Hurricane Watch

Chapter

Five

KERRY REACHED OVER and flicked her computer on as she sat down at her desk. She glanced at her inbox and took a sip of fragrant, steaming coffee. Leaning back in her comfortable leather chair and smiling a little, she rested her head against the soft surface as she waited for her computer to finish booting up.

It did, and she was logging in when her phone rang. She punched the button. ”Kerry Stuart.”

”Hi, Kerry? It’s John Brown in Charlotte.” The man’s voice sounded harried but friendly. He was a supervisor in the networking office, she recalled.

”Good morning, John. What can I do for you?” She answered cordially.

”Well, um, I got a request from your office, and I just wanted to check it out with someone. I don’t want to do something then get my ass nailed, if you know what I mean. I tried Ms. Robert’s office first, but she’s not there.”

”She’s just down the hall in Ops, but what’s the problem?” Kerry inquired curiously. ”What did we ask for?”

”It’s the fractional T1 we use for the insurance division’s data transfer. We got a request to turn their link off and reroute network traffic from your office to the London conference center,” John replied.

”They’re gonna go bonkershits if we do that, so… ”

Kerry's brow creased. ”We asked for that? Wait, no, I mean, I know we’ve got a problem with the overseas links, but we found a way around that. Who made the request?”

Ruffle of papers. ”Someone named Fab…Fabarini or something,”

he muttered. ”I didn’t get the spelling. One of my guys took the call and he gave it to me to check out.” A pause. ”You want me to go ahead?”

Kerry drummed her fingers on her desk. ”No,” she replied evenly.

”In fact, don’t do anything from this office unless you get it from Dar, Mark, or me.”

A long pause. ”Uh, okay,” John replied, obviously confused. ”I mean, usually I wouldn’t question stuff like that. I mean you guys ask for shuffling all the time, but this seemed a little drastic, you know?”

That stupid piece of… ”Yes, I know, but, as a favor to me, just clear everything through Operations here first, okay?”

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”Sure.” John agreed amiably. ”Better for me that way so I don’t get my ass nailed from Insurance and Banking when they find out their pipe got taken down.” He rattled a few keys. ”Thanks, Kerry.”

”No problem,” Kerry responded, and hung up. She stewed for a moment, then she stood, about to head out the door to find Dar. The phone rang before she could move, though, and she punched the button again. ”Kerry Stuart.”

”This is José.” The VP's voice sounded flustered. ”We’re having a meeting here. Come down. I can’t find Dar.”

Green eyes regarded the phone. ”Sure,” Kerry replied. ”Be right there.” She circled her desk and strode out of her office, heading for the large conference room at the end of the hall. She opened the door, seeing a group of six or seven people inside, and walked on in.

”We were heading right for disaster!” Steven Fabricini was insisting, thumping a fist on the table. ”Can you imagine the egg on our face?” He turned and saw Kerry approaching. ”And you people didn’t do a goddamned thing about it! This is disgraceful!” He threw his hands up. ”If I hadn’t been here, I can only imagine what would have happened!” A pause. ”Nice of you to show up, waltzing in here at nine o’clock.”

Kerry paused and regarded him, then walked around to an empty chair and sat down, folding her hands on the table. ”Mind starting at the beginning? I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”

José threw a pencil on the table. ”We have a big goddamn conference with the overseas office in London and the lines are down.”

Kerry nodded slowly. ”The intercontinental trunks, yes. We were notified,” She replied calmly, savoring what she knew was coming. ”I was paged this morning.”

”And you did nothing,” Steven fumed. ”Well, I took care of it. I have the network office tying in some extra lines for us, so we’ll be okay.”

Kerry cocked her head. ”No you don’t,”

She replied calmly.

”Netops cleared it through us, and I told them not to do it.”

”What?” José sat up. ”Are you crazy woman?”

”That’s it! I knew it. You are trying to sabotage us,” Fabricini accused, leaning on his hands.

Kerry exhaled. ”Those extra circuits belong to a live account, which you were going to take down without any prior notification, so yes, I told them not to do it.” She stood and put her hands on her hips. ”And it’s not needed, because we already have an alternate link up.”

Silence. ”What?” José asked again, looking at Steven. ”You said there was nothing.” He looked back at Kerry. ”No one was in your office. We called three times!”

Kerry shrugged. ”No one paged me,” she replied simply. ”Or called my cell phone, or left me voice mail, or contacted Maria. Seems to me someone didn’t try very hard to find out if we were doing something.”

