Stormy Waters: Book 10 in The Dar & Kerry Series

Chapter Thirteen

DAR TORE THROUGH the empty hallways, circling the fourteenth floor around the central elevator stack. She could hear scuffling ahead of her and she sped up, hurtling around the last corner into the corridor that held her office.

Ahead of her, in the semi darkness, she could see two figures wrestling, only one of which was familiar. "Kerry!" She let out a yell.

"Son of a bitch!" Kerry barked back. "Get this piece...ow!"

Dar reached the fight and didn't even slow down. She plowed right into both struggling figures, gently shoving Kerry back out of the way toward one wall as she took the person she was fighting with up against the other one.

"Let go of me!" The stranger yelped. "Hey!"

"Go to hell!" Dar said. "You're lucky I don't open the window and toss your ass out."

"Oh yeah, I'm scared."

The two were evenly matched in size, but Dar pinned Kerry's adversary against the paneling, resisting the urge to shake the woman like a terrier with a rat. "Hold still or I'll break your damn arm." She growled. "Ker, you okay?"

"Yeah." Kerry closed in behind her and put a hand on Dar's back. "I found this little creep in your office."

"My office?" Dar pressed harder. "Get the lights on."

"Dar, they're controlled by computer." Kerry reminded her.

"You're an IT professional." Dar gritted her teeth. "So go hack them."

"Yeesh. Okay." Kerry ducked into Dar's office, disappearing from view.

Her captive began to struggle, attempting to throw Dar off her. "Let me go, or you'll be sorry!"

Dar wasn't sure what was more painful, the cliché or the ache in her foot. The woman got an arm free and swatted at her. Dar blocked the blow with her forearm, then she grabbed hold of the other woman's shirt and swung around, slamming her opponent against the opposite wall.

"Bitch! You're so going to regret this!" The woman growled, grappling with Dar and trying to kick her.

"Not as much as you're going to regret this, or I'm going to enjoy it." Dar wrenched her arm free and took a step back, setting herself before she let loose with a right cross. It smacked into the woman's jaw, bouncing her head against the wall and knocking her out.

Dar simply released her and allowed her to slide down the wall to the ground. She shook her hand and flexed the fingers, silence once again settling over the darkened hall. "Ker?" She called out, wanting very badly to have the lights come on so she could see if she knew the woman.

"Hang on." Kerry's voice drifted in from her office. "I hacked into the wrong subroutine. Give me a minute."

"Hmm." Dar glanced around. "What'd you hit, the music system?"

"Plumbing."

Dar winced. "Oh boy." She leaned against the opposite wall as Duks appeared from the darkness to stand next to her. "It's gonna be a long night."

"Ah." Kerry rattled a few more keystrokes in, and was rewarded by a flood of light that made her wince. She straightened up from Maria's desk and stepped around it, heading for the door to the hallway. Rounding it, she hastened to Dar's side and they stood together looking down at the intruder.

It was a woman, tall with a lithe build and short cropped dark hair, dressed in a non-descript Dickeys shirt and trousers with well worn work shoes.

"Know her?" Dar asked.

"Um...no," she replied. "She's not the usual night gal on this floor."

"Considering the night gal is a night guy, no," Dar agreed. "I don't recognize her either."

"Hmm." Kerry rubbed her jaw. "That's a cleaning staff uniform."

"Uh huh," Dar agreed. "Please don't tell me she was cleaning my office."

Kerry snorted. "Maybe, if she was cleaning your desk drawers from the inside with a flashlight." She looked around. "Where did Duks go?"

"Calling the cleaning supervisor," Dar said. "They've got some explaining to do."

They certainly did. Kerry folded her arms over her chest. "What do we do with her? She's going to come around any minute Dar."

"Call security, I guess. I don't want to tie her up, but we don't know what she's going to do when she comes around, either." She leaned against the wall with one hand, pondering their options. "You okay?" she asked suddenly, looking at Kerry in some concern.

"More or less," Kerry murmured. "You want to duct tape her?"

Dar grimaced. "I'm probably bucking a lawsuit as it is for clocking the little bastard. I'd rather not have cruel and unusual punishment added to it."

"Huh?"

"You ever had to remove duct tape from any part of your body?"

"No." Kerry shook her head, then paused. "Have you?"

"Yes."

"Hmm. How about we lock her in the cleaning closet?" Kerry suggested. "Seems appropriate, and it's close by." She pointed to one in a series of identical doorways. "I don't really want to wrestle any more tonight. I think I pulled something in my back."

"Huh." Dar tried the door and found it open. She pushed it inward, and flipped the lights on, finding nothing more exotic than a mop bucket and a stack of cleaning cloths. There was room in the closet for a cleaning cart, but the cart was missing, presumably elsewhere in the building. "Good idea. Give me a hand."

They dragged the woman's limp body into the closet, laying her down on the tile floor and backing out, pulling the door shut behind them. Dar fished in her pocket and retrieved her keyset, trying the master key on the door and grunting when it turned to a locked position with a satisfying snick. "There."

"Ugh." Kerry leaned against the wall, wincing as she stretched out her lower back muscles.

"Is that the less part of the more?" Dar limped over to her. "You scared me half to death."

Kerry shifted and leaned against Dar instead. "My knight in shining armor," she said. "Boy was I glad to hear you calling my name. I grabbed her and she got away from me."

"Ah."

