Tropical Convergence (36 page)

"Oh, Kerry. Good. It's Eleanor. Listen, we have a problem."

Kerry glanced over her shoulder. "Hang on." She put the phone on hold. "Be right back." She signaled Dar, and eased past the camera crew to duck out the door and move far enough down the hall to find a quiet spot. "Okay, go ahead. Sorry. I was in the presentation center."

"Okay." Christine finished her arranging, and stepped back. "We're ready. Right?"

"Ready," Nelson agreed. He took a seat on the stool next to Dar's, tugging his jacket straight and setting his notes down on his knee out of the camera shot. "You ready, Ms. Roberts?"

"Sure." Dar let her hands rest on her thigh, trying to relax as much as she could under the circumstances.

She wished Kerry would come back.

"Right, let's go," Christine said, briskly. "Nelson, you're on."

The light on the camera lit, and Dar took a breath, letting it out slowly as she felt the tension build in her guts.

Argos cleared his throat. "I'm here today with Dar Roberts, Chief Information Officer for ILS, a Fortune 100 company that provides technology services. Ms. Roberts, thank you for taking some time out to meet with us."

"Anytime," Dar responded amiably.

"One of the big stories at the recent technology conference in Orlando was the budding rivalry between your company and a small startup company..."

"Stop." Dar lifted her hand.

Argos paused, a little startled. "Excuse me?"

"Stop. That's not true," Dar said. "That wasn't a big story there. No one, in fact, even asked me anything about it."

Argos blinked.

"The big stories at the conference were a debate on security and the release of news about some brand new technology involving heuristic advances in networking hardware," Dar continued. "I don't mind talking about whatever you have a mind to talk about, but don't make things up."

Christine's jaw dropped.

Argos was caught very off guard. "I'm sorry, Ms. Roberts," he said. "I was given some information about what happened at that convention, maybe there was a misunderstanding."

"There wasn't any misunderstanding," Dar smiled briefly. "You were pitched a load of BS to get my competitors some good publicity. You should have done your homework."

Argos blinked again. Then he looked off set over at Christine in appeal.

"So." Dar shifted a little. "Want to talk about the conference, or do you want to go through your scripted bit of drama? Your choice."

Argos took a moment to gather his wits. "All right, fair enough." He closed his notepad. "Let's talk about competition, then. From your attitude, I get the impression you don't really think you have any."

Dar nodded. "That's a better question," she said. "Of course we do. We have large competitors like ourselves, and smaller ones like your friends at Telegenics. They're all a concern. No one likes to lose business, least of all me."

"So, does Telegenics have your number? They've taken twenty percent of your renewals this quarter. How much does that count?" Argos went hardball, his expression serious.

"Everyone has our number," his subject answered. "We've been doing this for decades. There isn't a company out there that hasn't studied our methods and found a way to pitch against us. We're not for everyone."

"Something is making your customers turn against you," Argos said. "The contention is that you come with too much overhead. Like this place." He indicated the presentation room. "In this economy, people don't want expensive frills."

Dar cocked her head and glanced around. "I like to think of the difference being between full service and self service," she remarked. "Yes, you can get what we do done with barebones and slim margins."

"And?"

"That doesn't pay for performance and innovation," Dar responded. "I also heard someone say because we're so big, we can't respond as quickly as a smaller company. That's nonsense."

"Really?"

"Think about it," Dar said. "Let's say you're a client, and you suddenly become very successful. You need to open four more branch offices, immediately, to take advantage of your growth cycle."

"Okay," Argo said, in a doubtful tone.

"So who do you think is going to be able to respond faster, giving you connectivity and services? A small company that has to go out and provide them from scratch, or a big company, like us, that can simply make a phone call because we already have built-out infrastructure and services in reserve?"

"But that's an expensive insurance policy."

Dar's eyes twinkled, just a little. "You get what you pay for," she said. "So in answer to your original question--yes. Customers leaving us concerns me. It's something we studied very closely as it was happening, and it was debated around here pretty strongly. But the bottom line is, I wasn't willing to compromise our integrity and reputation in order to retain a handful of services accounts."