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She brushed a fleck of dust off her sleeve, then she walked over to the presentation computer, and signed into it, hitting the key which would switch the output to the overhead screen. She waited, then accessed their intranet, and started a conferencing session. A list of remote offices popped up, the London one conspicuously in the center.

”There you go.” She glanced up. ”Is there anything else I can do? I’ve got a pretty big inbox to clear before we leave this afternoon.”

Steven wasn’t finished. ”Okay, so who did you steal lines from?” he asked, sarcastically.

Kerry smiled at him, with no humor in her face. ”No one. We bought sat time and used an uplink,” she replied briefly. ”And it’s been done since before dawn, so I guess you can say I’ve been working for three hours longer than you have.” She gave them all a look, then walked around the table and headed for the door.

”You should have let us know,” José interrupted her. ”You can’t blame us for thinking we were high and dry, Ms Stuart. I have a department and company to protect here.”

Kerry turned at the door, and regarded him. ”You’re right,” she told him, sincerely. ”We should have paged you, but we were hoping to get the alternate route up before anyone even realized there was a problem.” she admitted ”I apologize for that. I’ll make sure you get notified the next time.”

José fiddled with his tie. ”Exactly, exactly, yes. Good.” He nodded, then waved at his secretary. ”Get this conference hooked up, will you?”

Kerry slipped out the door, glancing back in as she closed it and seeing the hostile eyes watching her. She sighed and let the lock click behind her, leaning against the wall as she willed her body to stop shaking.

She hated face-to-face conflict like that. All at once, her stomach rebelled, and she got to the ladies room just in time to lose her breakfast, her body violently reacting to the sudden, unexpected stress.

She leaned against the wall afterward, closing her eyes and hoping her stomach would settle. ”Okay, Kerry, just relax. You’ve been in more tense situations than that. What’s up with you?” she asked herself silently. And it was true, she had, with her father, with Dar— So why did this bastard get to her like this?

She sighed, and trudged to the sink, washing her mouth out and splashing water over her face, which felt overheated. She was just drying her face off with a paper towel when footsteps approached, and she glanced up as the door swung open and a familiar dark head poked in. ”Oh, hi,” she greeted Dar. ”I was just coming to look for you.”

Dar slipped inside and let the door close. ”I was just coming to look for you.” She gazed at Kerry. ”You okay?”

Embarrassed, Kerry nodded. ”Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.” She decided Dar didn’t need any more stress of her own. ”I was just making sure the conference went off. I logged on and confirmed the London servers Hurricane Watch

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were accessible from the big presentation room.”

The blue eyes studied her in puzzled concern for a moment. ”Good, good, I’m glad you did that.” Dar glanced behind her then came closer, very gently touching Kerry’s cheek. ”You look really pale. You sure you’re okay?”

Kerry also glanced around, conscious of how public a place they were in. ”Yeah, I’m sure. Something disagreed with me, maybe that meat pastalito I had.” She put a hand over her stomach. ”But I’m fine now.”

Dar stepped back, giving her a relieved nod. ”Oh, yeah, they were kinda greasy this morning,” she commented. ”Well, if that crisis is done, I’ve got another one for us to work on.”

Kerry exhaled. ”Lead on,” she responded. ”What’s up now?” She followed Dar outside and down the hall hearing the faint sounds of the presentation going on in the conference room.

”We took over a manufacturing plant’s IS and we’ve got two mainframes down,” Dar responded.

”And?” Kerry inquired. ”That doesn’t sound too tough.”

”It’s in Hong Kong,” Dar replied dryly, ”which now has a technology restriction and we can’t get parts in to fix them.”

”Oh.” The blonde chewed her lip. ”That sucks.”

”Mm. ”

”Smuggle the chips inside fortune cookies?”

Dar chuckled wryly as they headed down the corridor.

”DAR?” MARIA’S VOICE broke into her concentration, as she poured over circuiting diagrams. Dar glanced up with a start, aware suddenly of the time.

”Yes?” She asked, checking her watch. Shit.

”Mariana just called. The bus is here.” The secretary said. ”She asks are you ready?”

Dar sat back, regarding the pile on her desk with a look of mild disgust. ”No, but that’s not going to stop this thing from happening, is it?” she muttered in response ”I’ve got a six inch stack of paper I need to go over and three reports that are due.”

She sighed and rubbed her temples. ”Tell her I’ll change and be down in the lobby in ten minutes. You might want to call Kerry, and see if she’s headed down.”

”Not quite,” a soft voice answered from the inner door.

