Stormy Waters: Book 10 in The Dar & Kerry Series (20 page)

Kerry turned. "Email?"

Mariana nibbled a fingernail. "Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time." She mused. "Maria thought so."

"Maria?" Kerry repeated the name and then she held up both hands. "Excuse me. Could someone please rent me a clue here?"

"Whoops...I'm late for a meeting." Mariana skirted Kerry and skipped off down the stairs. "Catch you up later, Kerry...okay?" She waggled her fingers and popped through the door on the next landing, leaving Kerry to turn slowly and look at Mark.

Mark hesitated and then managed a weak grin. "I'll forward you a copy. It was no big deal, Kerry. It was just that everyone was kinda talking about how something had happened to you and she just aum..."

"Talking?"

Mark prudently didn't answer seeing that one blond eyebrow lift up sharply, uncannily like Dar's when she wasn't pleased about something.

"Colleen mentioned that too. Isn't everyone over using us as discussion fodder by now?" Kerry's voice deepened a little in anger. "She told me people thought Dar did this." She pointed at her face. "Is that true?'

Mark looked suddenly way out of his league.

"Screw you all." Kerry turned and abruptly left him standing there, taking the rest of the steps two at a time until she reached the fourteenth floor and shoved her way through the door, slamming it behind her.

Mark released a breath after a few moments. "Shit." He climbed slowly after his boss.

DAR RELAXED IN the lobby, sucking at the straw in her smoothie as she waited for Kerry to join her for lunch.

She leaned against the wall, crossing her ankles and letting her thoughts wander briefly, going over the design she'd left sitting on her laptop up in her office. Most of a module was finished, and almost ready for testing, and Dar found herself looking forward to the trial with a giddy sense of anticipation.

If it worked...

Well, it would not work at first. No program did, Dar acknowledged, mentally preparing herself for it, but if she tweaked it, and got the logic right, and it worked...

It would be an amazing breakthrough ironically spurred on by her own lack of good judgment.

Life was just so funny that way sometimes. Dar idly let her eyes wander over the lobby, and then she straightened up a little as she spotted Kerry coming off the elevators.

Uh oh. Kerry never threw her arms around or otherwise projected her anger, but Dar could always tell by her body posture when she was pissed off. Her hands would clench up, and her head would tilt forward a little, along with the point of her jaw.

She was pissed off now. Flicking her mind over the events of the morning, Dar decided it wasn't anything she'd done that had caused it, so she pushed off from the wall to go meet her ticked off lover, and see what she could do about fixing whatever was making her so mad.

Kerry spotted her approaching, changed course and headed for Dar, reluctantly grinning as they met near the center of the large space. "Hi. Sorry I'm late."

"Hi." Dar gracefully circled her and gestured toward the outside doors. "No problem. I just got down here myself. C'mon." She draped her arm casually over Kerry's shoulders as they started off, and immediately felt the stiffness in them relax. Okay. So she knew for sure it wasn't her Kerry was annoyed at.

Direct, or non-direct? "How'd your meeting go?" She decided on non-direct for now.

Kerry sighed. "It went fine. The project's on track, though John's having some problems in the wiring. I might have to run down there tomorrow and see if I can smooth things out for him."

"Cool." Dar replied. "My program's close to test state."

Kerry perked up a little. "Yeah? That was fast. You said the other day you were a little stuck." She circled Dar's waist with her right arm and bumped her hip lightly. "What changed?"

"You inspired me this morning." Dar told her, as they walked out the front door and into the heat of the day. "Me?"

"Yup." Dar bleeped open the doors of her car and steered Kerry toward it.

"I thought we were walking?"

Dar opened the passenger side door, and indicated the inviting leather seat inside. "I feel like wings."

"Wings?" Kerry climbed inside, reaching over to open Dar's door. "Are we going to Bayside?"

"We are." Dar got in and started the Lexus, adjusting the air ducts to dump a larger volume of cold air into her lap. "I'm not in the mood for Cuban, and I had my fill of sushi yesterday."

