Red Sky at Morning

Chapter

Eighteen

THE ALARM WENT off before dawn, and Kerry reached over quickly to silence it. It stopped its low buzz, and she let her hand drop back down onto the pillow as she glanced over at Dar’s sleeping form.

Her lover didn’t stir, her body relaxed in slumber and her breathing slow and even. Good. Kerry sighed in relief. Obsessively, Dar had worked until after midnight on what data she had in her laptop, only surrendering when Kerry coaxed her off the couch and into the waterbed, where she’d fallen asleep almost in the middle of a protest.

Kerry spent a moment just watching Dar’s profile, outlined by the pale blue night-light in the bathroom. Then she rolled over and eased out of bed on the opposite side, twitching the down comforter back into place. She stifled a yawn with one hand as she made her way into the bathroom and closed the door quietly behind her before she flipped the light on.

“Ugh.” Kerry winced and closed her eyes, waiting for a moment before she reopened them and blinked at her reflection. A very disheveled, grumpy woman looked back at her, and she stuck her tongue out at the image.

She had such a damn busy day planned at work. First, she’d have to coordinate the recovery of whatever Mark had retained in that black box, assuming Dar remembered how to reassemble the puzzle pieces.

Then she’d have to assign a high security team to work with the database, reconstructing it meticulously and recording their steps line by line.

Then, since it was a Monday, she knew there would be at least five or six major disasters for her to handle, along with the usual running operations issues. Thank God, Kerry mused, as she splashed water on her face and lathered up some soap, that Dar’s new network had reduced her crisis calls by eighty percent, its flexibility and reliability making her life much more pleasant.

So she’d get some liquid breakfast, throw on her running gear, do her laps, then shower and head for the office. Kerry dried her face and nodded at her still scruffy, but more alert-looking reflection. “Right?”

She watched her lower lip poke out as though of its own volition.

Her brow creased. “Okay, what’s wrong?” The lip poked out 298 Melissa Good further in a pout. “Kerrison Stuart, you are not going to pout because Dar gets to stay home and you don’t, y’hear me?”

“Growf.” Chino hopped up and put her paws on the sink, peering up at Kerry as if wondering who her mom was talking to.

“Sure, that’s easy for you to say.” Kerry turned and tapped the end of her toothbrush on Chino’s nose. “You get to stay here with her.”

Chino’s tail wagged.

“Yeah, yeah. Rufh min fin,” Kerry spoke through a mouthful of toothpaste.

IT WAS A beautiful morning. Kerry took a deep breath of the cool, salt-tinged air as she walked down the path to the beach, enjoying the lack of humidity that made their running uncomfortable, bordering on brutal during the summer months. When she reached the winding path that led around the island, she paused to stretch out her muscles, as a few seagulls drifted by to watch.

It was quiet at this hour, the soft clanks from the marina and the birds’ curious squawks the only sounds that broke the dawn hush.

Kerry finished her warm-up and started down the path at a slow jog, waiting for her body to wake up and get into sync before she picked her pace up and settled into her run.

She’d finally gotten used to this. Kerry watched a small tug move past the south side of the island as she headed around the marina. In fact, she’d come to look forward to the time she and Dar set aside for their joint morning exercise, because it was a great way to start the day with some peace and quiet.

Okay. Kerry smiled as she rounded the island’s northern side for the first time. And some companionable togetherness. They’d started debating current events the past few weeks, and she found herself missing the company this morning.

How had Dar stood it all those years alone? The thought intruded itself. Then another thought made her almost stop in her tracks. How did you stand it all those years alone, Kerry?

Wow. Kerry tried to remember what her life had been like before she’d met Dar. It had been—well, all right, she guessed. She’d had fun with her friends at work and with Colleen. She hadn’t been lonely, had she?

Second lap already? Kerry sighed and nibbled her lower lip. No, she really hadn’t been lonely. She’d been more like...waiting. That was it.

She nodded to herself. She’d always had the feeling that just around the bend, just around that next corner, she’d find someone special.

Okay, so it wasn’t around a corner, and the person had barged into her office intent on firing her, but she’d found it. Kerry smiled and leaned forward a little, picking up her pace. Faster I go, faster I get back.

Red Sky At Morning 299

DAR KEPT HER eyes closed, aware of the fact that she was alone in bed. This didn’t make her very happy. The waterbed was comfortable, but it was a lot warmer and more comfortable if it was full of a certain blonde woman she knew, who tended to drape nice smelling and cutely shaped parts of herself all over Dar.

On the other hand, Dar reasoned, she could also smell cinnamon and the scent of fresh coffee, which meant she was trading off waking up chilly and grumpy for sticky buns and a cup of Santa’s White Christmas in her big blue mug.

Hmm.

She heard soft clinks from the kitchen, then the light scuff of bare feet against tile heading in her direction. It was strange, but she could actually feel Kerry’s presence as her lover entered the room, bringing the nice smells closer and combining them with apricot skin scrub and the clean cotton T-shirt that covered Kerry’s freshly showered body.

Mm. Dar briefly wondered if she could just suck on Kerry and forgo the sticky bun. She opened one eye. “Morning.”

“Hi there, cute stuff.” Kerry set the small tray down on their bedside table. On it was the anticipated blue mug and a plate with two buns. “How do you feel?”