Dar glanced up to see Kerry’s head poking into her office ”Never mind on that last, Maria. She’s right here. ”

”Okay. I will wrap things up here, Dar. Try to have a good weekend, okay?” Even Maria sounded doubtful. ”Good luck.”

”Thanks,” Dar sighed. ”You have a good weekend too, Maria.” She glanced at Kerry. ”You ready?”

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Kerry entered, already changed into jeans and a sweatshirt. ”As I ever will be.” She gave Dar a wry look. ”I finished up everything I could Dar, but there’s still a lot of stuff pending, cleanup from this morning, and what not.”

”I know,” Dar sighed, and stood up, stretching her six foot plus frame out and rolling her neck around to loosen it. ”What a day. All right, let me go get out of this monkey suit and we’ll head down.” She stepped around the desk and held her arms out. ”One for the road?”

Dar got no argument from Kerry. She slid into Dar’s embrace, feeling the cool silk under her fingers that warmed as she closed her arms around Dar’s body. ”Mmm…” She sensed the pressure of lips against her head, and she let herself absorb the sweet feeling, wishing she could just stay like this and not have to get on that damned bus.

After a long moment, they parted reluctantly, and Dar let her fingers brush across Kerry’s cheek. ”I resent having to spend an entire weekend pretending not to be desperately in love with you,” she stated seriously. ”I think I resent that more than having to go in the first place.”

Kerry blushed a little. ”I just hope I don’t slip up and forget you’re just my boss,” she admitted. ”You’d better stay far away from me at night.” She gave Dar a pat. ”Go change. I’ll get my bag.”

Dar sighed, watching her leave before she went over to the small closet in her office and opened it. Inside were her bag and a hanger ready for her suit to fit on. She kicked off her shoes into the closet and flexed her toes against the carpet as she shrugged out of her jacket and set it to one side. “Damn it,” she muttered. “I should have just called Alastair and said forget it. This is nuts.”

She slipped off her skirt and hose and traded them for a pair of worn jeans from her bag, buttoning them and glancing at her reflection in the door’s full length mirror as she unfolded a cotton polo shirt to put on. “Hmph,” she grunted as she shook the shirt out. ”Starting to look like you can kick some ass again, Roberts. Been a while.” She pulled the polo over her head and tucked it into the waistband of the jeans, adding a leather belt and buckling it.

She heard Kerry returning as she brought her bag over to the couch and sat down to put her hiking boots on. A moment later, the door opened and her lover appeared, carrying her own bag and running her fingers through her pale hair. “Hey.”

”Dar, it’s cold out,” Kerry scolded. ”You need a sweater or something. You’re going to catch a chill.” She dug through her boss’s bag, and retrieved a soft, fleece sweatshirt. ”Put this on.”

”Yes, mother,” Dar chuckled, but did as she was told, slipping the fabric over her head and adjusting the waistband. ”Better?”

Kerry reviewed the rich, crimson color against Dar’s tanned skin and dark hair, and smiled. ”Oh, I like that. You look really good in Hurricane Watch

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red.” She shouldered her bag and exhaled. ”Okay, let’s go.”

They went down the hall to the elevator and got in, riding it down in silence and exchanging one, last look before the door opened.

The rest of the group was there waiting, and Dar and Kerry collected several annoyed looks as they joined them. ”Sorry,” Dar addressed the woman sent to collect them. ”Just tying up loose ends.”

The woman, a perky blonde with an infectious smile, nodded.

”Well, that’s great, glad you could join us. ” She checked her clipboard.

”You would be Roberts and Stuart, right?”

Dar nodded. ”Yep.”

”Excellent. Well, okay. My name’s Skippy, and I’ll be your guide during the seminar.” She checked her list. ”What we’re going to do is get on board the bus and get started. The camp is about three and a half hours north of here. On the way we’ll have you fill out some questionnaires, and pass out a little snack in case anyone gets hungry, okay?”

”A snack?” José objected. ”Hey, come on now, most of us didn’t get lunch.” He glanced around, twitching his jacket closed. ”It’s almost six o'clock.” Several other people nodded with him.

”All right.” Skippy didn’t miss a beat. ”We also have some full dinners on board, so let’s get going, and I’ll explain more about the program when we’re on the way.” She checked them over as they boarded the huge, chartered bus. ”Now, no one has anything nasty, like a computer, or anything like that, right?” she reminded them. ”We’re trying to get your minds into a different space this weekend.”