"I ran after her and got the back of her shirt, and next thing I knew, I felt like I was in a wrestling exhibition."

Duks emerged from a side hallway and walked toward them. "Ah." He looked around. "Did our little friend escape?"

"We put her in the closet." Kerry pointed. "Is the supervisor coming up?"

"He is, indeed," Duks reported. "Especially since he informed me that there should be no person on this floor at this time. I have been told they start cleaning on this floor and work downwards."

Dar nodded. "Makes sense, since I usually see them before I leave."

"Yeah," Kerry agreed.

A hammering from behind the closet door startled all of them. "Let me outta here!" A voice emerged, outraged. "You little bastards! You can't do this to me!"

"Shut up," Duks hammered back. "Or we shall leave you and go get ourselves a beer."

"Count me in," Kerry added. "I was in the copy room when I heard a noise coming from your office. I went in, and there she was, rooting through everything. Who in the hell is this, Dar?"

Dar exchanged glances with Duks. "Should we call the cops?"

Duks pondered this. "Let us wait to see what the cleaning supervisor has to say. He said he...ah." Duks nodded, and looked past them. "Here he is now."

They all turned as a tall, slim man with salt and pepper hair joined them. "Ma'ams, sir," the newcomer said. "I do not understand what is going on here. I signed off on this floor two hours ago."

The hammering started on the inside of the door again. "Bastards!"

The cleaning supervisor started, and took a step back away from the door. "What is this in my closet?"

"Someone in one of your uniforms," Dar informed him. "A woman."

"I have no women on staff this evening." The supervisor protested. "Certainly, I do not keep them on this late. It is not safe. I take care of my girls. They go home no later than eight p.m." He pointed down the hallway, where a cleaning cart, being pushed by an older man was approaching. "See? There is Carlos. He is my man here tonight."

Carlos spotted all of them outside the cleaning closet and stopped, looking puzzled. "Senor?" he asked hesitantly. "Hay un problemo?"

Duks stuck his hands in his pockets and rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet. "I think perhaps we need to call the police then," he admitted. "If this person is not part of your staff, then it is an intruder, and the authorities must be notified."

"You don't want to do that!" The woman's voice inside the closet was muffled. "I'm warning you!"

Kerry put a hand on Dar's arm. "Maybe we should talk to her," she suggested. "The way she's acting is very strange, Dar. I'd expect someone to either be scared poopless, or else be asking for a lawyer."

Dar considered the thought, and had to concede she had a point. The woman's actions had been strange, and maybe there was something to be learned from her. "Okay." She addressed the cleaning supervisor, "I'm going to assume this person just stole one of your uniforms, and maybe someone's ID. I'll find out, and let you know."

The man nodded. "It is good." He motioned Carlos to move the cart in the other direction. "Vamanos."

"Senor?" The older man was confused. "Como?"

The supervisor took him by the arm and led him off, leaving Duks, Dar and Kerry in the hallway facing the closet door. "Well?" Dar held her key up. "Do we?"

Duks shrugged his broad shoulders.

"Ker?"

Kerry also shrugged, lifting her hands slightly.

"Hey, you in there." Dar banged on the door. "If I open this, so we can talk, you cool it or you're gonna hit the dirt again, got me?"

"Ah." Duks exhaled gently. "That is the Dar I know."

"You better open this door! Don't worry, I'll talk. I'm not into physical abuse like you are."

Dar shook her head and stuck the key in the lock, turning it and shoving the door open. She spread her arms out and flexed her knees a little, wondering if their erstwhile captive was going to come out swinging.

As it happened, she didn't. The woman walked warily out, giving Dar a dour, suspicious look. "Hope you've got a good lawyer."

"You too," Kerry advised her. "Especially since you attacked me while trespassing."

"I didn't attack you." The woman scoffed.

"Yes, you did," Kerry responded evenly, "after I surprised you in the act of burgling Dar's office. So if I were you, unless you want to have this discussion with a police officer, I would start cooperating.?

The woman studied her, then flicked her eyes to the rest of them. "This isn't what you think," she remarked, reaching into her back pocket, halting when Dar reacted. "Take it easy," she cautioned, removing her wallet and opening it. "Here. See?"

She held out a card.

Dar took it, and glanced at it. "Military intelligence," she repeated slowly. "Interesting."

"My father always claimed that was an oxymoron," Kerry murmured.

It wasn't the reaction the woman had clearly been expecting. "I don't think you quite understand what's going on here," she said. "You're the subject of an investigation."

"Let's go inside." Dar indicated the outer door to her office. "Louis, maybe we have an answer to your issue as well."

"Perhaps we do," Duks agreed. "Perhaps we do."

The woman looked from one of them to the other. "Do you understand that this is a serious situation?"

"Do you understand that we quite probably issued your paycheck on this very past Friday?" Duks retorted. "Do not threaten us with the government. We know better. Now, please go inside, or else, as Dar says, we shall call the police."

"Yeah," Dar agreed. "Wait--let me ask you one thing." She addressed the woman, "Are you from the Army?"

The woman looked warily at her. "Yes."

Dar's eyes narrowed and she snorted softly, as she closed the door behind them.

DAR TOOK A seat behind her desk, and Kerry perched on the edge of it. Duks sat in one visitor chair, and their unwelcome guest elected to remain standing.

"Okay," Dar said, "Explain to me why I have a member of military intelligence breaking and entering in my office."