Dar closed her fingers on the knee conveniently close by and squeezed. “Mm, not bad,” she joked wryly. “Like crap, honestly,” she then admitted. “I feel like I’ll never get rid of this headache, and my arm’s killing me. I think I slept wrong.”

Kerry rattled the small bottle on the tray. “I came prepared.” She removed a small glass from next to the mug. “Here.” She handed Dar some juice and three tablets.

Dar finished the juice and handed the glass back. “Thanks,” she said. “You better get dressed.”

“Oh.” Kerry plucked at her shirt, which had an almost life-size Dilbert sprawled across its surface. “You mean I can’t go to work like this? C’mon, Dar.”

Dar cocked her head slightly. “Well, okay, hon, but don’t stand with your back to the light, okay? It’s a little translucent.”

Kerry looked down. “It is?” she asked in surprise. “Where?”

A finger reached out and tickled a very sensitive spot.

“Yeak!” A snorting laugh escaped Kerry. “Okay, okay. I see your point.” She gazed fondly at Dar. “Let me go get into my monkey suit.”

Dar tangled her fingers in the soft cotton and tugged. “Thanks for breakfast,” she said. “And you can go to work dressed casual today if you want. It won’t kill anyone.”

Kerry considered that, then nodded. “Okay, I will,” she decided.

“I’m in the mood for jeans.” She turned and made her way into the living room, then took the stairs two at a time.

300 Melissa Good

“WHEN’RE WE GONNA see what we got?” Brent asked, sticking his hands in his pockets and regarding the locked steel box in the corner of Mark’s office.

Mark didn’t look up from the folder he was writing on. “When Dar says we do. Go do something, willya, Brent? It’s not going to levitate out of that box.”

Brent stayed put. “We risked our necks to get that thing.”

Now Mark looked up. “You volunteered.”

“So?” The tech squared a pugnacious jaw. “We still did.”

“And your point is what?” the MIS chief asked. “Look, you wouldn’t know what the hell was in there even if I did open and link it.

It’s not readable.”

Brent’s brow creased. “Huh? Then what’d we do it for? You mean we can’t use it?”

“I didn’t say that.” Mark took an impatient breath. “I said you can’t read it. I can’t read it. Yoda the Jedi Master can’t read it.” He pointed at the box. “But Dar can. She knows what formula she used to structure the sector copy. She’s the one who has to reconstruct it, okay?”

Brent looked interested. “Oh.”

Mark leaned back. “Hey. Why the fuck did you go with us?” he asked bluntly. “You spent the last two weeks blowing shit all over this office about how you felt about the boss.”

Brent studied him sullenly. “It’s not right.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. You, my aunt Matilda, and Dr. Laura with your homophobic bullshit,” Mark snapped. “All of you can kiss my ass. So why offer to help out someone you hate so much?”

Brent shrugged. “The Navy sucks,” he commented, then turned and walked out, leaving a bewildered Mark to stare after him.

“What the hell was that?” Mark asked the empty air. “Why the fuck do I get all the warped SIMMS in Miami working for me?” He shook his head and glanced at his screen. “Ah.” An alert showed him that Kerry had logged into the office systems. He checked a second alarm, scowling a little on seeing it remain dark. “Shit. C’mon, Dar. I want to know if we got those bastards, too.”

THE BOAT ROCKED up and down in the very light chop as Ceci walked along the edge of the deck. Good thing, she mused thoughtfully, that I’m not prone to seasickness. That would have been a hell of a thing to find out after I talked Andy into this thing, wouldn’t it?

She spotted her husband seated on the very front of the bow, resting his arms on the railing as he watched the sun rise over the sea.

He was dressed in his shortie wet suit, which glistened with the seawater that also dampened his grizzled hair and scattered sparkles over his tanned skin.

“Hey, sailor boy.” Ceci took a seat next to him.

Red Sky At Morning 301

“Y’know, Cec,” Andrew turned his head and looked thoughtfully at her, “I do believe I do not consider that a compliment anymore.”

Ceci looked at him. “Andy,” she put a hand on his leg, “don’t say that. A bunch of jackasses shouldn’t take a lifetime of pride away from you. C’mon now.” She found herself in the weird position of defending a service she’d never really liked or understood. “You know the vast majority aren’t like that. They’re like you.” She gazed into the pale blue eyes. “Well, not just like you.”

Andrew sighed. “Ah remember doing bartering myself back on that there base.”

“Everyone did,” Ceci laughed. “C’mon, Andy. That’s how we managed to trade enough for that Christmas party that one year, remember? When you won that stuffed tiger from Brad at the carnival, and gave it to Dar?”

Andrew brooded. “How was that different than what this was? Jeff said he done it for his family. Well, I done that for my family.”

“Hon,” Ceci managed not to smile, “I don’t think even the attorney general, bless her good, cracker heart, would see tins of peanut butter and a case of beer in the same light as selling black-market M16s and cocaine.”

“Mph.”

“Besides, how could we possibly deny Dar her peanut butter?” Ceci asked. “She ate so much of that, I’m surprised she doesn’t carry a cane and wear a top hat and spats.”

Andrew laughed wryly in pure reflex. “She surely did like that stuff,” he agreed, then sighed. “Maybe that’s how it starts, though. Folks think that’s all right, then it just goes a little further, and further—”

“No.” Ceci shook her head. “There’s a line there, Andy. You and I both know that. Someone made the decision to cross that line.” She put a hand on his arm “It just so happens that person was a friend of ours.”

