Stormy Waters: Book 10 in The Dar & Kerry Series

Chapter Ten

THE MORNING SUN rose gently over South Pointe Marina, gilding the forest of pristine white fiberglass that graced its many slips. Toward one side of the marina, in an area relatively uncrowded in the summer, a sixty foot Bertram yacht rode peacefully within its dock, rocking back and forth slightly as a tall, broad shouldered figure paced across its stern deck.

Andrew whistled softly under his breath as he worked, laying out a new set of white cotton lines for the big boat in orderly loops. His hands worked the rope with almost unconscious skill, fingers half twisting the lines to release the kinks in their new fabric.

It was Sunday, the weather was fine, he had work to do on his boat, and Ceci had promised him a hamburger for breakfast. Life, he reflected silently, just didn't get any better than this--especially given where his life had been not so long ago. He had no doubt at all this was just a gift from God he had no explanation for.

Could'a been a reward, he acknowledged, for the years he'd spent in hell already. Or it could'a been a nod from the feller upstairs over them lives he'd saved getting into all that trouble.

Andy perched on the side wall of the boat and blinked into the sunlight. Maybe it wasn't any of those things, though. Maybe it was just dumb luck, and the payback he'd gotten for pouring his heart into fatherhood.

He exhaled contentedly. Turned out a damn good kid, after all that. It irked him a little that he'd gotten taken out of the ship job. Being Dar's little bit of trouble inside there had been a good thing, and now, them women could be getting up to all kinds of no good without anyone to keep an eye on them.

Not a good thing. Andrew sighed. He hated half-finished missions.

The cell phone clipped to the wooden cabinet near the door buzzed, surprising him. He dropped the rope and walked over to the door, picking up the device and opening its lid. "Lo?"

"Hey, Ugly! Where the hell are you?"

Andrew studied the phone receiver as though it had morphed into a hamster. "This here Bradley?" He queried.

"Sure is! Where are you, man? I told you I wanted everyone working today."

"Wall." Andy crossed his arms and leaned against the cabinet. "Them folks told me not to come back yesterday," he said. "They talk to you? They were pretty fussed up last night."

Ceci emerged from the boat's cabin and cocked her head curiously. "Who's that?" She was carrying a plate containing a cheeseburger, surrounded by a bunch of vegetables and fruit bits. She put it down near Andrew's elbow and leaned next to him.

"Feller thinks he's my boss." One of her husband's grizzled eyebrows waggled, as he covered the receiver with the palm of one large hand. "Ain't figgered out he isn't yet." Carefully removing the burger from its nest of healthiness, he nudged aside a carrot curl threatening to contaminate his breakfast and then bit into it.

"Ah, the mental midget who made your first petty officer look like Einstein. Gotcha." Ceci walked over to the canvas bucket chair on their back deck and seated herself, resting her head against the wooden seat back and contentedly absorbing the early morning sunlight. "Anyone ever tell him that whole Christian Sunday is the day of rest stuff? Only thing in the whole rigmarole that ever made any sense to me."

Andrew reached over to tweak a bit of her hair. "Yeap, ah am still here." He spoke into the phone. "Did you talk to them folks? Got their shorts in a big old twist yesterday."

"Yeah, yeah. I talked to them. Listen, that lady was just spouting some crazy stuff, and yeah, she doesn't want you around here, but I got a spot on that boat behind this one and I really need you to help me out."

"That big blue one with the patches on one side?" Andrew asked.

"Yeah, whatever. The one behind this one."

Dar's boat. Andrew took another bite of hamburger and chewed it thoughtfully. "Hmm."

"C'mon, buddy. I figured you could use the cash, right?" The supervisor sounded a touch desperate. "My guy over there walked out this morning, said he'd gotten a better offer. Tell you what, I'll give you a buck an hour raise."

Forty bucks a week. Andrew mused. Well, it'd pay the phone hook up fee for the month, at any rate. "All right." He agreed. "But I got to finish what I'm doing here right now, so it'll be a bit." He told the man. "Then ah will be over there."

Ceci stuck her tongue out.

"Okay, but not too long, huh?" Bradley said. "This place is a mess. Wait till you hear what happened last night after you left with the government people. It's chaos."

'"Yeap." Andrew agreed. "I do believe the gov'mint usually does cause that. Bye." He hung up the phone and set it on the counter. "Seems like somebody done hired this guys' feller off that boat Dar's working on."