The woman smirked. "It's really simple," she said. "My boss assigned me to break in here and blow wide open your reputation for security." She spread her arms and turned. "And I did."

"Why?" Kerry asked.

"What?"

"Why did your boss ask you to do that?"

"Hey, I don't question my orders." The woman held a hand up. "I just do what I'm told. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a report to file, and believe me I'm going to enjoy it." She looked at Dar. "You made all kinds of claims, lady, and you run all kinds of things for the US Government. It really pisses me off that you're so full of shit."

"Now, wait a minute..." Kerry started to stand up.

"Oh, don't bother." The woman waved her off. "Please, let's not even get into this little conflict of interest perversion the two of you have going here."

Dar's eyes narrowed slightly. "I'd watch it if I were you."

The woman snorted. "If you cooperate, and you're very lucky, my boss might consider just getting all the government's contracts cut quietly, and not blast it all over the papers." She looked at Dar. "I wouldn't because I think you stink. But he might, because he thinks you could be useful to us."

"Does he?" Kerry said. She turned to her partner. "Dar?" Her voice trailed off as the pale blue eyes pinned hers, and she read Dar's expression. She quietly turned back around and folded her arms, watching the intruder in silence.

"I think he's nuts," The woman stated frankly. "But he's the boss." She held up a cell phone. "And now I can call him and tell him what I found." She started dialing, the smirk plastered seemingly permanently on her face. "And believe me, you're gonna pay for hitting me."

Dar had her fingertips steepled, and she regarded the woman with a surprisingly benign expression. "Kerry?"

"Hmm." Kerry glanced at her.

"Call the police," Dar said. "Tell them we've caught someone breaking and entering in the office. Tell security what's going on, and have them send a couple of officers up here."

The woman stopped dialing and stared at Dar. "What?"

Kerry picked up the phone and dialed.

"You didn't quite catch what I said, did you?" the woman asked Dar. "My boss wants to keep this quiet."

"I don't," Dar replied. "If you legitimately blew our security, then I want it out in the open."

Duks stared at her, his eyebrows lifting. "Ah, Dar..."

"We're a public company, Duks."

"Of course I know that," he said.

"She's here. She had a password into the system or else someone left the machine logged in. It's legit. I'm not hiding it," Dar stated flatly.

Duks subsided with a thoughtful look.

"Thanks." Kerry finished speaking into the phone. She depressed the hook then dialed again. "John?" Kerry Stuart. I need a few of your guys up in Dar's office right away, please."

"Matter of fact?" Dar went on. "When you're done with that Ker, put a call in to corporate communications. We'll need a press release."

The intruder slowly let her hand drop, with the cell phone in it.

"You're not serious."

"Sure." Dar half shrugged. "Don't worry. I'm sure your boss will be glad to explain to the press why you're here, and we'll be glad to explain how we found you, and how you were stopped from committing theft of proprietary technology that had nothing to do with security on any government account."

The woman's expression switched to wary. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't you?" Dar inquired. "Well, then you've got no problem when the police take your fingerprints and match them against what's on the keyboard of the machine I confiscated from our Xerox room." She got up and circled her desk advancing on the woman. "You want to play in the big leagues? Fine, tell your boss, Captain Mousser, he can come down to Dade County jail and bail your ass out."

There was a soft knock on the door. Kerry crossed over and opened it standing aside to admit two of their night security guards. Unlike the day guards, the night men tended to be a little more serious, and these two, she knew, were off duty police officers. "Gentlemen, I found this person inside this office. The cleaning supervisor confirms she does not work for them. We've called Metro-Dade."

"All right, ma'am." The guards took up positions on either side of the intruder.

"Better call your boss now," Dar advised the woman. "I'm not sure what you'll be able to do once the police get here."

"How did you know his name?" the woman asked. "I didn't tell you that."

Kerry had been wondering the same thing herself.

Dar merely smiled. "Guess we all have our little secrets, don't we, Lieutenant?" She commented. "It's going to be interesting watching him--and you--explain why you were investigating government account security in a building that doesn't house any of it, of course."

The woman looked around the room. "This is..."

"The government systems are handled through our Houston office," Kerry told her quietly. "The Miami Ops center handles commercial accounts. Surely you knew that, right?"

Dar folded her arms as she watched their unwelcome intruder. The woman half turned and dialed a number, keeping her face averted and covering the mouthpiece of her phone with one hand. It was still a bad situation, she knew. There had been a breech, and there was no real way for her to whitewash it, save by the few details she'd already thrown forth.

Well, that, and the fact that the woman had not been successful in obtaining anything while she, Dar, had been watching. No telling how long she'd been at it and no telling what she'd sucked down when Dar hadn't been looking, since she wasn't apt to spend her evenings browsing the network.

Kerry sidled over to her side of the desk and eyed her, her back turned to the room and her expression open and very emotive.

Dar scrunched up her own face into a wry half grin in response, and both her shoulders moved slightly upward.

"We are so screwed." Kerry mouthed silently.

Dar nodded, keeping the same expression.

Surprisingly, Kerry now shrugged in return. "Oh well." She mimed.

Equally surprisingly, Dar understood the sentiment, and agreed with it. In the corner of her mind, a tiny bit of her ego was soothed by the knowledge that the breech, when it had come, hadn't come through her network. It had come, as security cracks often did, through the human end of the equation.

