Tropical Convergence (8 page)

"Yeah." Kerry exhaled, raking her fingers through her drenched hair. "Next stop, Hawaii." She sat down on the edge of the pool to catch her breath, tipping her head back to observe the sun's slant in the sky. "Know what?"

"It's lunchtime," Dar responded. "Want to do the big slide one more time before we grab something?"

Kerry accepted the offered hand up and stood, looking around at their surroundings. The park wasn't busy at all, not nearly as much as it had been the last time they were there. It was the heat of summer now, though, so that wasn't unexpected. However, it had made it all the more pleasant to not have to fight the crowds and stand in long lines. "Sure," she concluded. "Let me just get a towel and wipe my eyes. The water's killing them."

Dar lead the way back to the chair they'd taken possession of, picking up Kerry's towel and handing it to her as she lifted her own and dried the largest of the water droplets off with it. Now, instead of being oppressive, the sun felt good and warm on her back, and she felt pleasantly tired from all the activity.

Out of habit, she checked her phone. No calls. With a grin, she checked Kerry's, which was also devoid of any missed calls. She admitted to herself that curiosity was beginning to prick her softly, wondering what, if anything, was going on in the trade show.

"Why don't you call?" Kerry had been watching her, and now she produced a knowing grin.

"Would it make you feel better if I did?" Dar countered.

Kerry took a seat on the beach lounger, and extended her bare legs out, crossing them casually at the ankles. "Yes." She waggled her fingers. "Dial, your Nerdiness." She arranged herself more comfortably on the lounger and put her sunglasses on, then folded her hands over her stomach.

Dar chuckled, but unzipped the case and flipped the phone open. She dialed Eleanor's number and waited. It rang twice, and then was answered.

"Yes?"

"Is it a convention yet?" Dar asked.

Eleanor chuckled nastily.

"That's what I thought. Need us for anything?"

"Only as icing on the cake. Having fun?" Eleanor asked.

"Yes, we are," Dar affirmed. "Glad everything's going okay there."

"Dar, did you know who the principals were in Telegenics?" Eleanor asked suddenly. "The operational team, I mean? Not the money people?"

Dar exhaled. "Yes," she answered evenly. "Always nice to have old friends in the business, huh?"

"Mm," Eleanor grunted. "Well, I think they figured to have a little competition with us here. My sources tell me they were involved in why we had no staff here last night."

"Ah." Dar smiled humorlessly. "That would explain why they showed up to the offices as we were leaving," she said. "So they thought they'd throw a wrench in, eh?"

"Apparently." Eleanor sounded so very smug. "They were looking to be the big shots and come riding to the rescue this morning. Terribly disappointed, apparently, when they discovered we were already providing that role by generously lending out our resources to help all our friends and enemies get their gear running."

"Aww."

"Terribly disappointed to not find you here."

"Double awww." Dar chuckled. "They can kiss my ass."

"That would be playing right into it, no?" Eleanor quipped. "But just so you know, they left, and one of the boys heard them saying they were going to go looking for you. The short bitchy one apparently had some idea of where you might be."

Dar's ears pricked up and she very slowly turned her head to scan her surroundings. She didn't see anyone she knew, but there were a lot of areas she couldn't see, either. "Nice," she muttered.

"You do make charming enemies, Dar." Eleanor sighed. "Anyway, they left us alone, so thank God for that. You will stop by tonight to make sure everything's a go for tomorrow, right?"

"We'll be there," Dar responded quietly.

"Good. Later!" Eleanor hung up, her voice already rising to talk to someone as it vanished into the cellular ether.

"YOU WERE RIGHT. There they are." Shari leaned on the balcony of the restaurant, gazing pensively down across the forest of chaise lounges.

"Seem to have an affinity for water," Michelle Graver commented, biting off the words with sharp precision. "I remembered they spent time here last time."

"During the Vista bid?" Shari asked.

"Exactly."

"Mm." The bigger woman turned her attention back to their subjects. As she watched, Dar wrapped her towel around her neck and took a seat on the lounge next to where her blond companion was lying. But instead of joining her, the tall woman remained upright, just looking around.

"She always been that good looking?" Michelle asked, curiously.