Andrew scowled. “Jackass.”

“Mm.”

“Hope Dar nails his ass t’the ground with a sharpened flagpole.”

Now it was Ceci’s turn to laugh.

DAR LAY QUIETLY in bed, soft New Age music providing a background as she drowsed, allowing the painkillers to ebb some of the throbbing from her arm and head. There were a dozen things she could be doing, she admitted, but it was much easier to do what she’d promised she’d do, which was rest and allow her body to heal.

It was hard to remember the last time she’d just slept in all day. She and Kerry kept pretty busy; even on weekends they were out on the boat, or driving down to the Keys, or...Dar smiled sleepily. Or shopping.

She’d discovered she liked shopping with Kerry. Even when they 302 Melissa Good were looking for something totally mundane, like plates, she found herself enjoying the process. Last time they’d gone to the mall, she’d even done a little clothes shopping, both she and Kerry having fun remembering the first time they’d done that, mere weeks after they’d first met.

And this time they shared a dressing room. Dar chuckled softly as she indulged herself in a memory of the two of them buttoning and zipping each other.

And unbuttoning and unzipping.

Dar idly hoped Saks Fifth Avenue didn’t videotape their patrons.

The phone rang, causing her to reluctantly open her eyes and peer at the table. With a groan, she rolled over and reached out to slap the speaker button. “Hello?”

“Good morning, Dar.”

Dar let her eyes close again. “Morning.” She returned her mother’s greeting cordially. “What’s up?”

“Your father’s temper.”

That got one eye open. “Don’t tell me it’s the Priceline.com commercials again,” she said.

Ceci chuckled wryly. “Actually, his new pet peeve is the erectile dysfunction minimovies that have been playing recently.”

Dar’s brow wrinkled. “Ew.”

“Mm,” her mother agreed. “At any rate, he took a ride down to the base yesterday and didn’t come back very happy. Apparently they’re covering their tracks pretty thoroughly.”

“Um,” Dar tried to dredge up some interest. “Figures.”

There was a moment’s silence. “You doing all right?” Ceci finally asked warily.

“Pretty much,” Dar answered. “Been laying in bed most of the morning.”

“Ah. I see.” Ceci seemed to consider this statement seriously for a little while. “Well, I went to the technological depths of iniquity and managed to produce a pan of something that might, if you don’t look too closely, pass as brownies to cheer your father up.”

Dar chuckled in pure reflex.

“Mind if I drop some by?”

Dar lifted her head up and peered at the phone in honest surprise.

For a second, she almost politely declined, then a sudden impulse took over. “S...sure.” She cast a quick look around. “Place is a mess.”

Her mother laughed audibly. “See you in a bit.”

“Okay,” Dar replied, then heard the line drop. She rested her chin on her wrist and stared at the phone, then shook her head. “Look out, Chino. We’re getting a visitor.”

The Labrador lifted her head up and wagged her tail. She was curled up in her bed next to where Dar was lying.

“My mother’s coming over,” she informed the dog. “And she’s Red Sky At Morning 303

bringing brownies.” Dar rolled over cautiously and regarded the ceiling. “Bet if I look outside, it’ll be snowing.”

“Growf.”

“Mm. But if she offers to do the laundry, we’re outta here.” Dar covered her eyes with one hand. “Scary. Very scary.”

KERRY KNELT BESIDE the lockbox and lifted the security tag, reading the number off it and recording it on a large manila file clipped onto the clipboard she was carrying. “Okay.” She stood and wrote the cataloging entry on the file folder. “Do we have point-to-point concurrence that this never left anyone’s view?”

“Yep,” Mark said. “I made sure I kept three guys with me to sign off on it.”

“Good.” Kerry took a step back and dropped into the chair across from Mark’s desk, crossing one denim-covered ankle over her knee.

“Now we just have to find out if there’s anything useful in there.”

“Yeah,” Mark sighed. “Boss won’t be in ’til Wednesday, huh?”

“Nope,” Kerry said. “And I’d feel better if we did all the analysis here, rather than have that brought to the house. It’s going to be touchy as it is.”

The MIS chief nodded. “I’m with you. They get that team into the base?”

Kerry chewed on the end of her pen. “Yeah. I got a call from that JAG officer. They’ve been there all day, and so far, it all looks clean.”

Mark snorted.

Kerry acknowledged his derision with a twitch of her lips. “Not that we don’t already have some data on them. But nothing major.

Mostly bad or shady bookkeeping on stuff like supplies.”

“So, if there’s nothing in this thing,” Mark kicked the lockbox,

“that’s it? They just get off?”

Kerry stood up and exhaled. “If we can’t prove anything, then, yes,” she agreed. “Or, to be more specific, if we can’t provide information to the authorities that will allow them to prove it. We’re just the analysts.”

“Bet Dar doesn’t feel that way,” Mark commented. “Man, I can’t believe she grew up there. My brain can’t process that.” He glanced at Kerry. “Weird.”

“Why?” Kerry asked, pausing in the doorway on her way out.

Mark shrugged, a little uncomfortably. “I don’t know. It was like when she took us out to that little island place, y’know? I just figured she went through the same kind of growing up around here that I did.

