Stormy Waters: Book 10 in The Dar & Kerry Series (5 page)

"I think it's that one." Kerry pointed at the ship aligned on the northeast side of the port. "Yeesh, they're big."

"That they are." Dar studied the vessels. They were all roughly the same size, but all four had different configurations. Two seemed to be tall and squat; the other two were long and lower. Even in the dark, they all bore signs of having better times behind them. She could see patches upon patches of metal on the sides if the light from the streetlamps lining the harbor hit them at a certain angle.

The one on the northeast that Kerry had pegged as "theirs" was one of the longer, lower ones. Dar steered a little closer, keeping a wary eye out for the authorities, her eyes measuring the length and breadth with automatic accuracy. "Damn thing must be a thousand feet long!?"

"Lot of portholes." Kerry noted.

"Oh yeah." Dar agreed softly. The Dixieland Yankee slid a little sideways in the tide, and a strip of moonlight splashed between her and the boat. It hit the water, and Dar leaned forward her eyes catching a ripple on the surface that didn't look quite right. "Hey, Ker?"

"Yeah?"

"Check the bilge real quick, huh? Are we leaking something?"

Kerry scrambled across the deck and hopped over the back wall leaning over and peering at the back of the boat. She held on with one hand and fished her mini flashlight off her belt with the other, keying it on and studying the spot where the engines were churning the water. "Can't tell." She yelled up at Dar. "You're breaking up the water too much."

Dar cut the engines after looking around to make sure they weren't going to drift into anything. "Look quick."

Kerry studied the water, then leaned way over and stuck her hand in, bringing it up and sniffing. Her nose wrinkled. "This stinks, but not of diesel."

"Okay, get up." Dar started the engines again and backed the boat away from the pier, getting to an angle against the moonlight again. She spotted what had worried her--a silvery film on the water they?d just passed through that extended across the surface of the water behind them.

Carefully, Dar turned the boat and followed the oily stripe with her eyes. It went right past them and headed across the cut, fading out from her view as it reached the ship in the northeast dock. "Figures."

"What is it?" Kerry was at the bottom of the ladder peering up.

"Should have thought of that first. It's one of them leaking something." Dar pointed.

Kerry turned and looked, shading her eyes against the streetlamps. Now that Dar had pointed it out to her, she saw the line on the water, and in fact if she went to the side-- "I can smell it." She called up. "Smells like kerosene."

Dar moved their boat sideways out of the stain. One of the customs' boats was now heading their way, apparently noting the odd maneuvers she'd been executing. "Shoulda just stayed out on the reef. Better go grab the registration just in case, Ker."

The other boat pulled alongside and Dar set the Dixie into idle keeping her hands on the controls as the customs officer grabbed hold of the railing. "Hi." She called down.

"You having a problem?" The man called up to her, apparently more concerned for her safety than suspicious.

"No. I saw a slick, and thought I was causing it." Dar pointed. "But it's that tub over there."

The officer shaded his eyes then crouched. "Ah! Yeah." He nodded. "You just out for a ride?"

Kerry emerged, carefully locking Chino inside the cabin. "No, we were diving." She indicated their gear. "We live over there. We saw these big ships coming in, so we were curious."

The customs officer gave her a once over. "Well, don't be too curious. That's our job." He pushed off from the railing. "You folks have a good night."

"Night." Kerry replied politely. "You too."

The customs boat backed away, but placed itself conspicuously between the ship and the Dixieland Yankee. The officers on the rear of the boat watched them as Dar idled for a moment more, then swung the bow around and headed off toward the marina on the far side of the island.

Kerry climbed up onto the flying bridge and joined her partner. "That was weird."

"Of course it was. Do normal things happen to you and me?" Dar asked, as she glanced behind her. "But in fairness, I don't think oil leaks are their department." She took the right fork around the island instead of the left, coming even with another of the ships as she moved slowly through the no wake area.

This was the first ship that had come in, and it was already tied up. There were several figures standing on the deck leaning on the rails, looking at the sights. One waved at them.

Kerry waved back.

The figure stepped forward and exposed himself laughing loudly.

Dar picked up the mic clipped to the console and switched on the Dixie's PA system. "Throw it back, buddy. It's too short."

Kerry snickered, leaning against Dar and hiding her face in her shirt sleeve.