"Oh, really?" Ceci regarded him, a mildly sardonic look appearing on her face. "I wonder if I can guess who that might have been, hmm? My goddess, those women are a pair of hairless Mexican cats." She frowned. "Can they be that desperate, or are they just that pissed off about you?"

"Beats me." Andy finished his breakfast, licking a bit of juice off his thumb. "That was a damn good hamburger, ma'am." He complimented his wife. "Do you want your part of this here MRE?" He handed over the plate of plant matter.

Ceci took a tomato slice and bit into it. "You only wish you ever got these in those." She retorted. "So you're going to go work on Dar's boat now? Doesn't really help much to know what those women are up to."

Andrew shrugged. "Do the best ah am able to. Sides, got me a one US dollar an hour raise out of it."

"Oo. You're taking me to dinner on your paycheck this week, sailor boy." Ceci laughed. "And we're not ending up in that chicken wing place, either." She got up and slid her arms around him, giving his solidness a fierce hug. "I'm glad you're helping out the kids. I think this one's throwing them out of whack a little."

"Ah'm sure they're having themselves a good time down south." Andrew said. "Without none of this here stuff to bother them." He gave her a return hug, then ducked his head and surprised her with a kiss, even though they were standing in what was now broad daylight on the back of the boat.

After a moment, they parted, and Andrew looked down at his wife, his eyes twinkling in the sun. Ceci reached up and stroked his face gently, her fingertips tracing the scars that, though faded, still crossed his skin. "I was looking forward to spending the day with you." She admitted.

"Yeap." Andrew kissed her again. "Me too." He said. "But I told that man I had something to take care of before I went over there."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeap."

"Well then." Ceci smiled. "What are we standing out here for? Unless you want to shock the neighbors." She paused. "Again."

"Nope." Andrew courteously opened the door, then followed her inside.

"AUGH!" Kerry reached for the Frisbee, flying high over her head and knew she was going down. She took a quick breath as she hit the water, then kicked for the surface, her head breaking the waves as she looked around for the bright pink disk. "Darn it, Dar!" She struck out for the toy, swimming quickly toward it before the thing got pulled out to sea.

"Not my fault you're short." Dar bobbed up and down in the surf, not far offshore on the far side of the dock near the cabin. It was fairly shallow there, not like the deep draft they'd had dredged for the Dixie, and the surf was almost calm, perfect for playing Frisbee.

Well, almost perfect. Dar watched Kerry reach the disk and grab it, turning to swim back far enough for her to stand up and throw it back. Chino was racing along the shore barking, frustrated that her owners were somewhat beyond her reach.

"C'mon, Chi!" Kerry got to where she could stand up, and tossed the disk back to her partner. "Come swim."

"Gruff!" Chino bounded halfway in up to her chest, then bolted away as a wave came chasing after her.

"Goofy dog." Kerry shook the wet hair out of her eyes, then set herself as Dar threw the Frisbee back. It was a little high, but not nearly as much as last time and she made a grab for it, pulling it out of the air despite the drag of the water against her body as she moved. "Hah!"

Dar grinned. Kerry always approached the playful sports they engaged in with a healthy dose of competitiveness that at first had surprised her. Then, when she'd learned more about her partner, she'd come to realize that Kerry had been forced to fight for recognition at every turn in her life, whereas standing out had never been a problem for Dar.

It wasn't as though she wasn't competitive herself, in business of course she was. But in her personal life, she'd never really had to do what she often kidded Kerry about--fighting for kibble.

No siblings. No competition. Dar saw the disk headed her way and she lunged through the water after it, uncoiling her body and jumping clear of the surface as she snatched it just before it went sailing on a trajectory that would have taken it under the dock. "Wench!"

"Work for it!" Kerry yelled back, clearly enjoying herself. "Teach you to call me short, huh!"

"If I have to go diving under that dock, you're gonna be more than short, ya little chipmunk!" Dar let fly with the Frisbee, chortling as her partner had to scramble for it, bouncing through the waves and kicking up spray as she went for the catch.

"I'll chipmunk you." Kerry grabbed the Frisbee, and then, instead of tossing it back just headed in Dar's direction, rambling through the water like a miniature freight train. "You're toast!"

Run? Dar considered the effort of escaping from Kerry's evil intentions, and weighed it against the pleasure of suffering them. She grinned, and as Kerry came within range, she dove right toward her, disappearing beneath the waves and colliding with Kerry's legs as she tried unsuccessfully to stop in time.

