Red Sky At Morning - DK4 (21 page)

“Pretty much. I found a bottle of iced tea and a balcony. I’ve been standing out here for about ten minutes just watching it rain,” Dar answered. “I think I’ve got your headache’s twin sister. Damn, I haven’t lost it like that in years, Ker.”

“Did you yell at her?” Kerry returned the waved greeting from Duks.

“No.” A sigh sounded. “She backed me into corner and started bawling me out. One poke too many, I guess. I took her down and nearly ripped her head off.”

Kerry stared at the phone in shocked silence. Apparently Dar realized it, because her next words were rushed, almost stammered.

“It just happened so fast... I don’t know what she thought she was 110
Melissa Good
trying to do, but I—”

“Wait a minute,” Kerry interrupted. “Just hold it there.”

Dar fell silent.

“She poked you?” Kerry’s voice rose. “She laid a finger on you?

Who in the hell does she think she is? That’s bullshit, Dar!”

“Um...”

“Jesus! You should call that general buddy of yours and get her butt transferred to the bottom of Hoover Dam!” Kerry went on. “Son of a bitch!”

“Ker, take it easy.” Dar’s voice had calmed. “I took care of it. I pretty much think she won’t try that again.”

“Damn straight she won’t,” Kerry snorted. “Boy, wait ’til I see her.”

Dar laughed softly. “Oh, sweetheart, you just made my day,” she said. “Thank you.”

“I haven’t done anything yet,” Kerry muttered in protest.

“Dipwad.”

“Why don’t you get some warm milk and go lay down on the couch in my office for a little while?” Dar was still chuckling. “I’m figuring on taking off from here in couple of hours. There isn’t much I can do without the T1; and frankly, I think I’m going to find more when I get everything sucked down and into the analyzers.”

Kerry imagined the plush comfort of the couch upstairs and smiled.

“Actually, I feel better now,” she admitted. “But be careful, okay? I keep having nightmares of you being buried under the billowing clouds of testosterone out there.”

“I will. Talk to you later, cute stuff.”

“All right,” Kerry replied. “Love you.”

“Love you, too.”

Kerry folded the phone and juggled it in her hands as she leaned back, definitely feeling the knots unraveling in her stomach. Her headache was still there, but the tension she’d felt all morning was dissipating. She stood up and stowed her phone, then tugged her sleeves a bit straighter and made her way into the cafeteria.

DAR BRACED HER boots against the lower railing on the small porch she’d rediscovered near the back end of the training area. There was a small hard bench built against the wall, and just enough cover to avoid being soaked by the still-heavy rain outside.

Ah, Kerrison
. Dar sighed silently.
What in the hell would I do without
you?
She’d been thumping herself over her reaction to Chief Daniel, but now she sat back and considered it more objectively. The woman had locked them into a closed place and come at her in a threatening manner, aggressively shoving her back against a bulkhead.

What was the chief expecting to happen? Had she really expected Dar to break down and blubber or something? Dar folded her arms
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across her chest. Maybe that’s what Daniel had been looking for, to see how far she could push Dar before Dar pushed back.

Or.

Maybe she’d been hoping Dar would take a swing at her, and give her grounds to force the base commander to take action.

Hmm
. In that case, her response had been appropriate, with just enough force to prove her point and not enough aggression to get her in trouble.
Hey.
Dar rubbed her jaw and had to laugh.
Only took thirty years
for you to figure out how to balance
that
act
. Way to go, Dardar!

With a sigh, she stood up and grabbed her bottle of peach iced tea, draining it before she made her way back through the small door and into the corner cul-de-sac that it opened onto. Once upon a time it had been a larger suite, and the porch a perk of some big shot’s corner office, but time, and changing needs, had forced the Navy to throw up wood and plasterboard walls to divide up the space.

Dar put a hand on one of the worn wooden doorways and gazed down the hall, debating over what to do next. Her decision was made, however, when Chief Daniel swung out of Operations Center and spotted her, turning on her heel and heading toward Dar with a determined look.

Dar chose to remain where she was, and she leaned against the doorframe, folding her arms and watching the other woman approach.

“Interested in round two?” she asked as Daniel came within close earshot. A ghostly Kerry poked at her and she squirmed. “Or would you rather just go have lunch?”

