Eye Of The Storm - DK3 (23 page)

Asshole.
Dar closed her eyes against the pounding headache. Then she opened them and surveyed the screen, deciding to ignore her unwanted guest until he decided to say his piece. She clicked on her first mail and reviewed it.

“You think I’m here to bust your chops, don’t you?”

“I don’t much care why you’re here,” Dar replied, typing rapidly.

Ankow circled her and sat on her desk. “You don’t like being questioned, do you, Roberts?”

Dar half turned and regarded him. “I don’t like wasting my time answering questions you could have looked up in the corporate database, no.” She paused. “You’re wasting a company resource.”

His eyebrow, so even she suspected he plucked it, lifted. “Is that how you view yourself, as a resource?” He didn’t get an answer. “All right.

I’m going to surprise you.” He stood and walked around to the front of her desk, then sat down. “I agree. I think you are a resource.” He leaned back. “Much as I hate to admit it and I do. Trust me, you’re not just a resource, you’re damn near the cornerstone this operation’s built on.”

Dar folded her hands. “And your point is what?”

“My point is…you think you’ve got this company over a barrel.”

Dar rolled her eyes. “You know what?” She gave him a disgusted look. “You’re stupider than I gave you credit for. Get the hell out of my office and go find something useful to do, will you?”

He blinked at her.

“Catch a goddamned clue, Ankow. I don’t want anything from the damn company other than my bimonthly goddamned paycheck, if that’s not asking too much.” Dar stood and leaned forward, using her height to good advantage. “I don’t ask for trouble, I don’t ask for help, I don’t ask for assholes to come flying in here from Texas who don’t have the sense that God gave a squirrel and waste my time.”

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Surprisingly, he chuckled. “Now, that’s the Dar Roberts I heard about. I was wondering where you were hiding.”

“What,” Dar let her voice lift, “do you want?”

“Me?”

“Either talk, or get out.”

“And if I do neither?” Ankow seemed amused.

“Then I’ll pick you up and throw you out.” Dar felt her darker side waking up, as her temper flared.

“Would you?” her antagonist asked, softly. “I’d be a little careful there, Roberts. I’m not one of your Texas two steppers.” He stood and advanced towards her. “I don’t spend all my time around a desk.”

Dar remained still, allowing only a faint smile to crease her lips.

“Neither do I.”

They were eye to eye now, wills clashing over the wooden surface of Dar’s desk. “So…talk, or you’ll leave, one way or the other.”

He let her wonder for a moment, then cocked his head and broke the tension. “All right.” He sat on the edge of the desk, and crossed his arms over his chest. “I’ll tell you what I want. Since you asked so nicely.” He smiled. “I want the company.”

Dar rolled pale blue eyes. “There’s a shock,” she muttered.

“I want McLean out. I want his job,” Ankow continued. “And I want you to help me get it.”

“Ah.” Dar nodded. “Is that all?”

“You think I’m joking.”

“I think you’re two squid short of a seafood salad,” the tall woman replied. “One, for wanting to run this place and two, for thinking I’d help you.”

Ankow didn’t seem to be surprised at the answer, he rose and went to the window, watching the rain fall. “Well…one, I’ve got my reasons and two, you’ll help me all right.” He turned and smiled viciously. “Or I’ll make your life miserable until you do.”

Dar resumed her seat and propped a knee against the edge of her desk. “You don’t have the power to do that.” She lifted a hand and pointed. “Now, get out.”

He gazed at her. “You don’t think so, hmm?”

“Nope.” The blue eyes held him in hooded disdain. “To do that, I’d have to give a damn about you or this job and I don’t.” She pointed again.

“So take your sleazy little plan and don’t let the door hit you on the way out.” He didn’t move. “You think
I’m
joking?” Dar inquired. “Right now, this company needs me a hell of a lot more than I need it, mister. And if you think you can do this job better. G’wan. Give it a try.”

“Oh, I won’t bother with that.” Ankow smiled. “I’ll just have our lawyers file a lawsuit against you for this quarter’s losses. Since you made those decisions, Roberts, and you are liable for them, you did realize that, right?”

Dar was silent for a moment. “You’d never win that,” she finally responded.