"Check the logs," she uttered softly. "Find out who logged into that workstation today."

Kerry nodded and slipped off the desk, crouching behind it and pulling Dar's keyboard over to her. After a moment, she knelt instead and rattled the keys, focusing her attention on the screen instead of the rest of the room.

The woman turned around and approached Dar, pausing when the security guards intercepted her with quiet, yet distinct intent. She held the cell phone out. "My boss wants to speak to you."

Dar let her wait while she considered the request. Then she got up and came around the desk, taking the phone and perching on the corner of the wooden surface to talk into it. "Yes, Captain?'

Kerry looked up from the monitor. "Dar?" she interrupted gently. "Marketing admin, four p.m., logoff twenty one hundred plus."

Dar's nostrils flared.

"That is an odd location for that resource." Duks commented. "Perhaps I should call Eleanor."

Dar blocked them out for a moment to listen to the phone. "What was that?"

"I said, Ms. Roberts, my intention was not to blow you out of the water," Captain Mousser stated.

"Not what your puppy dog said," Dar replied. "Get your story straight."

The man sighed audibly into the phone. "She's just a kid, and she doesn't understand complex politics. It was easier to just tell her that, anyway listen..."

"I'm not going to listen, Captain," Dar said. You decided to send some half assed kid in here to do god knows what, and she got caught. My bad for not running my own building services crew. Your bad for not doing your homework. So now we'll just let the press decide which one of us is the bigger asshole."

"Roberts, will you chill out?" the Captain hissed. "You're making this into a big deal, and it doesn't have to be!"

"You don't think trying to steal proprietary code is a big deal? I do!" Dar snapped back. "I don't give a rat's ass what your intent was, Captain! Figure out how you're going to defend that!"

There was a moment's silence. "Hey, that was just opportunistic," the Captain finally said. "She had a chance to go grab it so...you can't blame me! We've been trying to find a back door into that place for a week, and..."

"Mister, you are so screwed." Dar was merciless, though inwardly relieved she'd solved at least one mystery. "I'd get my ass down to Dade County jail if I were you, and bring cash. They don't take credit cards or government PO's." She got up and limped back around the desk, pausing to look out the windows at the moonlit sea.

Pressing a hand against the glass, she suddenly wished more than anything she was out there. A sigh fogged the window, and she looked up to catch the reflection of Kerry's sea green eyes gazing out at as well. Their glances met, and held.

"Roberts! Roberts! Jesus! You want this on page one? Really?" The Captain's voice rose. "C'mon! Get real!"

Dar turned and sat down. "I'd rather that, than have you holding some bullshit piece of nothing over my head. Get it out in the open, and we'll deal with it." Her mind was already busy with figuring out how to explain the whole damn thing.

To the press. To Alastair. God. To the board.

What a mess. She closed her eyes and welcomed the casual touch of Kerry's hand on her shoulder. Kerry didn't say a word, but the silent support was obvious. "So if you're done wasting my time, I've got a press release to arrange."

"Roberts." Mousser sighed. "Look, you have something to offer. Your skills are something I really, really want to add to the team I have supporting the country. Don't you care about your country? Don't you want to help it out?"

"I do my part providing civilian jobs, thanks," Dar said. "Are we done?"

"C'mon, Roberts, you're not a communist," he coaxed. "Uncle Sam's Army wants you."

"I'm gay," Dar stated the obvious.

"We can work around that."

Kerry's eyes nearly came out of her head as she listened.

Dar glared at the phone. "I'm a Navy brat." She added, "And my dad's a retired SEAL."

Silence. "Okay, that's a problem," he admitted. "But listen; can we chalk this one up to patriotism? Let my girl out of there, and we keep this between us."

Dar's phone rang. Kerry answered it. "Okay, thanks." She looked at Dar. "Police are downstairs."

Dar hesitated, considering their options. Duks chose that moment to come around the desk and lean close to her. He put a hand over the cell and caught her eye.

"This is not the explanation for our other problem, my friend. If you can avoid the publicity, do so." He murmured under his breath. "We have much bigger issues to deal with right now."

Dar hated swallowing her pride, but she hated making stupid mistakes even more. She gave Duks a brief nod, then lifted the phone back up. "All right," She snarled. "But you're gonna have to come up with some damn good assurances that your light bulb here isn't going to open her mouth to half the earth, since she's so proud of what she did."

The Captain chuckled. "Leave that to me." He sounded much surer of himself now. "Now...can we talk about that little program of yours?"

Dar looked up at the ceiling. "No," she said. "Right now, I have to get the cops out of my lobby."

"Then give my soldier her phone back. I'll be in touch with you tomorrow," the captain answered smugly. "Don't worry, Roberts. This is going to end up being good for both of us."

Dar shook her head and threw the phone back to its owner. Now she had the police to deal with. What the hell was she going to tell them?

"Let me go downstairs." Kerry patted her on the back. "I'll handle the cops, Dar. Don't worry about it." She circled the desk and headed for the door before Dar could stop her, not that she had any intention of trying.

"Okay." Dar turned to the two security guards. "Escort this person out of the building. Take her picture before you do, and I want to know how and where she got the cleaning department identification card."

"Ma'am." The nearer guard took hold of the intruder's arm. "Should we file an internal report on this?"

"Bet your ass you should," Dar replied instantly. "Get her out of here."