”I wonder how many people have asked her if she has any peanut butter.” Duks commented in a low murmur, causing Dar to chuckle. ”I cannot believe I am doing this, my friend, or that you are, for that matter.”

Dar shrugged. ”What choice did we have? Hope everyone lives through it,” she replied laconically as she watched Kerry board, then stepped up after her, glad to leave the thick, diesel smell behind. The bus was plush, with two rows of seats going back on either side, spaced far enough apart to provide a decent amount of leg space.

There was really no excuse to squeeze in, so Dar reluctantly went past the row Kerry had settled in, and slid into the next row, pushing the arm between the two seats up and stretching out. If she leaned against the window, she could see Kerry’s head doing the same and as she watched, the blonde woman turned and peeked back through the opening at her.

Kerry stuck her tongue out and made Dar smile, but she quickly stopped as Steven settled in the seat across from her, his dark eyes regarding her coolly. Duks took the seat behind her, and Mariana took the one behind Steven, and she briefly kicked herself for not arranging to do the same with Kerry.

Great. Now she was stuck looking at Steven’s obnoxious puss for 50

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three hours. With an aggrieved sigh, Dar propped one knee up, and rested her arm against it as the bus pulled out of the parking lot into the fading twilight.

“HERE YOU GO,” Skippy smiled at Kerry as she handed her a clipboard with a sheaf of papers on it. ”Just fill everything out, and feel free to ask me if you have any questions.”

Kerry took the papers. ”Okay. What’s this all for?” She asked, glancing at the forms.

Skippy put a hand on the seat back next to her. ”Well, it’s so we know you better and can tailor the seminar more closely to your needs.”

”Ah, wouldn’t it have been more efficient to give us these earlier?”

Kerry asked curiously. ”I mean it’s not like you’ll have much time to do any tinkering.”

Skippy’s perky smile became a little fixed. ”Why, we’ll stay up all night if we have to, don’t you worry. Just fill out that information for us.” Kerry pulled the cap off her pen and studied the papers. ”If I didn't know better I’d say this was just to keep us busy on the trip,” she murmured with a shake of her head. ”Because I don’t know how much tailoring you’re going to get done with a list of my favorite library books.”

”Now, now, you just let us do our jobs. That information tells our analysts a lot about you,” Skippy informed her as she escaped down the row, handing Dar her clipboard and leaning over to give Steven his.

”There you go—any questions?”

”Yeah, do you have an assigned seat, or can you help me fill mine out?” Steven asked her, giving the young blonde a smile.

Skippy beamed at him ”Well, let me pass out the rest of these, and I’ll come back to give you a hand, okay?” She scuttled down the isle, making sure everyone had a clipboard. ”Yes sir?” She leaned over where Duks was seated. ”Did you need something? A pen?”

Duks held up one of his never-ending supply of mechanical pencils.

”No, thank you.”

”You must be an accountant.” She smiled at him. ”They always have those things.”

Duks nodded gravely at her. ”When you graduate from college with a financial degree, they give you a dozen cases of them,” he assured her. ”With your name on them.” He held his up. ”See?”

”Oh, yes.” Skippy edged away from him, and turned a bright smile on Dar, who was neatly printing in her name. ”And what are you?”

”Trouble,” Dar replied, peering at her from under dark lashes, and leaving a faint smile on her lips.

”Ah.” Skippy backed off. ”Well, how about some pop, huh? We’ve got cola, orange, and lime.”

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”Milk,” Dar replied, intent on sucking as much enjoyment out of the weekend as she could. That included tormenting little blonde girls who were far too perky for their own good.

”Milk, okay, I think we have some of that. Let me go look.” She escaped down the row towards the front of the bus, where Eleanor and her assistant were installed in regal splendor.

The Marketing VP, a colorful, warm woven throw tucked around her knees, and her assistant, a tall, thin man with nervously blinking eyes and thick glasses were hunched over their forms. Just about everyone else had chosen to wear jeans, except for José, who was in a pair of neatly pressed chinos and a guyabera.

Dar tucked her knees up and rested her clipboard against them, chewing on her pen top as she studied the forms. They were a collection of questions meant to probe her innermost psyche, she reasoned.

Otherwise, why ask if she liked chicken instead of fish, or if she picked an aisle seat or a window in an airplane?

She half believed Kerry was right. This stuff was just to keep them occupied for a while until they got there or until the boredom of the trip set in and they fell asleep.

Skippy came back and handed Dar a small carton of milk, then sat down next to Steven and started going over the questions with him.

”Psst.” A soft whisper caught her attention, and she glanced over at the back of the next seat. Kerry’s green eyes were peering at her.

