Tropical Convergence

Chapter Nine

DAR DROPPED HER leather portfolio on her desk before she circled it and sat down, giving her trackball a spin as she settled into her leather chair.

Her mail came up, the screen dark with new messages. She clicked on one, and reviewed it, then sighed and shook her head. "Boy, am I ever an idiot."

After a moment, she hit one of her speed dial buttons and waited for an answer. "Mark?"

"Hey boss." Mark sounded a touch harried.

"You going to kill me?" Dar eyed the phone. "I got the security report."

"Well," Mark sighed. "Our front end web routers are getting pounded. I may have to throw a reserve circuit at it. Freaking hackers."

Dar flipped over to the monitoring screen and reviewed it. She could see the entry points, and the flickers of orange and yellow in their normally green and blue world. "Brute force?"

"Yeah. Pretty lame," Mark said. "Just a lot of volume."

Dar studied the traffic. "Are they trying to hack the site or just DDOS it?" she asked. "We have a sniffer on that outside port?"

Mark rattled a bunch of keys. "Haven't scoped it yet," he admitted. "Gimme a sec."

The attack didn't really affect her internal network. Dar frowned as she studied the stats. They had recorded a rising number of probes at her external interfaces, but those were subtler, and almost hesitant. This seemed like something else.

"They take us offline that's gonna suck, Boss," Mark commented.

Exactly. "I think that's probably what they're trying to do," Dar said. "Bastards." She leaned on her elbows, peering at the screen. "Let's get a scope on it, see if there's a common source or if it's a botnet."

"Will do."

"Call me back." Dar released the phone and sighed. She glanced back at her mail and clicked a second one with a red exclamation point. "Eleanor. Now what?"

She scanned the mail, and then dialed the phone again. Two rings later, Eleanor answered. "What the hell is this mail?" Dar asked. "Who wants to talk to me?"

The Marketing VP sighed. "Apparently CNN's tech reporter picked up the AP feed on the convention. He got wind of this competition between Telegenics and us and wants a story out of it. He's already talked to the Tech TV people that were there."

"Great." Dar leaned back in her chair. "What's his angle?"

"That we're being pushed over by some startup with guts and innovation."

"Nice," Dar grunted.

"He thinks he's got a good yarn, what can I tell you, Dar?" Eleanor said. "Want me to push him over to Kerry? We'd probably get milder sound bites that way."

Dar sighed. "No, I'm not asking Kerry to clean up my mess. Give him my contact info. I'll talk to him." She rubbed her temples.

"Okay," Eleanor said. "Do me a favor though, huh? Try not to get us into more trouble?"

"No promises," Dar answered briefly. "Later." She cut off the phone, and then hit the button again when it buzzed a second later. "Yeah?"

"Okay, got the sniffer on." Mark said. "I'm gonna output to your share okay? I've got a couple of hot potatoes on right now."

"Sure," Dar agreed. "Thanks. I got it." She hung up again, and then glanced up as her intercom buzzed. "Now what?"

"Jefa, I have a customer, Mr. Godson on linea uno. He says he must speak with you urgently."

Godson. Godson...oh. "Okay, put him through," Dar said. "I'll talk to him."

"Si, I will do so." Maria's voice clicked off, then her internal line buzzed.

Dar picked it up. "Hello Stewart."

"Dar, that you? Oh, of course it is," a man's voice answered. "Glad I caught you in. Listen, I've got a big problem I need some help with."

Of course he did. Customers rarely called Dar just to pass the time of day, or compliment her on their service metrics. Godson was the CIO of Betadyne, a very high-powered sales and marketing group that provided fulfillment and call center services for a host of clients.

A big, and influential account. Ergo, why Dar was speaking to him without hesitation. "Sure, Stewart. What can we do for you?"

She spun her trackball again, and studied her mail screen as he started talking, stifling a yawn and wishing the day was moving faster.

"Well, see, Dar, we recently moved to this new application of ours, a real corker," Godson said. "It's fabulous. We love it. It does a hell of a lot more for us than the last thing we were using did, and we can see it's going to really move us ahead in business."

Dar glanced at the phone. "Glad to hear that, Stewart," she remarked. "I didn't know you were moving platforms."

Godson cleared his throat. "Wasn't going to, you know? Change isn't the best route sometimes, but we got a good deal from this company, and our new VP Ops here brought the deal home, said it would revolutionize us."

Uh huh. "Okay, so...what's the problem? Sounds like you're happy with it." Dar leaned her elbow on her desk and rested her head on her hand.

"Well, it's not performing," Godson said. "It's slow as hell, and Meyer, that's my VP, thinks it's the network causing the problem."

Dar turned her head and looked at the phone. "I see."

"Says he's got some people he can bring in to fix everything." Godson sounded a trifle abashed. "You know, consultants or what not. Friends of his, I guess."

"Uh huh."

"But I told him, before we go spending money on that, let's see what you can find out about it." The man cleared his throat. "After all, we've been doing business for a long time, right?"

"We have." Dar now turned her full attention to the phone, turning in her seat and leaning on her elbows, ignoring the screen. "I'm sorry you didn't come to me sooner, Stewart. I didn't know you were having an issue, much less that you considered it to be our fault."

"Now, Dar," Stewart said. "Let's not talk about fault huh? Maybe it's something simple, if you can look at it and see what it is?"

"Absolutely." Dar folded her hands. "I'll look at it right away and let you know."