"So you're saying their model does work."

"I'm saying in the long run, ours works better. Eventually customers understand their business is worth investing in," Dar countered. "We invest in our service, and in being able to help our clients succeed."

The outer door opened, and Kerry slipped back in, pausing to stand against the back wall. She gave Dar a thumbs up at her last statement.

"Fair enough, Ms. Roberts." Argos let her get the last word in on the subject. "I'm sure we'll all be watching to see what happens next. Perhaps I can revisit this question with you in a few months."

"Anytime," Dar agreed. She wasn't entirely happy with the interview, but wasn't entirely unhappy with it either. She was content to let it end on a somewhat positive note.

"Cut." Catherine waved her hand. "Well." She scratched her head. "I'm not sure where we went with this."

"You're a tough interview." Nelson relaxed back on his stool. "But you're right on one thing, I should have done my homework better." He removed his mic and coiled it up. "I won't make that mistake with you again."

Kerry made her way around all the equipment and ended up at Dar's side. "Sorry I missed it." She rested her hand on Dar's back. "Are you all heading for the airport or staying overnight? I heard there was a big accident on the highway heading to MIA so I thought I'd warn you either way."

"We lucked out," Argos said. "We're staying overnight in South Beach." He got up and handed his gear to a waiting technician. "We weren't sure how long this would take."

"Well, I didn't get so lucky." Dar stood up. "I have a plane to catch, as a matter of fact. So if you folks are done with me, I need to get ready to leave."

"I think we're done, yes." Christine said, with a wry look. "We have some other background things to track down, but I think you covered what we asked." She glanced at Kerry. "Are you up for a go, Ms. Stuart?"

Kerry smiled briefly. "Wish I could, but I have a meeting I can't get out of in about five minutes." She gently nudged Dar toward the door. "My admin will be in here shortly. If you need anything at all, please don't hesitate to ask her."

"Okay, thanks." Christine gave them a brief wave. "We appreciate it."

Dar was glad to hear the door close behind them. "Meeting?" She eyed her partner.

"Yes. I'm meeting you so I can take you to the airport and get you some dinner before you take off." Kerry tucked her hand inside Dar's elbow. "You tell me what I missed, and I'll tell you about the latest disaster."

"Ah."

KERRY SLUNG HER sweat-dampened towel around her neck, and inched her way out of the slim boxing gloves encasing her hands. She was still breathing a little hard from the end of her sparring lesson, and she shook her head with a tiny jerk to clear a few droplets of perspiration out of her eyes.

"Nice moves, Ker." Her sparring partner Rod gave her a light clout on the shoulder as he moved past. "Glad you're back."

'Thanks." Kerry grinned at him. "That was fun."

"Eh." The woman at the locker next to hers gave her a wry look, examining a large purple bruise across the back of one hand. "Mostly fun. How are you, Kerry? We missed you and the Taz last week."

The Taz. Kerry wrinkled her nose at the nickname her partner had picked up from their kickboxing classmates. "We were in Orlando," she explained. "Now, Dar's in New York. She was sorry she was going to miss tonight too. She likes it."

"Well, we like it when you're here to occupy her." The woman grinned at Kerry. "Vacation?"

"Nah. A convention." Kerry stripped off her other glove and tossed it into her gear locker. Her head protector followed it, and the leather belt that protected her mid-section. "Phew...it's hot in here today." She wiped her face off with a corner of her towel, and then grabbed her clothing bag. "I'm going to go shower off. I feel grungier than an old dishrag."

"Hey." Rod poked his head around the door of her locker. "We're doing beer and wings across the street. You up for it?"

Kerry only hesitated an instant before she nodded. "Sure. Cold beer sounds really good right now," she agreed. "See you over there? You too, Sal?"

"Right on," the woman responded readily. "Tom's got his new bike, and he's dying to show it off. But I'm with Kerry--shower first."

"So you can sit in the bar and sweat?" Rod laughed. "You girls are so...so..."

"Girly?" Kerry supplied, with a grin. "If that means we feel good and don't stink, thanks!" She flicked him with her towel and headed for the women's shower room with Sally at her heels. This class was full of new people, and she and Dar had made friends with quite a few of them.