”Yeah?” she asked softly.

”Do we get points if we can answer more than ten percent of the questions with ‘none of the above’?” Kerry inquired. ”I hate all those animals in question six.”

”Hey!” José’s voice rose. ”What do you mean here, relations with animals? What kind of people do you think we are?”

”Sir. That means pets.” Skippy smiled perkily at him. ”You know, like doggies and kitties. Do you have any loved pets?” Her smiled faded. ”Not do you, uh, love pets, not in that way...um, we really don’t...care to know about that.”

”What about my python?” Duks commented dryly from his dark corner. ”Do you consider the rats I feed her pets too?”

Dar covered her eyes and bit back a laugh.

”Um, well, no, because they’re kind of, um, transient, right? We mean permanent pets,” Skippy replied. ”Like those that are there all the time.”

”Like my Sweetie Pie,” Mariana mused, from her seat across from Dar. ”She’s the prettiest parrot.”

Skippy smiled at her. ”See? Yes, that’s what I meant.”

”Mm. I loved her so much. I had her stuffed when she died,” the Personnel VP added. ”Now she’s the most permanent thing in the house.”

Dar clamped her jaw muscles tightly.

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”You people are so disrespectful,” Steven said sharply. ”This woman is here to do a job, and you all think it’s a joke.” He glared at them, and Skippy beamed gratefully at him. ”The company takes this seriously, and you should too.” He sat down, smiling at the guide as she eased into the seat next to him.

Dar sighed, and went back to scribbling.

The droning of the bus’s tires finally changed, and Dar shifted, blinking her eyes and glancing out the window. It was pitch dark outside, only the very occasional lamp flicking by along with the rare, desultory billboard. She glanced to her left, between the seats, and spotted the gentle curve of Kerry’s cheek as the blonde woman dozed, her head resting against the chilly window.

Across from her, Steven and Skippy were conversing in low tones, and everyone else seemed to have fallen asleep. Dar straightened, and checked her watch, then stood and stretched the kink out of her back from the semi comfortable seat. ”Almost there?” she inquired quietly.

Skippy turned her head. ”Yes. We just turned off the expressway.

We’ve got a little bit to go yet.” She replied cheerfully. ”It’s way, way out there. We wanted to get to where you couldn’t hear the traffic at all.” Dar leaned against her seat back and peered out the window. A billboard went by. ”Aardvark Bail Bonds,” she commented, ”next right.” Her head turned. ”Guess you’re not the only ones who wanted some privacy.”

Skippy blinked at her. ”What do you mean?”

Dar peered out again. ”Bill’s Bail Haven,” she enunciated. ”No waiting, six lines.” Her blue eyes regarded her wryly. ”We’re out near Stark.”

”Stark?” Steven asked, obviously disgruntled at having his discussion interrupted. ”What are you talking about, Dar?”

”The federal penitentiary,” came the droll response. ”There’s also a state jail out near here if I’m not mistaken. No wonder it’s empty.”

”Oh, well, we’re not going there,” Skippy assured her. ”It’s a camp just west of here, really. We wouldn’t take you to a prison.”

”Oh, I don’t know,” Steven sniped. ”I’d like to see that, myself.”

Dar gazed at him. ”Steven, you’d have a lot more to worry about than I would,” she replied silkily.

He leaned back. ”Oh, I don’t think so. I think those women would knock that tough attitude of yours right off.”

Dar put her hands on her hips, and smiled at him. “They might try.

Idiots have been known to.”

Skippy had been watching them, her head bobbing between them like an errant, blonde ping-pong ball. ”Oh, do you two know each other well?” she asked brightly.

Steven studied Dar’s tall form speculatively. ”C’mon, Dar. Those days are long behind you. Cut the crap.” He laughed. ”When was the Hurricane Watch

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last time you even hit the mat?”

”Mat?” Skippy seemed to sense a fight, and dove into an attempt to divert it. ”What kind of mats are those? Are you into aerobics? I am.”

Dar decided to ignore them, and instead strolled off down the aisle, ending up in the back of the bus where there was a toilet and a small refrigerator. Dar opened the fridge, finding a can of Yoo-hoo to her muted delight. She also picked up a bag of pretzels and held on as the bus took a right turn and slowed drastically.

”Oh, we’re almost there.” Skippy stood up and went to her seat at the front, gathering up her stack of paper and peering out the front window. ”Okay, folks. You’d better wake up, because the road gets a little bumpy up here and I don’t want anyone to get scared.” Her perky voice stirred the rest of the group, who struggled awake, peering around.

