Kerry grabbed the cell phone out of her hand and put it to her ear. “Hello? Who is this?” She waited for an answer. “That’s nice.
Listen to me. My name is Kerrison Stuart. I know more people in Congress than you have brain cells. If you don’t want six government agencies coming down on your doorstep on Monday morning, you’ll do whatever it is Ms. Roberts was asking you to do and not say one word.” She paused. “Do you understand me?” The sound of panic came through clearly. “Good. If you need me to get the snow removal people to clear your path, just say so.” She paused for his reply. “No? Good. We’ll be waiting for that repair-man. Good bye.” She slammed the phone shut and threw it across the room, where it bounced off the wall. “Jesus!”
She turned to see Angie staring at her, both hands covering her mouth. “What?” Then she shifted her eyes to where Dar was lying peacefully, her hands folded over her stomach, regarding her with a look of mixed amusement and pride. “What?” Her frustration surfaced. “You need a doctor!”
“Kerry,” Dar laid a hand on her thigh, “would you take it easy?”
“No.” Kerry scowled. “Dar, I’m really worried about your arm, and I…” She winced and rubbed her temples. “Shit.” The pounding at her temples increased and made her stomach churn.
She sucked in her breath at a wave of lightheadedness and was
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aware of Dar’s sudden grip on her. “Damn it.”
Angie leaned forward. “Ker, are you okay?”
Kerry exhaled, trying to release the anger that had boiled up unexpectedly. She took a few deep breaths and the dizziness faded, along with the tension along her brow line. “Yeah.” She cleared her throat a little. “I’m fine...just aggravated.”
Dar rubbed the inside of her wrist. “You sure?”
Kerry looked at her, seeing the honest concern in her eyes.
“Yeah. I’m just worried about you, and frustrated.” She considered for a moment. “And overreacting, I think.” She gave Dar a wry look. “Sorry.”
“S’kay.” Dar gently squeezed her leg. “You’ve got a point, I do need to get this looked at. But we’re not going anywhere in this weather, and unless an orthopedic surgeon is on your guest list, it’s going to have to wait until we get home.”
Kerry frowned.
Angie cleared her throat. “If you don’t mind me asking, what exactly happened?”
Dar and Kerry exchanged glances. “It’s complicated,” Kerry finally replied, as the tension that had gripped her slowly ebbed.
She pulled her laptop back onto her lap and stared at it. “What was I doing?”
“Finding alernative routes for the western and southern datastreams,” Dar replied. “Try Atlanta and Kansas City. They should be able to handle the additional traffic. I think I put in big enough pipes there.”
“Yeah,” Kerry murmured, taking a deep breath and releasing it.
“Er…I meant to Dar’s arm,” Angie said delicately. “Not that what you’re doing isn’t interesting, but I’m seriously clueless when it comes to computers.”
Dar watched Kerry work for a moment. “I…um…” Explaining the entire Naval base issue was just too much for her at the moment. “I got hit in the shoulder with a baseball bat.”
“Oh,” Angie murmured. “Wow, that must have hurt.”
“Yeah, it did.”
“And then she made it worse by picking me up the other night,” Kerry muttered, her eyes focused on her laptop screen. “So there’s a certain amount of personal guilt going on here.” She smacked a few more keys. “God damn it.”
Angie exchanged glances with Dar. “Know what I think?”
“What?” Kerry asked testily.
“I think you need a nap.” Angie got up and tossed a pillow at her sister. “And you need to chill out.” She left the room and closed the green hued door behind her.
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DAR’S EYES CLOSED as she lay quietly waiting for a call back on her cell phone. It was dim and silent in the room, the snow was still falling outside, and Kerry was curled up on her side with her head pillowed on Dar’s stomach, fast asleep.
Dar curled her fingers around a lock of Kerry’s hair, and wondered if Kerry was half as worried about her as she was about Kerry. She could almost sense the fractures in Kerry’s usually sturdy psyche and she only hoped the growing and renewed warmth with her nuclear family helped to heal them. Or else she’d take Kerry home and surround her with as much love and support as it took to do the job.
They’d gotten some of the problem resolved, as much as they could without fixing the broken equipment, and Dar had finally coaxed Kerry into taking one of the pills she carried around for stress headaches. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, the dos-age that merely relaxed Dar had knocked her shorter, lighter partner out like a light.
