Stormy Waters: Book 10 in The Dar & Kerry Series (32 page)

Dar chortled. "I do not."

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

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

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

"Did you want to?"

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

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

"Could now what?"

"Wear bright red nail polish."

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

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

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

"I would?"

"Yeah."

Dar considered further. "Kerry?"

"Uh?"

"Why are we having this discussion?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Um...

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

"Hmm."

"Like that one better?"

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

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

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

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

"What?"

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

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

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

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

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

"As a heart attack."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Ah. Good point."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"You're on."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Growf!"

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

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

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

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

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

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

D

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

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

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

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

Dar grimaced.

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

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

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

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

"Try mom?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kerry looked at the monitor window. "Why?"

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

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

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

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

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

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