The lieutenant's smirk had returned, but it wasn't as brazen as it had been to begin with. She had closed her phone and put it away, and wasn't resisting the grip of the guard. She gave Dar a look of triumph as she was led off, but remained silent.

That left Duks and Dar alone in the office. Dar rested her chin on her fist and regarded her friend, who gazed back with an equally serious expression. "We're in trouble," Dar said.

"Yes," Duks agreed. "And the big problem is, if it turns out my people were compromised then that is something that will be very difficult to hide. If it comes out, then this will as well."

"I know." Dar felt very tired. "Let's schedule an executive meeting first thing in the morning. We all need to talk."

"Yes. We do," Duks agreed. "This is a time for teamwork."

The ultimate in non-team players let out a long, aggrieved sigh.

"It's time for something," she muttered. "Right now, I'm thinking maybe a beer."

"Perhaps two," Duks agreed solemnly. "After you, madam."

Dar logged Kerry out of her PC, and shut it off. She flipped the lights down as they left, shaking her head all the way to the elevator.

IT WAS AFTER midnight as they trudged back up the steps to the condo, Dar leaning against the wall as Kerry keyed in the lock and opened the door. Chino corkscrewed up to greet them, and Kerry distracted the dog long enough for Dar to slip inside and close the door behind her.

"Ugh." Dar limped across the living room and headed for the bedroom, holding a boot in one hand. "Ker, can you check in the mailbox to see if they dropped off those drugs?'

"Sure." Kerry gave Chino a kiss on the head, and then she ducked back outside to look for the bag. It was hanging neatly on the hook under their mailbox, so she grabbed it and scooted back inside. "It's here, hon."

"Yippee." Dar's voice floated in from the bedroom. "Y'know, I used to look back on all those long nights and stressful deadlines with some kind of half assed affection." She limped back in, now dressed in just a t-shirt and her underwear. "What drug was I on?"

Kerry handed her the bag. "Why don't you sit down, and I'll grab us some hot chocolate after I change," she suggested. "I need to decompress for a while. My head's spinning."

"Go change." Dar bumped her toward the bedroom. "I'll crank up the drinks." She continued on into the kitchen and set the bag down on the counter, leaving it there while she retrieved a glass from the cupboard and squirted herself some milk.

Her foot was killing her. The long evening encased in her boot had rubbed the injury raw, and her sock had been covered in blood when she'd taken the shoe off. She perched on a stool and added a handful of Advil to the antibiotics, swallowing them all with the help of a mouthful of her milk.

Chino trotted in and sniffed at her foot, giving it a sympathetic lick. Dar regarded the dog with a wry grin, then she got off the stool and retrieved the microwavable pitcher they used for their late night hot toddies.

She filled it with milk, and added the appropriate squirts of chocolate syrup, swirling the liquid around once or twice before she slapped the lid on and gave it a vigorous shake. She pulled open the lid and considered the contents, and satisfied with the consistency she put it in the microwave.

Seating herself back on the stool, she swung her legs back and forth a few times, idly tracing a long, thin white scar crossing her right kneecap. Free of her shoe, her injured foot was beginning to stop throbbing. She cautiously wiggled her toes.

Ick. They felt swollen. She brought the foot up to rest on her knee and examined it, scowling at the red, puffy skin and the tender area that covered the top and part of the bottom of her foot. It hurt. Her head hurt. Her shoulders hurt from the tension of the night, and she wished--

What did she wish?

Dar found herself too tired to focus on the big picture, and resorted to a short term goal instead. She wished she was tucked in bed with Kerry, and a cup of hot chocolate, and Advil. There, that was doable, wasn't it?

Kerry entered the kitchen wearing a knee length t-shirt. "For a day that started out really cool, it sure ended disgusting, didn't it?"

"Uh huh." Dar agreed mournfully. "I want to go back to yesterday."

Kerry came over and leaned against her, rubbing Dar's back with the tips of her fingers. "Did you take your drugs?"

"Uh huh."

"Tired?"

"Ugh." Dar closed her eyes and let her head rest against Kerry's. "I can just see tomorrow's gonna suck."

"Uh huh." Kerry glanced up as the microwave beeped. "I smell hot chocolate." She eased past Dar and removed two mugs from the cabinet, setting them down on the counter and leaning up to retrieve the pot. "Let's worry about tomorrow, tomorrow."

Oo, mental synergy. Dar snaked an arm around Kerry and held her gently, nuzzling her arm as she attempted to pour the hot chocolate out. "Thanks for taking care of the police, by the way."

"No problem." Kerry managed to get the beverage into the cups despite the distraction. "They were very understanding, once I explained about how big a company we are, and how many new hires we have, and how it was natural for someone to get lost on the wrong floor and wander into the wrong office and be discovered accidentally by me."

Dar sipped her chocolate. "You're kidding, right?"

"No." Kerry took her elbow. "C'mon, let's go curl up on the couch. I had all the time in the world, like the thirty seconds it takes the elevator to go from fourteen to one, to come up with that story. I thought I did pretty good."

"Hell of a lot better than I'd have done." Dar agreed, willingly allowing herself to be towed to the couch. She settled next to Kerry on the soft leather, and eased her foot up onto the table.

Kerry used the remote to start a quiet CD, and turn a seascape on the television screen. The lights were low in the room, and she exhaled as she allowed the peace of the moment to descend on her. The chocolate was sweet on her tongue and she could feel the warmth traveling down into her stomach, easing the slight uneasiness from a shared dozen ill-advised spicy chicken wings.

