Red Sky At Morning - DK4 (43 page)

Dar slowly turned her head and both eyebrows arched almost to her hairline. “Dad?”

“Mm.” Ceci nodded, giving Dar’s shoulder a light pat. “There you go.”

“I don’t think he’s ever had it even covering his ears, much less his neck.” Dar relaxed a little, settling back in her chair as Ceci stepped away.

“Nope, he sure hasn’t.” Ceci shook her head. “But when he was your current age, his hair was just like yours, same texture and everything. I remember he let it grow...oh, all of two inches over one summer before he had it buzzed again.” She studied Dar’s angular face and smiled. “I can almost imagine it, now.” It was nice, a wistful thought intruded, to be able to see her husband so clearly in their child, and have it not hurt.

She wondered if Dar realized that. They’d both changed so much, it was hard to say what went on behind those very familiar eyes anymore.

Ah well.
“How’s your shoulder doing?” Ceci changed the subject.

“Lousy,” Dar answered, with surprising honesty. “Sorry I didn’t mention it the other day.”

“I’m not,” Ceci replied, with equal honesty, seeing the quickly shuttered wariness in Dar’s eyes. “Don’t get me wrong, Dar. What happens to you matters to me, and I’m sorry you got hurt by that a—”

She paused. “By Chuck, but we both know it was better for him and Andy for your father not to know.”

“Mm.” The door opened and Andrew reentered the room, carrying two cups. Dar and her mother exchanged glances, then Dar smiled.

“Thanks, Mom. Glad I made the right choice.”

Well.
Ceci accepted the cup of coffee, feeling pleased, if a touch bemused, by the reaction.
I think that was almost a Kodak moment.

She liked it. Ceci moved off toward the window and studied the view, half listening to her husband and Dar in the background talking about the base.

DAR HAD MOVED the strategy meeting into the big conference room down the hall from her office. Kerry had gotten in ahead of her and clipped the network diagrams to the big presentation board, and now she watched as the operations team filed in and took seats.

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Mark, of course, was in the lead, carrying the backpack Kerry knew held the big network analyzer and its cables. He set it down on the floor and took a seat as the rest of the group settled around him. Kerry’s eyebrows rose as she recognized Brent among the group, but she refrained from commenting as Dar entered from the back door.

The JAG officer and Andrew were with her, and they took chairs near the other end of the conference table as Dar circled it and headed toward the podium. Ceci had seated herself near the window and was watching quietly, her eyes flicking between the charts and her daughter, and occasionally crossing gazes with Kerry herself.

“All right.” Dar’s low, vibrant voice cut through the quiet. She put a sheaf of papers on the podium and drew in a breath, letting her eyes run over her audience. Kerry could almost see the subtle shift as her lover assumed her professional demeanor, and she sharpened her own attention as she listened.

Even in casual clothing, and with her arm in its white cotton sling, Dar still managed to capture the room, the normal intensity of her attitude only slightly blunted by all the medication she was on. Kerry could tell it was an effort, though. There was a persistent crease in Dar’s forehead, she was blinking more than usual, and there was an uncharacteristic slump to her posture that was easily visible to her watching partner.

“We’ve gotten an unusual request from the government.” Dar started her speech. “As most of you know, we were contracted to perform detailed structure and performance analysis on a number of military bases.”

The techs were glued to her every word. They nodded almost in concert, which almost made Dar laugh. “As part of that investigation, information was obtained detailing irregularities in their data, which could extend from minor theft to felonious activities.”

Mark shook his head and let out a sigh. “I was thinking that, boss.

That stuff you sent down stank to hell.”

Dar nodded. “With good reason.” She turned to the whiteboard.

“Normally, I’d have just turned this over to the government at this point.” She spared a glance for the JAG man. “In fact, that’s what was originally intended. However, due to logistics, they can’t get a security team here for at least twenty-four hours, and we have reason to think data destruction would occur before that time.

“Mark, we’re going to need to put the scope in here.” Dar ran a hand over the diagram. “The three critical mainframes are here, here, and here, and we’ll need to pull the drive arrays from all three.”

Mark was scribbling
.
“We just going to walk in there, DR?”