Malls, football games, whatever.”

Kerry studied him. “Didn’t figure her for a redneck?”

Mark scowled. “She’s not a friggin’ redneck. She’s just a, a—”

“Cracker,” Kerry supplied gently.

304 Melissa Good

“No way.”

“Mark.” Kerry came back over and sat down, resting her hands on her knees and putting her envelope down. “I love Dar. You know that, right?”

He blushed.

“She’s my best friend, and my partner, and I wouldn’t trade her for anyone or anything in the world,” Kerry went on. “She’s not embarrassed by her origins, so why should you be?”

Another shrug. “It’s just weird.”

Kerry sighed. “I think it makes her achievements all the more spectacular,” she said. “Because she really did start from nothing, and everything she’s gained has been on her own terms, and by her own brilliance.”

Mark looked up. “Yeah.”

After a speculative look, Kerry admitted, “I envy her for that. It must be an amazing feeling to know you’ve totally controlled your own destiny.”

Mark played with the chip puller he used as a paperweight. “She has, hasn’t she? I never really thought about that,” he told Kerry. “Hey, you had lunch yet?”

Kerry let the subject change pass. “Not yet. Want to go down?

They’ve got lamb shanks today.” She stood back up. “I think Mari said she was going down about now, too.”

Mark joined her and carefully locked the door to his office behind them. “Not like you could drag that box anywhere, but ya never know.”

“Mm,” Kerry agreed. “You never do know.” She glanced around the office, and gave the staff there a brief smile. Most smiled back.

Brent just looked away from her.

CECI SELECTED A glass from the cabinet and went to the refrigerator, opening the door and standing on her tip toes to reach the handle of the milk dispenser on the top shelf. She watched the glass fill, muffling a chuckle as it finished. She then took a step back and closed the door. The condo was quiet, and despite Dar’s disclaimer, seemed no untidier than it usually did. Which was not at all, save a collection of laundry awaiting attention in the utility room.

That didn’t really surprise her. Though Dar had maintained a nest of teenage clutter in her younger years, the room had never been dirty, per se, just full of stuff. Things that held Dar’s capricious interest, or things that Andrew had given her, all jealously hoarded in neatly labeled boxes stacked everywhere.

She’d had time, when she and Andrew had dog-sat, to wander over the condo, and had found herself smiling at childhood vestiges she’d found tucked away in inconspicuous corners.

Those things had meant something to her daughter. Ceci studied Red Sky At Morning 305

the glass of milk, then shook her head and made her way through the living room and into the bedroom where Dar was resting. She held out the glass. “Figured you’d need this.”

Dar got caught in mid-chew. She hastily swallowed a mouthful of brownie and accepted the milk, taking a sip of it to wash down the rich treat. “Thanks.” She indicated the tray. “Not bad for instant.”

“Mm, yes.” Ceci sat down in the comfortable chair near the bed.

“Shocked the hell out of me, I have to admit.”

Dar grinned slightly. “I know the feeling. I made dinner the other week and was totally amazed at it being edible.”

One of Ceci’s silver-blonde eyebrows rose. “What was the occasion?”

Dar hesitated, then shrugged. “Nothing special. I just felt like doing it.” She was aware of the always perceptible discomfort between them, and suddenly felt very tired of it. Life was, she’d come to realize, just too damn short sometimes. “Hey, Mom?”

Ceci detected the change in Dar’s tone, and she leaned forward a little. “Yes?”

Dar took a deep breath. “We’ve got a pretty lousy past with each other.”

Uh-oh. Ceci felt her heart move up into her throat. “Brownies weren’t that bad, were they?” she joked faintly.

That made Dar smile, and she realized her mother was a lot more nervous than she was. “No.” She glanced down and collected her thoughts, then looked up. “Can we just forget it all and start fresh from here?”

It came around a blind corner and smacked Ceci right between the eyes, leaving a sting as though she’d been hit with a mackerel. She found herself gazing right into Dar’s intense face, the echo of the question reminding her strongly of the one she’d asked Andrew the night they’d been reunited. “That what you really want?” she asked quietly.

Dar nodded.

Ceci felt absurdly like crying. “I’d really like that, too,” she said. “I know it sounds ridiculous, but you don’t realize all the good things about being a mother until you aren’t one anymore.”

Now it was Dar’s turn to be caught off guard. She blinked and felt a surge of juvenile memory as she stared at her mother’s face. “That’s all right,” she finally said, a touch of hoarseness in her voice. “When you’re a kid, you never appreciate your parents until you don’t have them.”

Ceci felt the sting of tears, and she reached out instinctively, laying a hand along Dar’s cheek. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I’m sorry I abandoned you.”

Dar sucked in a breath that was almost painful, so tight was the pressure against her chest. She was caught by her mother’s gaze, unable to look away. “I’m sorry I didn’t understand the pain you were in.”

306 Melissa Good The tension lessened. Ceci rubbed a thumb against her daughter’s skin. “I’m glad we’re getting a second chance at this.”

The surface under her fingers moved as Dar smiled. “So am I,” she answered softly, glancing away, then returning her eyes to her mother’s. “I think I like you.”

Ceci bit her lip, a surge of improbable, ridiculous relief almost making her burst out laughing. “Yeah, I think I like you, too.”