"Ker?"

"Mm?"

"Love you."

Thoughts of chicken wings flew out the window. "I never get tired of hearing that," Kerry admitted. "Love you too."

Dar draped her arm over Kerry's shoulders. "You know something?"

"Nope." Kerry leaned back and put her feet up next to Dar's. "My brain's a cheap plastic colander at the moment."

"Ah." Dar turned her head and nipped Kerry's earlobe. "I knew this yellow stuff reminded me of something." She puffed a bit of Kerry's hair up with a short breath.

"Spaghetti?" Kerry suggested.

"Corn silk."

"Hmm. I don't like corn silk."

Dar pulled back a little. "You don't?"

Kerry shook her head. "No. It makes me itch," She explained. "Every time I get us fresh corn I have to have someone in the store husk it for me. Otherwise I end up scratching my arms raw after I finish digging the suckers out of those honky wooden bins."

"Hmm." Dar took a sip of her chocolate. "Learn something new every day."

"Too bad, too, because I love corn, and I love the smell of it when it's fresh." Kerry went on, a touch mournfully. "Especially the white corn."

Dar considered. "You could wear gloves."

"Oh, Dar. Can you imagine me shopping in Publix in white gloves up to my armpits?"

"I saw someone shopping last year in a mink."

"Real?"

"Dead." Dar clarified, then paused. "Oh, I see what you mean...yeah, I think it was real."

"Ugh. That's so un-PC." Kerry shook her head. She reflected a moment more. "We're babbling like idiots, aren't we?"

"Not really." Dar exhaled, half closing her eyes. "Everything you've said so far makes sense." She put her cup down and put her arm around Kerry. "And you were right. That story you told the cops was a good one."

"Mm." Kerry got rid of her cup and half turned, snuggling into Dar?s embrace. "To hell with the cops. You tell me a story."

Both of Dar's eyebrows lifted, and her blue eyes widened. "What?"

"Tell me a story." Kerry repeated. "C'mon, I know you know some."

Dar searched through her memories, hoping her partner wasn't expecting a once upon a time kind of tale since she'd been reading things other than Jack and Jill since she'd been a pre-schooler, and Andrew had never subscribed to Mother Goose.

Did she know any stories suitable for Kerry's adorable ears? "Wanna hear about my tenth birthday?"

"Sure." Kerry pressed her ear against Dar's chest, listening to her heartbeat. It had that odd little echo beat, from the anomaly she had in her chest, a rhythm Kerry had become quite fond of.

"Okay," Dar said. "When I was ten years old, we moved from Florida to Virginia because that's where my dad was stationed for a while."

"Mm. I can't picture you in Virginia."

"Neither could I," Dar agreed. "I missed my friends on the base something awful, and I hated the new school I was in. They made us wear uniforms."

Kerry cocked an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I know. Military brat doesn't like uniforms," Dar acknowledged. "It was a skirt, Ker. What can I tell you?"

Kerry's nose wrinkled. "Pleated?"

"Yes."

"Uuuugh."

"Anyway, since I didn't know squat about skirts, I put the damn thing on backwards," Dar said, "And wore it to school that way." A faint, self deprecating smile appeared. "No one noticed until lunchtime, but then some pissass rich girls cornered me in the cafeteria and started teasing me."

"Kids are so cruel, sometimes," Kerry agreed softly. "Most of them steered clear of us, but there was always talk, and they were always careful to make sure I heard it."

"Mm...well, they were all mostly older girls, and I guess they figured I was safe to make fun of," Dar mused. "I'd promised my dad I wouldn't make trouble in school, that I'd give it a while until I got used to everything."

"Ah."

"First time I ever broke a promise to him."

"Mm." Kerry nodded gently against Dar's body.

"I took hold of the biggest of them..."

"Bigger than you?" Kerry interrupted.

"Yeah," Dar agreed. "I didn't hit my growth spurt until I was, I think, twelve or thirteen. Anyway, I grabbed the biggest one and just tossed her over onto the ground and ripped her skirt off."

"Oh gosh." Kerry covered her eyes.

"Then I asked her which one of us was more ridiculous looking." Dar half smiled at the memory. "She was crying, the other kids were laughing and then the principal showed up." She chuckled. "He told me I was going to get a spanking. I told him..."

Kerry giggled.

"...my dad was going to kick his ass," Dar finished. "So we all ended up in the principal's office, and they called in the girl's parents, and my parents, and it was quite the circus in there. It turns out the girl's mother was an old acquaintance of my mother's, but not a fondly remembered one."

"Oh, my god. Did you end up in jail?"

"No." Dar shook her head. "We ended up in Dairy Queen," she said "We'd both been suspended for two days, and I was just so pissed off. I told them I'd rather go to reform school than stay there with those stuck up pieces of--"

"Would you really have?" Kerry asked. "Rather been in reform school? Dar, you're not a criminal."

"I would have fit in better there," Dar replied honestly. "And my father said just to give him a little time, and he'd fix it so we could go back home."

"Did he?"

Dar nodded. "I found out later he gave up a big promotion and a job he really wanted for it," she said. "But when I asked him about that, he just said his family and us being happy was more important to him than what he did."

Kerry pondered that for a minute. "There's a moral to this story isn't there?"