Way overbalanced, Kerry let out a yelp and tumbled over, landing mostly on Dar and grabbing at her as they wrestled half in and half out of the water. "You...you..."

Dar got a hold around Kerry's middle and then got her legs under her, standing up and hauling her out of the water like a sack of oats. "Yeeeesss?" She purred into Kerry's ear. "Me what?"

Kerry paused to catch her breath from her run through the waves. "You...punk." She slapped Dar on the thigh. "You tricked me."

"Into charging at me like a rhino?" Dar laughed. "Uh okay, honey. If you say so."

"Bah." Kerry let her head rest against Dar's chest. "Where's the Frisbee?"

"Didn't you have it?" Dar looked around. "Oh rats." She spotted the disk floating under the dock. "You stay here, cuttlefish. I'll get it." She released Kerry and headed for the pier, diving under the water as she got close to it.

Neither of them was really fond of swimming right under the wooden surface, since several large sea bass had taken up residence and they loved to nibble intruding humans. At night, the fish were sleeping, but during the day-- Dar blinked her eyes open quickly in the salt water then just as quickly closed them. She surfaced and located the disk, swimming over to it and grabbing it just as something bit her foot. "Yeow! Bastard!" She kicked out in reflex then kicked with her other foot just for good measure. She felt a spongy impact then turned and headed out from under the pier.

Kerry was already at the edge of the wood reaching for her. "The fish?"

"God, I hope so." Dar felt a sharp sting where she'd been bitten. "Ow."

"Sorry." Kerry took hold of her arm and started heading for the shore. "I should have kept track of the damn thing."

"Residential hazard." Dar winced, as she hopped out of the water, grateful for Kerry's supportive arm around her waist. "I should have known better..."

"Should have just let the silly thing float off. We have a dozen of them." Kerry muttered as they got on shore, and sat down in the sand together. She scooted down a little and lifted Dar's foot up, setting it on her thigh to look at it. "Let me see."

"Ah ah ah. We don't let plastic into the ocean ecology." Dar peered at her foot, which was covered with an alarming amount of blood. "Wow." She fended off Chino, who snuffled around them anxiously.

"Yikes. We better go inside and clean this off." Kerry leaned closer. The fish had really chomped down on her foot, making a semi-circle of punctures which were liberally leaking blood. "I don't think it's deep, but..."

"But it hurts." Dar observed. "Stings like hell."

Kerry gently wiped the blood away and bent over, kissing the spot. "Let's go. We've got some peroxide in the cabin."

Dar cautiously withdrew her foot from Kerry's clutches. "It doesn't hurt that bad."

"Baby."

"Well, it doesn't."

"C'mon, big baby." Kerry got to her feet and offered her partner a hand up. "Those are puncture wounds, and a very good friend of mine taught me that those have to be cleaned out really well."

"Yeah, well, you shouldn't always listen to your friends." Dar accepted the aid, hopping along the sand over to where the porch steps were. "Look, it's stopped bleeding."

"C'mon."

"Kerry!"

"C'mon, chicken little. What if that was a barracuda?" Kerry took a firm hold on her reluctant damsel in distress and tugged her toward the house. "Bet we've got mercurochrome, too."

"Whine."

Kerry opened the door. "Was that you, or Cheebles?"

IN THE END, Dar gave in gracefully to the attention. She lay down on the couch with her injured foot in Kerry's lap as her partner tended to it. The cleaning hurt, as she'd expected, but it was offset by the look of gentle concern on Kerry's face, and the obvious care she was taking to do the job right.

The punctures were deep. "I know you were kidding about the barracuda." Dar kept her eyes closed the better not to see the holes in her foot. "But you might be on to something there."

Kerry looked up from her task, holding up the cotton swab she'd been using the clean out the punctures. "You really think so?"

"Too narrow a jaw to be the bass." Dar said. "Besides, it's much more macha to say I got bit by a 'cuda than by a poky old sea bass."

Kerry chuckled softly, giving Dar's ankle a little pat. "You realize this means I'm driving home, right?" She painted the top row of punctures with some lurid mercurochrome, admiring the well formed, powerful arch under her hands. "You have such pretty feet."

Dar chortled. "I do not."

"Yes, you do." Kerry traced a line across the side of one. "Have you ever worn toenail polish?"

Dar was quiet for a moment. "Are you suggesting I should?" She wiggled her toes, then wished she hadn't, as the injury protested. "Have you?"