"Mmph." Kerry settled back in her seat and watched the heat simmer off the tarmac as Dar pulled out of the parking lot. "Well, if we eat at Hooters, you can bet there won't be useless little catty do-nothings from our office sitting at the next table."

Hmm. Dar made the turn onto Biscayne Boulevard and watched her partner out of the corner of her eye. "Y'know, Ker, you shouldn't let all that bullshit bother you so much."

"I know." Kerry acknowledged readily. "But it does. I can't help it."

The traffic was light, and Dar made quick work of the drive from the office to the trendy shopping mall, driving under the parking garage to find a spot somewhere out of the sun near the entrance. They got out and she locked the door, joining Kerry for the short walk into the mall's confines. "So what was it this time?" She finally asked. "I didn't hear any chatter today, and I usually do, from Maria."

Figures. Kerry paused to window shop, spotting a pretty dress in a nearby window. "Oh, everyone's just buzzing about my war wound," she muttered. "Mariana felt the need to put a damned email out about it."

Dar peered at the dress. "You'd look good in that." She pointed out.

"Mm. I like it." Kerry said, before she turned to continue down the walk. "Why should anyone care about what I do in my off hours, Dar?"

Dar shrugged. "It's human nature," she said. "What'd they all think, that I clocked you?? She watched Kerry's reaction, the sudden shift of her features and turn of her head giving her the answer before she even spoke. "Figures." She chuckled wryly. "If I'd have tried that move it would have gone right over your head, and you would have slapped me in the ass on the way around."

Kerry's entire face twitched. "You know something?" She stopped and faced Dar. "You know why I was so pissed about all that?"

"Because they're idiots?" Dar offered.

"Because I didn't want you to hear all of it and feel bad that people thought that." Kerry put her hand on Dar's belly, giving her a little scratch. "It really bothered me."

Dar bumped her toward the sidewalk again. They walked together along the shops, pausing to peek inside the windows from time to time. Kerry paused to plaster herself against one pane of glass, spotting a Ski-Doo inside. "Oooo...you know, Dar, that's just like a..."

"Motorcycle for the water." Dar agreed, with a grin. "Much as I hate to dodge them on the water, they're a lot of fun." She paused, watching Kerry's face intently. "Want to get a couple for the cabin?"

"Mmm..." Sorely tempted, Kerry unstuck her nose from the window. "Let's think about it." She took Dar's arm and they strolled on, passing a Sharper Image and, by common consent, not even peeking inside. They had to get back from lunch at a reasonable hour, and if they went inside not only would they not get back, but they'd end up spending a fortune on enticingly useful, but less than critical, items to boot.

Shopping together was always dangerous but fun. They both tended to trigger spending splurges in each other, and when they were together, it sometimes got ridiculous. It wasn't as if they couldn't afford it, but really, did they need more colorful wooden parrots for the house? Or hand painted ceramic dog bowls?

"Hey look." Dar pointed. "Hermit crabs."

Kerry kept walking, making sure she had a tight hold of Dar's arm. "No."

"But they're cute...look they painted their shells." Dar walked backwards, peering at the vendor stand. "And they have little coconut shell houses...it'd look great on your desk."

"Nonononono." Kerry pulled harder. "Wings...wings, c'mon, forget the crabs."

Dar chuckled, turning around and steering Kerry up the escalator. They dodged a few confused tourists at the top trying to take the upstairs down, and circled the upper deck to end up at the door to Hooters.

Kerry was right about one thing; Dar had to agree as she followed her to an empty table near the window. No one, absolutely no one, would either expect to see them here, nor be found dead eating lunch here themselves because of what people would say about it.

"Hi!" A pretty, red haired girl in criminally short shorts and a cutoff white t-shirt approached. "How are you guys?"

"Hi, Cheryl." Kerry greeted her with a smile. "How's the classes?"

"Driving me nuts." The woman shook her head wryly. "I have three advanced biochemistry labs this semester, and every time I see a plate of wings, I keep expecting them to twitch. You want the usual?"

