Stormy Waters: Book 10 in The Dar & Kerry Series (35 page)

"Let me go get the antiseptic. Or we could go see Dr. Steve."

Kerry slipped into the bathroom and returned, setting the antiseptic bottle and cotton balls down as she prepared to render first aid. Chino came over and started to help, licking Dar's face thoroughly with a serious expression.

"That's it, Chi. You keep mommy Dar busy while I do this."

Dar reached over the dog and picked up the mail on the coffee table, laying it on her stomach and flipping through it to distract herself. A Hammacher Schlemmer catalog caught her eye, and she opened it, browsing the pages idly. "Want a pair of space socks?"

Kerry tweaked one of Dar's toes. "No, honey, I don't." She wiped around the fish bite carefully with her swab.

"Automatic vacuum cleaner?"

"For?" Kerry looked around. "We have a cleaning service, remember?"

Dar sighed. "How about a train set?"

"You just like buying toys." Kerry peered at the bites on the bottom of her partner's foot. "Dar, these really do look bad."

"Great."

"I don't know if Dr. Steve was a horrible idea." Kerry went on, with a slightly apologetic tone. "I know you don't like to, but I'd hate to see these really get infected, you know?"

"I've had my tetanus."

It was one of the few things they consistently fought about, Kerry privately admitted. Dar hated doctors, and Kerry both sympathized, and understood why she did. In fact, she wasn't fond of doctors herself, though in Dr. Steve she'd finally found one she not only trusted, but liked. "Dar."

"Okay."

Kerry paused in mid breath, taken aback by the unexpected capitulation. She looked at Dar in surprise.

Dar shrugged a little. "It really hurts." She admitted. "And you're right--I don't want it to get worse if I have to spend the next week in hiking boots on the deck of some damn half assed cruise ship," she said. "So, if you want to give Steve a call, I'll go feed Chino."

Kerry gave the long leg wrapped around her a gentle pat. "For being such a good girl, I'll take you out to dinner after he's done. How's that?"

Dar produced a charming smile. "Only if you promise to never, ever, ever tell anyone I was either good, or voluntarily went to the doctor."

"Deal."

Kerry got up and edged between the couch and the coffee table, leaning over to give Dar a kiss on the lips. She stayed there almost long enough to get a crick in her back, then straightened up and headed for the phone.

Dar ruffled Chino's fur with one hand, and laid the other across her stomach. Aside from her foot really hurting, she also found herself completely unwilling to argue with Kerry, especially since she knew Kerry was right and she was only arguing because that's what she always did.

She felt a little adrift. She could feel changes coming, and the thought excited her more than frightened. But first, they did have this damn bid to get through, so she decided to focus on that for now. In the meantime, she would go and get her foot fixed up, and keep Kerry from getting any more stressed than she already was.

"You hungry, Chi? You want some dinner?" Dar swung her legs over the side of the couch and got up, going to the kitchen with a very attentive Labrador now glued to her knee. "Let's go get you fed."

"Growf."

DR. STEVE SHOOK his head as he examined Dar's foot. "Munchkin, between the two of you, I swear I should just tie you up in hammocks for a month and not let you outside for a minute."

"Long as it's the same hammock." Dar replied benignly, her eyes closed and her hands folded over her stomach. "I'm cool with it."

Kerry was loitering behind the examination table, leaning on her elbows. "Count me in too."

"Tch, tch. You wild children." The doctor finished his work and turned around to face Dar. "Honey, I'm going to have to give you a shot of antibiotic.?

"Okay."

"Now, I don't want to hear all that guff about..." Dr. Steve paused. "S'cuse me?"

Dar shrugged. "Go ahead. Anything to make that damn foot feel better."

Her doctor and old family friend put his hands on his hips. "Who in the hell are you?" He asked. "You ain't no Dar Roberts I know." He looked over at Kerry. "You get her drunk before you brought her in here?"

"Nope." Kerry idly played with a bit of Dar's hair. "Hasn't had a drop, though that'll change when we get done." She gave the lock a tug, and was rewarded by Dar turning her head and peering up at her. "Dar's just come to her senses, right honey?"

"Right." Dar kept her eyes on Kerry while Dr. Steve prepared the shot, since she never had liked to watch large pieces of sharp steel enter her body and didn't figure on starting any time soon, or now for that matter.