"Me?" Kerry finished the top, and then she shifted to do the punctures on the bottom of Dar's foot, scattered across its ball. "Oh no. The idea of my wearing open shoes in public...I think I'd have had them cut off if I'd tried it. I wasn't even allowed to use anything other than clear or a light pink fingernail polish."

"Did you want to?"

"Yeah." Kerry smiled as she worked. "Bright, flame red." She painted a somewhat deeper puncture. "Oo...Dar, that's a bad one."

"Ow." Her partner sighed. "Well, you could now."

"Could now what?"

"Wear bright red nail polish."

Kerry looked up and over her shoulder at her partner, a quizzical expression on her face. "Do I look like a red nail polish kind of girl to you?" She asked. "I said back then, Dar. Now I just don't consider myself a red toenail type."

Dar studied her back for a moment, wondering about toenail polish among other things. She could honestly say wearing polish of any kind on her feet wasn't something that had ever crossed her mind, since taking her boots off to find that would have caused her merciless kidding probably right up until this very day. "Well." She considered. "I think a nice sea green would be pretty on you."

"Mmm hmm." Kerry agreed absentmindedly. "Probably. You would look good in coral."

"I would?"

"Yeah."

Dar considered further. "Kerry?"

"Uh?"

"Why are we having this discussion?"

Her partner shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. I'm sitting here playing with your feet, so I guess the thought just came to me. I remember it was the topic of conversation regularly when I was in college." She finished the last bite mark. "There." She studied her handiwork. "I'm going to put a bandage on this. You shouldn't walk on it."

"I'm not walking on it." Dar agreed, wriggling into a more comfortable spot on the couch.

"I meant after you get up." Kerry gently set the foot aside and got up, heading toward the bathroom.

Dar folded her hands across her stomach and relaxed, sure that the worst of the tending was over. The injury now stung more than anything due to the cleaning, and she felt confident that it wasn't anything serious.

She still felt a little stupid, though, that she'd been bitten by a fish underneath her own dock. Dar wiggled her toes speculatively. Maybe she could tell people she'd been bitten by an alligator. That sounded more interesting.

Not to mention, heroic. Maybe Kerry would say she'd rescued her from it.

"What's so funny?" Kerry came back with a roll of gauze bandage and proceeded to mummify Dar's foot with it.

"Nothing." Dar squashed the temptation. "Just wondering what cock and bull story I'm going to come up with for people at the office tomorrow to explain why I'm limping."

"Well." Kerry said. "You could tell them I got revenge for you hitting me by stomping you with a stiletto heel." She suggested.

"Um...

"Or I could tell everyone you saved me from a vicious barracuda." Kerry continued on without hesitation. "There I was, swimming innocently, not realizing a barracuda was about to bite my ass, when you jumped in and saved me at the last minute."

"Hmm."

"Like that one better?"

"You tell good stories." Dar chuckled. "Even if they are completely fabricated."

Kerry finished her bandage, and patted Dar's calf. "Not completely. You'd have done it if it'd really been after me, right?"

"Right." Dar agreed almost without thinking. "Anyone trying to bite your ass has to go through me to get there. No question." She reached over and snagged a finger into the waistband of Kerry's shorts. "C'mere."

Kerry gladly leaned back, stretching her body out next to Dar's on the couch. "Know what I wish?"

"What?"

"I wish we weren't going back tonight."

Dar pondered the thought. "Okay." She agreed. "We won't."

Her partner laughed shortly. "Stop teasing me. You know we have to go into work tomorrow, Dar."'

"I'm not teasing." Dar replied. "I had this cabin installed with the gear I did for the specific purpose of us working down here. So let's do it. We can log in from here, and probably get three times the amount of work done. If we need to conference, we can finally put that god damned expensive teleconferencing center I paid for to work at the office."

Kerry turned over so she was facing Dar. "You're serious."

"As a heart attack."

Should they? Kerry thought about what she had on her schedule. The ops meeting, sure, and fallout from the weekend which had to be handled by conference call anyway. No clients, and the executive committee meeting wasn't until mid-week.

Hmm. "Okay." She sounded surprised even to herself. "Why not" You don't have anything that needs face time tomorrow?"

"Nope. Just more work on my program." Dar confirmed. "Absolutely I'll get more done from here on that, without someone sticking their heads in my office every five minutes." She liked the idea more and more with every passing second. "And, then I don't have to make up a 'no shit I was bitten by barracuda story'."

