Tropical Storm - DK1 Page 25

  We’re supposed to be demoing this morning. If you can’t get this shit working, I’m going to take it out of your goddamn paycheck!”

  Dar glanced down at her hands, then back up at him, and cocked an eyebrow. “Try it,” she purred, with a smile. An uneasy silence fell, and she continued, “Besides, if your admin was worth two percent of the salary you pay her for those… assets…you hired her for, she’d have paged you ten minutes ago and told you we were up.” Dar poured herself a glass of water and sipped it. “Now sit down and shut up, and let’s get on with this. I have things I have to take care of.”

  Montarosa glared at her, his lips twitching, then he lifted the conference room phone and dialed a number. “Maria, what’s the status?” A pause. “Why the hell didn’t you let me know?” Another pause. “Don’t give me that crap, my pager’s…” He paused and glanced at his belt. “Puta.” He flung the phone down and just assumed his seat with a glower.

  Duks leaned back, biting a pencil to keep from laughing. “Dar, I heard it was a fiber cut. What happened?”

  The tall woman also leaned back, crossing her legs at the ankles under the table. “Truck cut the cable. We rerouted through the regular airport T1s and shunted that traffic to a backup.”

  “Oh.” Duks nodded as though he had any clue as to what she was talking Tropical Storm 151

  about. “Can I have an egg roll with that?”

  A nervous laugh went around the table, breaking the tension. “All right, all right, I’m the chair this week. Let’s see what’s on the agenda.” Mariana chuckled from her place next to Duks as she pulled out the previous meeting’s minutes. “Now that we have the morning crisis out of the way, thanks to Dar, we can go over more insignificant things.” She cleared her throat. “Global Volunteer day—it’s next Saturday, up in North Miami at the proposed Alternative School there. We need people to go down and clean the place up, do some painting, that kind of thing.”

  “How many volunteers do we have from the field?” Evan Maitsen asked.

  His department was in charge of most of the data entry, and traditionally provided a lot of volunteers for charity work.

  “Um, as of today, two hundred and six,” Mariana reported. “Quite a group from Associated is coming over. Guess they want to impress the corporate types.” A laugh went around the table.

  “Whose turn is it from us this year?” José asked, propping his chin up on a big fist. “I did it last year, remember?”

  Dar considered a moment. “Mine, I think.” She was recalling having heard Kerry talk about her recruitment efforts earlier for the clean-up. They all looked at her in mild disbelief. She shrugged. “I haven’t done it, so it must be my turn.”

  Mariana stared hard at her for a long moment, then shook her head and scribbled Dar’s name down on her sheet. “All right.” She cleared her throat, and went on to the next subject. “Remember this Friday is Boss’s Day.” She glanced around the table. “I know most you know the drill, but once again, please be careful—some people do take this opportunity to offer inappropriate gifts.”

  A chuckle lifted into the air. “Yeah, I remember when someone sent Dar a set of freeze-dried bull’s cojones.” José snickered, giving Dar a sweet smile.

  “What did you do with them, eh?”

  Dar, who had been doodling, looked up. “Co-mailed them to Alastair,”

  she replied in a deadpan voice.

  Duks almost fell off his chair laughing, and the others joined in, save José and a few of his cronies. “

  “Well, not all of us have to worry about our employees sending pipe bombs,” he insinuated. “Some of ours actually like us.”

  Mariana glanced at him. “Fortunately for us, Dar pays people to do a job, not be her buddy,” she responded mildly. “Or we’d all be in big trouble.” She shuffled a page. “Speaking of which, let’s get onto performance reviews, shall we?”

  Dar went back to her sketching, listening with half an ear to the Personnel executive’s carefully drawn-out plans. She’d spent the previous day catching up on e-mail and relaxing, sprawled out across the couch in the blessedly restored air conditioning, surprised at how unwound she’d gotten after just one day on the water. She glanced up as Duks leaned close.

  “You’re in a good mood today,” he murmured in a low voice.

  “Am I?” Dar inquired. “I guess I am. I had a fairly laid-back weekend.”

  Duks eyed her pad, which had small pictures of fish all over it. “Did you 152 Melissa Good go fishing?”

