Red Sky At Morning - DK4 (42 page)

“All right.” Kerry stood up and headed for the phone.

Dar looked at her father. “You want to help?”

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“Hell, yes,” Andrew responded immediately. “Tell you what. You stay up in that penthouse of yours and rest yer arm, and I’ll take them kiddies down to the base and shake their shorts out clean.” He patted Dar’s knee. “All right?”

Dar’s lips edged up into a tense smile. “I don’t think so. But thanks for the offer, Dad.”

“Dar, I’d be the last one to encourage your father to get into trouble, but it makes sense,” Ceci offered, a trifle hesitantly. She felt a faint flush as a pair of sharp blue eyes pinned her, and reminded herself again of just how little right she had to give her daughter advice.

“Doesn’t it?”

“No.” Dar got up from the couch, moving fluidly around Andrew’s still crouching form and stalking toward the study. “There’s too many ways for someone who knows what they’re doing to stop even one of our best techs from getting what I want.” She paused in the doorway, the restlessness evident in her flexing hand. “But they won’t stop me.”

Dar disappeared into her office, leaving the rest of them to exchange looks.

“Nice try,” Kerry offered, holding her hand over the receiver. “I could have told you she wouldn’t go for it, though.” She returned her attention to the phone. “That’s right, Mark. It’s the base... No, I can’t even start to go into it.” A pause. “Dar wants volunteers. Can we get a few?” Another pause. “No, that’ll be up to Dar... Okay, we’ll meet you there.” Kerry put the phone down. “Okay, that’s that.” She glanced at the study through the half-open door, seeing Dar’s tense form crouched over her PC. “Be right back.”

Ceci exhaled as Kerry, too, disappeared. She watched Andrew as he got up and crossed to her, then sat down on the tile floor with a sigh.

“What do you think, sailor boy?”

Andrew shook his head. “Ah think this is the goddamndest piece of horse’s butt end I ever did see.”

“Mm.” Ceci could only agree.

KERRY PAUSED IN the doorway, then entered the study and pushed the wooden surface closed behind her. Dar was studying something on her screen, but after a moment she stopped pointing and clicking and looked up.

Blue eyes gave her a direct stare. “Coming to tell me how stupid I am?”

Kerry felt her heartbeat pick up as she heard the tension in Dar’s voice. “Have I ever said that?” she asked quietly, meeting Dar’s gaze with patient honesty. “I don’t think you’re capable of being stupid.”

Dar glanced at the screen, moving her hand restlessly.

Kerry sat down on the couch and rested her forearms on her knees.

“I could question your faith in my abilities, of course.”

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Melissa Good

“Don’t,” Dar snapped. “This has nothing to do with you.”

“Excuse me.” Kerry gave her a direct look. “You are sending my people into that place; it most certainly does have everything to do with me.” She pushed herself to her feet and advanced on the desk. “I know how to supervise a security sweep, Dar. I’ve been doing it for months.”

Dar avoided her gaze. “This is different.”

Kerry studied her. “Your father was right. You should stay here.”

Her voice gentled to remove any sting. “You’re too close to this, Dar.”

Her lover drew a forceful breath and stiffened. “That’s bullshit.”

She tipped her head back as Kerry rounded the desk and confronted her. “I’m perfectly capable of doing my job, thanks.”

“No one’s debating that.” Kerry sat on the edge of the desk, realizing by the defensive tensing of Dar’s muscles that looming over her wasn’t a good idea. “But this is different, Dar. Think about it. You grew up at this place. These people are your friends.” She put out a tentative hand and covered the larger one resting on the desktop. “I don’t know if I could handle it if it were me.”

Dar’s face kept its set expression for a moment, then the jaw muscles relaxed slightly, and she blinked. “Because I did grow up there is why I have to do this,” she answered softly. “It’s not that I don’t trust you.” Her eyes flicked up to meet Kerry’s. “But I can’t give you what I know, how I know the way things work there.”

Kerry studied her lover’s face, seeing the pain etched into the tense lines around her eyes. “I’ve seen the layout, honey. It’s just a big complex system,” she protested. “I know how to get it locked down.”

“It’s not that,” Dar answered. “I just don’t want to take a chance.

Too many people can get hurt.”

“What about you taking a chance with yourself?” Kerry countered.