Dar’s cell vibrated softly, and she lifted it up. “Yeah? “ she murmured into the receiver.
“Dar, it’s Mark.” The MIS manager sounded upset. “Listen, we’ve got a real problem.”
One of Dar’s eyebrows lifted wryly. “Another one?”
“Some guy from the government’s here. He’s got a court order or something that says I have to give him the core dump you took from the Navy base.”
Dar’s other eyebrow lifted. “Really? Let me talk to him.”
She could almost see the smug look on the man’s face, and the carefully not smug look on Mark’s when he handed the phone over. “Who is this?” she drawled softly.
"My name is John Bradley,” a voice answered. “I represent the Military Appropriations Committee, Ms. Roberts. I assure you, this is all in order. Please have your staff here give me the information I require.”
“They don’t have it,” Dar told him, enjoying the moment of stunned silence.
“Ms. Roberts, this is not a joke. I have a court order.”
“It’s not even remotely funny. But the fact is, it’s not there, Mr. Bradley,” Dar replied. “Mind telling me who you work for?”
There was a brief silence before he blustered, “We can search.”
“Go ahead.” Dar laughed softly. “But be ready for the law-suit. You can drop a copy of that court order off at our legal department while you’re at it.”
“This request comes from some very important people, Ms.
Roberts,” Bradley warned. “You don’t really want it getting out
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that this information is floating around out there, now do you? If you force me to take this public, I will.”
Ouch.
“You’re barking up the wrong tree,” Dar said.
“Am I? We’ll see.” There was a click.
Dar sighed. “This so sucks,” she murmured in the direction of the canopy. For a few minutes, she just lay there, listening to Kerry’s slow, even breathing, then she picked up her phone and scrolled through her address book, selected a number, and pressed it.
The phone rang three times before it was picked up. “Joint Chiefs,” the young, female voice answered.
“I need to speak with General Easton, please,” Dar said very quietly. “This is Dar Roberts.”
She waited patiently, one hand tangling itself in Kerry’s hair while canned Christmas music played in her ear. Finally, after a few minutes, the line clicked and she heard the faint sound of someone clearing their throat before speaking. “Gerry?”
The voice stilled, and she could hear the exhale. “Well, hello there, Dar.” Easton’s tone sounded wary, but also slightly surprised and hopeful.
Dar had used his first name for a reason. “Alastair told me we had a deal.”
Easton cleared his throat again. “Why, yes, we do… Listen, Dar,” he sighed, “I know what a bloody bastard this is, and I know it put your shorts in square knots.”
A faint smile crossed Dar’s face. “And I know how you feel about the service.”
Another sigh was audible. “It’s so damn hard, Dar. You know how fond I am of you.”
“We’ve known each other a long time,” Dar said. “I didn’t want to find what I did.”
“Don’t you think I know that?” Easton said. “Damn it all, Dar.”
Dar was silent for a moment. “If we have a deal, then why did I get a visit from the goon squad today? I didn’t think you mis-trusted me that badly.”
For a long instant, there was dead silence on the other end of the line. “What?” Easton finally spluttered. “Visit from who?”
“Some guy named Bradley from the Military Appropriations Committee was in my office with a court order, getting that data dump you asked them to retrieve,” Dar replied calmly. “Why, Gerry?”
“Errr…” Easton almost sneezed. “I didn’t send a damn blessed soul anywhere near Miami today!” A chair scraped against wood. “What the devil are you talking about?”
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Dar stared blankly at the phone, a dozen thoughts running through her head. “You didn’t?”
“Certainly not,” Easton replied.
“I talked to him myself,” Dar murmured. “He said he had a court order.” Her mind flicked over the conversation. “He wanted the core…Wait a minute. How in the hell did he know I had that?”
Easton paused. “Gave it to him, did you?”
“No,” Dar replied. “It’s not there. Gerry, are you sure you didn’t ask them to do this? Don’t…” Dar felt her heart rate pick up. “Forget the company; I need to know.”
“Paladar, I swear to you I didn’t,” Easton said seriously. “No point to it, you see? Not with that bargain you drove. Sticky thing that was to push through, I will say.”
“Then where did he…” Dar paused. “Huh.” Could someone have found what her father had hidden? Anything was possible, though she knew her father well enough to know how careful he was. Oh well. A simple phone call could verify that.