Dar made her way back to her seat and dropped into it, opening her soda and sucking at it in silence. A blonde head appeared over the seat in front of her and she glanced up, only just barely keeping herself from giving Kerry a friendly smile. The green eyes, amber in the bus’s low light, twinkled a little in acknowledgment. She offered Kerry some pretzels.

”Thanks,” Kerry replied politely, selecting one and munching on it.

The bus turned to the right again and now it felt like they were going over a thousand bumps, the vibration rattling through them unpleasantly.

”Jesu Christo,” José blurted. ”What kind of place is this we’re going to?” They all peered out the windows, but could only see darkness and trees, whose leaves slapped against the bus’s tall sides. After ten minutes of rattling, the bus slowed and pulled in under some kind of portal, now rocking unevenly as the road turned to soft dirt.

Finally, the bus stopped and the interior lights came on. ”Okay.”

Skippy faced them. ”We’re in front of the main hall. We’re going to get off the bus and I’ll walk you over to your cabin.” She checked a list. ”We have some hot coffee in the hall and some sandwiches if you’re hungry, but this camp is not a luxury hotel, okay?”

”Does that mean we have only mustard or catsup but not both?”

Duks commented dryly as he hefted his bag to his shoulder.

Skippy smiled. ”You’ll see. We try to make it so you don’t concentrate on your surroundings, but on each other instead.” She led the way. ”Well, let’s get started!”

They got off the bus and were assaulted by cold air full of the smell of pine and sand. In front of them was a wooden building with a porch that circled most of it, and they followed Skippy up the stairs and through the swinging door.

It was a drab place and Dar was forcibly reminded of a few Navy camps she’d been in during her younger years. There were trestle tables arranged in neat rows, with long, narrow benches next to them, and 54

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faded banners on the walls. The place had been swept, but it was chilled inside, and only three lights were on, lending a dank, almost dingy quality to it. ”Nice,” she stated with a shake of her head. ”What is this place?”

Skippy looked up from her papers. ”It’s a YMCA camp,” she replied, with a slightly smug smile.

Eleanor had been looking around and now she stared at the woman, aghast. ”You can’t expect us to stay in this disgusting place.”

She tugged her jacket around her. ”This is ludicrous.”

José stepped up next to her. ”I must agree. This is not a place for people like us.” He waved a hand at her. ”There must be a hotel around here.”

Duks perched on the edge of a table. ”I could protest this on religious grounds,” he stated, mildly, glancing at Mariana. ”Do I have a case?”

The Personnel VP blew out a breath. ”I have to admit, this is not what I expected from your company,” she addressed Skippy. ”I know this is not the kind of facility they used in Houston.”

Steven had been roaming around, studying the walls. ”Oh, I don’t know. It’s not so bad.” He turned a smile on them. ”Kinda reminds me of when I was a Boy Scout.” He spread his arms out. ”C'mon, it’s only for two nights. Lots of fresh air would probably do us all some good.”

He took in a deep breath.

As though by common accord they all turned to Dar, who was leaning against the wall. The tall Operations VP shrugged. ”I’ve been in worse,” she commented. ”My guess is there’s no other place around here, right?” Her eyes went to Skippy.

”No.” The perky blonde looked disturbed. ”They assured us you wouldn’t have any problem with this place. We were very explicit in describing it.”

José snorted. ”They must be laughing their asses off at us.” He spat disgustedly. ”Big joke, big joke, wait until I get back there. I’m going to call up those bastards and give them a piece of my mind.” He pointed at Dar. ”See what you got us into?”

”Yes, I hold you responsible for this, Dar.” Eleanor agreed. ”What were you thinking of?”

Mariana got between them. ”Wait a minute. This has nothing to do with Dar.”

”Of course it does,” Steven interrupted smoothly. ”Her lack of cooperation is what landed us here, Mariana, but now that we’re here, we might as well make the best of it.” He smiled at Skippy, who still appeared very upset. ”I’m sure we’ll carry on, despite what old Dar’s gotten us into.”

”That’s a very good attitude St...I mean, Mr. Fabricini,” Skippy asserted.

Dar gave them all a dour look, realizing Steven had won a point.

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”Arguing about this right now is pointless,” she stated evenly. ”We can discuss it when we get back to Miami, or better yet, we can all take a flight over to Houston and talk about it with Alastair directly.”

That threat got a wide-eyed response. ”Right now, let’s just get through this.” She looked over at Skippy. ”You were going to take us over to a cabin? I think some sleep would be a good idea.”