“I don’t want to see you get hurt, Dar.” Slowly, she slid off the desk and knelt, looking up now into Dar’s face. “Nothing is more important to me than that. Not this job, not that base. It’s not worth the risk.”

A faint smile finally tugged at Dar’s lips. “Don’t worry.”

“Dar—”

“You’ll be right there next to me.” Dar touched Kerry’s cheek with her fingertips. “The only muscle I’m going to be using is this one.” She lifted a hand and tapped her forehead. “I promise.”

She wasn’t going to win this one, Kerry knew. She was also smart enough to realize that what Dar was saying was completely true—

they’d have a much better chance of not missing anything with her there. “Okay,” she agreed. “You should take the rest of your drugs though, even if you don’t want the painkillers.”

Dar’s face took on a wry smile. “I do want them.” She sighed and leaned back, relaxing a little now that the fight was over. “I want to take them, and lie down, and just go out for the rest of the day.” Her body felt stiff and achy, and the tension had given her a headache again. “But yeah, I’ll take everything but those, if you wouldn’t mind bringing the
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others over, and some Advil.”

Kerry nodded. “Sure.” She leaned forward and kissed Dar’s knee.

“Mark and the rest of the team are going to meet us at the office in an hour.”

“Mark?”

“Of course.” Kerry smiled. “You said you wanted volunteers.”

Dar sighed. “Figures he would. I wonder if anyone else will.”

Wonder if anyone else won’t,
Kerry amended silently.

CECI CAREFULLY PUT her hands precisely behind her back and clasped them.
So, this is where Dar and Kerry work.
Her eyes traveled up and up and up to see the top of the atrium skylight, then back down across the marble and steel walls to the pretentious fountain in the very center of the space.

Somehow, she resisted the urge to yodel. The temptation to hear the echoes was almost overwhelming.

A security guard ambled over and handed her a piece of plastic.

“There you go, ma’am. That’s your badge.”

Ceci accepted it and clipped the item to her shirt. “Outstanding,”

she complimented the guard. “Does it check for radiation hazards as well?”

The guard cocked his head in puzzlement. “Ma’am?”

“Let’s go.” Dar had come up next to her. “Thanks, Devon.”

“Any time, Ms. Roberts.” The guard ducked his head politely at Dar. “Haven’t seen you here on the weekend in a long time.” He managed not to look too curiously at her beslinged arm. “Have a good day.”

“Thanks.” Dar led the way across the huge lobby toward the elevator, Kerry a pace behind her and followed by her parents. She felt a little unfocused from the drugs, but still fairly alert. “Did we tell Devon to be on the lookout for the JAG rep?”

“Yes,” Kerry replied. “Twice.” She swiped her keycard into the elevator receptacle and held the doors when they opened. “All aboard.”

“Tell me, Dar,” Ceci commented as they rode up. “Do you rent out mausoleum space in this place to South Miami Cemetery?”

Dar was leaning against the mirrored wall, staring at her reflection.

An extremely grumpy-looking, slightly scruffy figure with a scowl was looking back at her. With an effort, she wrestled a little of her normal work attitude into place. “No.” She eyed her mother. “We charge too much,” she replied. “The American Cryogenic Society has the top floor, though.”

Kerry chuckled. “That explains why it’s so cold upstairs all the time,” she remarked. “I had to wear a parka the first few months I worked here.”

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The doors slid open and they left the elevator, moving along the very quiet hallway, past closed or darkened doorways. No one on fourteen worked on the weekends, save the operations group on occasion, and it was pleasantly unchaotic for a change. “Wish it was like this all the time,” Kerry muttered. “It’s usually Circus City at this time of day.” She swiped her card at the front door to Dar’s outer office and heard the lock click.

Andrew reached around her and worked the handle, pushing the door open and allowing them into the darkened interior. “Cec, this ain’t half nothing. That there place in Houston’s got this beat hands down.”

Ceci strolled in and looked around curiously. It was a good-sized space, with seating on one side and a neatly appointed desk on the other. Across from the main entry was a set of inner doors, and one had a plaque on it. She looked at it as Andrew flipped the lights on.

Dar’s name and title.

With a sense of surreality, she followed as Dar opened the door to her office and went inside. It was light, Ceci noticed, and as she cleared the door she saw why.