"Great." Godson sounded relieved. "Looking forward to hearing from you, Dar. Thanks!"

He hung up and left Dar pondering her phone with a dour expression. Then she turned and minimized her mail, calling up her network monitoring program with a shake of her head.

A soft beep made her look up again to see Mark's file transfer completed, the box flashing for her attention.

"Yeah yeah." She shifted in her seat and resisted the urge to open her analyzer program, focusing on Godson's issue instead. "This better the hell not be a capacity problem I missed." Her hand flicked the mouse pointer impatiently. "If it is I'm gonna fire my ass."

KERRY WHISTLED UNDER her breath as she removed a last load of laundry from the washer and tossed it into the dryer. She set the machine and started it running, then took her basketful of already dried clothes and ambled back through the kitchen toward Dar's bedroom, closely followed by an attentive Chino.

She put the basket down on the edge of the waterbed and started sorting its contents out. "You know what, Chino?" she addressed their pet. "Don't tell anyone, but sometimes I actually like doing this stuff."

"Gruff?"

Kerry opened Dar's underwear drawer and began to store neatly folded pairs of underwear inside it. She'd gotten two of them inside when the phone rang, and she reached across the dresser to pick up the portable resting there. "Hello?"

"Hi, is this Ms. Stuart?" a man's voice asked. "This is Bob, from South Beach Lexus."

"Yup, it's me," Kerry agreed. "The buggy ready?"

"Not quite yet, ma'am, we really want to replace the brake pads. You've been kinda tough on 'em."

Kerry frowned at the phone. "I have?"

"Well, they're showing a lot of wear. We can let them go for a while but..."

"No, go ahead, by all means replace them," Kerry interrupted him. "I just didn't think I jammed them that much. Guess I'll have to pay more attention to how I'm driving, huh?"

The man cleared his throat. "Yeah, well, you know, a lot of people have the same problem...must be the traffic down here. Anyway, we'll get them changed, and my guy's gonna deliver the car to you round dinnertime, if that's okay."

"Great," Kerry answered readily. "Sounds perfect. Thanks!" She put the phone down and went back to her folding, inspecting each item for possible holes before she tucked it away. Most of Dar's briefs were plain, and somewhat ordinary, but she did have a selection of whimsical ones, most of which Kerry had purchased for her.

And of course, the red silk ones. Kerry smiled as she put those in the drawer, glancing at herself in the mirror as she finished. A hand lifted and riffled through her newly cut hair, and she gave the results an approving nod, pleased with her day so far.

The phone rang again, and she gave it a look of mild exasperation before she picked up the receiver and answered it. "Hello?"

"Hi," Dar's voice responded. "You're not answering your cell phone."

Kerry sucked in breath. "Oops...sorry. It's upstairs charging," she said. "And I'm downstairs playing with your undies. What's up?"

"Ahh...glad I finally learned my lesson and don't keep you on speaker," Dar chuckled. "Listen, I had to put the afternoon session on delay. Stewart Godson up in New York called, with a brand new project they just threw together. It's maxing their bandwidth out and I have to take a look at it."

"Is that our problem?" Kerry asked.

"Well, he's being told it's our problem," Dar sighed. "Somehow we managed to miss the capacity being pushed there. I've got someone checking the alerter system, but I think we just missed adding an alert for it."

"Ugh." Kerry grimaced. "You're not going to cause me a bottleneck up there, are you? I've got a lot of very touchy accounts up in those parts."

"Would I do that to you?" Dar's voice sounded bemused. "I may have to fly up there and meet with them, though, and I heard from Quest. He's pulling together a meeting of all the bidders at the Intercontinental on Wednesday."

Kerry nodded, even though her partner could not see her. "Well, you said I'd be spearheading that anyway," she remarked. "So forward the info on to me, boss, and I'll take care of it."

"Already done," Dar replied. "Looks like I'll be late. We're just going to start the sales meeting in an hour."

"I'll be waiting for you." There was a momentary silence, bringing a knowing smile to Kerry's face. "Give me a buzz before you leave, okay?"

"I will," Dar answered softly. "See you later."

Kerry put the phone down, her smile still lingering as she picked up her now empty basket and walked back through the living room, her mind busy with planning her strategy for Quest's meeting. A bright flash on the television broke her concentration, however, and she turned to look at the afternoon news blurb. "Oh." She paused, as they seemed to be continuing the news report from the previous night, now showing a picture of the man the police were looking for.

Kerry blinked, and then she simply stared at the picture, matching the somewhat blurry details with a memory from the previous day, from the car across from theirs, in the lazy afternoon sunlight of a summer day.

Was it the same jerk?

She squinted at the picture, which seemed to be from a passport. "Son of a bitch," she whispered. "I think it is."

"SO." THE LOW, powerful voice rolled out over the room. "As you can see, the capacity will remain relatively constant across the board, throughout the international and national grids, but our focus is going to be on refining the bandwidth usage and streamlining demand service."

A grid flashed onto the screen. "The net effect of that project will be for us to be able to add another fifty percent in capacity without increasing the hardware." Dar paused and leaned on the lectern. "Any further questions?"

She let her eyes sweep the room, suspecting the edge in her voice was suppressing the raised hands at last. "All right. Thank you, folks. That's all." Dar stepped back, acknowledging the applause in the room with a curt nod before she shut down the screens and retired the lectern, glad the damn thing was finally over.

Finally.

Dar dropped down into her seat at the head of the presentation table, it's cool leather closing around her as the noise level in the room rose. She picked up her glass of water and drained it, glad of the moisture for her dry, scratchy throat.

