Stormy Waters: Book 10 in The Dar & Kerry Series (22 page)

She put on her skirt, tucking the ends of the shirt into the waistband and buttoning it. She buckled the slim leather belt, then removed her linen jacket from its hanger and put it on. Facing the mirror she observed the effect.

Businesslike and conservative. Kerry gave herself a brief nod, and then she let the jacket slip off her shoulders and looked again.

She grinned and put the jacket back on and headed off to work.

"What's so funny?" Dar inquired, pausing in her curls. "Am I making faces again?"

Kerry chuckled. "No, I was just thinking of something." She stood up and let the pull down bar return to its resting position. "Hey, let me ask you a question." She let her arms rest against her thighs.

"Hmm?" Dar cocked her head in inquiry, the muscles in her arms jumping as she brought the weighted bar up.

"Do you think I look too butch?'

Dar paused in her upswing, the bar ending up pressed against her breastbone. Her nostrils flared, and she made a small snorting sound, attempting to stifle a laugh.

Kerry put her hands on her hips. "What was that supposed to mean?" She cocked an eyebrow at her partner.

Hastily, Dar put down the barbell and walked over, wiping her hands on the towel she had tucked into her shorts. She cupped Kerry's chin and tilted her head up, regarding her with serious affection. "You don't look at all butch."

"I don't?"

"No."

"Not even with these?" Kerry lifted her arm and tensed her biceps.

"No."

"Really?"

"Really." Dar said. "Just incredibly sexy." She paused. "Why? Do you want to look more butch?" She asked curiously.

Kerry shook her head. "No, not really. I was just remembering something someone told me right after I first moved down here, about not falling into the typical gay routine of becoming a...um..." Her face scrunched a little. "Um..."

"Baby butch?" Dar inquired. "Well, I don't know...you looked great as a Revolutionary." She chuckled softly, giving Kerry a pat on the cheek. "But I love the way you look, no matter what it is, Ker. You know that."

"Mm."

Dar gave her a one armed hug, and then she went over to the incline board, and took Kerry's place on it. She adjusted the length, and then settled herself in to start her own set of sit ups, the motion relaxed and easy.

Kerry watched her a moment, then sighed enviously and got up on the stair climber. "What do you think...another twenty minutes? We should leave a little early in this weather."

"Yeah. Sounds about right." Dar had her arms crossed over her chest, and was moving up and down steadily. "You said you had to go over to the pier today?"

Kerry increased her pace. "Yep."

"How about we go there, and then take off." Dar said. "If you drive, I can get the revisions done on my program, and I won't feel guilty all damn weekend."

"Sounds like a plan."

They were both quiet for a few minutes, concentrating on their exercising. Finally after several sets, Dar let herself down on the board and gazed up at the ceiling, sweat dripping liberally across her body. "Hey, Ker?"

An equally dewy blond head lifted. "Hmm?"

"Any time you want to quit this and become couch potatoes, just drop me an email, yeah?'

Kerry chuckled, as she straightened on her machine and took a swig from the water bottle hung by her wrist. "You got it, baby. You got it."

They both started laughing, the noise echoing softly off the ceiling of the gym.

"ALL RIGHT." Dar motioned Mark to follow her into her office. "Let's see what you've got." She walked across the carpet and changed direction at the last minute, going to the small worktable in the corner of her office instead. "Here."

Mark followed her and put a cardboard box on the desk. "Sorry to grab you so early, DR, but I heard you were taking off today so I figured I'd better do it when I could."

"No problem." Dar perched on one of the two stools behind the worktable. She opened the top of the box and peered inside, reaching in to remove the cellular gadget along with several other miscellaneous bits of hardware.

"Going down south?" Mark asked.

"Yep." Dar set the cell unit down and leaned forward, removing the battery pack and examining the inside surface. "We're taking off after lunch. I'm going with Ker down to the boats, and then we're outta here for the weekend."

"Ah." Mark picked up a second bit of hardware and showed it to Dar. "This is the remote interface. I took it apart. It's got a circuit card in it to mask its internal ID."

"Huh." Dar took it.

"So, I guess after all that crap you guys needed some time out?"

Dar glanced up. "Not really. We just decided to go down. Why?"