Shari thought about it. "Eh." She shrugged one linen covered shoulder. "The potential was always there, but there was so much crap covering it you'd never have guessed." She snorted slightly. "She sure kept herself in shape though. Damn sight better than I did."

"Mm." Michelle nodded. "She's into karate, or so I hear."

"Not karate." Shari shook her head. "Some other weird thing. Not surprising. She grew up on that navy base and it screwed her head up royally. Half the time I thought she was psycho."

"Doesn't look it now," Graver observed, noting the elegant lines of Dar's profile. "If you hadn't told me what her background was, I'd never have guessed it."

"No," Shari conceded. "She cleans up all right. Now, at least." Her eyes drifted over to the other chair's occupant. "So she's still with the little blond rat, huh?" She mused. "Wonder how she's managed to get her to stay around."

Michelle turned her head to give her companion a look. "Don't sell our young blond wasp short. She's got brains," she said. "And from what I hear, she's got a set of well taken care of, exquisitely dentured fangs beneath all that sweet Midwestern bullshit," she added. "The few times I had to deal with her, I respected what she did for me."

A shrug. "Whatever." Shari stared down at the two with an almost obsessive look. "Never thought it would last, especially if she's got brains. Who could live with an animal like Dar?"

"She could have changed," Michelle suggested. "I never got the sense that she was anything but sharp, and damn ruthless. When she took that bid group apart it made my heart go pit-a-pat, that's for sure." She considered. "Her reputation's not built on BS, Shari. I know you've been on the sales and development side, but I haven't."

"Leopards don't change spots." Shari shook her head. "But she's the key to ILS all right. She's the cornerstone. You see what she did last night? Busted my ass, but that's Dar all over." She snorted in disgust. "Here I figured we'd make a little stir, and get a face off this morning between her and us."

"It was a good plan," her companion allowed. "Let the clients see our style differences, head to head. I never figured on her showing up last night."

"No." Shari's lips wrinkled. "Or her turning grease monkey on us. Though I should have remembered that side of her. Used to drive me nuts."

"Mm." Michelle nodded thoughtfully. "She makes things happen. I said that when I met her and nothing I've seen since contradicts that. So," she watched their subjects, "Now she's going to be gunning for us. We lost our surprise."

"So." Shari watched Dar draw one leg up and circle it with both arms the muscles under her tan skin rippling visibly even at this distance. "Okay, maybe we need to rethink our strategy. It would have been good to have been able to get in there today and make points, but we didn't."

The shorter woman raised a ginger colored eyebrow at her. "No. And I will have to give the ILS team their credit, those people know how to show off, and they know what they're doing."

"Pah."

"Shari, don't discount them," Michelle warned. "Just because we've had some successes, and have a little advantage right now, don't forget they're the big player here."

"That's their problem. They've been around too long, doing the same thing the same way too long," Shari said. "They can't react fast, and they're conservative as hell. You saw the strategic readouts on them I gave you, right?"

"True," Michelle said. "But I will tell you one thing, Dar never struck me as conservative."

"She is," Shari said. "What we have to do is keep the pressure on them, and throw her some curve balls. If we can do it in front of everyone, we can knock some of that mystique off."

Michelle looked doubtful, but intrigued. "Go on," she said. "That might work."

"Let's go have lunch," Shari suggested. "Get out of this damn heat. I'd forgotten how much I hated it."

They turned and strolled toward the door. As they reached it, Shari paused and glanced back over her shoulder. By design or chance, Dar's head was turned, and she was staring right at her from behind silvered shades.

Though she was far away enough to know the dark haired woman couldn't see her, Shari shivered anyway, and hastily ducked inside. "Psycho," she muttered, closing the door behind her.

"I LOVE EPCOT," Kerry said, as they strolled through the main entrance to the park. "I think it's my favorite place here."

"Me too," Dar agreed. "Not just because it's nerd heaven, either. It holds my interest more than the other parks."

That was significant, Kerry decided. Dar had a surprisingly limited attention span, something that she'd found out over time much to her bemusement. If you wanted her help, you condensed your problem down into its essentials, and got it in front of her in squarely black and white terms. Then she would review it, decide, and give it back to you sometimes in a matter of minutes.