"Sure." Dar settled on her stool and hooked her feet into the rungs. Aside from the visuals--which she wasn't too proud to admit to enjoying--she liked the restaurant because it lacked the usual lunchtime crowds more common near their building.

"So," Kerry fiddled with the table tent, "did I overreact to all the BS talk?"

Dar rested her chin on one fist. "Did Mari really put out an email?"

"Yeah. It wasn't...I mean, she didn't get into any details. She just said I got nicked by the guy I was sparring with in karate class."

"It's not karate." Dar frowned.

"No, but it was worded cleverly." Kerry admitted. "I don't know, the more I think about it, the more I think I really did just blow up for nothing." She sighed. "Especially at Mark, who didn't deserve it."

"Tell him." Dar suggested. "He knows you did it for a good cause."

Pale green eyes lifted and studied her and a gentle smile appeared on Kerry's face. "What makes a difference for me is that you know I did it for a good cause."

Cheryl returned, setting down a pitcher of ice tea and a couple of glasses, along with plates and a new roll of paper towels. "So, what's up with you guys?" She asked. "I saw a couple of your techie guys here yesterday. They said they were working down at the port?"

"Yep." Kerry answered, while Dar busied herself pouring them some tea. "We're working on those ships over there." She pointed toward the port, even though not much of it could be seen except the top decks. "Our guys ended up here? Oo...wait till I tease them." She chuckled.

"Uh huh...and you're going to explain knowing that how?" Dar handed her a glass, and winked at Cheryl.

Cheryl winked back and sauntered off to get their wings.

"You and your logic." Kerry felt a lot more relaxed now. The worst of it, she realized, had been how afraid she'd been of Dar finding out about the rumors. Now it seemed like Dar just thought they were stupid, so she was free to feel the same way.

Did she?

Kerry sighed, wishing she did and could dismiss it. But she didn't, and it still ticked her off. Now she just had to decide what she was going to do about it. Then a thought occurred to her, a memory of earlier that day. "Reclaim my territory?" She asked aloud, giving Dar a puzzled look.

"What?"

"Nothing. Just something someone said..." Kerry's voice slowed, and trailed off. She sighed again. "Just more crap."

Dar reached over and ruffled her hair. "Thanks for your outrage on my behalf, Ker. But the only opinion in that building that means jack to me is yours." She gave Kerry a smile, and then her eyes slipped past her partner as a motion caught them. "Son of a biscuit."

"Now what?" Kerry turned her head, almost chucking her ice tea when she spotted who Dar was looking at. Shari and Michelle, along with a very smug looking Peter Quest had just seated themselves at an outside table. "Oh, poop."

"I don't think they can see us." Dar observed. "Let's see how much I can offer Cheryl to do a Maria."

"Oh god." Kerry covered her eyes.

"Or maybe just listen in." Dar continued, in a softer, more calculating voice. "After all, last place they'd expect to find the competition would be here, eh?"

"Mm." Kerry felt a tickle of apprehension in her guts. Or maybe it was just the thrill of it all. "Last place they'd think of."

But at what point, she wondered, did they just become what Shari and Michelle were? Were they already? Kerry picked up her tea and took a sip. "I'd rather we just ate." She finally said, looking Dar in the eye. "And just ignore them."

Cheryl came back and put down two plates of crispy hot wings in front of them. "Here you go guys. Anything else right now?"

Dar selected a wing, and saluted Cheryl with it. "Nope. We're just fine."

Kerry picked up a wing of her own, and waited for the waitress to leave before she spoke. "Thanks."

Dar winked, and munched on her wing, apparently unconcerned. "Your wish is my command." She announced. "Besides, the best we could find out is what we already know."

Kerry took a bite, satisfied with the answer. At least for now.

KERRY LEANED BACK in her chair, balancing her keyboard on her lap as she typed out a spurt of emails dealing with two of the minor projects she was supervising along with the ship one. In the time since she'd gotten back from lunch with Dar, she'd gotten a lot done as well as felt her earlier aggravation dissipate.