The crowd of sales directors was breaking up into clusters, all carrying printed hand-outs of her presentation as they discussed the session. Dar was happy to be left relatively alone, isolated at the front of the room with just enough space between her and the rest of them that even the few eyeing her hadn't gotten up the courage to approach.

Dar assumed a dour glare to reinforce the distance, exhausted from her two hour speech. It had gone over all right, she thought, but that, and the hour of questions after it had frazzled both her patience and her tolerance for occasionally stupid questions.

She did not want to entertain any more of them right now. Though the presentation room was an interior space and she could not see windows from where she was, she knew it was getting dark outside and the long day was nearing its end at last.

Time to go home. It had been a crappy day. On top of her discovering a fault in their monitoring system, the security reports were beginning to pile up on her desk like elephant crap. She was surprised Mark hadn't taken out a contract on her yet.

Jose finished his conversation with another sales director and headed her way. Dar fixed him with her glare, but the Sales VP ignored it and circled the table, taking a seat right next to her. "Good! It was very good, Dar."

"Thanks."

"We have too much people scared out there." Jose went on, resting his silver silk covered elbows on the table. "Everybody was running like chickens. Now, they see we have a plan."

"Uh huh." Dar rested her elbow on the chair arm and propped her head up on it. "We have a plan."

Jose looked at her. "What is wrong with you?"

Dar's eyebrows hiked.

"You are acting like you do not care," Jose said. "These people, what you say to them, that matters how they do their job, Dar."

"I know," she agreed. "I do care. It's just been a damn long day, Jose and I'm tired. It may be exciting to them, but to me, it's a rehash of the same damn speech I've already given the board, given the international board, and given the lot of you down here."

The Sales VP snorted. "You have no attention. It is like my son. He looks at one thing, and then..." Jose snapped his fingers. "It is the old news, and something else he goes to find. You are like that." He pointed at Dar. "Always, you have been like that."

Dar tried to get mad at him, but didn't find it in herself. She ended up shrugging instead. "Yeah. And?"

Jose also shrugged. "Nothing." he said. "I will tell you something however, Dar. Being married is good for you. I say so. My wife, she says so too. She told me she thinks you are not so much a bitch since then."

"Thanks," Dar drawled. "Your being married hasn't made you less of an asshole. How'd she figure that?"

Jose took a breath to answer, a red line creeping up his neck as he lifted his hand to shake a finger at Dar. "What did you say? I am being here so nice to you, and what is this?" His voice rose in outrage, attracting attention from the crowd still chatting around them in the room.

Dar snickered at him. "Miss the old days, Jose?" she inquired, a wry twinkle in her eyes.

"Puta," he growled, slapping his hand on the table. "There is the bitch I remember."

"Oh yeah." Dar leaned forward. "It's in there. It just takes a lot more now to get it to show." She got up and twitched her sleekly tailored jacket straight. "Gentlemen." She gave the now watching salesmen a gracious nod. "Ladies," she added, to the two women directors standing nearby. "Jose," she tacked on just for fun, as she stepped around the table and headed for the door. "Have a good night.

"Wait, Dar!" One of the women directors hustled to catch up to her, the other woman close behind. "Can we steal a moment of your time?"

Dar actually growled at them. "You had three hours of my time."

The women eased out of the conference room with her. "Just a few quick things...while you're walking?"

"Talk fast." Dar headed for the elevator. "Stacy, I've said all I wanted to say for the night in there." She hit the door button and headed into the car almost without a pause as her shoulders just barely cleared the opening. "It's been a long ass day."

The two women followed her hastily inside. "It isn't about the presentation," Stacy Allman said. "We wanted to talk to you about the ship contract." She glanced at the other woman. "Rhonda and I happened to be in the same bar as some old friends of yours, and we got an unintentional earful."

Dar leaned against the wall as the car rose to the fourteenth floor. "Everybody got a damned earful," she said. "I got nothing but the entire time I was up there." She studied the other two women, who could have been twins in their conservative suits and stylish haircuts.

Stacy waited for the doors to open before she answered. "Dar, let us take you out for a drink," she said, as they entered the quiet, half darkened floor. "You need to hear this, and the mausoleum's really not the place, if you catch my drift."

She caught it. Dar headed for her office, holding her outer door open before following the two saleswomen inside. She wasn't especially close friends of either, but they were both relatively old timers and she'd had a somewhat common bond with the few women who had made the climb up the ladder with and around her.

Both were savvy. Stacy was from New York, and Rhonda was from Los Angeles. Even though both women were straight as boards, neither had ever shown the veiled aversion to Dar's lifestyle she'd detected in others in the company. "I don't know, people. Like I said, it's been a long damn day."

"Cmon, Dar." Stacy followed her into her inner office, pausing to look around as Dar continued to her desk and started to pack up her briefcase. "Huh. This place looks a little different."

Dar's head lifted, and she looked around her office in mild confusion, expecting to find the carpet had been replaced in her absence or a different color wall weave installed. But the large space seemed much as she left it, so she glanced at Stacy to see what she was talking about. "What?"

"Listen, Dar, we won't keep you all night." Stacy dropped the subject and took a seat in front of Dar's desk instead. "But I really think you need to hear what we heard. How about the lounge in the Hyatt...give me a half hour, huh?"

Dar considered the question while her peripheral vision tracked Rhonda examining the collection of photos on her wall credenza shelves. "All right," she decided. "Go on. I'll meet you there in ten minutes."

