Eye Of The Storm - DK3 (31 page)

“Yes?” The VP leaned closer as well.

“I think it’s going to be early,” she whispered. “Dar was asking me for some baseline projects she could ‘borrow’ as early as two weeks from now. I think she’s considering migrating them to check for traffic pat-Eye of the Storm 167

terns.”

“Really?” Eleanor fairly dripped with greedy delight. “I can’t wait to sell it. You have no idea how many people have been sniffing around, saying they’d heard we were putting up a new net and wanting the specs on it.”

Kerry smiled and wiggled an eyebrow at her. “Wish we could get that guy to buy into the project.” She nodded towards Ankow. “He just doesn’t get it.”

Eleanor regarded the tall, good looking man, then tapped one long, impeccably manicured nail against her lip. “I’m sure if he saw it from a sales perspective…” She gave Kerry a smile. “Me and José’ll take him to lunch. See what we can do.” She picked up her leather appointment book and slapped Kerry lightly on the side with it. Then she sauntered around the table and eased herself skillfully in to the conversation near the wall.

“You go, girl,” Kerry murmured under her breath, then picked her notepad up and lifted the conference room phone. After a moment, María answered. “Hi.”

“Dar has not called in yet, Kerrisita.”

Kerry pursed her lips. “I could have been asking for status on the relay outage in Newark.”

“
Sí
, you could,” the secretary agreed, amiably.

“Thanks. Maybe I’ll give her a buzz.” Kerry disconnected, then tapped the receiver against her chin. She watched Eleanor and José maneuver Ankow out of the conference room, then returned the pleasant smiles of the junior marketing people left to clean up.

They liked her. Kerry smiled back at them. Everyone pretty much did, she’d realized, after they’d gotten used to her, and used to the idea of someone else working in Dar’s territory, who, while being completely and unshakably loyal to her supervisor, could be approached in a far different way. And since she and Dar kept their relationship strictly out of the office, even those people uneasy at that aspect had grown comfortable in dealing with her.

“Hey, Kerry,” one of the regional assistants said. “See you at the gym tonight?”

“Not tonight,” she responded regretfully. “I’ve got an offsite meeting this afternoon, then something I’ve got to take care of later.”

“Bummer. We’ll miss you. Can’t wait for the next defense class to start.” The woman picked up her portfolio and tucked it under her arm.

“Thanks for a great meeting. See ya.”

Kerry went out with them and headed for her office, glad of the peace and quiet as she circled her desk and sat down. “Let’s see.” She checked her mail. “No more exclamation points. I like that.” She riffled through her mostly depleted inbox. “Looking good.” She checked the logon report and saw Dar’s name conspicuous by its absence and made her decision. She keyed the intercom. “Mayte.”

“Yes, Ms. Kerry?”

“I’m…um…”

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“Going home?” her admin supplied helpfully.

“Yeah. Guess your mom told you, huh?”

“She gave me what to say to people, yes,” Mayte agreed. “I have your pager and your cell. I will call you if there is anything.” A soft buzz was heard. “Hold on one moment.”

Kerry waited, until Mayte’s voice returned. “Ms. Kerry. It is my mother. She is looking to see if you are here. She has a call. She is not sure who it is.”

“All right. Put her through.” Kerry frowned. “María?”

“
Sí
. Kerrisita. There is someone calling here for Dar. I think it is her father.”

“Oh!” Kerry blurted. “Sure. God, put him on.” A click, then she leaned forward. “Hello?”

“Morning there, kumquat.”

Kerry smiled hugely and bounced in her chair, making it squeak in protest. He sounded so much better. “Hi, Dad. How’s it going?”

“Not bad. Where’s mah kid?”

“Ah. Well, she’s not doing so great, actually. She’s kinda sick,” Kerry explained. “She stayed home today. Was up most of the night throwing up and stuff.”

“Damn. Sorry to hear that,” Andrew responded. “Well, I was just callin’ to let you two know everything’s all right here. That’s ’bout all.”

“I’m so glad to hear that and I know Dar will be too.” Kerry started shutting her PC down. “Did you have everything you needed?” An impish grin formed on her face as she waited for the answer.

“Huh. Yeap. But you and I need to have a chit chat ’bout boy’s unmentionables when ah get back there.”

“Did I get the wrong size?” Kerry asked innocently.

“No, you did not.”

She could almost see the scowl. “They aren’t comfortable?”

“That is not the point, young lady.”