She had noticed recently that Dar's presence tended to do that to her. It wasn't anything her partner did or said, particularly, but if she was angry or upset, hanging around Dar just made her feel better. Even when she was hurting; if she had a headache or a bellyache, she'd curl up with her head in Dar's lap and it would all just go away.

Why was that? She wondered idly. It had been really noticeable that afternoon when she'd come down for lunch. She'd been steaming as she stepped off the elevator, but when she spotted Dar heading her way, her blood pressure had dropped and the knots in her gut had eased the minute they came together.

Ah well. Kerry shook her head a bit, and went back to her typing. Certainly, Dar wasn't around to make her feel warm and fuzzy right now. Her partner was stuck in the downstairs closet again, testing her new program.

Which reminded her. She hit the button for a new message and addressed it to Mark.

Hey--Dar's testing some new code downstairs. So if you seefreaky things, it might be her
.

She hesitated a minute, then continued.

Sorry I went off today. I should be used to the talk bynow, but when it comes to Dar, I never am. Thanks for lettingme know about it.

K

She hit send.

A small box popped up in one corner. Hey.

Kerry grinned. Hey.

Do we have marshmallows at home?

Marshmallows? Kerry nibbled her lower lip thoughtfully. Marshmallows had never been a particular favorite of hers, since she found them relatively tasteless and preferred to squander her calories on something more appropriate such as chocolate.
I don't think so. Why?

There was a faint pause before the answer, and then it popped up.
I want rice crispy treats.

A new message popped into her inbox. Kerry clicked on it while she considered how she should respond to that request.

Hey, Kerry --
No problem, I know big D's A number 1 on your list.

Thanks for telling me she's down in the dungeon -- I haven't seen anything yet but with her you never do until it's too late.

Oh, that's not really true. Kerry shook her head back and forth. Sometimes she's just very, very obvious.

Anyway, sorry all that stuff got dredged up. People justtalk shit because it's how they make themselves feel betterabout not being you guys.

Kerry read that last bit a few times, then shrugged. Personally, she just viewed the talk as venal human nature. It was easy for her to rationalize it that way, but far more difficult for her to ignore it when it was directed at Dar, and not at her. For herself, she'd been talked about since she was old enough to realize what that meant.

She keyed the instant message box and typed a reply.
If you swing by Publix on the way home, I'll make you some. S
he hit enter, and then typed another message.
I hear they're really good when you dip them in hot fudge.

The answer came back immediately. Why not? You are.
"Yerk." Kerry muffled a squeak.
You are such a punk. They could be
random logging this, y'know!

And?

Yeah, and? What are they going to find out, we're lovers? Whoohoo... news flash...call Panic Seven. Kerry wrinkled her nose and grinned again in acknowledgment. How's it going?

Good. You?

Kerry reviewed her inbox and sighed. There were a number of mails backed up waiting for her attention, and she knew she had to plow through them if she wanted any chance of getting out of the office early the next day.
Eh. I'll be here a while.

Surprisingly, an answer came right back again.
Me too. How about we meet for a romantic dinner over a pile of cable later on?

She simply regarded the note for a while, a fond look crossing her face.
I love you
. She typed back, hesitating, and then just hit send. Really, was there anything that needed to be added to that? She clicked back on her mail and continued to type, justifying for the nth time why new computers had to be budgeted for and not just plucked out of a non-existent IT genie bag.

"Keeeeeeerrrrry."

She jumped, and then looked at her screen. Gopher Dar was back, peeking around her email program and waving. "Oh, my god, she got it to talk! C'mere, you little rascal." Her mouse pointer chased after the critter, and she poked him in the tail a few times. "Aggghhh...gotcha!"

Far from being disturbed, Gopher Dar turned and waggled his behind at her, then somersaulted over and ended up sitting down. "I llooooooooovvvvvvveeeee youooo..." He warbled. "Youurrreee the best!"

"Oh, my god." Kerry repeated, biting her lower lip. "You are so amazing sometimes." She continued, in a softer voice.

