She released the button and turned, not moving away from Dar, so that they ended up nose to nose. It was too easy not to just lean forward the additional inch, so Kerry did and they kissed.

It was a very pleasant, sensual jolt that followed, and Kerry found herself enjoying it a lot. It chased away the stress and exhaustion of the long day and made her smile, especially when she felt Dar doing the same. “You know.” She backed off a few inches. “I really like that.”

Dar merely smirked.

“Stay here. I’m going to get dinner,” Kerry said.

“No.” Dar patted her cheek gently. “Let me. I need to stretch my legs. That chair in Mark’s dungeon was made for a dwarf.” She got up off the desk and headed for the door before Kerry could disagree.

Kerry exhaled. “That crumb,” she commented to the empty room.

“She just conned me out of paying for dinner, didn’t she?”

DAR LEANED AGAINST the elevator wall, watching the numbers count down. As it was after hours, the annoying music that usually played in the contraption was turned off, and she could hear the hum and shush of the mechanism as it worked.

“You’re not even going to think about getting stuck in this thing, Roberts,” she told her reflection sternly.

The elevator seemed to hesitate, as though it was considering stopping. Dar glared at the panel and narrowed her eyes. “Don’t you even think about it,” she rumbled in a low growl. “I’ll take you apart and make you into a toaster.”

The chastened device obediently kept moving.

Dar smirked at her reflection, her upper body encased in a crimson
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short-sleeved shirt tucked into her cargo pants. She reached the bottom floor and the doors opened, allowing her to exit into the large empty lobby. She walked across the marble floor and past the fountain toward the security station, where she could see a guard talking to a man in casual clothing.

At her approach, the guard turned. “Oh. Ms. Roberts.” He blinked.

“I thought Ms. Stuart was picking this up.”

“Nope.” Dar gave the deliveryman a brief smile and handed him her credit card. He swiped it efficiently in a handheld device and offered the receipt to her for a signature. She reviewed the bill, added a tip, and signed it. “Thanks.”