Tropical Convergence (16 page)

Quest started to stand as Kerry closed in on them, but she gave him a polite smile as she dropped into the chair next to Dar's and leaned on its arm. "Hi."

"Hi." Dar rolled her head to one side and indicated her somewhat unwelcome visitor. "Kerry, this is Peter Quest, Mr. Quest, this is Kerrison Stuart, my partner."

Kerry extended a hand politely, and gripped his, then released him. "Mr. Quest."

"Nice to meet you," he replied. "Well, Ms. Roberts, as I said, no sense in wasting your time. I'll leave you to get on with your day."

He turned and walked out, leaving Dar and Kerry behind as he disappeared.

Kerry remained silent for a moment, and then she turned to Dar. "So, what was that all about?" she asked. "Someone propositioning you, since you're hanging out in such cutely provocative clothing?"

"Hardly." Dar pushed herself upright. "Let's go upstairs and I'll take your clothes off while I fill you in." She stood and waited for Kerry to join her. "You look like a..."

"Drowned rat?" Kerry sighed, getting up and following her partner. "I feel like a drowned rat that's been hit on the head with a brick." She rubbed her neck. "I'm not having a good day."

Dar slipped her arm around Kerry's back, ignoring the dampness. "Problems at the show?" she asked. "You should have called me."

Kerry sighed and fell silent, taking solace in the comfort of Dar's close presence. "Not the show," she admitted after they'd entered the elevator. "I got pegged by both our new little friends and I think I lost it with them. They pissed me off."

"Uh oh." Dar chuckled softly. "Did you draw blood?"

"It's not funny, Dar," Kerry muttered. "I told them both off."

Dar slid her keycard into the door and opened it, then held it open as Kerry entered. She followed her inside and closed the door, blinking as she realized housekeeping had been in and cleaned the room while she'd been gone. Somehow, they'd managed to make the bed and place the laptop in its exact position where she'd left it. "Glad I locked the screen."

Kerry took off her jacket and laid it across the back of a chair. She didn't look up when Dar came over to her, but as a pair of a warm, strong hands touched her neck and began to massage it she turned her head to the side and brushed the nearer one with her lips. "So what was that guy all about?"

"Had an offer I refused," Dar said.

"Mm. Been that kinda day."

"I may call him back, but I wanted to talk to you first." Dar replied, keeping up her rhythmic kneading. "You had lunch?"

Kerry shook her head. The ache in her head was fading, and she felt the tension draining out of her at Dar's skilled touch. She unbuttoned her skirt and let it slip down, kicking it off to one side and almost tripping as Dar started mixing a few playful nips along with her massage. "So you don't mind if I blew out any possibility of us being civil to our booth neighbors?"

"Nope." Dar blew in her ear. "You saved me the trouble." She slid her arms around Kerry. "Besides, it might work to our advantage if we end up competing head-to-head with them for a new services contract."

Kerry stopped in mid motion and looked over her shoulder. "What?"

"How do you feel about New Zealand?"

Kerry's brows knit. "New Zealand?" she asked. Wh..."

Dar chuckled. "Let's get some lunch, and I'll explain the whole damn thing," she said. "And you can tell me what happened with Heckle and Jeckle."

"Mmph." Kerry half turned in Dar's arms and snuggled up to her, plucking at one of the catches on her overalls. "That's the best deal I've heard all day." Her eyes fell on the table. "Oh." She blinked. "Did that come for me?"

"Uh huh." Dar waited expectantly. "Gonna open it?"

Finally, a smile appeared on Kerry's face, along with a devilish twinkle in her eyes. "Nope."

"No?"

"We'll never get to have lunch." Kerry gave her a quick kiss, and slipped out of Dar's grasp, heading for her suitcase to get a change of clothes.

Dar looked at her, then turned and looked at the mysterious box.

Both eyebrows crawled up into her hairline and a delighted grin appeared. "Ah hah." She folded her arms. "Couldn't we call room service instead?"

Kerry merely chuckled, and shook her index finger at her partner.

IF ANYTHING, THE hall was even more crowded when they reentered it. However, the rain had slowed at least, so they were only lightly misted with dampness as they passed from the warm humidity into the chill of the hall.

Kerry ran her eyes over the throng and spotted Mark making his way back from the snack bar "Mark!"

