Tropical Convergence (28 page)

"Counting themselves to save me the trouble."

Another soft clank sounded clearly from the living room, accompanied by a clatter. "Dar."

Her partner selected the edge of the covers and neatly pulled them over Kerry's ears, patting the tops of them solicitously. "Better?"

Kerry grasped the covers and pulled them down. "No, because it doesn't keep me from wondering what the heck is going on in our living room."

Dar pulled the covers back up. "Kerrison, use logic, wouldja?"

Kerry frowned.

"We left food on the table, and a Labrador in the living room. What do you think is happening?" Dar said. "It's a puppy buffet."

"Ew." Kerry' s nose wrinkled. "Dar, she'll get sick." With a groan, she rolled away from the center of the bed and started to climb out, only to be captured and pulled back into a tangle of arms and legs. "Dar!"

"Shh." Dar wrapped her up in the covers and snuggled back down. "Relax. She'll be fine. It's just soup."

Kerry heard distinct sounds of slurping. "She's going to make a mess."

"She's got a tongue, she'll clean it up."

A laugh started to work its way through Kerry's chest. "Honey...c'mon." She tried to untangle herself. "That's fine for my soup, but yours had clams in it. She'll be chewing them for days."

Dar refused to let go. "Chino! What are you doing, you bad girl!" She turned her head and lifted her voice, projecting it into the next room. "Stop that!"

She was rewarded by the clatter of toenails, and shortly thereafter a Labrador jaw was resting on the edge of the waterbed, innocent brown eyes gazing at her adoringly. "Chino. What were you doing?"

Their dog's ears cocked, and she tilted her head to one side in question.

"Very nice." Kerry sprawled over Dar's body and removed a noodle from their pet's black nose. "But you are so busted."

"Gruff." Chino licked her fingers happily, sneezing after a moment and ejecting a piece of clam onto the blankets under Dar's nose.

Dar observed the particle briefly, and then sighed. "Guess we better lock up the chow, huh?"

Kerry started to climb over her. "Stay, I'll go."

"Nu uh." Dar rolled out of bed, taking Kerry with her as she rolled a little too far and lost her balance, ending with them both on the floor. "Gah!"

"Oh, Jesus." Helplessly giggling, Kerry could only lay there, stark naked, as Chino licked her face with enthusiasm. "Chino, stop." She saw Dar grab hold of the waterbed frame and pull herself upright. "Bah...bah, honey, stop!"

Dar sat down on the carpet and took hold of the dog's tail, hauling her backwards. "Chino! Stop that!"

"Groowf!" The Labrador turned her attention to her taller owner.

"Your mommy only likes my tongue licking her," Dar instructed the dog solemnly, shaking one long finger at her. "So you keep that big pink thing inside the teeth, hear me? Or else."

Kerry snorted and rolled over, hiding her face in the curve of her arm.

Dar raked her fingers through her hair, surveying the jumble of bare limbs spread out before her. "This is turning into the kind of story other people tell about you when you're drunk," she mourned. "And I haven't even had a sip of anything."

"Hehehehe."

"Laugh it up, Yankee."

Kerry pushed herself up from the floor and got to her feet, brushing bits of carpet lint off her bare skin. "C'mon." She offered Dar a hand up. "At this rate, it'll take both of us an hour to get the soup in the refrigerator and then maybe...maybe...we can get some sleep."

"Or at least go to bed." Dar released the dog and grabbed Kerry's hand. "Lead on, McGruff."

"Maybe I should get you a beer."

"How about a milkshake?"

"Settle for some chocolate syrup?"

"Hmm."

KERRY LEANED ON the kitchen counter, watching the palm tree fronds outside wilt in the stifling heat as she waited for the water in a nearby pot to boil. The air conditioning puffed gently against her still slightly sore shoulder blades through a layer of soft cotton, and she moved a little to one side to avoid the pressure. She had little ambition otherwise to do much else.

It was nearly noon. They'd just woken up a half hour earlier and, having gotten through coffee and a handful of Advil for Dar's obligingly timely cramps, they had settled in to enjoy a peaceful, lazy Saturday. It felt good to be hanging out here in their own space without work or trade shows to intrude on it.

Kerry turned and surveyed the kitchen, taking in the touches she'd added over time to soften its spartan functionality. A set of imported cooking pots hanging over the stove here, a well oiled, interlaced wood chopping block there...she took pride in her ability to produce edible meals for them, and enjoyed having plenty of tools to do it with.