She could sense the doctor's approach. Kerry must have sensed it too, because she slid her hand forward and cupped Dar's cheek, a welcome warmth in the cool air of the office. Dar let herself get lost in the soft green eyes regarding her, and she didn't even feel the prick of the needle.

"Okay, there you go." Dr. Steve wiped the area with a bit of cotton. "I'm gonna give you a prescription, too, you little rugrat. Wish you knew for sure what kind of fishie that was." He patted Dar's leg. "But you should be okay, long as you don't aggravate things."

Obligingly, Dar sat up and swung her legs off the table, leaning her weight on her hands as she watched Dr. Steve writing her prescription. He was dressed in a short sleeve plaid shirt and Bermuda shorts, and hadn't bothered to assume his white coat for his afterhour's patients. "Did you look at Kerry's eye?"

Dr. Steve looked over his shoulder. "C'mere, Kerry."

Kerry walked over to him and stood in the light, as he tilted her face a little toward him and studied her.

"I'd say her eye was green." Dr. Steve announced. "Just like the other one." He grinned at Kerry, who grinned back. "No headaches or anything from it, young lady?"

"No..." Kerry hesitated. "Well, not from that anyway. We've had a tough week."

His eyebrow rose. "It's Monday."

"Exactly."

Dr. Steve patted her cheek. "Well, you take it easy, okay? Nothing in that crazy world of yours is worth getting sick over."

"You got that right." Dar limped over and laid a hand on Kerry's shoulder. "So, take this stuff, and what else? Don't tell me to stay off it Steve. I've got a damn ship I have to be crawling over the next couple of days."

Dr. Steve frowned at her. "Honey, how do you expect that thing to heal if you're stomping all over with it? Any shoe you put on there's gonna hurt." He pointed out. "Less you want to go barefoot, like you used to."

"Still does." Kerry teased gently. "But I'd never let her do it on that dock."

Dar sighed. "I'll figure something out." She took the prescription. "Thanks. Sorry to pull you out from dinner." She stuck the paper into her pocket as the doctor led them to the back door, opening it so they could get out.

"No worries, rugrat." Dr. Steve patted her on the back and headed for his open topped Jeep. "You take care." He said. "And keep off that foot!"

Dar got into the car, this time Kerry's smaller blue one, and shut the door. She waited for her partner to get in on the driver's side and gave her a look. "I can't not go."

Kerry started the car, then leaned on the steering wheel and regarded her. "Didn't you just agree with him that the job isn't worth your health?"

Blue eyes blinked unrepentantly. "No."

"No?"

"I agreed the job wasn't worth YOUR health."

"Jesus."

"Not hardly." Dar set her sunglasses onto her nose. "C'mon. We'll figure out something."

"Yeah." Kerry put the car in gear, and pulled out of the driveway heading toward the beach. "I'm sure we will."

THEY ENDED UP going by the port anyway. It was near nine o'clock, but the piers were bustling with activity and Kerry had to steer around several groups of rushing workers as she edged her way toward their ship. The air was full of the sound of heavy machinery moving, the clank of cranes, the hoot of warning klaxons as huge pieces of steel swung overhead, and the ever-present hiss of welding torches. "Looks busy," she commented.

"Very." Dar agreed, peering out the open passenger side window. "Are those protestors?"

"Yeah." Kerry nodded. "Looks like it."

"Hmph."

Kerry parked near their terminal, and got out, watching with some slight anxiety as Dar hopped out on her side and shut the door. "You going to be okay?"

"Fine." Dar put cautious pressure on her foot, and immediately regretted it. "Ow."

"Want to stay with the car, and let me run in?" Kerry circled the Lexus and came to Dar's side, resting her hand on Dar's arm.

"No." Dar stubbornly started toward the pier, limping heavily. "C'mon, let's get this over with."

Kerry followed her, trotting to catch up, then walking along at Dar's side. For once, she didn't have to stretch to keep up, and halfway there she put her hand on Dar's back, giving the surface a gentle rub with the edge of her thumb.

"That jerk at the restaurant aggravated me." Dar said, out of the blue.

"Yeah, me too." Kerry agreed.

"He had no right to take it out on that waitress." Dar continued. "It wasn't her fault he split his pants."

"Too true."

"I wanted to kick him."