Her office door opened, and Mayte poked her head in. "Did you call for me, Kerry?"

"Shh." Kerry admonished Gopher Dar. "No, I was just talking to myself." She directed her attention to Mayte. "Sorry. I'm trying to get some of this mail cleared up. Did you need me for something?"

Her assistant entered and walked over to her visitor chairs sitting down on the left hand side one. "I have a little question for you." Mayte said. "I really want to understand more about what we are doing so much of the time. Could I ask you which class I can take? In my school, we did a lot with software, and programs. We did not do so much with the networks."

Ah. Career advice. Kerry gladly turned her attention from her mail, though reluctantly from Gopher Dar, and focused on Mayte's slim form. "Well, I can fully appreciate how you feel, Mayte. I had some experience with infrastructure before I started here, but it's been a learning curve for me too. The best person to really ask about that is Dar. She's the expert."

Gopher Dar chittered softly. Kerry clicked on him. "You hush."

"Excuse me?" Mayte gave her a puzzled look.

"C'mere." Kerry motioned for her to come around the desk. "Want to see something really cute?"

Mayte willingly got up and circled the desk, peering over Kerry's shoulder. "What is that?" She asked, as Kerry chased the little critter around the screen. "Oh, look! Que Linda!"

"This is Gopher Dar." Kerry pinned him down by the tail, and watched his tiny feet scrabble. "He was talking a minute ago."

Mayte gave her boss a faintly skeptical look. "Si?" she asked. "But what is it? Where does it come from?"

Gopher Dar sashayed across the screen, doing a little dance. He had on a tank top and shorts, and incongruous rubber boots today. "Keeeeerrrrry..." He warbled.

"Oh!" Mayte covered her mouth.

"He comes from Dar," Kerry explained. "It's a program of hers that she works on when she's not doing anything else, and every so often she sends this little guy over here to interact with me."

Mayte leaned a little closer. "Wow."

Gopher Dar waved at her. Then he did another little dance.

"He really cheers me up most of the time. "Kerry smiled. "And it's an amazing program. It's different every time. She puts different clothes on him; he does different things...her talent as a programmer is amazing."

"He is blushing." Mayte noted, with a grin. "So cute."

"So, anyway, as I was saying, Dar's the expert on what makes this place tick. But I think she'd agree that you should take a basic class on networking fundamentals to start with, and get the terminology down."

Kerry flipped over to a different screen, and called up a browser window. "We've got classes internally...here. Look at this set first." She pointed.

"Ooooo..." Gopher Dar warbled approvingly. "Gooooooddd."

They both started laughing. "Kerry, that is so adorable," Mayte said. "And it is nothing serious--it is just for fun, yes?"

"Sure." But Kerry suddenly wasn't so sure about that. Gopher Dar had started making more and more frequent appearances lately, and she wondered if working with the little guy wasn't Dar's way of exercising her programming chops to ease her growing restlessness. "Is that not clever, or what?"

"Absolutely," Mayte agreed. "I wish I had one! It is like a little friend. I think my cousin found a little cat program something like this, but it was not nearly so smart. It went to sleep, and it made a purr, and that kind of thing."

"I've seen that." Kerry said. "They have a puppy, too. But nothing like Gopher Dar."

Gopher Dar had lain down on his side, and was simply gazing out at her. Kerry resisted the urge to reach out and scratch his nose. "So. Does that answer your question about classes?"

"Si, yes it does." Mayte eased out from behind Kerry's chair and came to stand in front of the desk again. "I will look at that website and sign up for one today. Is it all right if I make it at the end of the day, and go after we are done here?"

"Sure," Kerry agreed. "But think about it--sometimes people do class better in the morning." She paused, and a wry grin appeared. "Not that I was one of those people, but you know what I mean."

"Yes, I know." Mayte agreed mournfully. "Mama has to pull me out of my bed in the morning. So I think the afternoon is better." She turned to go. "Thank you, Kerry, and also for showing me your very cute friend. It is a very good program."