This was the tricky part. “No.” Dar folded her hands on the podium. “Kerry and I are going in first.” All heads jerked her way. “The guards are used to seeing me, and they won’t react.”
At least, I hope they
won’t.
“Two of you are going to ride with us and duck down in the back
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seat as we go through the gates.”

“Check.” Mark made a note. “How ’bout the rest of them?”

Dar felt a smile twitching at her lips at Mark’s claiming of his spot.

“A volunteer who’s familiar with the base is going to pay a visit.

Everyone else will go with him.”

“Them,” Ceci muttered, just loud enough for Dar to hear her.

The techs all looked around and finally spotted the two guests at the end of the table. Mark waved at Andrew. “Oh, hey.”

“’Lo,” Andrew drawled.

Kerry watched Brent’s face as he focused on the tall ex-SEAL, then returned his gaze straight ahead. She wondered what he was thinking.

“This is Captain Taylor from the military justice department and my father, Andrew Roberts,” Dar introduced them succinctly. “My father’s the volunteer who’ll get the rest of you into the camp. He’s very familiar with it.” She let her eyes rove over the watching faces. “If either of them instruct any of you to do something, do it.” She paused.

“Understand?”

“Gotcha, DR,” Mark replied. “You guys all clear on that?”

The techs nodded.

“Good.” Dar paused, then nodded. “Get moving. Don’t do anything stupid when you’re out there. I don’t want to be spending half the week doing paperwork on anyone. Got me?”

Another round of nodding.

“All right. That’s all.” Dar stepped back from the podium.

Everyone stood and a low murmur of discussion started. Dar exhaled and ran her fingers through her hair as Kerry crossed the room and came to her side. “Ready?”

“I’ve got all the equipment downstairs, ready to go,” Kerry told her. “I brought the portable hundred-gig array along, in case we need to transfer something we can’t just take.” She leaned forward. “And I picked up the black box, so you can run your code on it if you need to.”

Dar considered that. “Good work,” she said. “Thanks, Ker.”

They followed the crowd out of the room and toward the elevator.

Dar found herself between her father and Kerry as they entered the open car, and she leaned back against the mirrored wall, aware of the warmth as they joined her. Slowly, she turned her head and regarded Kerry, who had folded her arms and was gazing ahead of her. Then she turned and glanced at her father, who had adopted the same pose. The rest of the occupants of the elevator were studying the tiled floor with great interest.

Dar’s brow creased. They were all acting a little weird, she thought, then realized it was probably due to the very odd circumstances. With a sigh, she let her head rest against the cool surface and waited for the drop to end. The JAG captain had been quiet and reserved and pretty much unhelpful, even after Dar had given him the cocaine brick.

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have come from anywhere, and the chief could have just been looking to get someone in trouble. Which was true, Dar acknowledged, and the exact reason she was dragging her butt down to the Upper Keys on a Saturday afternoon when she felt like crawling into bed and passing out.

A hand on her elbow almost made her jump, and she glanced up to see the doors open, and everyone else exiting. “Whoops...sorry.” She gave Kerry a smile. “I was just thinking.”

Kerry glanced up at her and returned the smile. “I could tell.” She linked her arm inside Dar’s, and they continued across the lobby toward the front door. “How are you feeling?”

A little annoyed to be asked again, Dar almost retorted. “I’m fine,”

she replied. “Damn drugs are making me a little light-headed, that’s all.” Deliberately putting more energy into her steps, she pulled free of Kerry’s grip and stalked toward the entrance.

Kerry sighed. “Shit.”

Andrew glanced at her. “Stubborn cuss, ain’t she,” he commiserated wryly.

Kerry looked at him. “Wonder where she gets it from,” she answered with equal wryness.

“Ah have no idea,” Andrew said. “You better git moving ’fore she decides on driving.”

Kerry sighed and broke into a jog, ducking past the straggling techs as she tried to catch up with her partner.

KERRY WAITED UNTIL they were almost at the base before she slowed the pace of the Lexus and glanced into the rearview mirror. She spotted Andrew a bit back, in Dar’s car, and also caught the half-asleep faces of Mark and Brent in the back seat.

It was very quiet in the car. She’d deliberately turned the stereo down to allow her passengers to relax and doze off if they wanted to. In fact, she encouraged them to do just that, knowing Dar would remain awake and alert if everyone else was, just out of sheer cussedness.