The man's companions laughed as well, slapping the miscreant on the back and shoving him back against the wall. One of them then advanced to the rail, but backed up again as the Dixieland Yankee turned into the marina channel and started to disappear from view. "Hey girlies! C'mon back, yeah? I got me a big one!"

"You know what?" Kerry sniffed reflectively. "I sure hope Shari and Michelle get that one."

Dar chuckled. "I'm sure ours won't be much better. Old salts are old salts."

"Hmm. We could bring our own old salt with us." Kerry mused. "He's still on the payroll, and I bet he'd probably keep those guys off our backs."

"Hmm."

They came around the south side of the island and entered the marina basin, slowing their already slow speed to just above idle. Most of the marina was empty--the owners moving their boats to a more comfortable climate during the summer along with themselves.

Dar angled toward their slip putting the Dixie neatly into place as Kerry scooted down the ladder to jump ashore and tie them off. Her thoughts, however, were on Kerry's last suggestion. Not that she really thought they needed Dad around on their ship.

But wouldn't it be interesting if he were hanging around the others?

Dar shut down the diesels and leaned against the console, weighing the conflict of aiding their business goals at the expense of asking her father to be a part of something not quite...

Would he consider it dishonorable? Or just good strategy?

"Dar? You coming down from there or should I bring coffee up?"

Dar shut down the console and pocketed the keys, then started for the ladder still pondering the question.

KERRY SETTLED INTO her seat glad of the very early morning quiet of the office on a rainy Monday morning. She had a meeting scheduled in an hour with Mark and the technical team for the bid, and she intended on using the time before then to square away the project and tie up a few loose ends.

"Hey, Mayte?" She pressed her intercom. "You there?"

"Yes! I am."

"Did we get the circuit completion on the pier?" Kerry asked. "I don't have anything here on it."

"I will check." Mayte promised. "They were saying on Friday that it would be done."

"Okay, thanks." Kerry set that problem aside. She pulled over a folder with requisitions for the project, and reviewed them. "Yikes! Is this just for the setup team?" She sighed, leafing through the pages. Money to establish an office at the pier and get that up and running, and provisioning for the gear to equip the office. "Damn, IT is expensive." She shook her head and signed the pages, closed the folder and tossed it into her out bin.

"Kerry?" Mayte's voice crackled in.

"Yeesss?" Kerry answered.

Her assistant laughed softly. "You sound so funny when you do that."

"Do I sound like Dar?" Kerry's eyes twinkled.

"A little." Mayte admitted. "Only not so big."

Kerry's eyebrow lifted.

"The circuits have come complete." Mayte went on. "The Bellsouth man says it is terminated in the local office on Brickell. He needs to know from you which to patch here."

"Tell him the Pier 10 one." Kerry replied. "But hold on to the other ones. I might be able to rent them." She hummed softly in satisfaction. "Okay, we're good to go." She typed a message to Mark then took a sip of her morning tea.

The door opened and Mayte slipped inside coming over to her desk with a folder in her hands. "Good morning."

"Morning!" Kerry pointed at her outbox. "Can you make sure that gets down to purchasing? We're gonna need it." She glanced at her assistant. "That's a pretty shirt. I like it."

Mayte blushed visibly. "Mama got it for me this weekend." She fingered the silk shyly. "I think she was trying to make it up to me for getting me in so much trouble when you went to New York." She hesitated. "Kerry, you were talking last week about going diving. Do you like that a lot?"

Kerry leaned back in her chair. "Absolutely," she said. "In fact, Dar and I went on a night dive on Friday night. It was wonderful. I saw a moray eel."

Mayte nodded seriously. "I think I would like to try that. Do you know where I could find out about it?"

"Sure. Matter of fact, you can borrow my study materials to see if you like it. Remind me and I'll bring them in tomorrow." Kerry promised. "It's a great sport...ah, did you tell your parents you wanted to do this?"

"No." Mayte grinned a little. "I did not think they would like it. Mama is always worried the sharks will eat you and La Jefa when you go." She confided. "Have you seen a shark?"

"Sure." Kerry said. "But it was in a tank at Disney World. Does that count?" She grinned at her assistant's look of bewilderment. "Anyway, I'll bring the stuff in and you can read it. Really, it's a lot of fun."