Kerry had to admit to feeling a little bit apprehensive, only because she knew what the view would be from their co-workers if they both didn't show for work tomorrow. Then she thought about that for a minute, and decided the hell with it. They talked bullshit about them anyway, might as well be doing what they wanted.

Besides, Dar was probably right. She got more done when she was not in the office as well, and she had several prospective client write ups she hadn't had a chance to do the last week that really needed to get taken care of.

Or was that just more self-justification? "What about the ship?" She asked. "You think it's going to be a public relations nightmare with them finding out Dad was working on it, and all that? If we don't show up for work on top of that, it could be a problem, Dar."

"Hell with it." Dar replied obstinately. "What if it's a problem? What if the media comes to interview me on it, Ker? What am I going to say, I didn't know?"

"Ah. Good point."

"I think it's a good idea to let that blow over a little." Dar decided. "In fact, I think the less we get involved in the whole press nightmare the better right now. Let's let our work stand for itself. Get the job done, then they can make what they want of it. The more we play into this, the worse it gets."

Kerry was quiet for a moment, and then she sighed. "We're really good at talking ourselves into things, aren't we?"

Dar had to smile. "Yeah." She sounded a touch sheepish.

"But maybe you're right." Kerry went on. "We've been playing right into their hands, haven't we? Reacting like we have, and getting all into the spotlight. Maybe it's time to lay low and just get the job done, like you said."

Dar kissed the top of her head. "We could even paint each other's toenails." She suggested. "No one has to know."'

Now it was Kerry's turn to smile. "Renegade. Only if I can paint yours freaking scarlet." She relaxed against the leather, though, her entire body reacting to the knowledge that there would be no late night drive home ahead of her at least tonight.

And, who knew? Dar was really a very good strategist, and maybe this would turn out to be another one of her brilliant solutions. It had happened before, and she'd never regretted trusting her partner's instincts yet. "You up for an omelet?"

"Only if the deceased baby chickens don't touch anything resembling a green pepper."

"You're on."

COFFEE AND A hacker for breakfast. Dar rattled the keys on her keyboard, her eyes flicking rapidly over the large LCD screen in her cabin office. "Yum, yum." She murmured, watching the attempts at entry into their systems.

It was quiet inside the cabin, save the rattling of her keys, and a similar, softer counterpoint from the next office over. Outside, the breeze stirred the tree branches, and leaves pattered fitfully against the window. It was cool enough inside for Dar to be wearing a pair of sedate, yet fluffy lambskin booties, one of them cradling her injured foot carefully.

They were perched on her desktop at the moment, and she leaned back in her leather chair, flexing her hands as she pondered her next course of action. The hacker wasn't that effective, and she didn't really think he was any danger, but it was the persistence behind the effort that had caught her eye.

It was almost a robotic sequence. A probe on each port, using each service, over and over and over again. Was it mechanical, or some idiot sitting there typing the same thing over and over? Dar leaned toward it being a script, but someone was behind the script, and she wanted to know what they were up to.

She probed the inbound connection cautiously, capturing some packets and examining them with a knowledgeable eye. The originating IP was spoofed, that she was pretty sure of. Last time she checked, Wal-Mart wasn't a spawning ground of insurgency, though she did appreciate the ghoulish humor.

Chino pattered in, jumping up and placing her paws squarely on the chair arm, licking Dar's arm with enthusiasm. "Hey Chi." She greeted the animal with an affectionate grin. "What are you up to? You want to help me watch this loser?"

"Growf." The Lab inched forward, nuzzling Dar's neck as she wagged her tail.

Dar put her arm around the dog and scratched her around the neck, typing one handed on her keyboard. "So what do you think, Chi? You like it here?" She asked. "Want to live here all the time?"

"Growf!"

"Sounded like yes to me." Dar drummed her fingers on the keys, watching the persistent signal hammering on her virtual front doorstep. "Look at that guy, would you? Just spewing over and over and over again. What in the hell's he trying to do?"

Chino decided Dar's ear would be tasty, and she licked it, making her owner emit a muffled chuckle.

Her mail chimed, and Dar spared an eye for it, clicking over to her inbox and reviewing the newly arrived message. It was from Mariana, and she opened it curiously.

Dar -- Heard you were playing hooky today. What's up? Mari.

Well, now wasn't that refreshingly straightforward. Dar hit reply and typed a response.

Why? Everyone freaking out? If you want to know thetruth, I got bitten by a barracuda last night and didn't feellike lying about it all day long to everyone who saw me.