Kerry liked them. They were a mixture of professionals and working class, mostly laid back, with a diverse range of interests including diving and bikes, two of her own current fascinations. The women were into fitness, but not aerobics, and the guys were more relaxed and laid back than the martial artists that tended to populate the more traditional classes.

Cool group. They accepted her and Dar with amiable good nature even after their relationship had become evident and most of them held a healthy respect for Dar's fighting skills. "Ugh." Kerry stripped out of her baggy pants and T-shirt, then stepped under the shower with a feeling of relief.

The water was delightfully lukewarm, and she let it course over her for a minute before she squeezed out a handful of soap from the wall dispenser and scrubbed her skin with it. "So what did we miss last week?" she asked Sally, who had joined her in the next shower cubicle. The spaces were separated by half walls, to give a modicum of privacy.

"John just went over high kicks again," Sally responded. "He was in a bad mood. I think he lost big in that tourney he entered last weekend. You know how he gets."

"Ah." Kerry lathered her hair quickly and rinsed it, feeling one hundred percent better already. Her muscles were a little sore, and she was a little tired from the session, but she'd completed the rounds without taking any hard blows, and was pretty satisfied with herself all in all. "Yeah, he's a little touchy about that, I know. Especially when his buddies show up here to watch the class."

"Uh huh," Sally said. "Rod thinks he picks the wimpiest student he has to spar with when they're here. You notice he
never
picks Taz."

Kerry chuckled wryly. "Well, Dar's not exactly a novice, and he knows it," she explained, rinsing off one last time and grabbing her towel. "She teaches a class at our other gym near work. We're just on break from that right now, and she wanted to learn something new."

"Yeah, me too," Sally admitted frankly, as she joined Kerry in dressing. "I got really tired of spinning. You ever try that?"

"Nuh huh." Kerry pulled on her shorts and buttoned them, then donned a clean T-shirt from her bag. "The idea of riding and riding and riding and getting nowhere just isn't my style." She ran her brush through her hair, settling her newly cut locks into place. "I mean...we run every morning. We could get a treadmill and do it in the condo, in the nice air conditioning, but we don't."

Sally followed her out of the locker room and across the somewhat worn lobby of the boxing club where they had their class. "I kinda see what you mean, but sometimes it's a lot safer to run on the treadmill in here, than on the streets, y'know?"

That was true, Kerry admitted, as they left the club and headed across the street to the small pub already leaking faint sounds of music into the humid air. It wasn't something she and Dar had to worry about, and sometimes she did tend to forget not everyone lived on a private island where that kind of crime just didn't exist.

Rod and three others from the class joined them as they approached, already having claimed a table outside under the ficus tree. The doors to the pub were wide open, as were the windows. The place hadn't had air conditioning any time Kerry had ever been by there.

Outside was cooler, even in the dead of summer. She sat down in one of the worn, wooden chairs and leaned back as the group settled in under the string of tacky colored globe lights hanging from the tree. The place smelled of the distinctive scent of vegetation, of fried food and spices. Kerry considered it just about the most perfect neighborhood dive she'd ever seen. There was even a very worn dartboard nailed to the ficus, and for a quarter you could get three cracked darts to throw at it.

"Hey, honey!" Their regular waitress scooted over on spotting them, stopping in front of Kerry. "Usual?"

Kerry nodded, and stretched her legs out as the rest of the group made their orders. It had just turned dark, and there was just enough breeze to keep the night from being uncomfortable. The waitress had left a moment before the rumbling pop of a motorcycle engine interrupted the night, its roar growing louder as it came closer. "Ah...guess that's Tom."

"You guessed it," Rod agreed, hitching his knee up and slinging one long leg over the chair arm. He was tall and lanky, dark haired and relatively good-looking in an understated kind of way. "Big ol Harley, and damn he wants everyone to know about it."

Kerry snorted and shook her head.

The rider and bike arrived then, the noise precluding any further conversation until Tom turned the engine off and parked the big cycle, displaying it to various noises of appreciation. "Nice, huh?"