"I think so." Kerry gazed affectionately at the little creature. "I work on him a little sometimes and every once in a while I send him back over to bother Dar. She gets a kick out of it." She looked up. "But I'm not in her league when it comes to that."

"She is very talented." Mayte smiled. "You are very lucky, I think."

"I'm very lucky, I know." Kerry gave her a little wave, as she left. "I do know that for sure." She returned her attention reluctantly to her mail, almost hoping that Gopher Dar would come up with something else to distract her.

Which sucked, actually, since she had to get her damn mail done. Kerry frowned, focusing on the next page of complaints.

Hey, Ker?

Ah. An even more welcome distraction. Yes, Gopher Mom?

You tied to that desk?

Kerry drummed her fingertips on her keyboard.
You got a network connection for my laptop down there? Say yes and I'll go keep you company in your pile of cable.

Gopher Dar got up and started scooting around the corner of her screen, beckoning her to follow. Kerry clicked on him, waiting for the message to come back.

C'mon. I've got a nice dusty piece of concrete with your name on it right next to me.

Ah, it just didn't get any more romantic than that. Kerry closed her mail and stood up.
Be right there.
She typed into the screen, before she closed down the desktop and grabbed her brief case. "But you know," she remarked to the empty office. "Only love struck nitwits with zero sense would trade a nice comfortable leather chair for a piece of dusty concrete."

She shouldered her laptop. "One nitwit, en route." Kerry headed for the door, giving her new boxing dummy a wink as she scooted out of the room.

THE SOFT SOUNDS of new age echoed against the concrete walls interrupted erratically by the patter of keystrokes on two keyboards.

Dar was seated on the ground between two tall racks, her long legs extended under them as she leaned back against a third. Kerry had taken a position right next to her, sitting cross-legged on the hard concrete with her laptop balanced on her knees.

Neither of them was talking. Both of them were concentrating on what they were doing, and yet the atmosphere in the small room was one of total absorbed contentment.

Kerry clicked send on her mail, and reviewed her inbox. The stack of messages she'd needed to take care of had decreased by over half in a surprisingly short amount of time, and she was beginning to see the light at the end of her email tunnel. "Know something? We should work down here more often."

Dar finished typing a line, and grunted. "Uh huh." She compiled the program she'd just finished, and opened a run window, starting the program and watching the results as it executed. "Ahhhh?"

Kerry rested her cheek against Dar's shoulder and peered at the screen. "Working now?"

"Uh huh. Hang on to your socks. I'm gonna run it against the backup router." She clicked over to a different screen and pulled it to one side, adjusting a monitoring parameter until she was satisfied with it. "Okay."

It was fun and interesting watching Dar work. Kerry waited for her to start the program again, and then switched her attention to the monitor. The gauges jumped and fluttered, indicating something was going on, but it was hard to tell what effect the program was having.

So, she remained quiet and waited for Dar to comment on it. She'd been acceptably competent at the programming she'd done in school, but it had never been a passion of hers, and this was not only complex, it was cryptic in a way that only Dar could be.

"Eh." Dar folded her arms and regarded the screen.

"Is it doing what you want it to?" Kerry hazarded.

"No." Her partner replied. "But it's doing something useful, which I hadn't anticipated."

"Hmm. Is that good or bad?"

Dar rested her head against Kerry's. "I don't know yet. Give it a few minutes." She studied the screen. "See here?" She pointed with one long finger. "I wanted it to analyze the headers and determine multiple instances of same sender, but what it's actually doing is logging out of sequence packets."

Kerry looked at the screen, then at her partner. "That's useful?"

Dar nodded. "Yeah, because that's a symptom, sometimes, of a dictionary attack--something just throwing guesses at the router and masking its own IP."

"Ah hah." Kerry murmured approvingly. "So that's progress."

"Mm. At least it's not crapping out every six seconds now," Dar agreed. "How's your mail coming?"

Kerry snuggled a little closer. "Fine," she said. "I knocked out a lot of it. It's really nice and peaceful down here. I can see why you decided to do the test this way."