Chief Daniel opened her mouth to answer, held it open for a moment, then closed it and released her breath with a sigh.

“C’mon. I’ll buy.” Dar straightened up. “We’re both grownups.

Let’s act like it.”

Clearly, the chief had been caught by surprise. She hesitated for a long beat, then lifted both hands a little and let them fall. “What the hell. All right, Ms. Roberts. You’re giving me a pain the size of an aircraft carrier, so I might as well get a meal out of it. Lead on.”

They found a table in the back of the mess and sat down with trays of open-faced turkey sandwiches. Dar opened her carton of milk and drank directly from it, watching her reluctant lunch partner mess with a pile of lettuce and tomatoes.

“So.” Chief Daniel neatly sliced her salad into manageable chunks.

“You’re Big Andy’s kid.”

Dar cocked her head to one side. “Yes, I am.”

The Chief looked up, meeting her eyes. “You could have said that right off.”

“Why?” Dar shot back. “Shouldn’t make a damn bit of a difference.”

Daniel snorted and shook her head. “Can the bullshit, lady. It matters, and you know it does. Did you think you’d have an advantage 112
Melissa Good
by acting like a clueless outsider?” She picked up her glass of iced tea and took a sip. “Here I think I’ve got some dumb civ making my life miserable, and it turns out I’ve been hauling around some damn smartass Navy brat.”

“Oh. You mean I could have skipped the howitzer-up-the-ass attitude if I’d told you up front I grew up here?” Dar inquired. “Maybe you should have done your homework, Chief. I have a file on you an inch thick.”

The chief stopped eating and put her silverware down, staring at Dar with a look completely devoid of humor. “What in the hell do you mean by that?”

Dar merely watched her, sucking idly on her milk. She waited for the veins to start emerging on the ginger-haired woman’s temples, then she finally replied. “Relax. There’s nothing outstandingly scary in it.”

She actually didn’t have that much, but the reaction she’d gotten from the comment made her itch to have Mark search further.

Daniel sat there, breathing hard for a moment. “You’re a real son of a bitch, aren’t you?”

A charming smile appeared on Dar’s face. “I can be.” She paused.

“If I’m forced into it.” One finger pointed at the sailor. “So be smart, and don’t.” She set the milk down and picked up her fork, spearing a bit of mashed potatoes and tasting them.

“Sure you weren’t adopted?” the chief shot back.

The corner of Dar’s lips quirked. “I’ve looked in a mirror enough times to know I wasn’t.” She took a bite of turkey. “But feel free to ask my dad if you want.”

Hazel eyes narrowed, and the chief bit down on her fork with a vicious scrape of teeth on metal. Then her face relaxed, and she snorted softly. “No, thanks. I don’t want my fingers pulled off if he hears I laid one of them on his precious offspring.” Her eyes searched the angular, intense features across the table, strange and familiar at the same time.

She felt like kicking herself for not realizing who this bitch was before, then she felt like kicking the damn commander for not telling her.

Bastard
. She bet he and Perkins were laughing their asses off at her.

And what was in that file? The chief was uncomfortably aware of the sharp intelligence behind those blue-tinted ice chips that were watching her. Evaluating her. Daniel swallowed and reviewed her options. She knew Andrew Roberts and had a healthy respect for him, but she now realized his often spoken of only child was a danger of a much higher degree.

What the hell was she going to do?

The loudspeaker’s crackle almost made her jump, and she looked up at the speaker just as Dar did, the younger woman’s head tilting to one side as she listened.

“Attention, attention all personnel. We have just received notification that flooding has closed both Card Sound Road and US 1.

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Be advised that all deliveries to and from the mainland have been canceled until further notice. If you were scheduled to be transported north today, please see your unit commander immediately.”

Groans rose around them. Daniel snorted and recovered a bit of her balance at the perceptible annoyance in Dar’s expression. “Guess you’re stuck here. Just our luck.” Possibilities, though, started occurring to her.

Dar sighed, ignoring her sarcasm. “I knew I should have stayed in bed this morning.” She removed her cell phone from its clip and dialed a number, holding the phone to her ear and turning away slightly.

Yeah
, Chief Daniel mused.
Maybe you should have.

“UGH.” KERRY DROPPED into her chair and leaned back, releasing a huge sigh and closing her eyes briefly. Very briefly, since her intercom buzzed a second later. “Yes?”