Dar hugged her. "Maybe." She exhaled. "Or maybe I'm just being nostalgic. That jackass who broke into the office tonight reminded me of that girl."

Kerry shifted and raised her head, kissing her partner on the lips. "Your father's a smartie." She rubbed noses with Dar. "And I like stories with a moral." She gave Dar a hug back, burying her face into the side of her partner's neck, and biting her gently.

"Oo."

"Mm."

"What was that about morals?"

Kerry just chuckled.

DAR SPENT A good while after she woke before dawn just relaxing in the darkness, her eyes mostly closed as she listened to the soft cycling on and off of the air conditioner. It was comfortable in the bedroom, the conditioner putting enough chill into the air to make the warm waterbed surface under them feel good, and there was a sense of peace in the townhouse that was very appealing.

It certainly was appealing to Dar, who was perfectly content to lie there and enjoy it as she pondered the coming day.

"Meatballs," Kerry muttered, under her breath. "Banana compote."

Dar's eyebrow twitched and she turned her head slightly to get a better view of her still sleeping, yet surprisingly chatty, partner. "Ker?" she whispered.

"Pencils don't do it." Kerry insisted.

Instantly, Dar's mind was alive with possibilities and she tried to figure out what Kerry was dreaming of. Pencils? Meatballs? What was banana compote, anyway? "Keeeerrry?" she warbled softly. "I loooooovvveee you."

Very slowly, a green orb appeared, focusing on her and visible in the low light from the clock. "I thought I heard a gopher."

"Hi."

Kerry rolled over onto her left side and snuggled back up to her partner. "Honey, you can wake me up saying you love me any day of the week," she uttered. "But did you have to do it before sunrise?"

"What were you dreaming about?"

"I wasn't." Kerry shook her head, then paused. "Why? Was I babbling again?"

Dar chuckled.

"Y'know, Dar, I never used to talk in my sleep before I met you." Kerry complained. "I'm sure my brother and sister would have mentioned it."

"How do you know?" Dar asked, reasonably. "You guys didn't sleep in the same bed, did'ja?"

Kerry's face scrunched up. "No!" She poked the taller woman in the ribs. "But Angie and I went to camp together," she explained. "I never would have lived it down if I talked in my sleep. What was I saying?"

"Gettysburg Address."

Kerry chewed on her lip. "Can't believe I actually remember that. Must be subliminal." She shook her head and closed her eyes.

Dar put her arm around Kerry and exhaled. "You were actually talking about meatballs and bananas."

Kerry opened one eye again. "Together?" she asked a touch hesitantly. "Hmm. Maybe I was dreaming I was pregnant."

Dar considered the question. "Something you aspire to?" she queried cautiously, her mind flashing back to a certain dream she'd had near the beginning of their relationship.

"Not unless you're volunteering to make me that way."

Dar's eyes widened slightly. "I think we need to go back to sleep."

"Good idea." Kerry gave her a pat on the belly.

Dar pulled the covers up and tucked them around Kerry's shoulders. They had at least an hour before it was time to get up, and she intended on using every minute of the time productively. Peace settled back down over the room after a moment.

It didn't last that long. "Ker?"

"Mm?"

"You know I can't really make you pregnant, right"

"Sure you could." Kerry gave her another comforting pat. "You can do anything you put your mind to. I have total confidence in you."

Silence fell for another brief moment. Then Dar cleared her throat gently. "That old Christian school of yours was a little light on science, huh?"

Kerry chuckled throatily, her shoulder shaking. "You know, I do remember what I was dreaming about," she admitted. "I was organizing a potluck for our office."

"Ah. That's where the pencils came in," Dar mused.

"No one knew what to bring. No one had any idea of what the heck was going on. It was like a teacher's workday in Idiotville. She complained. "I'm glad you woke me up. I was just getting to the point where I was going to start..."

"Throwing food?" Dar suggested. "Seems to be a standard practice in our circle."

"Ahem."

They both chuckled. Then Kerry sighed. "Well, I'm up now." She lamented. "You?"

"Yeah."

"How about we have a biscuit on the porch and watch the sun rise then go over to the gym?" Kerry said. "I grabbed a new flavor coffee at the market the other day and I've been meaning to try it."

It sounded pretty appealing to Dar, who gave up on her snoozing plans with only a faint regret. She reached over and turned on the bedside lamp, which produced a soft glow calculated not to shock the eyeballs. Kerry had selected the appliance replacing a somewhat brighter one that had been a holdover from Aunt May's day. "Go go go."

Kerry waited for Dar to roll up out of the waterbed before she followed suit, rubbing her bare arms as the chill air hit them. She grabbed the shirt Dar tossed her and slipped into it, then briefly wished for a pair of slippers as she followed Dar out of the room.

Chino was already waiting at the back door, tail wagging gently as they entered the kitchen. Dar detoured to let the Labrador out, and paused on the steps to watch the pre-dawn stars twinkle in the sky.

The air was warm and full of moisture, and the scent of salt water and grass was thick. Dar sucked in a lungful, almost able to taste the richness on the back of her tongue as a breeze brushed over her body. She could remember air like this as part of her world from the time she was old enough to recognize anything. She spared a brief moment of nostalgia for a time when all it would have meant was another lazy summer day full of thunderstorms and dust, and maybe some coconuts to break open.