  She chuckled. “Not really. Did a little diving, though, after the storm cleared.”

  He clucked at her. “Dar, you should know better than to go diving solo. I don’t want to be processing your life insurance claim, thanks.”

  Blue eyes lifted mildly to his. “I wasn’t alone.”

  He blinked at her in surprise, then laughed softly and shook a finger at her. “I should have guessed. No wonder you look so relaxed.”

  Dar’s brow lifted. “It’s not…” She hesitated. “Not what you’re thinking.”

  He just smiled at her and tapped her arm with his pencil. “Say no more.”

  Silly Duks. He thinks everything has to do with people sleeping together, doesn’t he? Dar smiled to herself. It would never occur to him that two virtual strangers could get stuck together by circumstance and end up becoming friends.

  That was a very satisfying thought, and Dar reflected on it a moment as a faint smile touched her face. It had been a very long time since she’d added one of those to her life. Beyond Duks, of course, and Mariana, with whom she would sometimes do occasional things—dinner, lunches, and whatnot. She’d known them for years, and they’d been out to the island a few times, but…

  She sighed. An ill wind blew nobody good.

  “Dar?”

  By the tone, it was not the first time her name was being called, and she glanced up with a start. “Sorry, what?” All eyes were on her, curious and doubtful. “Sorry, I was going over something in my head.” She folded her arms across her chest. “What?”

  “Right, well…” Mariana glanced back down at her agenda. “Now that we’ve closed the third quarter and are starting into fourth, we’ve got a couple of weeks to decide what to do with Christmas.”

  “I think we should give it up and become Hindus,” Duks stated with a sniff. “Much easier. We can give everyone white rice for presents.” He waggled his pencil. “Seventeen cents a pound, remember.”

  José threw a wadded-up piece of paper at him. “Godless heathen.” He snorted. Duks was well-known for his atheist leanings. “Remind me not to ever vote to put you in charge of holiday arrangements.”

  “Do we have a budget this year or are we going to have to go out and sell embroidered toilet paper for funds again?” Dar drawled, sketching a lobster.

  “It’s fourth quarter, what do you think?” Duks laughed. “Ah, I suppose I can squeeze some cash out of somewhere. What is it—a tree, some stuffed pigs or something, and yucca? Is that it?”

  Mariana sighed. “Never mind, I’ll take care of planning it. Maybe we’ll get something other than picadillo and ropa vieja this time.” She shot a glance at José, who shrugged and lifted his hands. “Don’t worry, I’ll get at least one stuffed pig for you.”

  They finished the meeting and Duks walked Dar to the door. “You open for lunch, DR?”

  Dar took a breath. “Probably not, Dukky, I’ve got meetings. I don’t know when they’ll be done.” She gave him a smile. “Raincheck.” She folded her pad under her arm and headed for the stairwell, a faster way down to the tenth Tropical Storm 153

  floor, where the operations center was.

  “SO I FOUND three people who’ll go through certification.” Kerry took a bite of her chicken salad sandwich and chewed it. “They all live near me, so we called this place in Kendall and got a deal for four Saturdays with classroom sessions, two pool sessions, four open water dives, and one night dive.” She took a sip of ice tea. “Does th
at sound good?”

  Dar nodded, busy with her own plate. Lunch had been much later than usual, and she was squeezing it in between meetings. “Yeah. They include equipment rental?”

  “Yes, though, I was thinking of getting a piece or two of my own,” Kerry replied hesitantly. “The regulator, at least.”

  “Good idea.” The executive nodded in agreement. “Mine’s a Dacor. You can get them with or without dive computers, like mine has, and with or without an octopus.”

  Green eyes blinked at her in confusion. “I’m sorry? They give you octopus with your scuba gear? Uck. That’s disgusting.” She took another bite of the croissant, vainly trying to catch the flakes as they fell.

  Dar laughed. “No, no. The extra mouthpiece you saw on my gear, it’s called an octopus.” She scooped up a forkful of potato salad and chewed it.

  “It’s for buddy breathing.”

  “Oh.” Kerry blushed a little. “Buddy breathing, right.” She pulled out a magazine. “I got one of these yesterday. I read it while I was waiting for the sewers to clear.”