"Cool." Stacy got up. "Ten minutes, in the bar. Good deal, Dar. I think once we finish up, you'll agree it wasn't a waste of either your time or ours."

Dar continued to stuff papers into her briefcase as the two left, only stopping when the door closed. She rested her knuckles on her desk and leaned her weight on them. Finally she grunted and straightened up, slapping one of the speed dial buttons on her phone almost without looking.

The phone only rang once before it was answered. "Hey, sweetie."

Dar's lips twitched. "You know, it could have been someone other than me calling from here," she commented wryly.

"Not on our home number." Kerry replied, a smile evident in her voice. "They'd have called on the cell."

Our home number. The words sent a little tickle down Dar's back even after all this time. "You're right. Shows how long a day it's been." Dar reached up and rubbed her left temple. "I'm done with the sales crap."

"How'd it go?"

"All right, I guess," her partner replied. "But two of the directors caught me afterward. Apparently they've got some BS they overheard from our friends. Want to spill it to me offsite."

Silence. Dar could almost imagine the look of skeptical surprise on Kerry's face. "Yeah, seemed pretty stupid to me, but I've known the two of them for ten years. They're not idiots."

"Sounds pretty bizarre."

"Anyway, I told them I'd meet them over at the Hyatt," Dar said. "Shouldn't take long. I'm sure we already heard most of it last week from the jackasses' mouths." She was aware of a pensive quiet from the phone. "You interested in joining us?"

Kerry chuckled, after a moment's hesitation. "I think you know me too well."

Dar smiled. "Hey, me and two straight women. What a party. Of course I'd invite you." She finished packing up her case. "Especially if you're in those cute overalls you were wearing the other day...that'd shock all the Cubans at the Hyatt happy hour."

Kerry chuckled again, but this time the sound was entirely different. "Oh, the scandals you weave, Madame Roberts. No, you go meet your undercover friends and get the dirt. I'll be here hanging out doing the domestic thing."

Dar's eyebrows lifted. "Domestic thing?"

"Baking cookies."

"Cookies?" Dar's ears perked up. "You're making fresh cookies?"

"The Food Network is dangerous," Kerry asserted. "But if you time it right, you might get some hot from the oven," she teased. "So don't get too dirty."

"They'll be lucky if I sit down," Dar said. "See you in a little bit, Ker."

"Okay--hey, listen. Remember that story from the news last night?" Kerry said. "The car at the drug store?"

"Yeah?" Dar's hand hovered over the button.

"We were there when they were. I saw the guy they're looking for. He was a creep."

It was the last thing she'd expected to hear. "Really?"

"Yeah," Kerry said. "But I'll tell you all about it when you get home. Go scoot and find your snitches."

"Okay. Yeah," Dar replied. "Strange timing, I guess. Be home soon." She released the line and shouldered her briefcase, turning off the desk lamp as she headed for the door.

MIDDLE OF THE summer on a Monday made for a very slow night at the bar. Dar gave the greeter at the door a nod as she entered, sweeping her eyes around the sparsely occupied lounge until she spotted her two colleagues near one of the floor-to-ceiling plate glass windows.

Stacy waved at her. Dar headed in that direction, only to be intercepted by a hovering and obviously bored waiter. She stopped as the man looked inquiringly at her.

"Can I get you something, ma'am? We have chocolate martinis on special tonight."

Much as the thought of a chocolate anything was intriguing to her at the moment, Dar shook her head. "Jamaican coffee, please." She indicated the small group of chairs near the window. "I'll be over there."

"Right away, ma'am."

Dar continued on her way and took one of the seats opposite Stacy and Rhonda. They both had glasses in front of them, with enough half eaten fruit matter to indicate their alcoholic content. "All right. So what's up?"

"Gee, Dar...it's great to see you too." Stacy gave her a wry grin. "Been a while."

Dar crossed her arms. "Half hour, didn't you say?" she asked pointedly. "I didn't come here to be social." She accepted the steaming mug the waiter handed her, and took a cautious sip. The coffee was hot, and pungent with a touch of rum and Tia Maria.

"No, you never really were the social butterfly," Stacy acknowledged. "Though we had some pretty good times back in the old days, out on the road."

"Eh." Dar tilted her head slightly. "I still remember you ending up doing the tango with the chef at that Italian place in New Mexico," she admitted. "They ever stop teasing you about it?"

Rhonda snickered.

"No." Stacy laughed. "They haven't. Trust you to remember that one, too. I think that was the first night I ever saw you drink something other than milk," she added. "Though tough as that damn account was, we were all due it. What a hemorrhoid case that was."

Ah, yes. Dar smiled faintly, and nodded. "Yeah, it was," she agreed.

"Dar, is that the first place you banged heads with that Shari woman? I remember her from that account. You fired her there, didn't you?" Rhonda asked. "That's why she was so familiar when she came into that bar. I remember her pitching a fit in the building as security was throwing her out."

"Yeah." Stacy nodded. "I didn't see her when she came in, but Rho did, and then when she and whatserface..."

"Michelle Graver," Dar supplied evenly.

"Yeah, from Vista, wasn't it?"

"Yeah."

Stacy slowly twirled her straw as she sucked on it. "They sat down, and it wasn't a minute until they were yelling at each other, and the first word I recognized was your name."