With a faint sigh, she turned and leaned on the door jamb, watching Kerry as she measured coffee from a lidded container into their coffee machine. Despite the faded shirt and sleep disheveled hair, or maybe because of it, she found herself smiling at the sight.

"So." Kerry leaned on the counter and watched the water start to percolate through the grinds. "We've got an executive meeting at nine. What's the angle you're going to put on that, Dar?"

"Shh." Dar circled her and kissed her on the back of the neck. "I don't want to talk about angles until we're in the car on the way there."

Kerry turned her head and peered up at her partner. "Just trying to mentally prepare," she protested mildly. "It's going to be a free for all, y'know."

"I know." Dar rested her chin on Kerry's shoulder. "Don't worry about it. We'll just take it as it comes. Now," she bumped her lightly, "what was that about sunrise and a cookie?"

"A biscuit." Kerry bumped her back with a tolerant grin. "I think I have some whole wheat crackers we could try."

Dar snorted.

"Yeah, okay. Grab the banana nut cakes from the fridge and I'll get the coffee." Kerry acknowledged. "And I'll figure out something safe to talk to you about."

Dar paused in the middle of removing a package of muffins, and looked at her. "That's not what I--"

Kerry raised her eyebrows.

"Ker, it's going to be an entire day of that crap. Any reason to start it early?" Dar asked plaintively.

"Yes." Kerry looked back at her seriously. "I want to be ready for it, and I want a comfort level with how you feel about all this stuff before we go in there. It would make me feel a lot better."

Dar blinked. "Oh."

"You asked." She shrugged slightly, a faint twitch starting at the corners of her mouth. "But I like being able to answer you honestly, and not have either of us freak out, you know that?"

On the verge of slightly freaking out, Dar relaxed instead. "Yeah," she agreed. "Sorry, I wasn't thinking." She put the muffins down and removed a package of whipped cream cheese, setting it down as well. "Story of my life lately."

"That's the second time you said that recently." Kerry poured the now finished coffee into a carafe and snagged two cups. "C'mon." She led the way to the sliding glass doors to their porch and paused, as Dar reached past her to unlock them and push them open.

They walked outside and settled down at the table, the sound of the surf now more audible as a fairly strong breeze fluttered their shirts against their bodies. "Oo." Kerry set her burden down and walked to the balcony, enjoying the fresh air.

Dar took a seat at the table and poured two cups of coffee, fixing Kerry's and setting it next to the other chair. She removed a muffin from the container and cut it in half, studiously covering both the flat surfaces with cream cheese.

Kerry came over and sat down, taking her cup and sipping at it. "Thank you."

Pale blue eyes flicked up and regarded her. "You're welcome." She handed Kerry half the muffin and took the other half for herself. "You know something?"

Kerry nibbled at her muffin. "You have no clue what you're going to do in that meeting," she stated, eyes twinkling very gently. "I figured that out while we were walking out here because if you did know what you were going to do, you'd have said it already instead of pushing me off since yesterday."

Dar took a bite of her muffin, more than a little disconcerted. "Um..."

"Am I wrong? It's okay if I am. I was just--" Kerry half shrugged. "You know." She slid one foot under the table and rubbed Dar's with it. "I don't want to rattle you, hon. I just feel rattled myself, and I hate that."

Dar, of course, hated it also. She wasn't really feeling rattled as much as she was feeling like she was not in control of whatever was going on and she hated that even more. Things were happening that surprised her, and knocked her off guard, and it was difficult to keep having to adjust her inner plans to account for totally bizarre?

Off balance. It struck a chord somewhere, and suddenly Dar remembered exactly why she hated feeling that way, and exactly when she'd been taunted about her reaction to it. "Huh."

"Dar?"

Everything had conspired lately against her, but was it just the vagaries of fate, or did she detect a subtle, long finger nailed hand behind it?

"Hello, Dar?" Kerry reached over and curled her fingers around Dar's wrist. "Earth calling?"

Dar cocked her head to one side. "I was just remembering something," she murmured. "Anyway, yeah, I think you're right, Ker. I mean...I know basically what we're gonna do." She leaned her elbows on the table and nibbled her way around the edge of her muffin. "We're gonna cancel that meeting."

"Uh?" Kerry got caught in mid-sip. "What?"

"You and I are just going to concentrate on the ship," Dar said firmly. "We've got a project to complete, and the rest of the stuff going on can wait. Duks can handle his security breach, and our security department can handle the cleaning staff."

Kerry rested her chin on her fist. "Um...okay."

"It's a distraction." Dar looked her right in the eye. "Someone's trying very hard to keep you, and I, off balance and not concentrating on this project." She bit her muffin in half, and watched crumbs litter the table. "We're not going to let them do that anymore."

Mental whiplash was no kinder than the physical kind Kerry discovered. She studied her partner for a minute then merely shook her head. "Whatever you say, boss," she replied. "So, you want me to send a note to..."

"The battling burritos, yes." Dar sounded much more decisive now. "Tell them we'll be at the ship all day and nothing short of a hurricane better interrupt us." She sliced the other muffin in half and adorned it, then nudged Kerry's hand. "C'mon, we've got crunches to do, treadmills to pound...start chewing."

Obediently, Kerry did, glad at least that some sort of direction seemed to be coming back into her partner's attitude. Whether that direction was going to take them both off the road into the water, she didn't know, but heck.

Life was short. Enjoy the cream cheese while you could.