  “Pro Diver, that’s a pretty good one.” Dar smiled at her enthusiasm, remembering her own certification. It seemed like it had been forever, she mused, then she glanced at her watch. “Did you get held up on something?”

  Green eyes lifted to hers a touch sheepishly. “Um… Well, no. I was working on those projects, and then I took care of some e-mail, and, um, I don’t know, I guess I forgot about lunch until you showed up and poked your head in the door.”

  Dar studied her curiously. “Uh huh.” She spotted the gentle blush creeping up her assistant’s neck and bit down on her fork. “Well, good timing, then.” Kerry had, she realized, waited for her to go to lunch, and she wondered if the younger woman wasn’t feeling a little intimidated by her surroundings. After all, the only person she really knew here was Dar, and she probably was uncomfortable just barging in on the usual lunch cliques. She made a mental note to get Maria to introduce her to some of her buddies, who were usually the kinder, gentler variety. “Nice to have someone to talk to during lunch. I usually just grab something by myself.”

  Kerry nibbled her sandwich. “I did that too, a lot, at Associated. I…it’s weird, I liked the people there, but when I would go out with them, I always had a funny feeling that they were putting on an act for me.”

  “Mmm.” Dar nodded in understanding. “I get that a lot, too.” But not with Kerry, she realized with a sense of relief. The woman was just as straightforward as you could get.

  “Oh, and I checked on that discounts page you told me about. That’s a 154 Melissa Good really good plan for that gym. I signed up,” Kerry said, getting the words out somewhat more quickly than was her habit. “I figured, even if…I mean, I’d be crazy not to, right? They’ve got some really good classes there.”

  “I did too, this morning,” Dar stated nonchalantly. “We have a deal set up on Wednesday, remember?”

  Now Kerry smiled. “I remember.” She relaxed a little. “What time do you have your appointment tomorrow?”

  Dar had been trying to avoid thinking about it. “Eight,” she answered quietly.

  “Do…do you want me to pick you up at the terminal? No sense in driving all the way here, just to… I mean, it’s on the beach, right? Just off Alton Road?”

  “That sounds fine,” Dar replied. “Yeah, it’s just off Alton, near Mount Sinai. Are you sure you want to come? I, um, I don’t know how long it’s going to take.”

  Kerry gave her a gently sympathetic look. “I’ll bring a trashy novel, but I bet it doesn’t take long at all, and everything checks out okay.”

  Dar exhaled softly. “You keep thinking those good thoughts, Kerry.” She lifted her head and gazed into the sea green eyes. “I could use every one of them.” Their gazes held for a moment, then Dar pushed herself to her feet.

  “More meetings, we’ve got some clients coming in I have to sit in for…I probably won’t be back to the office until real late.”

  “All right, I’ll keep working on that stuff you gave me. If anything blows up, I’ll page you,” Kerry promised. With a pat on her shoulder as a parting gesture, Dar moved off, and Kerry returned her attention to finishing up her own lunch. It was amazing, she mused, just how warm that felt even through the fabric of her jacket. She glanced up as a shadow fell over her and smiled.

  “Hello.”

  A short, blonde woman was standing there, smiling. “Hi. Mind if I sit down?”

  Kerry shook her head. “No, I’m about done. Would…did you want this table?” She could see several similar ones empty around her, but assumed perhaps the woman liked this particular one.

  “No, that’s okay. I just wanted to introduce myself.” She held a beringed hand out. “I’m Eleanor Anastasia, from the Sales and Marketing Group. I hear you’re Dar’s new girl.” The woman seated herself primly and smoothed her hand over the tablecloth as she studied Kerry’s face. “I didn’t think Dar went in for such youngsters, but I’ve heard good things about you.”

  “It’s very nice of you to tell me that, thank you,” Kerry replied guardedly, prudently ignoring Eleanor’s snarkier comments. “It’s only been a few days.

  I’m still getting used to a lot of things.”

  Eleanor smiled toothily. “We always like to see fresh talent here, especially in such an area as important as Operations. I hope we can develop a pleasant working relationship.” She paused. “Sometimes we have such…oh, I suppose you can call them communications problems. I’m sure you’ll go a long way towards ironing them out.”