It was turning out to be an interesting day after all, Dar decided happily.

KERRY SAT BEHIND her desk, one hand propping up her head as she scrolled through screens of data. She paused to make another sticky note, punching out the letters with one finger, then continued her task.

“Ms. Kerry?” Mayte’s voice broke into her concentration. “I have the Navy officer here to see you.”

Ah. Kerry straightened and took a sip of her herbal tea. “Great.

Send him in.” She leaned back in her chair as the door opened and Captain Taylor came in. He was dressed in his Navy uniform, and he tucked his hat under his arm as he crossed the carpeted floor to her desk. “Afternoon, Captain.”

“Ms. Stuart.” The officer inclined his head politely. “May I sit down?”

Kerry gestured toward the chair. “Of course. How’s it going down there?”

Captain Taylor shook his head gravely. “I’m afraid we’re going to come up empty-handed, Ms. Stuart. My team’s been in there for hours, and they haven’t come up with anything other than the mess that was left of the computer center.” He paused. “And we have six people who swear it was just a botched exercise. They even submitted the docs for the setup and showed me the dummy rounds. Apparently some live ones got mixed in.”

“Uh-huh.” Kerry took another sip of tea. “Do you believe them?”

The captain gave her a direct look. “Ms. Stuart, it doesn’t matter a hill of beans what I believe. All that matters is what I can prove. I can’t prove anything beyond some colossal screw-ups, and some of them involve your personnel.”

Kerry’s eyebrows lifted. “My personnel?” she asked sharply. “We didn’t make any mistakes.”

The captain shifted uncomfortably. “The fact is, ma’am, you were there without the permission of the base commander.”

“Cut the BS.” Kerry smiled kindly at him. “We were there because General Easton asked us to go there and cover his butt because you couldn’t get a team on the plane fast enough.”

Captain Taylor made a face, seemingly unconscious of it. “The general asked that you protect the data. You didn’t. In fact, because of Red Sky At Morning 307

your presence, its destruction was pretty much guaranteed.”

Kerry pointed a finger at him. “Captain, if you seriously think you’re going to shift blame to me or to anyone else at ILS for your inability to maintain military and administrative control of your own base, think again.” She stood up behind her desk and fixed him with a resolute stare. “We did the best we could, and you don’t know just what that best is yet.”

“Ms. Stuart, you don’t seem to re—” The naval officer stopped and regarded her warily. “What exactly do you mean by that?”

Kerry opened her mouth to explain, then slowly closed it again.

Some instinct was telling her to keep the lock box under wraps, and she’d learned over the last year that this instinct of hers was usually right. “We have a lot of data. We’re not finished analyzing it yet,” she temporized. “We may not have a smoking gun, but we may have enough to nail the people there most responsible.”

The captain relaxed a notch. “It’s just administrative stuff, though.

The base is clean.”

“For now,” Kerry agreed quietly. “Doesn’t it bother you that stuff was going on?”

Taylor dusted a bit of lint off his shoulder. “Do we know it really was?” he countered. “That informant of yours could have been lying.”

Kerry shrugged. “Why?”

“To get someone in trouble. Maybe they’re the ones involved in some funny business, and they thought bringing in drugs would shift the attention,” the JAG officer replied reasonably. “C’mon, Ms. Stuart—

do you honestly think we’ve got an entire smuggling operation going on at a Navy base? Low-grade black market, yeah, I can buy that. But drugs?”

Well. Kerry thought about it. It was possible, she guessed. They hadn’t seen any of the smuggling, just the evidence the chief had brought over. “What about that telecommunications gear that was ripped out?”

The captain chuckled. “You know, I was thinking about that. You know what I bet happened? I bet someone in some office somewhere had a requisition to yank it out, or some wire got crossed, and an order was cut, and that’s why no one knew about it. Doesn’t that happen in your company sometimes?”

True. “Sometimes,” Kerry agreed, “but not often.”

“Well,” Taylor stood up, “I’m going to file my preliminary report to the general. I think we overreacted a little bit here. Comes from putting civilians into a situation they don’t really understand, I think.”

Kerry’s eyes took on a perceptibly cold glint. “You do that,” she told the captain with deceptive pleasantness. “By the way, Captain?”

He had turned to leave, but now he paused and glanced back.

“Yes?”

“Where did you go hide Saturday?” Kerry inquired. “I had count of 308 Melissa Good everyone who was with us, and I lost you after we went into the computer center.” She held up a clipboard. “I need to know for my...report.”

His face became a mask. “You must be mistaken, Ms. Stuart. I was there the whole time.” He turned and walked out, settling his hat squarely on the top of his head as he went through the door.

“Ooh.” Kerry slowly let out a breath, and crossed her arms. “You little pinheaded starch-butt.”

“Ms. Kerry?” Mayte asked uncertainly, as she stuck her head around the corner of the door. “Did you say something?”

“Not to you.” Kerry sat down and sucked down a big mouthful of her tea. “Mayte, do you have a number for General Easton? If you don’t, I bet María does.”

“I will get it,” her assistant promised, disappearing quickly.

Kerry chewed her lip, then put her cup down and punched the speakerphone button, hitting the top speed dial on her console. It rang twice, then was answered. “Hey.”

“Hey.” Dar’s voice sounded alert and faintly amused. “I was just thinking of you.”