Dar grunted. "Yeah, well." She shrugged one shoulder. "Shari and I go a long way back," she said. "So it wasn't the first time we'd met. I had a decision to make and it could have gone either way, but she'd taken the piss out of me one time and I gave her the boot."

"I remember." Rhonda signaled the waiter, and indicated their near empty glasses. "Dar? You up for a second?"

Dar glanced at her cup, which was still half full. "I'm fine."

"So, anyway." Stacy retrieved a tortilla chip from the table and loaded it with salsa. "They didn't know us from Adam's housecat, naturally. They sat at the table behind us, and let me tell you, they lit into each other like nothing."

The waiter returned, putting down two fresh fruity looking drinks. "Anything else I can get you ladies? Some hors d'oeuvres, perhaps?" He picked up the basket of tortillas. "I'll get some fresh chips. Would you like to try one of our combo plates?"

"Sure." Rhonda shooed him away. "Thanks."

Dar slowly sipped her coffee, appreciating the slight burn as the alcohol hit her in the belly. For her, that night in New Mexico had been a great one. The sense of personal vindication had nearly made her giddy. She'd more than welcomed the chance to share a night out with her co-workers, though they'd never known just why their sullen, loner regional tech manager suddenly decided to be social.

She'd had fun. Gotten a little drunk, but not nearly as much as they had, and enjoyed the simple pleasure of sitting back and relaxing after a tough day of work. Even going back to her hotel room alone hadn't bothered her. She remembered spending time on the room's balcony looking out over the New Mexico desert, happy for a change.

Ah. Or she'd thought she'd been happy. Dar felt her cheeks move into a silent grin. Now she knew she'd only been satisfied because over the last couple of years she'd had a much closer acquaintance with happy. "So, they were fighting."

"Like weasels," Stacy agreed. "Graver was pissed off because of some plan of hers that'd gotten screwed up, and I swear, I thought she said she'd offered you a job."

"She did," Dar acknowledged. "Her damn company recruited Kerry and I, matter of fact."

Stacy gaped at her. "Really?"

"Had no clue who we were, but yeah," Dar chuckled. "We were in the show room night before it opened getting our gear set and they thought we were staff geeks."

Rhonda started laughing, covering her mouth hastily. "Oh, my god."

"Wasn't funny then, but I'm laughing now," Dar admitted. "And actually, Graver did offer both of us jobs later on, but I think we all knew that was just a piece of BS."

"That's what she said," Rhonda agreed. "Apparently it was all to keep you from getting involved with that cruise ship deal."

Dar's head cocked to one side. "Eh?"

Stacy nodded. "Yeah, exactly. That's what they were fighting about. Apparently the Shari woman screwed that up by telling someone something about Kerry...that she was after your job?"

Kerry wanted her...oh. "Ah." Dar took a sip of her coffee. "Yeah, actually, that did screw them up," she mused, in a surprised tone. "But why wouldn't Michelle want to get into a pissing match with us? Isn't their whole deal proving they can beat us at our own game?"

Rhonda and Stacy glanced at each other. "Well, that's what we thought too," Rhonda said. "It was pretty screwy. I sort of got the impression Graver was intimidated."

"As well she should be." Stacy lifted her glass in a toast in Dar's direction.

"Jesus." Stacy shook her head. "So anyway, Dar...to get to the point of why we dragged you out here, and didn't just share a cup of coffee in the lunchroom...the Shari woman said she'd gotten back some information on Kerry, and she told Graver they'd been going at everything the wrong way."

Just hearing Kerry's name from Shari's mouth triggered Dar's baser instincts. The evening stopped being amusing, and she leaned forward slightly, her voice dropping noticeably. "Yeah?"

Stacy paused, studying Dar for a moment. "I just realized I've never met our VP of Operations," she commented incongruously. "But I think I want to."

Dar simply waited, her coffee forgotten.

Rhonda leaned forward. "What Shari said was that she had some dope on Kerry, and she told Graver to leave the whole thing to her. She said if she could get to Kerry, then they didn't have anything to worry about on this ship contract."

"Dar?" Stacy uttered, into the quiet that fell. "Do you realize your eyes are actually really shooting off sparks? You're going to set the carpet on fire. Just take it easy, okay?"

With a great deal of effort, Dar forced herself to ease back into the chair. Her heartbeat was a thunder in her ears, and she could feel twitching in her forearms as though her hands wanted to clench into fists. She took a short breath, and released it. "Bitch," she enunciated precisely.

The waiter arrived with a plate of hot tidbits, which he put down, along with a fresh basket of chips. "Here you go, ladies." He turned to Dar. "Are you finished there, ma'am? Would you like another?"

Dar handed him her coffee cup. "Bring me a tall glass of milk, please."

The waiter blinked. "Milk?"

"Milk," Dar repeated. "Cold milk," she clarified, as he turned to go. After he left again, she turned back and steepled her fingers, peering at Stacy and Rhonda with half closed eyes.

"You're really pissed," Stacy murmured. "Wow. I forgot that temper."

"Family trait," Dar finally answered as her heart started to settle down. "But thanks for telling me. Not that I think they've got anything Kerry wouldn't laugh at, but it's good to know."

Rhonda took a mini-taco, and handed it over to Dar, along with a napkin. "That's why we really didn't want to say this in the office, Dar. It's...that woman's got a grudge against you and it's all personal. Even Graver said so. She said she was obsessed."

Dar mechanically took the taco and examined it, before she took a bite, chewing without tasting it and swallowing it to get it out of her mouth. "Yeah." She took the glass of milk from the attentive waiter and downed a mouthful. "She's something."

