Stormy Waters: Book 10 in The Dar & Kerry Series (40 page)

Duks dropped into his seat with a disgusted sigh. Then he looked at Dar squarely. "And what of you? Have you done so, my friend?"

Dar didn't even hesitate. "Kerry has all my logins, and I have hers," she replied easily. "Take it easy, Louis. Wait until you talk to these guys, and go with your gut."

"Thank you, Dr. Ruth." Duks gave her a droll look. "It's just infuriating."

Yes, it was, Dar silently agreed. "Least we stopped it." She fell back on Kerry's conclusion. "I'm not really--" She stopped, as a far off yell penetrated the walls of the office. "Shit." Dar bolted from her seat and headed for the door at a dead run, no trace of a limp remaining.

Caught in shock for a brief moment, Duks closed his jaw on an exclamation and got up to run after her.

DAR TORE THROUGH the empty hallways, circling the fourteenth floor around the central elevator stack. She could hear scuffling ahead of her and she sped up, hurtling around the last corner into the corridor that held her office.

Ahead of her, in the semi darkness, she could see two figures wrestling, only one of which was familiar. "Kerry!" She let out a yell.

"Son of a bitch!" Kerry barked back. "Get this piece...ow!"

Dar reached the fight and didn't even slow down. She plowed right into both struggling figures, gently shoving Kerry back out of the way toward one wall as she took the person she was fighting with up against the other one.

"Let go of me!" The stranger yelped. "Hey!"

"Go to hell!" Dar said. "You're lucky I don't open the window and toss your ass out."

"Oh yeah, I'm scared."

The two were evenly matched in size, but Dar pinned Kerry's adversary against the paneling, resisting the urge to shake the woman like a terrier with a rat. "Hold still or I'll break your damn arm." She growled. "Ker, you okay?"

"Yeah." Kerry closed in behind her and put a hand on Dar's back. "I found this little creep in your office."

"My office?" Dar pressed harder. "Get the lights on."

"Dar, they're controlled by computer." Kerry reminded her.

"You're an IT professional." Dar gritted her teeth. "So go hack them."

"Yeesh. Okay." Kerry ducked into Dar's office, disappearing from view.

Her captive began to struggle, attempting to throw Dar off her. "Let me go, or you'll be sorry!"

Dar wasn't sure what was more painful, the cliché or the ache in her foot. The woman got an arm free and swatted at her. Dar blocked the blow with her forearm, then she grabbed hold of the other woman's shirt and swung around, slamming her opponent against the opposite wall.

"Bitch! You're so going to regret this!" The woman growled, grappling with Dar and trying to kick her.

"Not as much as you're going to regret this, or I'm going to enjoy it." Dar wrenched her arm free and took a step back, setting herself before she let loose with a right cross. It smacked into the woman's jaw, bouncing her head against the wall and knocking her out.

Dar simply released her and allowed her to slide down the wall to the ground. She shook her hand and flexed the fingers, silence once again settling over the darkened hall. "Ker?" She called out, wanting very badly to have the lights come on so she could see if she knew the woman.

"Hang on." Kerry's voice drifted in from her office. "I hacked into the wrong subroutine. Give me a minute."

"Hmm." Dar glanced around. "What'd you hit, the music system?"

"Plumbing."

Dar winced. "Oh boy." She leaned against the opposite wall as Duks appeared from the darkness to stand next to her. "It's gonna be a long night."

"Ah." Kerry rattled a few more keystrokes in, and was rewarded by a flood of light that made her wince. She straightened up from Maria's desk and stepped around it, heading for the door to the hallway. Rounding it, she hastened to Dar's side and they stood together looking down at the intruder.

It was a woman, tall with a lithe build and short cropped dark hair, dressed in a non-descript Dickeys shirt and trousers with well worn work shoes.

"Know her?" Dar asked.

"Um...no," she replied. "She's not the usual night gal on this floor."

"Considering the night gal is a night guy, no," Dar agreed. "I don't recognize her either."

"Hmm." Kerry rubbed her jaw. "That's a cleaning staff uniform."

"Uh huh," Dar agreed. "Please don't tell me she was cleaning my office."

Kerry snorted. "Maybe, if she was cleaning your desk drawers from the inside with a flashlight." She looked around. "Where did Duks go?"

"Calling the cleaning supervisor," Dar said. "They've got some explaining to do."

They certainly did. Kerry folded her arms over her chest. "What do we do with her? She's going to come around any minute Dar."