Kerry felt her train of thought gently derail and move off onto a siding somewhere. “Were you? How come?”

“Underwear,” Dar replied succinctly.

It wasn’t the response Kerry was expecting. “Excuse me?”

“I’m doing laundry.”

“Oh.” Kerry’s brow creased. “You didn’t have to, Dar. I’d have done it tonight.” She knew her lover hated doing laundry and avoided it whenever possible, sending everything she could get her hands on to the island’s cleaners.

Except things like underwear, of course. Kerry smiled to herself as she took a sip of tea.

“Mom thinks yours are cute.”

The mouthful of tea was expelled across the desk’s surface, narrowly missing her keyboard. “What?” Kerry wiped her forearm across her mouth. “Paladar! Why are you showing your mother my underwear?”

Dar chuckled softly. “You sound so cute when you’re flustered.”

“I’m not flustered! I’m flabbergasted! Two very different emotions!” Kerry said. “And you didn’t answer me!”

“Relax,” her lover replied. “She’s just helping me do laundry. It’s tough with one arm.”

Kerry covered her eyes with one hand. “Oh.” She exhaled, then paused in thought. “So Mom came by, huh?”

“Mm,” Dar answered.

“Everything okay?” Kerry asked guardedly.

“Very much so,” the surprising answer came back. “We had a talk.”

The pleasure was evident in Dar’s tone. “It’s great.”

Red Sky At Morning 309

“Oh yeah?” Kerry felt a smile cross her face. “Wow. That’s really good to hear, Dar.”

“Yeah.” Dar let out a happy little sigh. “So, what’s up there?”

Plans suddenly got sidetracked, and Kerry concentrated on the job at hand. “Ah. I had a visit from Captain Butter-wouldn’t-melt-between-my-butt-cheeks.”

Dar snorted in laughter.

“He’s already putting together his version of a story to make everything look like nothing,” Kerry said seriously. “If we don’t have something in that box, Dar, we really don’t have much.”

“Mm.” Dar sounded serious now, too. “Open it up, then.”

Kerry took a deep breath and carefully asked the question she’d been avoiding. “I’ll need the algorithm codes. Do you have them?” She crossed her fingers and toes and bit her lower lip as she waited for the answer.

“Sure,” Dar replied easily. “My birthday, offset, your birthday.” A pause. “In hex.”

Kerry’s eyes popped open and she stared across her office with a look of chagrin. “Oh, you’re kidding.”

“No,” her lover replied. “Those are a bitch to memorize, Kerry, and it’s not like I had a pad and pencil handy. I picked something I knew I’d remember.”

Duh. Kerry almost laughed. I should have known. She gazed up at her ceiling. “Okay, listen, I think I’d rather wait until you got back here to do it. We can hold them off that long.”

“You sure?” Dar asked. “Yeah, on second thought, let’s give them a chance to think they’re home free. Then they’ll relax a little.”

“Right,” Kerry said. “Is Mom staying for dinner?”

There was a muffled noise, a low buzz of conversation, then Dar’s voice came back. “If you pick up Captain Crab’s Takeaway Seal.”

“You got it,” Kerry snickered. “One bucket, coming up.” She hung up and leaned back, a dozen thoughts zooming through her head.

One remained. “Oh, crap.” Kerry winced. “I hope it wasn’t the pink ones.”

THE BOAT WAS rocking gently on the tide as Kerry made her way along the dock. It was very quiet, and she didn’t see anyone around, even after she stepped up onto the gangway and crossed onto the boat’s white deck. “Hello?” she called out, looking around for Andrew.

“Dad?”

Silence. Kerry ducked down and stuck her head inside the cabin. It was quiet down there as well; the worktable, covered in painting supplies, sitting mutely near the windows. “Dad?”

Still nothing. Kerry stood up and walked across the stern deck, which had comfortable looking bench seats on either side and a storage 310 Melissa Good locker in the center that doubled as a table.

“Huh.” She walked over and leaned on the railing, peering down into the dark blue-green water. “Maybe he went to the dock shop.” She watched a sea grape float by, lulled by its peaceful bobbing.

Then the water heaved and a hand surged up to grab the railing between hers, scaring the living daylights out of her.

“Yah!” Kerry squealed, jerking back and scrambling away from the railing. “Jesus!”

Andrew peered through the metal bars at her and the curious expression on her face. “Hold on t’yer shorts, kumquat. I sure ain’t the good Lord.”

Kerry sat down on the center console, and put a hand on her chest.

“Wow,” she laughed weakly. “You got me.”

The ex-SEAL pulled himself up and climbed over the railing, the boat’s deck rocking a little under his weight. He was dressed in a half wetsuit and his minimal diving rig, which he shed as he ambled over to where Kerry was sitting. “Didn’t mean to scare you, Kerry,” he apologized. “Just wasn’t sure what that shadow was looking over my rail.” He knelt beside her and put a damp hand on her knee. “You all right?”

Kerry felt her heart rate start to slow, and she ran a hand through her hair. “Yeah,” she said. “Boy, a dolphin’s got nothing on you.”

Andrew chuckled. “Long as you don’t smack me in the snout with no mackerel.” He cocked his head at her. “Didn’t ’spect visitors t’day.”

Kerry abruptly remembered her task. “Ah.” She folded her arms, holding her news close and cherishing it. “Do you know where your wife is?”