Good Goddess. She stopped and stared. The place was huge: floor-to-ceiling teak paneling framed two walls; the other two were floor-to-ceiling plate glass, giving a breathtaking view of the sea all the way to the horizon. The room was filled with light from outside, which fell on the fine wood furnishings and the curved expanse of Dar’s desk.

Against one wall was a comfortable-looking leather couch, and against the other, a credenza with a neatly put up silver tray holding a now empty pitcher and glasses.

Ceci noted a few other things. That the desk was absolutely spotless and contained exactly zero clutter, something she’d noticed about Dar’s study in the condo. Remembering what a wreck her daughter habitually kept her adolescent room in, this seemed almost funny. The only things on the desk were the computer screen and keyboard, Dar’s trackball, her in and out box, and a...Ceci walked closer and squinted...and a pair of Siamese fighting fish in a small, interlocked Lucite tank.

Interesting choice
. Ceci eyed her husband, who was rocking slightly on his heels, his brow tensed in thought.

“I’m going to start pulling up their network schematics and printing them off,” Kerry said as she headed toward the small door in the rear of the office. “Hope someone left the plotter up and linked.”

“I’ll check it.” Dar went to her desk and sat down. “G’wan and take a seat,” she told her parents as she kick-started her PC. The phone rang, and she hit the speakerphone button. “Yes?”

“Hey, boss.” Mark’s voice echoed slightly. “Saw your IP come active.”

“Don’t you have anything better to do than watch
Snoopy
?” Dar asked, testily. “Is the plotter active?”

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“Hang on.” The sound of a keyboard cut clearly through the connection. “It is now. Let me boot the print server if you’re gonna be sending anything big to it.”

“Diagrams. Kerry’s sending,” Dar replied. “You get some people to come in?”

“Yeah.” Mark sounded preoccupied. “I had to rig a lottery though.”

Dar braced a knee up against the edge of her desk. “What?” Her brow contracted. “Mark, damn it, I told you I wanted volunteers. What part of that didn’t you understand?”

There was a momentary silence. “Um...you said you only wanted six people, boss. I had to do a lottery to get it down to that,” Mark replied carefully. “I had twenty-five of those suckers show up here.” He paused. “Did I do something to piss you off today?”

Dar regarded her hiking boot in mild embarrassment.
Get your head
out of your ass, Dar.
“No, sorry, Mark,” she replied. “I just want to get this started. Give Kerry twenty minutes to get those diagrams done, then c’mon up here.”

“Will do,” Mark replied, then hung up.

“Ahm going to get me some coffee,” Andrew said. “You want some, Dardar?”

“No.” Dar shook her head. “Dr. Steve said to stay away from that for a couple of days.” Awareness of her injury nibbled uncomfortably at her. “Thanks for the offer.”

Her father left, and Dar became aware of her mother’s pale eyes glancing her way curiously. She lifted a hand and indicated the room with wry irony. “What do you think?”

Thus invited, Ceci obligingly got up and toured the room, ending up next to Dar’s desk. “It’s...um...”

“Pretentious?” Dar dryly supplied.

“No, actually it has very pleasant proportions,” Ceci disagreed gravely. “Nice view, lot of open space, clean...” Her eyes and Dar’s met, and she hesitated, a teasing remark on her tongue she wasn’t sure she should utter.

Dar’s cool gaze gentled slightly. “What am I doing in here, right?”

A hint of a smile warmed her features.

Ceci returned the smile. “Nah. I think you fit right in here,” she disagreed. “I especially like the blue jeans; they go well with the teak paneling.”

That got an actual chuckle out of Dar, who plucked at the denim fabric covering her knee. “It’s not how I usually dress here,” she admitted. “Wish it was. Those damn business suits drive me nuts.”

Her mother studied the faded jeans and untucked cotton shirt Dar was wearing, the easiest things she could manage with her arm in a sling. “That strap’s twisted,” she gestured. “Want it fixed?”

For a moment, there was a flash of wary uncertainty in Dar’s eyes.

Ceci merely waited, wishing for the thousandth time she’d made some
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different choices years back. She was almost sure Dar would politely decline the offer, when her daughter shifted and leaned forward slightly.

“Sure,” Dar said. “Felt a little weird.”

Ceci unbuckled the strap and straightened it, tucking the cotton fabric under Dar’s collar and refastening the buckle. She had to move a bit of thick, dark hair out of the way to do so. “I always wondered what Andy would have looked like with long hair.”