"So you think she was BSing?" Stacy asked. "About Kerry?"

Dar waited for her guts to unclench. "Yes," she replied evenly. "Shari always believes she knows the angles on everything. Always has."

"Mm." Rhonda nodded. "Yeah, seemed like it to me. Big mouth, all air."

Stacy took a napkin and a potato puff. "Well, all I can say is I hope we wipe the floor with them. I'm really tired of their sales punks lording it over us every time we meet, telling us all about the latest contract they stole from us." She settled back in her seat. "Especially since they're targeting three of my big ones up for renewal. I'm getting a lot of pressure to cut our costs, Dar."

Dar peered into her milk. "I'm not going to play their game," she said. "I've already said that. No contract gets signed that loses us money. I don't care how many they think they can take."

"We don't have a lot of leverage," Rhonda said, hesitantly. "I mean, I know our service can't be beat, but..."

"But nothing," Dar cut her off quietly. "All it's going to take is one big screw-up they can't cover. So keep your shorts on, and don't panic."

Stacy exhaled. "Well, the trade show helped," she conceded. "I have to admit, Dar, there were six of us in the regional office watching Tech TV, and I hope your ears were burning because we were cheering you on like gangbusters. You go girl."

Dar relaxed a little and leaned back. After the first shock, her mind was now wrapping around and assimilating the information Stacy and Rhonda had given her, and with effort, separating it from the emotional charge.

"Hey, Dar?" Rhonda suddenly leaned forward.

"Yes?" Dar looked up and waited, finishing her milk.

"Sorry if we got you angry."

A half shrug moved the silk over Dar's shoulder. "S'allright."

Stacy swirled her drink in one hand. "You know you totally freaked out most of the sales force when that whole thing with you and Kerry came out. I remember we were at an incentive meeting, and everyone was just stunned."

Dar shrugged again. "Damn slow news day then."

"You have to admit it was a little fantastic," Rhonda offered. "But you know, once everyone got over the shock and worked with her most people were fine with it."

Had it been fantastic? Dar pondered that a moment. Eh. Maybe. "Good thing," she remarked. "Since they didn't really have a choice in the matter."

"What would you have done if Alastair hadn't been cool with it?" Stacy asked curiously.

"Left."

"Just like that?"

Dar snorted. "Yeah. Just like that," she replied. "Now if you ladies don't mind, I'm gonna go home and get out of this monkey suit." She set her glass down and stood up, towering over them in the low lighting. "Thanks for the warning."

"Sure you won't have another, Dar?" Stacy held up her glass. "For old time's sake?"

"No thanks." Dar lifted a hand and waved briefly. "Night."

Stacy watched her disappear, then lifted her glass. "There's a woman who has something she wants to go home to," she chuckled wryly. "Bless her heart."

Rhonda nodded. "Glad we told her," she summed up. "Telegenics won't stand a chance now, the little bastards. She'll take 'em out for sure."

"For sure." Stacy touched her glass to Rhonda's, and they both took a solemn drink. "You think there's anything in that story about Kerry wanting her job?"

Rhonda shrugged. "Wouldn't be the first time, but everyone I talk to says they're a match made in heaven."

"Except Jose. He thinks it was hell." Stacy winked, and they touched glasses again.

KERRY STUDIED HER nicely chilled cookie dough seriously. "What do you think, Chino?" she asked, leaning both hands on the marble counter. "Do you think your mommy would settle for just plain, ordinary cookies?"

"Gruff."

"Mm...no, I don't think so either." Kerry turned and went to one of the drawers, pulling it open and rummaging in it. "You know, I never, ever thought I'd use that old Christmas gift of Aunt Eenie's, Chino, I really didn't. I never saw myself wearing an apron, making batches of cookies for the kiddies."

"Gruff."

Kerry removed what she was looking for and took it back to the counter, opening a baggie and dumping out a pile of thin aluminum. "Hm." Her finger pushed aside several. "Christmas tree, no...Pumpkin...no...four leaf clover...no...ah." She selected one and held it up. "That's the ticket."

Going back to her dough, she positioned the cutter and pressed it down. "So, here I am, Chino...standing in the kitchen, in an apron, making heart shaped cookies." She reviewed her work, removing the heart and placing in on the already buttered baking pan. "And I'm

loving every minute of it. What's up with that?"

"Gruff."

"What's up with that?" Kerry repeated, in a much softer voice. "I don't think it's my biological clock ticking, do you Chino?"

Chino whined and lay down, resting her chin on Kerry's foot.

"No, me either." Kerry chuckled. "You know what I think it is? I think I have so much love inside me for your mommy that its always looking for a way to come out. I guess this is one of the ways." She finished arranging her cookies and checked the oven, opening the door and sliding the tray inside. "You think your mommy knows that?"

Something in the look she'd seen in Dar's eyes that morning when they'd woken up together had bothered her. She almost thought she'd imagined it, but the more she thought about it, the more she knew she hadn't. It reminded her of the early days of their relationship when she'd sometimes catch a hint of what could almost be fear lurking in those pale baby blues.

She knew where it came from. Kerry's eyes narrowed a little, as she rolled a ball of cookie dough between her fingers. It had come from that number one whore bitch Shari, whom Kerry would dearly love to punch right in the nose.