”Um, right, okay, let’s go.” The guide knew when to beat a retreat.

”Right this way. Now, we put sheets and blankets on the bunks. It’s a little nippy tonight, so I have someone out checking for space heaters, but we don’t have those right now.” She led the way across the dark ground towards a smaller, wooden structure. ”Here we are.”

She

opened the door and stood back to let them enter. ”Watch your step.”

It was, Kerry decided, pretty horrifying. She’d been to camps, sure, but the ones her parents had sent her to had carpet on the floors and private bunks for each camper. This was not like that. It was basically two rooms with a shared bathroom in the middle, featuring wooden framed bunks against the walls and shuttered windows between them.

Six bunks in one room, six in the other, and the bathroom was split in two also, with two toilet stalls and two showers, lacking curtains.

Oh boy. Kerry glanced at Dar, who looked like she was caught between wild amusement and true irritation. ”Men on one side, women on the other,” the Operations VP stated flatly. ”Just don’t think about it.

Pick a bunk, and let’s just get some sleep.”

Dar stalked across the wooden floor, selecting the bunk in the back corner and tossing her bag down on it. Kerry ambled over and chose the next one, sitting down on it and folding her hands in her lap.

Mariana followed suit, silently picking the bunk to the other side of Dar, then smiling as Mary Lou sat down next to her, leaving the far bunk for Eleanor.

”Right.” Duks grunted and headed towards the other room, which connected via a door. He opened it and passed through. ”C’mon boys.”

Steven laughed gently, giving Dar a smile before he followed the finance VP into the next room and José trailed after him with a disgusted look. Eleanor’s assistant meekly went along leaving the women all looking at each other.

”I’m going to be ill,” Eleanor stated firmly, holding her bag. ”This is unacceptable.”

Kerry stood and circled the small room. ”Well, it’s not really that bad,” she stated. ”I mean, it could be worse. The linens are fresh and it’s clean in here, so they obviously keep it up.” She glanced up and decided not to mention the huge spider web. ”It’s only for a night or two.” She glanced at Eleanor. ”Look, we’re sort of stuck here and it doesn’t make sense to fight about it now. Let’s wait until we get home, then we can talk about it.”

Eleanor pursed her lips, unable to find a way to argue with Kerry’s logic and she tentatively approached the bunk, touching the fabric with 56

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one finger. ”Well, it is clean.” She pushed the pillow experimentally. ”I suppose I could make a sacrifice.” She looked up at Dar. ”But you’re going to pay for this, Roberts.”

Dar was seated on her bunk, leaning against the wall and staring at her impassively. ”Threats are pointless,” she stated point blank, ”so shut up. I didn’t ask for this. I wasn’t the one who sent the damn email to Alastair and I don’t want to hear that crap for the next two days.”

”Well, he wouldn’t have had to send it if you’d cooperated with him, now would he?” Eleanor shot back.

”I don’t cooperate with unreasonable requests. You should damn well know that by now,” Dar responded. ”I don’t care who makes them, not you, not Alastair, and especially not your little hatchet boy.”

”Ladies.” Mariana held a hand up. ”Can we can it for the evening, please?” she requested. ”We’ve got plenty of time to assign blame and fight with each other when we get back to Miami. Let’s just get this over with.”

Dar sighed. Mariana was right, and besides, she was letting Eleanor get to her. ”Right.” She sat up and unbuckled her overnight bag, tugging out a flannel nightshirt. An awkward silence fell and she glanced up to see everyone just sort of looking at each other. ”C’mon now folks. We’re all girls here,” Dar reminded them drolly as she pulled off her sweatshirt, and tugged her polo from its neat tuck into her jeans.

”Oh no.” Eleanor took her bag and retreated to the bathroom, leaving the rest of them in still uncomfortable silence.

Dar sighed. ”Just shut off the light,” she directed Mary Lou.

”Nobody can see each other in the dark.”

The tall ash blonde nodded appreciatively and did so, plunging the room into inky blackness, broken by conspicuous rustlings and the sounds of bare feet moving on the wood. Next door, ribald male voices were heard and they could see the light under the door.

”See? The boys don’t care,” Dar remarked, tucking her clothes away and seating herself on her bunk, which was raised slightly off the floor.

Mariana snorted. ”Care? They compete. They’re probably measuring themselves as we speak.”

A round of chuckles.

”Not in this weather,” Dar drawled wryly. ”They’d need a caliper.”