Also, the stainless steel refrigerator doors were now dotted with colorful magnets, brought back by both of them from various airports they'd either passed through or been stuck in, and the tiled backsplash displayed plates likewise acquired from all over. Kerry especially liked the one nearest the stove, a tacky hunting scene that featured a near perfect replica of their often naughty but much beloved pet, Chino. She ran a finger over it with a smile, then turned to dump a package of pasta into the now boiling water.

"Hey, Ker?" Dar's voice drifted in from the living room.

"In the kitchen," Kerry responded.

"Did I leave that damn folder in there?"

Kerry pushed away from the counter and turned in a circle, studying the available surfaces. "No," she called back. "Thought you stuck it in your briefcase." She wandered out of the kitchen and headed for the corner where they'd both thrown their laptop cases the previous night. "I'll get it."

Caught in the act of getting up from the couch, Dar collapsed back into it and curled up again. "Thanks."

With a tug, Kerry retrieved the somewhat battered folder and crossed the living room, setting it down on the coffee table. She took a seat next to her partner's feet, reaching over to tweak a toe under its pristine white cotton sock covering. "How's the belly?"

Dar narrowed her eyes and growled.

"Hmm...well, if it's any consolation to you, I'm getting that kinda achy feeling myself," Kerry admitted. "Which doesn't really surprise me, because we're usually right on time together."

Dar growled again, but flexed her toes against Kerry's thigh. "Least we're both miserable at once," she conceded. "You think that's what made the past few days even more stressful than they were anyway?"

Hm. Kerry considered the question. She wasn't often bothered by PMS either, though she did have a tendency to be a bit more emotional a few days before. Add that to the stress of dealing with Dar's first girlfriend and Michelle Graver challenging them at every step? "Yeeeah, maybe."

The socked feet flexed against her thigh again, and Kerry gave them a pat before she leaned forward and got to her feet. "Let me go get our lunch."

Dar poked her with a toe as she eased past, and smiled at the pink tongue stuck out in her direction. Then she returned her attention to Quest's requirements, wincing slightly as a cramp twisted her guts. With a soft grunt, she tossed aside the initial document which she'd already gone over, and drew out the set of technical specifications, easing down to put her head on the couch arm as she started to leaf through the pages.

She spotted several big problems straight off. The hulks Quest had gotten his hands on were old as the hills--two of them were steamships, for god's sake, and the rest were retired passenger liners he'd dug out of mothballs somewhere.

That meant, she realized, they had zero infrastructure. Most had been built before computers, and the idiot wanted to outfit them with the latest available technology. "Jesus." Dar clucked under her breath and shook her head. "Jackass wants to put laser video in the Merrimac."

"Did you say something, sweetie?" Kerry called from the kitchen.

"Nah," Dar replied, lifting her head a little as she sniffed spicy pasta sauce in the air. "Just going over this stuff." She went back to reading. Quest wanted a computerized hotel system, a point of sale, connection to the damn Internet, and--Dar had to look twice, voice over IP telephony. "Jesus," she repeated.

"No, just me and some noodles." Kerry appeared at her side, bearing two steaming bowls. She set them down on the coffee table and resumed her perch at Dar's feet. "Parmesan?"

"Uh huh." Dar watched as a small snowstorm of freshly ground cheese settled on the surface of her pasta. "Are those little meatballs in there?"

"Yup." Kerry dusted her own bowl with the cheese. "Last time I made sauce, I froze some." She set the grater down and handed Dar a fork. "So what are you cussing about this time?"

Dar stabbed a forkful of pasta and lifted it toward her mouth, pausing as the utensil came into her close line of focus. She pulled it back a little and peered at the sauce covered bits, then she selected the last one on the fork's tines and pulled it off, holding it up to examine it. "Kerrison?"

"Mm?" Kerry grunted around a mouthful.

"Why am I eating a disk drive?"

Kerry swallowed and wiped her mouth with her napkin. "Ah." She reached over and pushed the bit of pasta toward Dar's mouth. "My guys gave me a thank you basket for helping out at the con. It was full of nerd things, including a bag of nerd pasta shapes. I figured you were the perfect person to share it with."