"Call security, I guess. I don't want to tie her up, but we don't know what she's going to do when she comes around, either." She leaned against the wall with one hand, pondering their options. "You okay?" she asked suddenly, looking at Kerry in some concern.

"More or less," Kerry murmured. "You want to duct tape her?"

Dar grimaced. "I'm probably bucking a lawsuit as it is for clocking the little bastard. I'd rather not have cruel and unusual punishment added to it."

"Huh?"

"You ever had to remove duct tape from any part of your body?"

"No." Kerry shook her head, then paused. "Have you?"

"Yes."

"Hmm. How about we lock her in the cleaning closet?" Kerry suggested. "Seems appropriate, and it's close by." She pointed to one in a series of identical doorways. "I don't really want to wrestle any more tonight. I think I pulled something in my back."

"Huh." Dar tried the door and found it open. She pushed it inward, and flipped the lights on, finding nothing more exotic than a mop bucket and a stack of cleaning cloths. There was room in the closet for a cleaning cart, but the cart was missing, presumably elsewhere in the building. "Good idea. Give me a hand."

They dragged the woman's limp body into the closet, laying her down on the tile floor and backing out, pulling the door shut behind them. Dar fished in her pocket and retrieved her keyset, trying the master key on the door and grunting when it turned to a locked position with a satisfying snick. "There."

"Ugh." Kerry leaned against the wall, wincing as she stretched out her lower back muscles.

"Is that the less part of the more?" Dar limped over to her. "You scared me half to death."

Kerry shifted and leaned against Dar instead. "My knight in shining armor," she said. "Boy was I glad to hear you calling my name. I grabbed her and she got away from me."

"Ah."

"I ran after her and got the back of her shirt, and next thing I knew, I felt like I was in a wrestling exhibition."

Duks emerged from a side hallway and walked toward them. "Ah." He looked around. "Did our little friend escape?"

"We put her in the closet." Kerry pointed. "Is the supervisor coming up?"

"He is, indeed," Duks reported. "Especially since he informed me that there should be no person on this floor at this time. I have been told they start cleaning on this floor and work downwards."

Dar nodded. "Makes sense, since I usually see them before I leave."

"Yeah," Kerry agreed.

A hammering from behind the closet door startled all of them. "Let me outta here!" A voice emerged, outraged. "You little bastards! You can't do this to me!"

"Shut up," Duks hammered back. "Or we shall leave you and go get ourselves a beer."

"Count me in," Kerry added. "I was in the copy room when I heard a noise coming from your office. I went in, and there she was, rooting through everything. Who in the hell is this, Dar?"

Dar exchanged glances with Duks. "Should we call the cops?"

Duks pondered this. "Let us wait to see what the cleaning supervisor has to say. He said he...ah." Duks nodded, and looked past them. "Here he is now."

They all turned as a tall, slim man with salt and pepper hair joined them. "Ma'ams, sir," the newcomer said. "I do not understand what is going on here. I signed off on this floor two hours ago."

The hammering started on the inside of the door again. "Bastards!"

The cleaning supervisor started, and took a step back away from the door. "What is this in my closet?"

"Someone in one of your uniforms," Dar informed him. "A woman."

"I have no women on staff this evening." The supervisor protested. "Certainly, I do not keep them on this late. It is not safe. I take care of my girls. They go home no later than eight p.m." He pointed down the hallway, where a cleaning cart, being pushed by an older man was approaching. "See? There is Carlos. He is my man here tonight."

Carlos spotted all of them outside the cleaning closet and stopped, looking puzzled. "Senor?" he asked hesitantly. "Hay un problemo?"

Duks stuck his hands in his pockets and rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet. "I think perhaps we need to call the police then," he admitted. "If this person is not part of your staff, then it is an intruder, and the authorities must be notified."

"You don't want to do that!" The woman's voice inside the closet was muffled. "I'm warning you!"

Kerry put a hand on Dar's arm. "Maybe we should talk to her," she suggested. "The way she's acting is very strange, Dar. I'd expect someone to either be scared poopless, or else be asking for a lawyer."

Dar considered the thought, and had to concede she had a point. The woman's actions had been strange, and maybe there was something to be learned from her. "Okay." She addressed the cleaning supervisor, "I'm going to assume this person just stole one of your uniforms, and maybe someone's ID. I'll find out, and let you know."

The man nodded. "It is good." He motioned Carlos to move the cart in the other direction. "Vamanos."

"Senor?" The older man was confused. "Como?"