Another round of chuckles, this time louder.

A wild scream erupted from the bathroom and after a stunned moment, the door was thrown open disgorging a half clad Eleanor who screamed and bolted for the door of the cabin.

Unfortunately, she forgot to open it and slammed face first into the planks. ”Oh my god, oh my god, help!”

Dar hopped out of bed and headed over, hearing heavy footsteps from next door. She reached Eleanor just as José flung the door open, resplendent in his white silk boxers with red hearts. ”Jesu! What is going on here?”

Hurricane Watch

57

”I have no idea,” Dar snarled. ”Eleanor, what in the hell happened?”

The Marketing executive turned and waved her hands wildly. ”It attacked me! My god. I have to get away!” She pointed at the bathroom.

”In there!”

Kerry had followed Dar across the floor and now she ducked her head into the bathroom, glancing around cautiously. She saw the toilet, one small sink that had Eleanor’s makeup all over it, the shower stall, and a snake. She started to pull her head back out, then froze.

”Oh...Jesus.” Her eyes widened. ”Anyone know the local fauna?” She jumped back as the snake slithered out. ”Look out!”

”Dios Mio!” José yelped, spotting it. He jumped back inside the boys’ room and slammed the door.

The snake, a three foot long green specimen, headed towards Dar.

”Where’s Steve Irwin when you need him?” Dar muttered as she peered at it in the low light. ”I think it’s harmless.”

”You think?” Mariana was standing on her bed. ”Dar, don’t you ‘I think’ me, okay? I am not going to spend all day Monday filling out paperwork because you got bit by an ‘I think.’”

”No, it is.” Dar waited for the snake to crawl up on her foot, then she captured its neck and lifted it up. ”Probably looking for a warm place.” She examined it. ”Yeah, it’s just a garden snake. It’s not dangerous.”

The door to the men’s side cracked open and three sets of eyes peered out. ”Goodness,” Eleanor’s assistant squeaked.

Dar sighed and motioned Eleanor away from the door. ”Move, I’ll put it outside.”

”What?” Steven now stuck his head through the door. ”And let it attack someone else? No way. Kill it!”

”We can’t always kill things that have the potential to annoy us,”

Dar stated looking at him steadily. ”Now get outta my way, Eleanor.”

She moved towards the door and the woman screamed, backing away from her and tripping over the broom left in the cabin for sweeping. She tumbled over it, landing on her butt on the floor and scrambling back, looking like a huge, white skinned spider.

Dar removed the snake from the premises, then dusted her hands off and went back inside.

The boys were behind their door. The girls were clustered back against the wall, behind Kerry’s Tweety clad form.

Everyone was looking at her. ”We voted you Snake Hunter,” Kerry informed her, with a faint grin. ”As in, could you check for more?”

Dar put her hands on her hips. ”I didn’t get a vote,” she protested.

”Besides, in this weather it’s easy. Look where it’s warm.”

As one, five sets of eyes turned towards their bunks. ”Oh my god.”

Eleanor slumped to the floor, in a faint.

”Uh, I think we’d better leave the light on,” Mariana stated 58

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nervously as she and Mary Lou struggled to get Eleanor into her bunk.

Dar sighed and shook her head, going over to her bunk and sitting down on it. ”I’m sure it was just an isolated thing,” she reassured them.

”C’mon, we’ve got to get some sleep. God only knows what Mary Sunshine has in store for us tomorrow.” She stretched herself out on her cot on one side, crossing her ankles and propping her head up on one hand.Kerry slowly did the same, crawling into her bed after she peered around it nervously, then lying down so her head was close to Dar’s. ”I hate snakes,” she muttered.

”Hmm? How do you feel about lizards?” Dar inquired seriously.

”Um, I don’t know. Why?” Kerry asked, hesitantly.

”There’s one on your leg.” Dar pointed.

Kerry yelled and jumped, leaping across the space between their two bunks and landing practically in Dar’s arms. ”Shit!” She watched the tiny lizard scamper away, then exhaled raggedly. ”Damn.”

Then she realized where she was and peeked at Dar’s face. ”Uh, sorry.” She eased away from the taller woman, whose eyes twinkled.

”Dar, this isn’t funny. I hate these things.”

Dar almost told her to stay where she was, that she would protect her, but Mariana and Mary Lou were watching them. ”Look, just relax, lizards are good. They eat bugs.”

Wrong thing to say. In a split second everyone was in the middle of the room, staring at the beds.

Dar sighed and pulled the covers up over her face. It was going to be a very long night.