Anything longer than that, or heaven forbid, if someone chose to do a PowerPoint presentation to make their case, and you lost her. Kerry had seen it happen more than once. Her lover would let her head rest on one hand, and start sketching, occupying her restless mind with something more interesting than whatever the person presenting was saying.

Which brought up an interesting question. "Hey, Dar? Were you hyperactive when you were a kid?"

Dar turned her head and focused on Kerry, away from the dancing fountains they were walking toward. "Was I?" She mused. "I don't know. I was a pain in the ass child, that's for sure. Just ask my mother."

The scent of pastry distracted them both and Dar steered Kerry toward a bakery shop in the central plaza. They walked up the steps and into the shop, getting in line as they reviewed their options. "Mm." Kerry eyed a chocolate mousse. "Another reason I like Epcot. Good food."

"Uh huh," Dar agreed, making eye contact with the cashier and pointing at the mousse. "Two, and two cappuccinos, please," she said. "Yeah, I think I was."

"Huh?" Kerry had her mind on the pastries. "Think you were mousse, hon?"

"Hyperactive." Dar deftly evaded Kerry's attempts to pay for their treat and plunked down a handful of bills instead. "Probably my parents had no clue, but when I look back now and think of how I was, yeah. Why?"

"Just curious," Kerry answered. "I noticed you're so restless a lot of the time when you're at work, so I wondered."

Dar picked up the tray with their treats and nudged Kerry toward a table. "Either that or it was all the damn chocolate I ate." She sat down and handed over Kerry's mousse, taking her own and commencing a methodical attack on it. "Okay. Let's grab some dinner reservations, then we can wander around in this part for a while."

"Okay." Kerry licked her spoon. "First stop, Test Track. Vroom, Vroom."

"Vroom, vroom," Dar agreed with a smile, daubing a bit of mousse on Kerry's nose. "You got it."

IT WAS GETTING on to evening, and the raw heat of the day was moderating slightly as the breeze picked up. Kerry plucked at the front of her shirt, glad to feel the cool touch of the air and she was wishing the sun would drop faster and bring on the twilight's relief. "Whew."

"Yeah." Dar ambled into the path of a mist gun, letting it spray her with a fine fog of water. "Let's go find something indoors."

They stopped in front of the reservations kiosk, and Dar poked at the touch screen looking for what she wanted. "Reservations... reservations...World Showcase, no...Ah. Living Seas. Here." She reviewed her choices. "Time...what do you think, seven? If we can get it?"

"Oo." Kerry put a hand out and grabbed her partner's wrist. "Hang on...what's that?" She pointed. "Scuba reservations?"

Dar's eyebrows shot up. She punched the required button and leaned forward, with Kerry pressed against her side in curiosity. "Whoa," she said. "Never saw that before." She studied the announcement. "Dive in the Living Seas. Tropical fish, turtles, sharks. Hmm." Her eyes turned to Kerry. "Wanna do it?"

"You need to ask?" Kerry said. "Scuba diving in the gazillion gallon aquarium? Sign me up!" She watched as Dar indicated their interest. After a moment, a real person appeared on the screen. "Hi."

"Hello!" The face smiled back at them. "How can I help you?"

Having punched a specific button, Dar had more or less expected the operator to know what she wanted. "We want to go dive in the Living Seas."

"Great!" The woman replied. "Would that be for today?"

"Yes."

The woman did something on her end that involved typing. "Great," she said again. "We have spaces available at five thirty. How's that?"

Kerry checked her watch. "It's five now," she said. "Sounds perfect."

Dar bounced up and down on the balls of her feet happily. "Do it," she instructed the woman. "What do we need?"

The woman typed for a while, then she looked up. "Okay, you'll need bathing suits, and of course, you do have your certification cards?"

Dar nodded. "Yep, we do."

"Terrific! Go to the customer service center at five-fifteen, and they'll take it from there." The woman smiled broadly. "Excited?"

"Yes." Kerry forestalled Dar's answer. "Thanks!' She watched the woman sign off, and then she turned to Dar. "Oh, this is going to be so cool."

Dar grinned as she requested their dinner reservations. "Yeah," she said. "It's not like we haven't been diving in more exotic places, but this'll be different all right." Finishing, she put her hands on Kerry's shoulders and directed her toward the service center. "Let's go."