The MIS manager recognized the hail and paused in mid stride, turning and giving them a wave as he saw them approaching. "Hey."

"Everything okay?" Dar asked. She'd reluctantly traded her comfortable overalls for a well-fitted business suit, and she was aware that her distinctive appearance was already attracting attention from several people in the nearby stream of attendees. "Looks like a good crowd."

"Smooth so far, jefe." Mark nodded. "The marketing goons were looking for you a few minutes ago...some kinda presentation or something."

Dar frowned and looked at Kerry. "Was I supposed to do one? Someone forget to tell me?"

Kerry was equally surprised. "Not that I know of," she replied. "I didn't see your name on the schedule, Dar. I would have mentioned it."

"I figured you would." Dar straightened, and peered over the crowd, finding Eleanor standing near the entrance to the hall. "Let me go find out what the hell's going on." She made her way forward, easing through the packed lobby with surprising ease.

"You know something? I'm getting really tired of having perfectly good meals ruined by bullpoop." Kerry shook her head and started after Dar, finding it quite a bit tougher to get through the crush than her taller partner.

She reached Dar's side in time to see her take up a belligerent stance, however, and deftly avoided Dar's elbow as the taller woman planted her hands on her hips. "What's up?"

Eleanor looked more amused than worried. "Oh, her nibs doesn't want to go show off, that's all."

"That is not the point," Dar growled. "Where do you get off volunteering me for a dog and pony show?" She kept her voice low, but the anger behind it was real.

"C'mon, Dar. I thought you'd love it...you and a couple other geeks up there talking over everyone's head. What more could you ask for?"

Eleanor protested.

Dar glanced around, spotting a small vending room off to one side. She took hold of Eleanor's arm and turned, pulling the smaller woman with her as she started for the alcove. Biting off a protest, Eleanor did her best to keep up, as Kerry slid up on the opposite side of her and helped clear the way with brief smiles and somewhat charming 'excuse me's.'

"Hey. If you two are gonna put me in cement boots, lemme call home first, okay?" Eleanor said, in an exasperated tone as they reached the room and entered it. "C'mon now. This is business, Dar!"

"Yeah." Dar whirled and let her temper ignite. "It's business."

Eleanor took a step back out of pure instinct. "Now, Dar." She held up both hands. "Take it easy. I'll go tell them you're not interested. I don't need a screaming match with you in here."

Dar held her eyes with fierce intensity. "I wasn't going to scream."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Kerry stepped between them, putting a hand on Dar's back. "Hang on, guys." She kept her voice gentle. "Let's do a zen break here."

Dar swiveled her head around. "Zen break?"

Kerry's objective was to break Dar's single-minded focus, and she congratulated herself silently on doing it in one try. It wasn't easy, and despite their relationship she always held her breath when she did it. "Dar, you're right."

"Damn friggen straight I am." Dar snorted. Eleanor sighed audibly.

"But that aside, would it really tank you to do it?" Kerry asked. "You and some nerds...talking electronic gears and sprockets...sounds like more fun than listening to Jose's repetitive bs all afternoon."

Dar scowled at her. "Kerrison."

Mild green eyes watched her. "Would it?" Kerry asked, relying on the simple logic of her argument. "I mean, yeah, I know how you feel, Dar. I would feel the same way if someone volunteered me for something without me knowing." She turned to Eleanor. "You didn't do that, did you?"

"Crossed my mind," Eleanor admitted.

Kerry's eyebrows hiked up. "Eleanor, that really is inappropriate," she said. "We don't work for you."

"Yeah, yeah." The other woman held up a hand. "Look, I'm sorry," she said. "I honestly didn't think you'd give a damn, Dar. You've got to be here anyway, I figured you'd have some fun."

"I make my own fun," Dar growled. However, she straightened a little and moved closer to Kerry, relaxing her posture. "Damn it, Eleanor, don't do this shit to me." She poked the other woman in the shoulder, and then brushed past her. "Or I'll make sure your entire department works on scratch pads with VGA screens."

Out of Eleanor's line of sight, Kerry gave her partner a pat on the butt, and then watched as she stalked across the lobby and ducked inside the hall. Her head then turned to regard Eleanor. She put her hands on her hips. "What was that?"