Kerry could hear a soft, muffled laugh in the background, and she realized, with a strange sense of wonder, that it was Cecilia.
Forgot there’s
two halves of this.
“You didn’t like the color?”

“Kerrison.” Dar’s father’s voice dropped low, almost exactly like his daughter’s.

“Sorry, Dad. I only buy the very best for people I love,” she told him, softening her tone.

There was a period of silence on the other end, where she could hear a soft, mechanical sound she identified as an air conditioner cycling on and off. “You fight damn dirty, y’know that, young lady?” Andrew finally sighed. “All right. But you better be watching your back now, y’hear? I don’t go by the rules much neither.”

“Warning taken.” Kerry smiled. “Well, I’ve got to go. I’ve got a sick friend to take care of.” She paused. “Hey. How about I call you from the house? I bet Dar would love to say hi.”

There was a muffled sound. “All right,” Andrew agreed. “We were
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just scrabblin’ up some breakfast.”

“Breakfast, hmm?” The green eyes twinkled.

“Not one word, young lady,” he rasped back. “Talk at you later.”

Kerry hung up and gathered her things, then slipped out the door.

KERRY PUSHED THE door open cautiously, peeking inside before entering. She spotted her lover curled up on the couch and tiptoed into the room, after closing the door quietly behind her. Even Chino was asleep, sprawled next to Dar and twitching in some kind of bizarre Labrador dream. She put her briefcase down on the loveseat and then knelt at Dar’s side and studying the sick woman’s face.

Dark lashes fluttered and Dar looked up, a little disoriented.

“Hey.” Kerry put a hand on her forehead. “Mmm. You’re warm.”

“Ungh.” Dar pursed her lips and swallowed painfully. “Time?”

“Just past noon.” Kerry reviewed the open boxes on the table. “Tried everything, hmm?”

A groan answered her.

“That sounds bad.” She pushed a bit of dark hair out of Dar’s face. “I have some good news for you.”

Dar caught her hand and pulled it closer as if in comfort. “Mmm?

Did you run over Ankow in the parking lot? Good girl,” she mumbled.

“I’ll tell ’em you were here all day.”

“No.” Kerry chuckled, using her other hand to rub Dar’s neck. “Your father called. Looks like things are working out fine up there.”

Both of Dar’s eyes opened and she lifted her head. “Yeah?” She forgot about being sick for a minute and pulled herself up, running a hand through her hair and blinking at Kerry. “What’d he say?”

“Just that things were good.” Kerry picked up a cup of water Dar had been sucking at and offered it to her. “Here. Take a sip. You don’t want to get dehydrated.” She stood up. “Let me get this stuff off and we can give them a call. Okay?”

Dar got a quarter of a mouthful down, then stopped and grimaced, concentrating and trying really hard not to allow it to come right back up.

She put the cup down and gave Kerry an unhappy look, too miserable even to dredge up a smidgen of her usual attitude. “Maybe he can tell me where he’s cached a gun and I can shoot myself.”

Kerry made a face. “Hang in there. I’ll be right back.” She trotted upstairs and changed quickly, glad to exchange the restrictive linen for a pair of shorts and a T-shirt, as she unclipped her hair and let it loose around her shoulders.

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Still thinking, she made her way back down the stairs and rejoined her lover, who was again huddled near the end of the couch, curled up in a ball.
Damn, Dar. You’re making me hurt just to look at you
. Kerry rubbed the tense calf next to her. “Hey. Listen, you want me to give Dr. Steve a call?”

Woebegone blue eyes peeked out from over the fist Dar had curled near her chin. She thought seriously about the question for a moment, then shook her head. “All he’s gonna do is give me a shot of Dramamine.”

She managed to straighten up a little. “Damn stuff makes me break out in hives.”

“Ooo.” Kerry winced, then settled back and patted her lap. “Want to come over here and put your head down? It’s not medical, but at least I can keep you company.”

Meekly, Dar did so, reversing her position and putting her head down on Kerry’s thigh. “You cancel the marketing meeting?” she asked, as Kerry lightly massaged down her back and shoulders.

“Nope. Just moved it to the morning.” Kerry could feel the cold sweat that had gathered on Dar’s neck, and she wiped it away with a bit of her shirt. “Eleanor and José are entertaining Ankow. Oh, and Dar?

Someone dumped a loop into the system from Houston this morning. I had a ton of complaints.”

“Mmph.” Dar dredged up a semblance of interest. “Let me guess.