"Ah." Dar ate the disk drive, and studied the forkful of pc's left to consume. "Feels sorta cannibalistic, but all right." She chewed the mouthful and went back to the report. One finger pointed at a paragraph, and she pushed it toward Kerry as she swallowed.

Kerry edged over on the couch and started reading. Her brow creased. "Dar, am I reading this right--he only wants one set of cables run?"

"Uh huh."

"Does he realize what that's going to cost in equipment?"

"He wants it on a shoestring."

Kerry slowly ate a mouthful of her lunch. She swallowed before she answered. "Dar, you couldn't do that on Paul Bunyan's shoestring."

"Telegenics says they can." Dar replied. "They told Quest fitting it into his budget was a no brainer."

A snort answered the statement. "Obviously whoever told him that didn't bother to use a brain. Dar, you know damn well doing this right's going to cost."

Yes, she knew that. Dar worked her way through her lunch bowl, eyeing the familiar shapes all the while. "Well, let's wait till we see the real deal," she said. "Maybe it's not as bad as the description seems to show."

Kerry tapped the edge of her fork against her lip. "All right. Sounds like it's all we can do," she conceded. "Maybe when we lay the plans out, he'll realize what it is he's asking for. After all, it's his job to try and get everything he can for as little as possible."

"Eh." Dar flipped to the next page. "His timeline's impossible, too." She frowned. "How long did he say it would take those ships to be hauled here?"

"Two weeks," Kerry recalled. "Can they do it by then? Wonder why he had to pull out of New Zealand? Damn, I was looking forward to going there."

Dar set her bowl down. "You know, that's a damn good question." She pulled her laptop over and rolled onto her back, putting the machine down on her stomach and typing on the keyboard. "Did he mention where in New Zealand the ships were located?"

"Auckland." Kerry leaned over and watched the screen with interest. "You think he was lying?"

Dar keyed in a request, and waited, scanning the responses as they flicked across the monitor. "I think outfitting six ships means big bucks for somebody. Now why..." She drummed her fingers on the keys. "Why would 'somebody' throw away those kind of big bucks?"

Kerry rested her elbow on Dar's knee and looked at the list of shipyards now displayed. There were only six, but though she racked her memory, she couldn't recall Quest mentioning any of the names. What had he said? Just that the ships were somewhere in Auckland, being worked on.

Dar called up one of their info-parsing agents and typed the names of the companies into them. "Now." She paused as she got to the intelligent language question field. "How would you tell if a shipyard suddenly lost business?"

"Not stock." Kerry mused, as Dar shook her head. "Layoffs?"

"Too soon."

"Newspaper stories?"

Dar nodded. "Let's see what that gets us." She typed rapidly into the field and hit enter, and then watched the small running dog in the corner dash merrily away. "Okay." She half turned and set the laptop back down on the table. "So maybe that'll answer your question from last night." She put her head back down on the couch arm and picked up the report again.

Kerry extended a fork full of pasta toward her partner. "Maybe," she agreed, smiling as Dar closed her teeth over the offering and removed it. "I'm going to throw the stuff in our overnight bags into the washing machine. Got anything else you need to go in?"

"Thought it was my turn to do that this week." Dar gazed at her. "You did it last week."

"Mm...yes, it was your turn." Kerry put a fingertip on her partner's chin and lifted it slightly. "But it seems some little nerdy gremlin got all my office clothes dry cleaned for me when I wasn't looking. I don't suppose you have any idea how that happened, huh?"

Dar smiled charmingly at her.

"And somehow my car got mysteriously washed and waxed while we were gone. Any ideas?"

The charming smile grew wider.

"Uh huh. I thought so." Kerry leaned over and gave her a kiss. "So I'm going to go grab your dirty clothes from the closet and get those suds going." She pushed off Dar's hip and stood, collecting the dishes from the table before she sauntered off toward the kitchen.

Dar let her hand fall on the forgotten papers, taking a moment to enjoy the simple feeling of warmth inside her left by the look of indulgent affection in Kerry's eyes. It even eased the cramps some, or at least she convinced herself it did as she stretched out, and then curled her body up again into the dark leather.

She took a moment to look around the living room, which for so long had simply been 'the condo' to her. Plain white walls and mostly monochromatic furniture had graced it since she'd moved in, providing her with a pleasant, if unremarkable place to throw her car keys at the day's end, and lay her head down for those long tropical nights.