"Oh yeah." She let out a half laugh. "That'd look great on Tech TV, Ker. You taking down a rival in a catfight in the middle of the convention floor." Kerry tossed the cookie dough ball at Chino's nose. The Labrador snapped it out of mid air and swallowed it, looking up hopefully for more. "Eh. Probably been the best ratings they'd had all year. No more, you little pig dog."

The dog sighed, warming Kerry's leg. With a smile, Kerry sat down on the floor next to her, and started petting her soft fur. She leaned back against the counter and savored a moment of quiet satisfaction, glad as well that her cramps had finally eased off and gone completely away.

Part of that was due to a new discovery of Dar's. Kerry laid her hand on her belly, feeling the residual heat from a small packet stuck to the outside of her underwear. It was like a portable heating pad, about four inches by two, right where the warmth could do the most good.

Just too cool. Kerry marveled. And it had lasted over twelve hours. "Technology's a fantastic thing, Chi. You hear all those people say how the good old days used to be? Not me. Give me the cutting edge any time." With a stifled yawn, she got up and wandered into the living room, going over to the sliding glass doors to peer out at the moon spattered sea.

Dar would be fine. Kerry leaned against the glass, watching her breath fog it slightly. She only needed a few extra reminders of how much their relationship meant to both of them, and how wrong Shari had been about everything she'd said to Dar years before.

Bitch. Kerry felt her own hands tense. "God, I hate her," she whispered, feeling the passion in the words. "She better stay home this time, Chino. Stay the hell in Orange County and away from Miami if she knows what's good for her."

"Grrr." Chino spotted something outside and let out a low growl.

"What is it, Chi?" Kerry shaded her eyes and looked, but all she could see was the moon reflecting off the sea, and a few palm fronds waving. "Or were you agreeing with me?" She lifted her head as the delicate scent of baking cookies wafted in from the kitchen. "Oo...you smell that, girl? Let's go see how they're doing."

Chino followed her into the kitchen, but two steps inside the dog stopped and turned, frisking back out into the living room.

Kerry just grinned and kept going, peeking inside the stove as she kept one ear cocked for sounds from the other room. She heard the canine yodel of greeting, and only narrowly prevented herself from repeating it. Then she figured what the heck, and did anyway, lifting her voice up in a weird counterpoint to Chino's. "AwwwrrrooooO!!!!!"

"What in the hell is that?" Dar answered, easing into the kitchen with a blond Labrador glued to her knee. "Is there a duck dying in here?" She'd taken her jacket off, and untucked her silk shirt, and now she sidled up behind Kerry and rested her chin on Kerry's shoulder, peering through the tinted glass of the oven.

"Quack." Kerry finished checking the cookie's progress. Then she turned around and faced Dar. Before her partner could step back, she lifted her hands up and gently caught her face, pulling it down to give her a nice, long, heartfelt kiss. "But I bet ducks don't do that."

"Not nearly as well as you do." Dar moved closer and slid her arms around Kerry. "Hi."

Kerry hugged her. "Hey, sweetie. Glad you're here." She felt Dar's chest move suddenly as she inhaled, and tightened her grip instinctively. "Eerrf. Chino and I were just talking about you."

Now Dar's body jerked again, for a different reason as a chuckle emerged. "Oh yeah? What'd she have to say about me?" She rested her forearms on Kerry's shoulders as they parted and looked at each other. "Was she complaining about my CD's again?"

"She was bitching that you were late, and she had to wait to get some cookies." Kerry let her hands rest casually on Dar's hips. "That didn't take long."

"I said a half hour." Dar glanced at the kitchen clock. "So what have you been up to, besides baking?" She reached up and ruffled Kerry's hair. "I like the snips." Her voice warmed with approval. "This looks really cute on you."

"Got my car done, got my hair done, got our laundry done, paid the bills..." Kerry ticked off her accomplishments. "Wrote you a poem," she finished, a trifle shyly, still unsure of her skills in that particular arena. "It's been a good day."

Poem? Dar felt a faint flush of surprised pleasure. Kerry had written some poems she'd shown her, one had even been about her. "What kind of poem?" She didn't recall any that had been written for her, however, and the thought intrigued her.

Distracted her, in fact, from the disturbing revelations in the bar.

Kerry produced a grin. "Well, let's get our cookies and milk, and you can come read it. Decide for yourself what kind of poem it is." She tugged open the oven door and slipped her hand into an oven mitt. She pulled the tray out and set it on wooden holders she'd put out on the counter earlier. "Mm."

Dar peered over her shoulder with deep interest. "Mm, is right." She sniffed delicately. "Are those hearts?"

Kerry nodded, gently easing them free of their baking sheet with a wafer thin spatula and putting them on a wire rack to cool. "Yep, they sure are." She felt Dar's warm breath on her ear and half turned, pressing her cheek against her partner's. "Just wanted to make sure you knew where those little chocolate chips came from."

"Kerry?"

"Mm?"

"It's too warm for it to be my birthday." Dar slid both arms around Kerry's body and simply held her, watching the cookies make their slow progress. "So why does it feel like it?"

Kerry carefully selected one of the smaller specimens and broke it in half, handing a chunk almost dripping with chocolate over her shoulder. "No reason." She took a careful bite, making an approving noise at the taste. "We should let these cool."

"Where's the fun in that?" Dar sucked in air to cool her stinging tongue. "You bring the rack, I'll get a jug of milk. Meet you on the couch."

Kerry was more than glad to oblige. She followed Dar into the living room, nearly tripping over a wildly tail-wagging Chino and settled onto the soft leather of the couch.