Andrew’s grizzled brows creased in puzzlement, and he glanced around at the empty deck. “Figgered she went down to the shops,” he hazarded. “Why? You know different?”

“Mm-hmm,” Kerry nodded. “She’s at our place.”

“Ah see.” Andrew seemed to relax as he stood up and walked over to the padded bench, picking up a towel and tousling his short-cropped hair dry. “Dar need something?” He peeked at her from behind a corner of the terrycloth.

“No. They were just spending some time together.” A gentle twinkle entered Kerry’s eyes.

A big grin spread across the ex-SEAL’s face. “For real?”

Kerry nodded.

“Hot damn!” A chortle of joy escaped. “C’mere!”

He held out his arms and Kerry scrambled over and threw herself into them, not minding the wetness one tiny bit. She felt the laughter as they hugged each other. “I couldn’t believe it,” she said as they released each other. “I called Dar, and she sounded so happy.”

Andrew shook his head in amazement. “Damn, that’s good to hear,” he breathed. “I knew things were getting easier, but I never Red Sky At Morning 311

figured it would go this fast.”

“Me, either,” Kerry admitted. “They’re both pretty stubborn.”

“Ain’t that the truth,” he chuckled. “You just stop by to tell me that? Y’coulda just used the land line, kumquat.” He went back to drying himself off.

Kerry shook her head. “No,” she said. “They asked me to stop and pick you up for a family dinner.”

Andrew stopped in mid-motion and let the towel fall, his eyes fastening on Kerry and his eyebrows lifting up. “’Scuse me, young lady?” he asked in a surprised tone.

Kerry reviewed her statement, then blushed. “Oh crap.” She started laughing. “That’s not what I meant.”

“Uh-huh.” Andrew snorted. “Damn straight.”

“Speak for yourself.” A slim finger pointed at Andrew. “That got me in enough trouble the other week.”

Andrew cocked his head at her. “Trouble? I thought them folks were all right with you and mah kid?”

Kerry smiled briefly. “They are, but a couple of nosybodies saw you pick me up the other night and thought I was cheating on Dar.” She chuckled, shaking her head. “What a morning.”

Her father-in-law’s jaw dropped. Then it shut with a click. “That is not funny.”

“It wasn’t then,” Kerry admitted. “But we laughed about it later on that night. Dar’s secretary María chewed everyone a new...um...” She paused. “Anyway...”

Andrew frowned. “Ah do not like that,” he said. “Them people got no sense at all.” He dried one ear. “Ain’t they got better things to do than spread all kinds of foolishness?”

Kerry regarded the horizon. “Well,” she pursed her lips, “there’s a lot of folks there who aren’t really comfortable with Dar and me, and...”

Her eyes narrowed slightly. “A few with personal agendas, too, I guess.”

“Uh-huh.”

“The guy who saw us was kind of, um,” Kerry blushed slightly.

“He liked me.”

“Ah.” Andrew snorted softly. “Figgers.”

“And the other person doing the most talking kind of used to like Dar,” she concluded. “But we got it all settled, so...” But she frowned, Clarice’s continued aggressiveness coming into memory. “I suppose people will be people.”

“Jerks’ll be jerks,” Andrew amended succinctly. “Ain’t no changing

’em. Like a few we bumped heads with down south.” He shook his head. “Mah wife ain’t doing no cooking for us, is she?”

Kerry found herself glad of the change of subject. “Actually, I was told to pick up a bucket of Captain Crab’s Takeaway Seal.” She grinned at him.

312 Melissa Good Andrew put his hands on his hips. “Mah wife say that?” He watched Kerry nod. “Uh-huh. All right then, we’ll just go get us exactly that.” He draped his towel over the railing and headed for the cabin.

“Y’all just stay put, kumquat. We’ll give ’em some crabs.”

Uh-oh. Kerry sat down on the center console. Is that good or bad? She nibbled her lower lip as she thought about her father-in-law’s sometimes peculiar sense of humor. “Dad?” she called down the hatch.

“Yep?” Andrew answered.

“You’re not talking about live crabs, are you?”

“Nope.”

“Or the icky kind, right?”

“’Scuse me?”

“The ones that require medication?”

“What?”

Kerry sighed. “Never mind.” She swung her feet back and forth idly. Guess I’ll just have to wait and see for myself.

DAR STRETCHED HER legs out along the couch, the cool leather warming to her bare skin. She settled her arm in its sling and exhaled in satisfaction. It had ended up being a nice day after all. Laundry had gotten done, a set of cookies had been dubiously prepared, and she’d even managed to spend a lot of the day lying down as she’d promised she would.

“Don’t tell me you watch this,” Ceci commented from the loveseat.

Dar glanced at the television. “Sure. All the time,” she replied. “We love the croc guy.”

“Dar, he’s a lunatic,” her mother complained. “His brains have all dribbled out, and he uses cat food stuffed through his ears as a replacement.” She was curled up in the smaller couch’s confines, a visible smudge of chocolate present on the knee of her white cotton pants.

Dar had known better. She had put on a pair of ragged denim cutoffs and an old gym shirt, so of course she hadn’t gotten a drop of anything on her. “Nah, he’s not that bad. I like the way he respects animals.”