D

"What do you think, Chino? Everyone freaking?" Dar gave the dog a kiss on the top of her head.

"Freaking about what?" Kerry responded, entering Dar's office and putting a cup of gently steaming, milky tea down on the desk. She had a pair of shorts and a sports bra on, along with a mostly relaxed expression.

"The budgets? I told you that you scared them all last week." "Nah, us." Dar picked up the cup and sipped it. "Thanks. How's the ship coming?" Kerry perched on the edge of Dar's custom built, cherry wood desk

-- twin to the one in her own office next door. "Not good." She admitted. "I just talked to John, and he's having a very tough time, Dar. He's only about half done."

Dar grimaced.

Kerry hesitated. "Any suggestions?" She asked. "I've spoken to the people on the ship, and there's not much they can do, they tell me. Everyone's fighting for space and time there. We're all under the gun." She played with one of Chino's silky ears. "Apparently all the ships are. Someone lit a fire under them on Friday, and the schedules have all been pushed up."

"Yeah?" Dar frowned. "You know, we didn't hear from Dad last night. I wonder if he saw any of that."

"I wonder what happened with him that the reporter knew about him." Kerry added, both eyebrows hiking up. "I wonder why he didn't call."

Dar reached over and picked up the cabin phone, hitting one of the speed dial buttons. It rang several times, but there was no answer and it switched over to voice mail. "Huh." She waited for the beep. "Hi Dad. Gimme a call when you get a chance. Thanks."

"Try mom?"

"Ehm." Dar dialed another number, the slip phone at her parent's boat. It rang several times too, and again, went to a polite, mechanical voice mail. "What the heck's going on up there?" She frowned, waiting again. "Hey mom, it's Dar." She paused. "Boy that was redundant. Anyway, give us a call when you get back. Thanks."

She put the phone back down and looked at Chino, who had decided her half standing, half lolling position on Dar's shoulder was the pinnacle of comfort. "Anyway, so they're behind? Can he put more guys on the job?"

"Honestly, Dar, I don't think it'd help." Kerry said. "It's space they don't have. He's trying to put our cabling in the same place the electricians are running new wiring, and the air conditioning people are putting in new ducting."

"Huh. Yeah. I remember doing a favor for one of my dad's skippers." Dar said. "Wanted cable run from the bridge to his cabin so he could monitor everything from there. Damn guy had me doing it the same time they were replacing the comms. What a mess."

Kerry repressed a smile. "My little cable monkey." She glanced at Dar's screen. "What's all that about?"

"Ah." Dar put her keyboard down and shifted, lifting one leg off the desk and sliding it around Kerry to trap her. "Some jackass hacker not worth five cents." She scoffed. "Idiot's just beating his head against our outer firewall."

Kerry looked at the monitor window. "Why?"

"No clue." Dar laced her fingers behind her head and leaned back. "Just to annoy me, probably."

"Or distract you." Kerry murmured. "It's almost like whatever that is, is just trying to draw attention to itself."

Dar sat up and looked at the screen, and then she looked at Kerry. "A diversion?"

"Do I need to get out of your way?" Kerry hazarded. "But yeah, it seems like that to me. Someone hammering on the front door screaming obscenities at you."

Shit. Dar's mind raced. She's right.

Kerry gently slipped from between Dar's long legs, and removed Chino from her perch. "Well, let me..."

Dar reached out and put a hand on her wrist. "Tell John to reverse his usual route. Have him pull the cable from the jack end. That'll clear the closets, and when he's done there and ready to do the core installs, the other guys'll be out of his way."

Kerry opened her mouth, then shut it again. A rueful grin appeared. "Should we switch projects?" She pondered. "Maybe some fresh eyes do help."

"Maybe." Dar had to agree. "G'wan. Maybe we can alternate. I'm going to go chase down your idea--though why the hell it didn't occur to me before I can't begin to figure out."

"Ditto." Kerry turned to leave. "How's the foot?"

"Hurts." Dar grunted, as she pulled her keyboard back onto her lap. "Maybe I'll go spear fishing later and get that little bastard."

Kerry paused briefly in the doorway to watch her partner, then she ducked through and swung around into her own office where a cup of tea already awaited her. She sat down behind her desk and picked up her cell phone, glancing at her screen as she keyed in John's number.

More mail. She clicked on it as she waited for her contractor to answer, running her eyes over the new arrivals.

"Hello?"