Dar dropped off the milk, but kept going toward the bedroom, unbuttoning her shirt as she ducked through the door. "I'm going to take off this damn suit and put on something more comfortable."

"Naked works," Kerry commented, grinning when she heard the dry chuckle from the next room. "I like that suit on you, by the way. I think it really looks good." She selected a channel idly, turning the sound down as Dar returned in a pair of cotton shorts and a tank top. "On second thought, I like that outfit better."

Dar eased onto the couch, laying down on her side and extending her long legs along the leather surface. "Glad you had a better day than I did," she said. "I'm gonna have to go up to New York tomorrow night. That damn project is turning out to be a bigger problem than I thought at first."

"Really?"

Dar sighed. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's not bandwidth," she said. "I told Stewart I saw some micro bursting, but the link's not really saturated."

"Least it's not us," Kerry reasoned. "Can you help them figure out what the problem is?"

"Probably," her partner said. "I'd go up there anyway, because their VP has a friend in the business, as they say, and is itching to bring them in to take care of it."

"Ah." Kerry frowned. "That wouldn't make good press if they did. Since you were pretty vocal about our service excellence." She gave Dar a wry look.

"Don't remind me." Dar covered her eyes. "I spent the day kicking my own ass for being such a jerk."

"Aw, honey." Kerry made a face.

"Kerry, I was. Do you know what Mark's having to deal with?" Her partner looked up at her through parted fingers. "That's all we need to have happen after what I said. We slip up, and it'll be all over the news."

Kerry grimaced.

"Not to mention I agreed to give an interview to CNN tomorrow." Dar sighed. "Let's hope I don't do something else stupid."

"C'mere." Kerry patted her thigh, smiling as Dar inched over and settled her head on the spot. "So, just overnight?" She riffled her fingers through the dark, soft hair now spilling over her bare leg. "To New York?"

"Yeah, I'll be back Wednesday, probably late." Dar looked up at her as they both silently acknowledged the change of subject.

Kerry picked up a cookie and broke it in half. "Okay, since I'll be downtown for that meeting, why don't I plan on picking you up at the airport then? We can do D and B's at the Dolphin for dinner."

"Mm." Dar made an agreeable noise, accepting her half of the cookie and taking a bite of it. "Listen. Stacy and Rhonda told me they overheard our two friends fighting in a bar after the trade show."

"They get pictures?"

"No." Dar rolled over and looked up at Kerry, watching the expression shift subtly on her face. "Ker, this wasn't a joke."

"I don't give a damn," Kerry said. "You know what I decided tonight? I decided they, and especially that bitch Shari, had better stay the hell out of my way on this bid."

Dar blinked at her.

"I'm serious. I've had it with them. If they start up with me at that meeting on Wednesday, you'll be coming home to post my bail that night. I swear, Dar. I'm not going to put up with any shit from them anymore."

Dar gazed steadily at her. "Shari thinks she's got something on you that'll make you cave in to them."

Kerry's eyebrows almost hit the popcorn ceiling. "On me?"

"Yeah."

"Me?" Kerry pointed a thumb at herself. "What in the hell do they think they can come up with on me that half the English speaking world hasn't seen for themselves on television or read in the Washington Post? That I'm gay? That I'm Republican? That I'm a budding hedonist? What?"

Dar shrugged. "I dunno, sweetheart. It didn't make a lick of sense to me when I heard it. I think she's just pissing lemonade." She watched Kerry's face, seeing nothing but honest, skeptical bewilderment there.

"My life's an open book." Kerry lifted her hands and let them fall. "What secret could I possibly be keeping? That I wash my hands with lavender soap?"

Dar lifted one of her partner's hands and sniffed it delicately. "Smells more like apple to me."

Kerry tweaked her nose. "I'm going to make some lemonade and shove the pits right up her..." She exhaled. "Oo...Dar, sending me to this meeting may not be a good idea," she said. "I could lose us the bid right up front if they tick me off."

"Don't sweat it, Ker. Just go, listen, and blow them off if they come near you." She took another cookie from the rack and split it, handing Kerry her share.

Kerry ate the cookie slowly. "Are you telling me to ignore them? Leave them alone?"

Dar nodded. "Don't let them get to you."

The pale blond brows contracted. "Paladar, do you find it a little ironic that you are saying that to me? After what we just went through with them? Are you going to take your own advice on that too?"

A shrug.

"I tell you what--I'll blow them off if you will. You stop letting what that whore bitch did to you chew you up inside, and I'll treat them like they were old buddies. Deal?" Kerry heard a sharper tone in her voice than she'd really intended, and saw the flicker in Dar's eyes before her partner looked briefly away. "Because I hate her so much on your behalf, it's the only way I could deal with it, Dar," she added, in a gentler tone.

Dar looked back up. "I don't want you hating people on my behalf."

"Tough."

A sigh. "Got milk?"

Kerry leaned over and gave her a chocolate tainted kiss instead. "Want to hear my poem?" she whispered. "Screw them."

Dar sighed again. She lifted one hand and let it drop in a gesture of resignation. "Poem me, and pass the milk. You're right. Screw 'em."

Kerry's face creased into a happy grin, as she reached over to the table for her writing pad. "You got it, partner. You got it." She leaned

over near Dar's ear. "Know what she must have found out about me?" "What?" Kerry whispered something, and nearly ended up with cookies all

over her chest as Dar convulsed with laughter. She chuckled evilly right along with her partner.