You think our friend did it?”

“Don’t know.” Kerry felt the tension slowly leaving Dar’s body and she kept up her kneading. “Probably though. Wanted to see if he could catch us.”

“How long’d it take you t’find it.”

“About thirty, maybe forty five seconds.” Kerry smirked, proud of herself. “You should have seen his face.” She reached over and snagged the phone. “Want to give your folks a call before you snooze off?”

Dar had curled an arm around her knee and was stroking it with her thumb idly. “Okay.” It was amazing, really, how just having Kerry there made her feel so much better or at least, so much more relaxed, which helped ease the spasms. “Ker?”

The blonde woman paused, and leaned over. “Hmm?”

“Glad you’re here.”

“Me too.”

Dar took a breath to continue, then bit her tongue, as her body cramped, forcing a gasp of pain from her. She doubled over and held her breath, barely conscious of the firm, steady grip that kept her from falling.

Kerry held on to Dar with one arm and dialed the phone with the other, retrieving Dr. Steve’s number from the phone’s memory. “Hey. Dr, Steve? Hi. It’s Kerry Stuart. Yeah.” She felt Dar’s chest move as the pain lessened and she started breathing again. “Listen, Dar’s been sick since last night. We thought it was just a bug or something, but she’s in a lot of pain here, and I’m getting worried.” A pause. “I don’t know. Might be 172
Melissa Good
tough.” Another pause. “Okay. That would be great. I’ll clear you on the ferry. Thanks. I really appreciate it.”

She hung up the phone and put it down, then rubbed her lover’s back. “Easy there. Dr. Steve’s going to come out here and check you out, okay?”

Dar knew she was in deep trouble, because the thought of that actually sounded good to her. “Mph.” She clamped her jaw shut, not wanting to lose her mouthful of water and wished primarily that someone would hit her over the head with a very large two by four.

“WHAT DO YOU think?” Kerry hovered nervously as Dr. Steve, in a garish pink guayabera and blue Bermuda shorts knelt by the couch.

“I think you have a very sick friend,” the gray haired man answered, peering into Dar’s eyes with a pinpoint light. “What have you been doing there, Miss Dar?”

“Nothing.” Dar closed her eye in annoyance, watching spots dance across her inner eyelid with sickening rhythm. The doctor had taken a vial of blood and probed her belly, which had gotten him a yelp of pain and an accidental kick in the side. “What the hell is wrong with me? I’ve never had a bug this bad before.”

Dr. Steve removed a couple of small bottles and a syringe from his actual, for real, no kidding, little black bag. “Well, I’m not sure, honey, but let me give you something to relax those spasms and a little something for the nausea, okay?”

A blue eyeball popped open and regarded the syringe nervously.

“Dramamine makes me itch.”

“Yeah, yeah, I remember.” Dr. Steve carefully drew a measure of some clear liquid from one of the bottles and picked up a swab full of alcohol. “This is something else. Now hold still.” He swabbed Dar’s upper arm and inserted the needle, with only a small jerk from his patient, then injected the medication.

“Ow.”

“Big baby.”

Kerry perched on the couch arm. “You don’t know what’s wrong then?” she asked, then sighed, as the phone rang. She turned and picked it up. “Hello?”

“Hey there.” Andrew’s growly tones tickled her ear.

“Oh, hi. Sorry we didn’t call you. I had to call Dr. Steve out here for Dar,” Kerry told him. “She’s really sick.”

“Yeah?” Dar’s father’s voice grew anxious. “What’s he say’s wrong with her?”

“He doesn’t know.” Kerry stroked her friend’s hair. “He’s giving her some shots of something.”

Dr. Steve glanced up at her curiously, but kept working, removing a second bottle and syringe and preparing it. “What did you have to eat yesterday?”

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Dar blinked, as the first medication started to work. “Um. Nothing much. Cuban toast and jelly for breakfast…with coffee.” She thought a moment. “Mmm…chocolate chip cookies for lunch…and I didn’t have dinner.”

Steve looked at her. “Chocolate chip cookies for lunch?” He sighed.

“Some things never change. Nothing after dinner?”

“No.” Dar shook her head. “Something happened. I got caught up in it.”

“You had that Kahlua milkshake at the bowling alley,” Kerry supplied helpfully. “Do you think it’s food poisoning?”

“Not with that menu.” Steve shook his head. “I don’t know. We’ll run some tests on the red stuff here. This’ll let her relax and sleep. That’s the best thing.”