Mark looked distinctly uncomfortable. "Just some stuff I heard." He knew better than to dissemble in front of Dar. He could get away with it with Kerry on occasion, but those icy blue eyes lanced right through him as Dar's expression changed.

"Now what?" With a look of disgust, Dar dropped the part on the table. "C'mon, spill it. What bullshit are they passing around this time?"

Mark studied the table, wondering for the nth time how he let himself get into situations like this one. Stolid loyalty to Dar? Maybe. "People are saying you guys are having problems."

"Problems?" Dar's tone sounded honestly puzzled. "Mark, we always have problems. Our whole damn job is nothing but problems."

Mark looked up. "No, not here." He took a breath. "Like, between you." He watched Dar's face, feeling a sense of weird relief at the expression of mild confusion that appeared there. "It made like, no sense to me, you know?"

Dar crossed her arms over her chest. "Is this..." She fished for an explanation. "Having something to do with her black eye? I'd heard rumors some idiots think I did that."

Dar's reaction wasn't what he'd been expecting. Mark fingered the piece of gear again. "No, um...it was more like that Kerry's mad at you and thinking about moving out," he said. "And that, yeah, I guess you guys were fighting, and that's how she got a black eye."

"That's ridiculous."

"Well yeah, I know," Mark said. "I don't know where this crap comes from."

Dar sighed, tossing the bit of hardware away from her. Then she paused and considered what she was feeling--impatience, annoyance? "Maybe we should put on a boxing exhibition," she remarked, with wry humor. "Or...I know. We'll put on a kissing exhibition in the lobby. How's that? Think anyone will catch a clue we're not breaking up?"

Mark blushed. "Um..."

"I just don't get it." Dar gazed thoughtfully at the other side of her office. "We've both been hurt before. Hell, we've spent weeks in slings since Kerry's started working here. Why all this crap now?" She rested her elbows on the table and shook her head. "Hope Ker doesn't hear all of it."

"Me either," Mark said. "She's got a mean temper."

The words made Dar smile a little. "Anyway." She picked up the cellular device. "Talk to me about this thing. When are its owners coming after it?

Mark gathered his wits and accepted the change of subject. He'd half expected Dar to fly off the handle, or react in some way, so the almost benign indifference she was exhibiting puzzled him. It wasn't as though he thought the rumors were true--after all, he interacted with his two bosses on a daily basis, and neither of them was great at hiding even minor spats.

Kerry got all nervous when they were disagreeing. She was restless as hell in meetings and she lost her usual even tempered patience when dealing with the staff or the daily problems they often faced. Luckily it never lasted that long, but it was easy to spot.

"I think they'll be here Monday," he told Dar. "But the basics are-- it's a remotely accessed cell device."

"I got that far on my own." Dar cocked an eyebrow at him.

Now Dar, on the other hand, she'd pull back into her shell, glaring and snapping at everyone. Nobody liked dealing with her when she was like that, but Mark could also remember that before Kerry had entered her life nobody had much liked dealing with Dar even when she wasn't angry or upset,.

So he usually knew when they were squabbling. Just looking at Dar's relaxed body posture reassured him that nothing like that was going on, so now he considered her previous words and wondered himself--yeah, why now?

Why now? "It doesn't ring like a cell; it just picks up and makes a data link." Mark went on. "It's pretty sophisticated." He picked it up and looked at it. "I was trying to think of what the hell legitimate purpose it had for those guys developing it."

Dar snorted.

"Yeah, I thought that too."

"No wonder they're coming out here." Dar got up off the stool. "What you're telling me is that this thing was designed to bust networks from the inside."

"Yeah." Mark agreed. "Pretty much. The slickest thing is, it pops up on the network, listens for a real MAC address, and then spoofs it, so if you have MAC security turned on, it bypasses."

"Hmm." Dar juggled the device. "What about these things?" She pointed at the smaller pieces of technology, as she turned her hand and checked her watch. Almost lunch time. "Anything to tie them back to who planted the damn things?"

Mark got up and paced around a bit. "Boss, you sure this isn't from those Telegenics guys? I mean, the time's right, you know? I checked with the projector people, and the tech they sent out here is a guy who's worked for them for like twenty years. He's pretty clean."

Dar put the phone down and leaned back. "It's not them."

"Boss, c'mon. They were the only ones in there from outside the company in weeks." Mark coaxed. "I know it sucks to think they got one over on us, but chasing the cleaning people kinda sucks too."