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“Maybe,” Ankow purred. “Maybe not. You’ve profited nicely from this company. How would the stockholders feel about you sitting there on your little nest egg, while they have to eat losses caused by your blun-ders?”

“If they were mine,” Dar kept her breathing even, “I wouldn’t wait for you to sue me. I pay my debts.”

“Well. We’ll just see. Why don’t you think about it, hmm? I can file suit against your friend Alastair, which I was planning on doing. Have you seen his portfolio lately? Or I can do both of you and we can make a profit this quarter.” Ankow stood. “It’s your move, Roberts. But I’d guess you were used to that nice lifestyle.”

Dar watched him saunter out, holding the door open for Kerry as she entered. Her stomach hurt, thinking about the threat, and she exhaled slowly as the door closed and her lover stood quietly watching her. “Hi.”

Kerry walked over and put a styrofoam cup down on her desk. “Hi.

What happened? You’re white as a sheet.”

“Bastard,” Dar whispered.

A glance over her shoulder showed the tightly closed door, so Kerry rounded the desk and leaned on the edge, putting a hand on Dar’s arm.

“Hey. What the heck did he say to you?”

Dar took a deep breath. “He wants me to help him oust Alastair.”

“What?”

“Yeah. I told him forget it…but…”

Kerry closed her hand around her lover’s. “But what?”

Dar was silent for a moment. “He threatened to file suit against me.

To recoup the losses from this quarter.”

The blonde woman’s jaw dropped. “Can he do that?”

“I don’t think so. I mean, he can file, sure.” Dar’s brow creased. “But he’d have to prove criminal negligence, and frankly, there’s no chance of that.” She lifted her eyes to meet Kerry’s. “I may have been a touch absentminded lately, but not negligent.”

“You haven’t been absentminded at all,” Kerry replied sharply. “No one has. The entire division’s been running better this quarter by stats than the past four.” Her eyes glinted a bit. “I could take personal affront for him even making that statement.”

Dar patted her leg. “Easy there. No, you’re right. We just had a string of bad luck this quarter. God knows it would have been worse if we hadn’t caught some of it and there’s no doubt about it, but…” She sighed.

“It’s gonna raise questions. They’ll drag out all my personal and financial records.”

Kerry shrugged. “So? Dar, you’ve never even paid your phone bill a day late. What’s the big deal?”

A dark brow lifted at her. “The big deal is going to be the fact that the half owner of everything I have happens to be my second in command here.” She paused. “Who also lives with me and shares a bank account.”

“Ah.” Kerry felt like slapping herself. “Right. Yeah, I forgot that
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part.” She thought about the problem. “That’s going to look kinda bad, huh?”

Bad.
Dar rubbed her temples. “It’s certainly going to throw a doubt on a few things. Like my personal judgement, for instance. Not to mention the fact that a number of the board members are a little more conservative than George Patton.”

“Mmm.”

They looked at each other. “So. What’s the plan?” Kerry finally murmured.

“I’ve got no idea. I want to talk to Alastair, see what he’s got to say.

Maybe there’s a way to pay this guy off. I don’t know.” Dar closed her eyes and leaned back against the cool leather of her chair. “Damn.”

“C’mon, Dar. What’s the very worst that could happen?” Kerry stroked her knee gently.

A blue eye appeared. “If they sue me and win? They wipe me out.

Wouldn’t be much left but the clothes on my back and the damn car.”

“Mmm.” Kerry got a peculiar look. “Well, we could go on the road then,” she mused, “just sort of wander from place to place. Maybe I could read poetry for a couple of quarters. You could give self defense lessons.

It might be fun.”

Dar cocked her head.

“Sleep under the stars. Fish for our dinner. How about it?”

Blue and green eyes met and shadows within them twinkled and danced together. “Sounds…like an adventure,” Dar murmured.

Kerry smiled. “Doesn’t it?”

They both chuckled and looked away. “What’s that?” Dar pointed at the cup.

“Chocolate milkshake.” Kerry nudged it towards her. “I figured you might need it.”

“Mmm.” Dar captured the cup and sucked at the straw with a look of absorbed delight, then she peeked over the rim and offered it to Kerry.

“Share?”

Kerry sighed. “Yeah.” She took a slurp. “What an aggravating day.”

“Looking forward to the gym tonight,” Dar growled, then punched a number into her phone. It rang twice, then was answered.