"Thank you. I will tell Mama afterwards. Yes?"

"You learn fast." Kerry winked. "Hey, maybe you can come out diving with us if you decide you like it. I think your mama trusts us to take care of you."

Mayte's eyes lit up. "I think so too!" She blurted. "Thank you!" Her gaze dropped to the folder in her hands. "This came for you." She held it out. "I am sorry I am taking up your time."

Kerry took the folder, and watched in some bemusement as Mayte trotted for the door and escaped into the outer office. "Huh." She put the folder down and opened it. "What got into her, I wonder?"

"You."

Kerry nearly jumped out of her seat before she recognized the voice. "Jesus, Dar." She looked over at the inner door. "You scared the poo out of me." Her brow creased. "What do you mean me?"

Her partner strolled over and took a seat on the edge of Kerry's desk. "You haven't noticed yet she has a crush on you?"

"Oh, she does not." Kerry scoffed. "Get out of here. She's a nice kid, and she loves working here. What, because she's interested in diving, you think she's got a crush on me?"

The corners of Dar's eyes creased as a little grin appeared. "Okay, don't say I didn't warn you. Did those lines come in?"

"Yes." Kerry nodded. "I was going to send Mark and a team there to get the office set up and facilities working. Did you want to go look at the ship?"

Dar got up and went to the window looking out as she pressed her fingertips against the glass. "No." She did a few vertical pushups. "I've got something I'm working on in ops. Maybe I'll go over tonight, after the crowds take off."

"Okay."

"I just talked to Alastair."

Kerry half turned to face her partner. "And?"

"The contracts this contract is tied into will either make or break the quarter, he thinks."

Nothing like a little pressure. "Okay, but the quarter just started."

"New business is down forty percent on the month." Dar kept doing her pushups. "Alastair said people are waiting to see what happens with this one. It's too public."

"What do you mean, too public? Kerry lifted a hand. "You mean the filming people? They aren't done yet!"

"People know," Dar said, "about us and Telegenics. It's all over the tech press."

"So we have to win it." Kerry exhaled. "No options."

"Something like that." Dar nodded. "I've got to go to ops." She pushed away from the window. "Tell Mark I'm sure Telegenics and everyone else is going to be crawling over our people at the pier. Pick the right people to go down there. I don't want a leak inside."

"All right." Kerry watched the door close behind her. "I'll do that." She added softly.

Things were getting serious. She figured it was only going to get uglier as they went along, and at the end? What if they just couldn't put in a competitive bid? Would Dar agree to a money losing contract to secure the more lucrative one behind it?

Kerry picked up her pen and chewed the end of it, thoughtfully.

"OKAY." Kerry removed her sunglasses as she entered the port building, looking around and spotting one of their security people near the back door. "Hey, John."

"Ms. Stuart." The man hurried over. "Glad you're here. There are some people over in the office causing a problem. The pier folks brought them over."

Kerry sighed and stuck her glasses into the pocket of the red camp shirt she'd put on for her visit to the port. "Lead on." She gestured toward the back. The building was a lot noisier than it had been on her previous visit, and she could hear the sounds of various power tools going as the infrastructure staff put together their temporary office.

They walked through the entryway and into the back hall. Kerry spotted Michelle Graver's distinctive figure in the doorway to their office along with her camera people, and she only just prevented herself from audibly growling. "What's going on here?" She asked instead, putting a sharp note into her voice.

Michelle turned, along with the cameraman, and the port agent.

The port agent had the grace to look apologetic, but Michelle certainly didn't.

"We're just documenting the first of many instances of ILS's attempt to sabotage everyone else's efforts." Michelle said bluntly. "In this case, by taking all the spare pairs into the port and preventing us from putting a circuit in." She advanced aggressively on Kerry, pointing her finger at her. "Didn't think we'd find out?"

Kerry waited for Michelle to stop walking then she made the most of her few inch height advantage. "If you can the Joe Friday routine, I'll rent you one of the lines. Otherwise, take yourself out of my administrative space, please. I have work to do." She was very aware of the camera focused on her, and the wide eyed stares coming from her people inside the office, but she kept her even gaze on Michelle's face. "And for the record, my forethought does not equal your sabotage. Now take off."