Ceci’s silver-blonde eyebrow lifted. “Dar, he doesn’t respect animals, he sleeps with them.”

Dar pointed. “No, that’s his wife,” she said mildly. “She’s not an animal.”

“Dar, that’s not his wife. That’s a chimpanzee.”

Dar looked closer. “Oh. Sorry.” She tilted her head. “I saw the hat and thought it was Terry. It’s hard to tell up in that tree.” She leaned back against the soft cushion and let her eyes close, more tired than she’d expected to be. For a while, she’d tried to do a little work in her office, but after a few minutes her head was pounding, and using only Red Sky At Morning 313

one hand was driving her nuts.

Oh well. Dr. Steve had warned her about that, right? She’d gotten off pretty lucky, he’d told her, showing her the scans of her head. The swelling inside her skull hadn’t really put much pressure on her brain, but still, it was there.

Expect some blurred vision, he’d said. And the headaches. Maybe a little dizziness. Dar sighed silently. At least he’d promised it would be temporary, which was a damn good thing, because it was going to take a lot of concentration and long hours in front of a keyboard to produce the analysis everyone and their uncle was waiting for.

Dar felt her breathing slow, and the sounds of the condo faded a little. She could feel Chino’s warmth pressed against her legs, and if she concentrated, hear the faint sounds of movement from her mother.

Her mother. Dar freed herself for a moment of thought about that.

She felt a little off balance, thinking about the talk they’d had and the hours they’d spent together afterward. It had been a curious, almost weird feeling as they’d both let down barriers and simply gotten along as two people who had more in common than either of them had ever realized.

Dar took a deep breath and released it. She frowned as her brain analyzed the intake of air and detected something unusual on it.

Garlic. Lots of it, and spices, too. Dar opened one eye and peered around in surprise, almost jumping when the expected empty air was suddenly filled with a very solid-looking Kerry. “Hey. Where did you come from?”

“Saugatuck,” Kerry replied with a grin. “Glad to see you’re behaving and taking a nap.”

Dar frowned. “I wasn’t napping.” She glanced over at her mother, who muffled a smile. “Was I?” She didn’t wait for an answer. “What the heck is that smell?”

“Ah.” Kerry turned and pointed toward the dining room table, which had sprouted some mysterious-looking buckets and assorted bags. “Crabs.”

“Crabs?” Dar looked over at them, then up at her father. “Crabs?”

Her voice perked up considerably.

“Oh no,” Ceci groaned. “Not those damn things.”

Andrew chuckled. “Yes, ma’am. You did send this here young lady out for takeaway, and we done did that.” He looked quite pleased with himself. “Got us three kinds, too, and them taters you like, Dardar.”

“Heh.” Dar eased upright. “All right.”

Kerry winced. “Honey, you’re not going to tell me you actually eat those things, are you?”

Ceci sighed and covered her eyes. “Hope you got some corn. Kerry and I can at least share that.” She got up and walked around the couch to the table to investigate the packages. “Oh, goddess, Andrew. Did you have to get the hot pepper ones?”

314 Melissa Good

“Heh.” Andrew chuckled, moving across the tile floor to join his wife at the table. “Yep, I surely did.”

Dar swung her legs off the couch and sat up. “You have to try them, Ker. They’re great.”

Her lover crouched down between her knees, resting a hand on either one, and grimaced. “Dar, they look like big old bugs,” she whispered. “I can’t eat those.”

“Sure you can,” Dar whispered back, leaning forward. “C’mon, I’ll show ya.”

“Daaaarrrr...” Kerry bit her lip. “Eeeeewwww.”

“Don’t be a chicken,” Dar chided her. “Trust me.”

Easy for her to say. Kerry sighed and gave her partner a hand up, keeping hold of it as she joined Dar and they walked over to where Andrew and Ceci were unpacking the bags and buckets.

“Ooh.” Dar pried the cover off one and peered inside. “Yum.”

Kerry peeked over her shoulder at the pile of red-hued, spice-speckled marine insects, complete with beady little eyes looking back at her. “Oh,” she moaned softly, and leaned against Dar’s arm. “I’m going to have nightmares.”

Dar picked up a crab and examined it. “Sure you are.” She deftly removed a claw, exposing some white flesh. “Here. Suck on this.”

Big round pale green eyes looked up past the curve of her breast. A tiny squeak issued from Kerry’s throat.

“Go on,” Dar laughed.

Kerry glanced over at her in-laws, who were bent almost double with silent laughter. “Dar, I can’t suck on that leg. It looks like a grasshopper leg. I’m going to throw up.”

Dar sighed, removed a bit of the crabmeat, and held it out. “There.

Can you suck on my fingers?”

A sigh. “Oh, God, if you insist.” Kerry closed her eyes and leaned forward, opening her mouth and closing her teeth gingerly on the bit of white substance. She closed her lips and carefully tasted it, then opened her eyes. “Hmm.” It wasn’t at all like lobster or shrimp. It was much more tender, and... Kerry licked her lips. “Mm.” The spices stung her tongue pleasantly. “Okay, that’s not bad.”

“See?” Dar sounded triumphant. “Told you.” She sat down and pulled out a chair for Kerry next to her. “Now, c’mon. Grab a hammer.”

Her lover, who had been heading for the kitchen for a pitcher of something cold, stopped dead in her tracks. “Hammer?”