Dar crossed her arms and glared at him.

"Y'know, it does." After so many years, he knew pretty much what he could get away with. "If we know it's them, maybe we can do a jive on the guys coming over here, and get them to spill."

"It's not them," Dar repeated stubbornly. "I don't give a damn how much sense it makes. I'm telling you it's not them. Find another possibility." Part of her acknowledged that Mark was right--believing it was Shari and Michelle burned her guts. But another part of her, the instinctive part that understood people at a base level, was telling her that someone smarter than either of them was behind it.

Was it just wishful thinking? Dar got up and went to her desk, dropping into her chair and putting her booted feet up on the desk. She was dressed down, glad of the excuse of the pier visit to be wearing her broken in jeans and short topped hiking boots.

"Okay." Mark gave in gracefully and collected his techno bits. "I'll see what else I can find out." He started to back away toward the door. "Sorry about all the talk and crap."

"Not your fault." Dar picked up her keyboard and put it on her lap. "Just tell everyone from me they're full of shit."

"Will do, boss." Mark disappeared and closed the door behind him.

Dar pecked out a few words, and then paused. She half turned in her chair as the inner door slammed open and Kerry strode in, green eyes snapping, hands half clenched, and for all intents and purposes it seemed like a thunderstorm was on its way to happening. "Hi," she greeted Kerry apprehensively. "What's up?"

"Stupid, mother mphfing, sons of pooters," Kerry spat out. "Do you want to know what kind of horse manure I've had to listen to for the last twenty minutes?"

Kerry was adorable when she was mad, just so long as it wasn't Dar she was mad at. "Let me guess." Dar put her keyboard down. "I hit you. We're breaking up, you're moving out, and maybe...the sky is falling?"

"Augh." Kerry sat down on Dar's desk. "I am so pissed."

"I can see that."

"Aren't you?" Kerry frowned. "Dar, this is bullshit!"

Was she? Dar leaned an elbow on Kerry's leg, and wondered about that. "It's bullshit," she agreed. "And I know it's not true, so while I'm aggravated that people are wasting their time, I'm not going to waste mine by blowing my top."

"I know it's not true also." Kerry growled. "But I want to boot these people, Dar. They have no right to talk about us like that. It's insubordination."

True enough. "Do we know who it is?"

Kerry got up and paced around Dar's desk, still visibly upset. "No one. Everyone." She groused. "It's cowardly! No one has the guts to say something to my face, it's all damned whispers."

Dar rounded the desk and intercepted Kerry, laying her hands on her partner's shoulders. "Ker, take it easy.

"I'm not going to take it easy," Kerry shot back. "I'm sick and tired of people just...just..." She let the words trail off. "Heck!" She pulled a square of cardboard from her pocket and tossed it on Dar's desk. "See that? Some freaking real estate agent was just in my office, saying she heard I was looking for a place."

Dar's eyebrows lifted.

"Augh!"Kerry balled her fists up fully and shook both of them. "Dar, I am so pissed!"

"Shh." Dar put her arms around Kerry and hugged her. "Take it easy."

"Grrrr!!!

"We'll figure out what's going on."

Kerry allowed herself to collapse against Dar's warm body. Her entire insides were tensed in knots, and her anger really had no place to go. "Goddamn it." She felt the knots ease, as Dar's hands rubbed her back. "Someone's trying to get between us, Dar."

"Yes."

Kerry took in a breath. "And you're not upset?"

Dar heard the catch in her voice. "Of course I am."

"You're just not freaking out," Kerry exhaled, "like I am." She leaned against Dar and let her breathing settle. "Sorry." She felt the gentle pressure as Dar kissed the top of her head, and felt very tired as the anger drained away.

Jerks.

Just...Jerks.

KERRY WAS STILL unsettled as they walked across the parking lot toward the ship buildings. She'd considered putting out a scathing memo, but Dar had convinced her not to, reasoning with her that making a big deal out of the whole thing would just cause more talk.

She knew that was true, but she didn't have to like it. Kerry booted a small rock across the parking lot, glad of her heavily tinted sunglasses protecting her eyes against the glare. The late afternoon thunderstorms hadn't built up yet, and the sun was beating down on them as they walked, making even her light cotton shirt feel like it weighed a ton.