“Ms. Kerry, my mother says to tell you that they have closed the roads that are going to the Keys.” Mayte’s voice held a hint of anxiety.

“She is worried about Ms. Roberts.”

Oh, crap
, Kerry cursed to herself. “She said she was trying to get out of there early, Mayte. I’ll call her. I hope she’s almost back here by now.” She reached for her phone and almost dropped it as it rang at the same moment. “Gah—whoops. Hello?”

“Hi.” Dar’s voice sounded resigned. “Guess where I’m stuck.”

Kerry winced in pure reflex. “I just heard about the roads. That totally sucks large rocks, Dar.”

“I know,” Dar said. “I took care of getting you a ride home, though.”

Jesus. I forgot I needed one
. Kerry mentally slapped herself. “Honey, you didn’t have to do that. I’m sure I could beg a ride from someone here.” It was, however, a typically Dar thing for her to do, given her partner’s meticulous attention to details. “But thank you.”

“Well,” Dar chuckled softly, “don’t thank me just yet. It’s my dad who’s coming to get you.”

Eeerup.
Kerry winced. “Ah. Did you think my life was lacking some excitement today or something?” she replied. “Maybe he’ll let me drive.

You think?”

“You can ask. He generally caves in to whatever you want,” Dar answered. “Just like I do,” she added, with a verbal twinkle in her tone.

“Hey, I think I’m making some progress with the chief. I tried to do what you’d have done.”

Still distracted by the prospect of being picked up by Andrew, Kerry almost didn’t respond. “Uh...oh, did you? What did you do?”

“Took her to lunch.”

Kerry smiled. “Good girl.”

“Then I told her if she didn’t behave, I’d have to really get nasty.”

“Oh.” Kerry covered her eyes and laughed silently. “Gotta work on that part, huh?”

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“Eh.” Dar sighed. “Maybe it won’t be so bad down here. A couple of the guys I grew up with just tracked me down. They wanna take me out to the local bar and trade no-shit stories for a while. They found me a bed just in case the roads don’t open back up.”

“You have your kit, right? I know I repacked it after the trip to the Keys.” Kerry drummed her fingers on her desk. “Don’t take a chance, okay? If the weather’s bad, just stick around down there. I’d kinda be worried if I knew you were driving up Card Sound at night.” She paused. “I’ll miss you, though. I was looking forward to a hug tonight.”

A few beats of silence followed, then Dar cleared her throat. “I’ll make it up to you tomorrow, I promise. Okay?”

“Okay,” Kerry agreed. “Call me later and let me know what’s up. I think I’m done with all my meetings today; now I just have a mailbox to wade through.” She glanced at her monitor. “Dar, how did you deal with all this crap everyone sends?”

“Simple. Take everything that isn’t immediate operations and reply with ‘Could you please clarify why you’re asking me this?’” Dar told her. “I guarantee ninety percent of them won’t come back.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

Kerry grinned and examined the ceiling over her head. “Thanks, boss. I’ll do that.”

“Any time,” Dar said. “Talk to you later.”

Kerry closed the phone and put it down, indulging in a few moments of daydreaming as she folded her hands over her stomach and swiveled her chair a little. “What a character,” she finally murmured with a helpless chuckle. Her intercom buzzed again, and she regarded it balefully for a moment before she answered. “Yes?”

“Ms. Kerry?”

“I just talked to Dar, Mayte. I’ll call your mom. She’s okay, she’s just stuck down at the base for now,” Kerry responded.

“
Sí, gracias
, but there is a phone call for you, from the car place.”

Car place?
Kerry’s brow furrowed, then cleared. “Oh. Right. I’ll take it. Thanks, Mayte.” She released the intercom and hit the phone line.

“Kerry Stuart speaking.”

“Ms. Stuart? This is Laura Margoles from Beach Lexus. You sent in a vehicle request using the Internet this morning?”

“That’s right,” Kerry confirmed.

“Great.” The woman’s voice was cheerful and friendly. “We had what you wanted right in stock. I’ve got your paperwork done; when would you like to pick up the car?”

“Really? Just like that?” Kerry was surprised. “Leather and everything?”

“Absolutely!” Laura stated. “They’re detailing the car now, in fact.

Shining it up and making sure everything’s in perfect condition for you.”