“I say, Dar...do you mean to say someone knows about this whole thing outside us?” Easton suddenly asked, sharply. “John Bradley, was it?”
“I’ll call you later.” Dar hung up and immediately dialed her parents’ cell phone number. It rang four times, then went to the voice mail. “Damn.” She waited for the message to end, then left her name and cell number. As she closed the phone, she considered her next course of action.
“Dar?” Kerry’s voice burred sleepily. “What’s wrong?”
Dar gazed down at the half open green eyes peering up at her.
“Hm?” She made a questioning noise, to buy herself some time.
“How’s your head?”
“Woozy.” Kerry remained where she was, one hand stroking idly across Dar’s belly. “That stuff’s strong. You shoulda warned me.” Her eyes closed for a moment, then reopened. “You didn’t answer my question.”
Should I?
Dar didn’t want to add to the stress already piled on her lover’s shoulders, but she was reluctant to lie to her. “Someone from the government, or so they claim, came looking for that information at the office. I thought he was from Gerry’s office, but…”
Kerry absorbed that. “Damn. I thought you took the core dump out of the building.”
“I did,” Dar said. “Dad has it.”
Kerry shrugged. “Then it’s okay, right?”
Dar met her eyes with a troubled look. “Except that now Gerry knows someone else is looking for it, because I was stupid enough to tell him.”
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“Oh.” Kerry looked apprehensive now. “What does that mean?’
“I don’t know.”
“Could someone else have found out about it?” Kerry asked.
“Or…did this come from my father?” She hesitated. “What does Dad say? Anyone been asking him?”
“I don’t know,” Dar said. “The folks are not answering the phone. Maybe they took the boat out.” She opened the phone and dialed. “Hello? Yes, this is Dar Roberts; can I talk to the dock mas-ter please?” She waited. “Slip 1452, is it berthed?” There was a short wait before the man came back on the line. “Yes? Thanks.”
She hung up. “Boat’s in the dock.”
Kerry was now more or less awake. “Want me to call Colleen and have her run down there? I think she’s the closest.”
Dar nodded silently and handed her the phone. She listened to Kerry dial and watched as she pushed the disheveled hair back off her forehead and leaned on one elbow.
“Hey, Col,” Kerry said softly. “Yeah. No, thanks. Thanks. I loved the basket.” She listened. “No, what I…What? Where are you? Our place?” She looked at Dar. “Mom and Dad asked Col to puppy sit. Said they were going out of town for a few days.”
Dar blinked. “When was this?”
Kerry asked. “About two hours ago,” she relayed to Dar. “Did they say where they were going? No? I don’t get it.”
Out of town?
“They didn’t mention anything about going out of town,” Dar said, in a puzzled tone. “Did they?”
“No, I don’t think so.” Kerry just sat there thinking for a minute. “I don’t get it.” She yawned and leaned against Dar.
“Why would anyone be trying to get that information from you?
The general already has it, and my father already had it.”
“Beats me. Guy said he was from the military appropriations committee.” Dar shrugged.
Kerry took hold of her wrist. “My father was on that,” she said. “Could he have told them?”
Oh boy.
“I don’t know,” Dar murmured. “But if he did, we’ve got a problem.”
They heard the distinct slamming of a door somewhere nearby. They looked at each other, then at the door, as footsteps—
heavy and determined—headed in their direction. “I think that problem’s going to have to wait.” Kerry rolled off the bed.
Dar got out after her and followed her across the carpet, but stopped when Kerry paused and put her hand out, touching Dar’s chest. “What?”
“They’re my family.” Kerry intently searched Dar’s face.
“Please. Let me take a stab at handling them. Stay back for now.”
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Dar frowned.
“Please?” Kerry brushed Dar’s lips with her own. “I have to face them sometime, Dar. You can’t beat them all up for me.”
“Why not?”
“Dar.”
Dar sighed. “Okay.” She opened the door for Kerry. “Go get
’em.” She gave her a pat on the butt, and watched until she disappeared around the edge of the corridor leading to the stairs. She waited an additional moment, then slipped out, padded to the landing, and cocked her head to listen.
CYNTHIA STUART SAW the broad back go past her, and she hurried after it. “Edgar?”
Edgar stopped, then turned and looked at her. “Cyndi, I heard you had that whore under this roof.” He stared accusingly at her. “We had a bargain.”