But Mark had taken her hint and loudly announced his intention to nap, poking Brent in the leg until the slightly slow-on-the-uptake tech realized what he wanted and huddled down in his seat with a glum expression.

Then, of course, and only then had Dar allowed herself to relax and slump against the doorframe, using a folded sweatshirt of Kerry’s as an impromptu pillow as she closed her eyes and surrendered to a light doze.

Now Kerry wished the trip was longer, but she reached over and gently touched Dar’s thigh, squeezing it twice before she got a reaction.

Dar’s eyelids fluttered open and she blinked, turning her head to peer at Kerry in confusion for a moment before her expression cleared and she
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straightened in her seat.

“Okay, duck down, guys,” Kerry said. “Just pull those comforters over you while I go through the gates.” She turned into the base and eased slowly down the approach road, pulling up next to the guard shack and leaning back a little so Dar could see the guard.

“Afternoon,” Dar greeted the man. “Looks quiet.”

The man came closer, then smiled. “Ms. Roberts...hey.” He glanced around. “Didn’t expect you here on the weekend.”

Dar smiled back. “Got some little things to clear up,” she said.

“And my parents are coming down, just for old time’s sake, to look around in the daytime.”

The Marine’s eyes lit up. “Big Andy’s coming in today? All right.

Man, wait ’til the guys hear. You know they got a big old UD get-together going on today, right?”

“No, I didn’t,” Dar replied. “That’ll be a damn nice surprise for him, though. Thanks for the word.” She waved casually. “Gotta get to work.”

The guard raised the gate and waved back. “Take it easy, Ms.

Roberts.”

Kerry drove into the parking lot. “Will that be a problem?” she asked. “That meeting or whatever?”

Dar was rubbing her eyes, and now she looked up. “Problem?” Her lips quirked. “I doubt it. This place’ll be crawling with SEALs. This could be easier than we thought.”

“Crawling with SEALs.” Kerry parked and set the brake.

“Interesting visual, Dar, but how does it help us?”

Dar opened the door and got out, stretching out her body as Mark joined her on the passenger side and Kerry, with Brent, walked around the front of the Lexus. “It means we have friends here, Kerry.” She felt better already. “The kind of friends you like to have when you’re in a potentially dangerous situation.”

Kerry considered that, as Mark removed the analyzer from the back of the car. “Unless some of them are involved,” she commented, looking up to see ice-cold blue eyes looking back at her. “Um. I mean—”

“Never.” Dar said, low and forcefully. “Not these guys.”

Kerry and Mark exchanged glances. “Okay,” Kerry agreed softly.

“You’re the expert.” She patted Dar’s back. “Glad to hear that. If they’re all like Dad, this’ll be a piece of cake.” Her eyes slid past Dar to meet Brent’s, which darted off in another direction. “I feel better already.”

“Brent, gimme a hand with this.” Mark was kneeling next to the analyzer. “I need to fit the wiring harness.”

Brent walked over and they fussed over the equipment, leaving Dar and Kerry standing a little apart as they waited. Dar glanced around, then exhaled and ducked her head a bit. “I know I’m being a bitch.

Sorry.”

“Were you?” Kerry asked mildly. “I hadn’t noticed.”

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Their eyes met. Dar managed a smile. “Liar.”

Kerry shrugged slightly. “It’s all right.” She forced herself not to think about the churning in her guts. Suddenly, she found her shoulders circled by Dar’s arm, and her senses were barraged by the abrupt closeness and warmth as Dar pulled her close in a hug. A voice whispered into her ear, and it took her long seconds to acknowledge the words.

“If I get too obnoxious, slap me.”

Kerry felt some of the tension seep out of her as she circled Dar’s waist with an arm and squeezed. “All right, I will,” she prom ised, releasing her and swatting her lightly on the butt. “Right there.

Deal?”

“Deal.” Dar let go of her as Mark and Brent came around the side of the car again, carrying the equipment. “Soon as the others get here, we move.”

A FUSILLADE OF gunshots made them all jump. “Holy shit.” Mark backed against the car. “Is that for us?”

“War games.” Dar peered over the hood of the Lexus. “We got lucky again.”