The supervisor took him by the arm and led him off, leaving Duks, Dar and Kerry in the hallway facing the closet door. "Well?" Dar held her key up. "Do we?"

Duks shrugged his broad shoulders.

"Ker?"

Kerry also shrugged, lifting her hands slightly.

"Hey, you in there." Dar banged on the door. "If I open this, so we can talk, you cool it or you're gonna hit the dirt again, got me?"

"Ah." Duks exhaled gently. "That is the Dar I know."

"You better open this door! Don't worry, I'll talk. I'm not into physical abuse like you are."

Dar shook her head and stuck the key in the lock, turning it and shoving the door open. She spread her arms out and flexed her knees a little, wondering if their erstwhile captive was going to come out swinging.

As it happened, she didn't. The woman walked warily out, giving Dar a dour, suspicious look. "Hope you've got a good lawyer."

"You too," Kerry advised her. "Especially since you attacked me while trespassing."

"I didn't attack you." The woman scoffed.

"Yes, you did," Kerry responded evenly, "after I surprised you in the act of burgling Dar's office. So if I were you, unless you want to have this discussion with a police officer, I would start cooperating.?

The woman studied her, then flicked her eyes to the rest of them. "This isn't what you think," she remarked, reaching into her back pocket, halting when Dar reacted. "Take it easy," she cautioned, removing her wallet and opening it. "Here. See?"

She held out a card.

Dar took it, and glanced at it. "Military intelligence," she repeated slowly. "Interesting."

"My father always claimed that was an oxymoron," Kerry murmured.

It wasn't the reaction the woman had clearly been expecting. "I don't think you quite understand what's going on here," she said. "You're the subject of an investigation."

"Let's go inside." Dar indicated the outer door to her office. "Louis, maybe we have an answer to your issue as well."

"Perhaps we do," Duks agreed. "Perhaps we do."

The woman looked from one of them to the other. "Do you understand that this is a serious situation?"

"Do you understand that we quite probably issued your paycheck on this very past Friday?" Duks retorted. "Do not threaten us with the government. We know better. Now, please go inside, or else, as Dar says, we shall call the police."

"Yeah," Dar agreed. "Wait--let me ask you one thing." She addressed the woman, "Are you from the Army?"

The woman looked warily at her. "Yes."

Dar's eyes narrowed and she snorted softly, as she closed the door behind them.

DAR TOOK A seat behind her desk, and Kerry perched on the edge of it. Duks sat in one visitor chair, and their unwelcome guest elected to remain standing.

"Okay," Dar said, "Explain to me why I have a member of military intelligence breaking and entering in my office."

The woman smirked. "It's really simple," she said. "My boss assigned me to break in here and blow wide open your reputation for security." She spread her arms and turned. "And I did."

"Why?" Kerry asked.

"What?"

"Why did your boss ask you to do that?"

"Hey, I don't question my orders." The woman held a hand up. "I just do what I'm told. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a report to file, and believe me I'm going to enjoy it." She looked at Dar. "You made all kinds of claims, lady, and you run all kinds of things for the US Government. It really pisses me off that you're so full of shit."

"Now, wait a minute..." Kerry started to stand up.

"Oh, don't bother." The woman waved her off. "Please, let's not even get into this little conflict of interest perversion the two of you have going here."

Dar's eyes narrowed slightly. "I'd watch it if I were you."

The woman snorted. "If you cooperate, and you're very lucky, my boss might consider just getting all the government's contracts cut quietly, and not blast it all over the papers." She looked at Dar. "I wouldn't because I think you stink. But he might, because he thinks you could be useful to us."

"Does he?" Kerry said. She turned to her partner. "Dar?" Her voice trailed off as the pale blue eyes pinned hers, and she read Dar's expression. She quietly turned back around and folded her arms, watching the intruder in silence.

"I think he's nuts," The woman stated frankly. "But he's the boss." She held up a cell phone. "And now I can call him and tell him what I found." She started dialing, the smirk plastered seemingly permanently on her face. "And believe me, you're gonna pay for hitting me."

Dar had her fingertips steepled, and she regarded the woman with a surprisingly benign expression. "Kerry?"

"Hmm." Kerry glanced at her.

"Call the police," Dar said. "Tell them we've caught someone breaking and entering in the office. Tell security what's going on, and have them send a couple of officers up here."

The woman stopped dialing and stared at Dar. "What?"

Kerry picked up the phone and dialed.

"You didn't quite catch what I said, did you?" the woman asked Dar. "My boss wants to keep this quiet."