"Hi, John." Kerry scanned a note from the marketing department. "Listen, Dar had a good idea."

"We could use one." The wiring man grunted.

Kerry told him the plan. "Anyway, it can't hurt, and it'll get you out of the middle of that mess for a while. What do you think?" She clicked on her next mail.

Hey Ker -- Listen; remember when all those weird rumors were going around about you and Dar? I thought it was just randomchatter, but I had a potty encounter today and I'm not sure!

"Yeah, it's worth a try." John said. "All right, I'll pull my guys out. At least they got some new foreman on the loading dock, and I'm finally getting all my stuff. "

"Yeah?" Kerry was completely distracted by Colleen's mail.

"Yeah, here's a coincidence--his name's Roberts, just like Dar's." John chuckled. "Maybe it's in the name. Anyway, I'll give you a call back later."

"Okay."

I was in the necessary doing the necessary when I heardsomeone come in. She did a stall check, but I was I in theend one and she missed me. Then she made a call to someone and I heard her talking about trying to mess the company up!

This girlie said she'd started telling everyone you twohad a big fight this weekend out here, and she was going todo worse! Well, let me tell you I came out of that necessarylike the Queen Mary!

"Oh, my god." Kerry murmured.

She ran out--I tried to follow after her, but I got caughtup at the door by two of those bloody secretaries trying toget out their bra straps while talking about some television program. I didn't recognize her, but it was right outside Marketing.

So--watch your back, my friend! I'll try to find the little bugger again.

C

Kerry forwarded the mail to Dar, then after a moment, hit reply.

Col --

We stayed down here to concentrate on our projects andnot be distracted by jerks! Dar got bit by a fish and neitherof us felt like driving back yesterday. Maybe we'll stay downhere for a week. I got more done already this morning than Idid the last half of last week.

Can you get a description of this person? We had a security breach...

Kerry paused, and backspaced.

We had a problem this weekend and we narrowed it down to Marketing, but they were all in, so we couldn?t pin it down.Maybe it was the same person. Let me know.

K

"Damn it, damn it." Kerry drummed her fingers on the keyboard, then she made a decision and forwarded the message again, this time to Mariana, along with a request to forward the personnel files of anyone who was in the building over the weekend.

It meant a lot of work, and a lot of crosschecking. Kerry took a sip of her tea, the smooth cherry taste of the green tea leaves soothing her. "But I will find you." She promised the tale teller. "I will find you, and baby, I will make sure you regret ever putting one step into that marble lobby."

She took another sip. "That, I promise.

DAR SAT THERE, arms folded, hands tucked under her armpits and stared at the network overview she had up on her screen. The picture showed their entire infrastructure, routers and switches winking a reassuring green at her as she tried to figure out where to look next.

Kerry's remark about a distraction had rung bells with her, but if it was, then what was it distracting her from? Everything else looked normal.

She turned her eyes to a different window, running results from her new program. Every ten seconds, the system reported back to her from each router she had it installed in, a constant running monitor of the traffic it was seeing.

It was rough, and the monitor only a command line, but Dar couldn't help but feel a sting of pride as she watched it go. She knew it had a long way to run before it could be really used in production, but eventually--with a properly written front end and a ton more robustness--this would be a killer app for them to put on the market.

Even now, with just the barest of kernels running, it was bringing back scraps of information from what it was seeing out there that gave Dar insight into what was going on around them.

It was exciting, in a visceral way to her. But she was also frustrated right now because there was a piece missing here, and she couldn't find it. The hacker was still hammering at the front gates, but Dar had scanned each of the border routers, and she could find no other stealthy attempts anywhere on the outside of the network.

Was it just coincidence then? Kerry's suggestion had made bedrock sense when she'd heard it, but... Dar unfolded one arm and gave her trackball a spin, her brows knit together. She rocked forward and braced her elbow on the desk, leaning her head against it as she got closer to the screen.

A message box appeared, nearly startling her half to death. She glanced to one side, then straightened and pulled the keyboard back over to answer Mariana's hail.

Hey.

Mari answered quickly.

You got bitten by a BARRACUDA?

Dar's somewhat ghoulish humor surfaced.

Family reunion. What can I tell you?

She could almost hear the laughter on the other end of the connection, and had to smile herself.

You got kicked out of the barracuda family when you married Kerry, my friend, and you know it!