“Hey, Boss.”

“Mark. I need a full profile on Ankow. Everything. From his birth certificate to last year’s taxes.”

Mark’s voice was definitely smug. “Already running.” They could almost hear him buffing his nails on his shirt. “Figured you’d ask. What a jerk.” A clatter of keys. “Should be about four, five hours. I’ll queue it to you when it’s done.”

Dar nodded, her eyes narrowing. “Good.” A light flaring of her nostrils. “He wants trouble?” she murmured. “He’s going to get it. Thanks, Mark.”

“No problemo.”

She hung up and took the proffered cup back, sucking on the milk-124
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shake with a thoughtful look. “Sleeping under the stars, huh? You know, I hate camping, but there’s something very appealing about that thought.”

“Mmm, yeah.” Kerry smiled a bit. “I can almost smell the wood smoke of the campfire, can’t you?”

Dar’s nose twitched.

IT WAS GATHERING twilight as Dar packed up her briefcase and stood, stretching out shoulders stiff from hunching over her keyboard for the last few hours. Kerry had left already and she’d stayed, getting an unruly inbox cleared and finishing up some reports that had been hanging around for a couple of days.

Dar walked over to the wall and peered up. With any luck, they’d be able to start preliminary testing on the new backbones at the end of the week, and Dar got a big piece of satisfaction out of that. Three weeks ahead of schedule and she was just a touch under budget. She smiled and ran a finger over the newly printed schematic, nodding a little at the spi-dery trace-work of interconnections.

At the bottom, in the designer block, was the description and the engineer.

Dar Roberts.

Yeah.
Dar exhaled.
This is my baby, all right.
There were so few, concrete things in her career that she could point to and make that claim for.

Most of her accomplishments had been behind the scenes, making the parts run with little or no visibility other than her notoriety within the management staff.

But not this. This was right out there, in plain sight, for everyone to look at, and Dar was absolutely damned positive she was going to put out the very best product she was capable of. What have you done for us lately, Dar?

She’d point. That’s what.

The door opened and she turned, surprised, then irritated to see David Ankow standing in the opening, his jacket slung over his shoulder.

Not what she wanted to see at the end of a very long day, that’s for sure.

“You want something?”

“Thought about what I asked?”

Dar went back to her desk and picked up her briefcase. “Nope. I had real work to do this afternoon.” She shouldered the case and fingered her car keys. “Anything else?”

“Oh.” He stepped back to allow her to exit. “I thought I’d just take the opportunity to try and find out a little more about you, Roberts.”

“You’ve got the time it takes to go down fourteen floors and out to 126
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the parking lot,” Dar replied, heading past him and closing her door.

He followed her down the hall and through the elevator doors, waiting for them to close. “You know what I find funny?”

“Jock itch.”

He smiled thinly. “You’re quite the mystery woman around here, Roberts. That intrigues me.”

“You’re easily intrigued, then,” Dar replied dryly. The elevator made a soft hissing noise as it descended and smelled strongly of the brass polish the cleaning crew had used on the rails.

“No one seems to know anything about you. Not where you live. Not what your hobbies are. I find that very strange in a place like this.”

One of Dar’s eyebrows lifted. “Why would they?”

“Human curiosity. Same as what I’m feeling,” Ankow answered. “I tried to get your personnel file, but they stonewalled me with disclosure regs. And not one person I asked, from accounting to sales seemed to know anything about you, outside this office building.”

Unexpectedly, Dar smiled, feeling a sudden, surprising affection for her coworkers, quite a few of which certainly could have divulged any number of juicy personal details to him. Things on that front had gotten a lot better since she’d quit and been rehired a few months back. Even José and Eleanor had called a truce. In fact, José was actually really excited about the new network. “They mind their own business. Maybe you should take a hint.”

“That won’t keep me from finding out what I want to know.”

The doors opened. “All right.” Dar crossed out onto the marble floor.

“What do you want to know?” She waved at the security guard, who waved back and smiled. “My favorite color? It’s blue.”

“Where’s home?”

“Miami.” Dar started across the mostly empty lot.

“Live alone?”

“Why do you care? If you’re looking for a night out, I’ll give you directions to 79th street.” Dar felt a prickly edge enter her voice. “Or the addresses to a few clubs.”