  “Well, I’ll certainly try my best. I try to get along with everyone, if I can,”

  Kerry answered with a thin smile. “We have so many things going on at once, Tropical Storm 155

  it’s hard to not rush through the social niceties.”

  “Honey, your biggest communication problem is right down the hall. We all love dear Dar, but she can be a bit difficult at times.” Eleanor positively oozed fake affection for her fellow executive. “Don’t you agree?”

  Kerry cocked her head slightly. “Actually, no. I’ve found her to be extremely easy to work with,” she replied politely. “So I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”

  “Really?” Eleanor gave her a pitying stare. “Well, give it a few more days, sweetie.” She patted Kerry’s arm condescendingly. “We’ll be talking.” She patted Dar’s new assistant again, then stood up and straightened her tight, bright red skirt suit. “It’s nice to have someone with manners over there for a change.” She gave Kerry a smile, then walked off across the room to where a table was set to one side, four other business-suited figures seated at it.

  Kerry shuddered and resisted the urge to wipe her sleeve with her napkin where the woman had touched her. “Ugh.” She picked up her tray and carried it to the washing room, setting it down and dusting her hands off. “I gotta do something about her reputation.” Deep in thought, she started walking back to the elevator.

  Chapter

  Fourteen

  KERRY PUT HER magazine down and peered around the waiting room.

  Then she checked her watch and sighed. Two hours. The room was pleasant enough, with decently padded chairs set around in a double figure-eight and low tables with an assortment of surprisingly current magazines. She’d already gone through PC World, Windows, Infoweek and Time, and had been flipping through People when she decided to give it a rest.

  She wasn’t really interested in reading about the fifty most intriguing people of 1998 anyway. She leaned back and crossed her ankles, wondering what Dar was doing. Or to be more precise, what was being done to her. She’d picked up her boss at seven thirty, and they’d made the short drive over to the beach in relative silence. Dar kept her emotions hidden very well, but Kerry had seen the motion as she kept swallowing, and the tense pursing of her lips.

  Poor Dar. She felt so bad for the taller woman. Being that nervous was bad enough, but having to pretend you weren’t was worse. Ker
ry had almost just told her it was okay to be scared, but she didn’t think Dar would appreciate the attack on her defenses at the time.

  With a sigh, she stood up, wandering out of the empty room and down the hall to the small vending room nearby. The walls were covered with pale blue vinyl, and the floors were polished until they shone, but the most curious thing about the place was the plaques.

  Plaques were everywhere. There were memorial rooms, memorial wings, memorial staircases, a memorial elevator shaft, and, as she glanced up while she was walking, a memorial water fountain. All in honor of people who gave money to the Heart Institute. Kerry was intrigued and wondered why someone would bother contributing just to put a plaque on a bathroom door.

  Personally, she would rather just give the money and let them do more productive things with it, like design hospital gowns that didn’t expose your butt. Surely some research dollars could be shaken free for that, right?

  Kerry ducked into the vending room and ambled over to the coffee machine, popping her quarters in and selecting a cappuccino. She retrieved her frothy drink from the dispenser and headed back to the waiting room.

  DAR KEPT HER eyes closed, trying to ignore the tiny pinches and strangeness of the gear attached to her body. Leads were over her heart, under her arm, and one was on her back, and they’d just finished setting up a machine off to the side of the bed. It had a small wand-like device, which the Tropical Storm 157

  head nurse had told her sweetly was like what they used to observe babies in the womb; it would emit sound and map the return waves as a picture. Oh.

  Dar chewed the inside of her lip to prevent herself from snapping at the nurse.

  Like I’ve never heard of an echocardiogram. You wanna know how to take those pictures, convert them to light waves, and reassemble them, little girl? How about if I reroute that current in there so it zaps the hell out of your hand when you pick it up?

  Condescending little…

  But no, she was being good, so she just closed her eyes, and waited.

  Finally a male voice rumbled close by, and she opened them to see a tall man with a shock of gray-shot dark hair standing over her. “Hi.”