Kerry patted Dar's back. "I know, honey, and I know you couldn't because your foot's hurt." She sympathized. "Anyway, I'm sure the karma will come back and bite him in the butt someday."

"Hmph."

Kerry chuckled. "You're such a crusader. I love that about you."

"Me?" Dar hobbled up the steps to the terminal and headed for the doors. "I'm nothing of the sort. I just hate jerks."

Kerry swatted her on the butt as she held the door open and let Dar enter ahead of her, glad when the somewhat clammy but welcome chill of the air conditioning beat back the mugginess of the evening air. The interior of the room was far more active than it had been previously, and they both paused in surprise as the chaos resolved itself. "Holy pooters."

The inside of the big terminal had been transformed from a dank, empty space to a bustle of activity, filled from back to front with people and gear they both recognized as belonging to ILS. "Well." Dar exhaled, and started forward, lifting a hand to wave as people began to recognize her. "We did call up the troops."

"Hey boss." Mark appeared from literally nowhere, carrying a spool of cable and a switch on one shoulder. "How's the goldfish nip?"

"Fine. What's going on in here?" Dar asked, looking around. Boxes and boxes of gear were stacked against the walls, most unpacked with humming and blinking boxes propped up on every available surface. "Mark, the network goes inside the ship, yeah?"

"Lemme get rid of this." Mark trotted over and divested himself of his load, handing it off to a harried looking tech. "A ton of our stuff came in, but they ain't got no space for it yet."

"Ah." Kerry walked over to a carton and examined the packing slip. "Yeah, I was expecting this today. Good." She looked over at Mark. "Guess they came through after all, no matter where they got it from."

Mark nodded. "Yeah, I talked to our guy today, just checking on stuff. He's still torked."

"Too bad." Kerry put her hands on her hips. "So, you brought it all in here?"

"Nuh uh." He shook his head. "I got told it was coming in here, and that I was supposed to do something useful with it."

Dar cocked her head. "Who in the hell had the balls to tell you that?"

Kerry was already smiling, half covering her face with one hand.

"Your dad." Mark cheerfully supplied. "I figured I'd better listen to him."

"My dad." Dar appeared to have developed a headache, from the way she was rubbing her temples. "Okay, fine. So you are...?"

"Setting up, burning in, and testing the network here," Mark said. "Configuring it after that, so when they do have someplace to put it, we'll be ready."

Dar absorbed that, then nodded. "Makes sense." She said. "John around?"

Mark pointed toward the entrance to the ship. He watched Dar limp off, then turned to Kerry. "Hey...um...I got something kinda skanky to show you."

Kerry tore her own eyes from her partner's retreating back, and focused on him. "Skanky?"

She followed Mark over to a pallet that was covered with a gray, dusty tarp. Mark took hold of one end of it and pulled it free, exposing a stack of boxes. "Dar's old man dropped this over here too. Said it was delivered to us by accident, but we should just keep it hidden."

Kerry looked at the packing slip. The receiving name was Telegenics. "This isn't ours."

"Yeah, I know." Mark agreed. "It's the same stuff we ordered, but it's for those jerk wads down on the other ship." He pointed. "Got three more pallets full."

"The four orders."

"Yeah."

Kerry walked to each pallet, and examined the labels. They were all identical. Proof of Telegenic's duplicity--or was it? Could that have been done by accident? "Mark, did you ever ask the goofball if they questioned those four orders?"

Mark walked over and leaned an elbow on the boxes. "Yeah, I did. He told me he was told to shut up and mind his own business, and just deliver what was ordered."

And didn't that just sound like Shari? Kerry slowly let out a held breath. "Well, well." She flicked her fingers against the cardboard, suddenly aware that she held the fate of the bids in her hands, at least the Telegenics one. There was no way for them to get replacement gear for anything less than truly exorbitant prices if this batch went missing, chiefly because they themselves dried up the channel.

What goes around comes around. Wasn't that the saying? Didn't it serve Shari and Michelle right to have this happen after what they'd tried to do?

It was just good, hard business sense for Kerry to keep these pallets right here, under cover, maybe filing a mis-delivery with the carrier that would take several weeks to resolve, right?

Absolutely.

"You have a really funny look on your face, chief." Mark commented.

"My head's having a cat fight with my conscience." Kerry let her hand fall. She turned and spotted a cluster of people near the office. "Now what?" She started toward the group, leaving the pallets behind for the time being.