Eleanor shrugged. "You know, I didn't even think about it," she admitted. "These days, we forget sometimes what Dar used to be like. I just got reminded. I'll remember next time."

Kerry was at a loss for words briefly. "Oh, I don't know, Eleanor...I mean..."

"Don't you dare say it," Eleanor cut her off. "Don't you dare say she hasn't changed, Kerry. We both know differently. You remember what it was like when you first started. You remember walking into meetings representing ops and having people cheer."

Kerry did remember that. "Mm." She nodded briefly. "Damn, I hated the place," she admitted. "I wanted to just throw up most afternoons."

Eleanor had the grace to look uncomfortable. "Anyway, it's been a huge difference, and even though some things probably got done faster the old way, I wouldn't trade for it. I used to dread staff meetings." She peered back into the lobby, which had started to empty. "She isn't intimidating the entire industry anymore, and yeah, we probably lost out because of it, but I don't care."

Kerry's brow creased. "You don't really think that, do you?" she queried. "That we lost sales because Dar isn't screaming at everyone all the time?"

"Well." Eleanor turned and leaned one shoulder against the wall. "It's tempting, isn't it? Easier to think it's because of that than because Jose and I aren't doing our jobs." A sardonic look crossed her face. "Nah, I don't really think that. The market's just turned toward smaller companies right now. Everyone thinks it's better economics."

"But it really isn't." Kerry relaxed. "In the long run."

"Mm." Her companion gave a half shake of her head. "Doesn't help my quarterly earnings statement though." She gave Kerry a wry look. "Want to go hear the old grump blow the new kids on the block away? They have no idea I volunteered her."

An irrepressible grin appeared on Kerry's face. "You've got a mean streak yourself, El." She gestured toward the hall. "Sure, let's go."

DAR PAUSED AT the edge of the open space, reviewing the small group of men clustered on a single step mini-stage. Two she knew slightly, senior technical managers in the industry she'd met earlier that year at a networking function, and three others whose names she'd heard around. All men, all in their thirties, all with that air of not quite management about them that technical people did tend to have; pleated chinos with sports jackets, or workmanlike suits.

Dar halted briefly to shed her annoyance at Eleanor, and then she eased her way through the last line of watchers and took the one step up onto the platform. "Afternoon, gentlemen."

The five men and the moderator turned at the sound of her voice. The two men who knew who she was immediately took on what Dar had always thought of as the 'smelling the dirty diaper attitude', and she realized it had been quite a while since she'd seen it.

It made her smile.

The moderator stepped forward and extended a hand. "Ah, Ms. Roberts. Glad you could join us."

Dar gripped his fingers in hers then released them. "Anytime," she drawled, turning her eyes on the two men nearest her. "Hello, John. How's that experiment with consumer grade switches going?"

The man she addressed winced. "We...ah...well, we went a different route with that one, Dar. Thanks for asking!" He turned to his companion. "Ted, you know Dar Roberts, don't you?"

"Uh...sure." Ted extended his hand gingerly. "We bumped into each other at the IEEE conference a couple months back...great presentation you did there."

"Thanks," Dar replied graciously, giving the other three a brief nod as the moderator made introductions. "So what's the deal with this? We talking about IP v6, or something really earth shattering like the latest security holes in SNMP?"

"Eh...hah." The moderator finished putting some stools in place for his guests. "Well, securing our networks was the topic...ah yes."

"Mm." Dar claimed the last stool on one side and settled onto it, letting her eyes run idly over the crowd as the rest of the speakers got into place. She spotted Shari's distinctive features near the back but let her eyes pass right over her, settling instead on the blond woman now perched on a nearby booth.

Kerry gave her a thumbs up. Dar rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, but directed a wink her partner's way nonetheless.

"Okay, folks." The moderator clapped his hands. "Let's get this debate going."

"Debate?" Dar chuckled. "Eleanor screwed up again. She picked the wrong one of us."

John leaned closer. "Sorry, did you say something, Dar?"

"No," Dar replied.

"The question we're posing here..." The moderator glared surreptitiously at them. "Are our networks safe?" he asked. "With all the stuff we've been hearing in the news lately...Internet sites hacked, credit cards stolen, drive by hacking...are you all worried? Are your networks safe?"