Eh, that was the truth. Yeah, well, I was chasing a Frisbee at the time. At least I didn't get nipped by a goldfish for it. Her eyes flicked to the monitor, taking in a few minutes of reports and not seeing anything remarkable.

Damn it. She turned her attention back to the instant message box. So is everyone freaking out?

There was a hesitation before Mari answered. Just a little surprise at our level, but I heard talk going around, so Ithought I'd better ask. Now that Kerry's sent me the scoop,and the possible culprit, I'll get on it and see what I canfind out.

Huh? Dar felt suddenly lost. "Hey, Ker?" She called out. "C'mere."

"Hang on." Her partner replied from the next room. "I'm reconciling a purchase order."

Dar reread the message, then just shrugged. Okay. Have fun. She ventured, figuring it was a safe answer and that she could get clarification from Kerry later. We may be down here for a few days.I'm getting more done without people barging in my officeevery five minutes.

Mari's response surprised her a little. Dar, take whatever time you need, okay? Let me handle the crap in the office.

"What's up, sweetie." Kerry ambled in and put her arms around Dar, giving her a quick hug. "More problems?"

Dar scrolled back up in her message box and pointed. "What is she talking about?" She asked, just as the screen underneath, her monitor, began to spit out lines in black on white letters, instead of white on black. "Whoops...hold it."

Kerry slid in behind Dar and watched over her shoulder as she typed rapidly. She could see where Dar was going in the system, but she was hitting keys so fast Kerry couldn't read quickly enough to get a sense of what she was doing once she got there.

And then, just as quickly as she'd started, she stopped, fingertips resting lightly on the keys. The monitor appeared normal again. "What was that?" Kerry asked.

"Good question." Dar murmured. "For a minute, it looked like something..." Her brow creased and she leaned forward a little. "Maybe the damn program just stumbled. God knows, there's a lot of rough code in there."

Kerry put her hands on Dar?s shoulders. She could felt he tension beneath her fingers, and out of habit she started a gentle massage.

"What did it seem to be reporting?" She asked. "Was it an attack, or--"

Dar propped her head up on one hand and used the other to scroll the mouse. "No, not...well, it looks like it thought its libraries were being accessed. But that's just a dud error. There's nothing touching them."

"Mm." Kerry knocked a little of the rust off her own programming memories. "Sort of like...someone was also using them? Or...something opened the files?"

"Yeah." Dar agreed readily. "But nothing's accessing them. Nothing we have even knows the program's there."

"Hmm." Kerry kept up her massage. "False reading?"

"Must be."

They both studied the screen in silence for a few minutes. Then Kerry cleared her throat. "Colleen overheard some slimy nitball in the bathroom talking to someone on a cell about screwing us over."

Dar straightened and turned her head to look up at Kerry. "What?"

"Mm." Kerry nodded. "Spreading rumors. So I have Mari sending me all the personnel files of the scumbags in marketing."

One of Dar's eyebrows quirked. "Why not just get the one who did it?"

"Colleen didn't recognize her, and she lost her outside in the hallway." Kerry informed her regretfully. "Anyway...so that's what's going on. Can I go finish my paperwork now?"

Dar tilted her head and kissed the back of Kerry's hand, still resting on her shoulder. "Sure," she said. "Sorry I dragged you over here."

Kerry returned the kiss and planted one on the top of Dar's head. "No problem." She gave Dar a last hug, then turned and made her way out of the office, leaving behind a faint scent of apricot.

Dar sighed and refocused her attention on the screen. The alert was now well and over and no trace was left of the disturbance that had sent her monitor off the scale. She was satisfied with the possibility that it had been a false alarm, but something niggled at the back of her mind anyway.

She went over the log in the router that had triggered the alarm. No attacks had been detected from the outside, and she confirmed again that no unusual traffic had been seen. The only thing in the logs themselves was a--

Huh. Dar cocked her head. TFTP requests weren't uncommon. They had servers that routinely copied the configurations and logs of the devices for safekeeping, but Dar knew something about that which made this one log entry catch her eye.

She checked her watch. It was seventeen minutes past eleven. She'd written that little collection program way back in the days when she'd supervised the ops center. One of her own peculiarities, generated by her years growing up on a military base, dictated that her timed requests always went off on even fractions of the hour.

Eleven, eleven ten, twenty, thirty, but this request was seventeen minutes after the hour.

So Dar examined the entry, and found it coming from one of the administrative servers. Cracking her knuckles, she called up a terminal program and accessed the server, her eyes narrowing slightly as she started her hunt.