Dar nodded slowly. ”Because of Mom?” She hazarded a guess, remembering the sometimes obscure, sometimes unfathomable ways of the government.

”Yeap.” He tucked the folder away. ”She’s got my pension, the benefits, that’s how I want it. They take care of me.” His voice seemed to end that line of questioning.


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All right, round two. Ding ding. Dar nodded again, playing with one of Chino’s soft ears. Then she looked up and studied his face, regarding the scars that twisted the flesh into an almost unrecognizable mask. ”What happened?” she paused, ”if you can say.” Then she just waited.

He thought for a long time. ”Just a gig that went bad,” he finally said, almost emotionlessly. ”We went in to check out some stuff we’d heard about, a chemical weapon. It was a setup. Three guys died, and I ended up wishing I’d been one of ‘em.”

Dar considered that. Talking about emotions and feelings was something they were both just plain bad at, and she knew it, but, ”I’m only going to say this one time,” she stated, softly. ”Mom wouldn’t give a damn about what you look like.”

He studied his hands in the silence. ”I know that,” he admitted, falling silent for a bit. ”She didn’t want me to go this time,” he finally added quietly.

”I remember,” Dar quietly exhaled. ”But I thought...” They’d worked things out, at least, that was how it had appeared to Dar, her mother upset, yes, but supportive as always.

”Yeap, well, she done told me if I went she wouldn’t be there when I got back,” Andrew replied, flatly. ”Said that was my choice.” He blinked a few times, his eyes moving restlessly in his scarred face.

Dar was truly shocked. ”She wouldn’t have left you.”

Pained blue orbs lifted to hers. ”Wasn’t her leaving; it was me, the way she looked at it.” He swallowed. ”She was right, rugrat. It was my choice, and I chose to go.” He took a breath. ”Thought I could work things out when I got back.”

Dar absorbed it. ”She was just trying to get you to stay,” she finally said. ”She was afraid for you. She was afraid of losing you,” she protested. ”She would have been there when you got back, and you know it.”

His eyes closed. ”I like to think that.” His voice was quiet and sad.

”It’s this little game I play with my head, keeps me from going nuts and just taking a dive off a bridge somewhere.” His voice was lightly ragged.

”Dad, why don’t you call her?” Dar leaned forward, willing him to listen. ”You can go home. She’d understand, I know it.”

A very tired sigh. ”I can’t,” he answered softly. ”Cause then I’d know y’see? And if she didn’t, if she meant that, or if she—” An agonizing pause. ”I can’t face it, Dar. I can’t live with that, you understand me?” he pleaded softly. ”I can’t face knowing that she doesn’t—” He just stopped, his throat working audibly.

Dar let out her held breath in a pained trickle. ”Oh, Daddy,” she murmured.

He sighed. ”Doesn’t make much sense to you, I reckon.” He rubbed an impatient hand over his eyes. ”Damn.”


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She gazed at him in bleak understanding. ”Yes, it does.”

Andrew absorbed this for a long, pensive moment, then he looked up at his daughter. ”Somebody hurt my little girl?” A hint of cool danger entered his voice. He waited a beat, watching her jaw clench and relax.Dar shook her head in long remembered pain. ”Water under the bridge, Daddy. Let’s just say I went after what you and Mom had, and I thought I’d found it,” she told him quietly. ”And I was wrong.” Her first time, all bright eyed, and bushy tailed, and so sure she’d put her heart in the right place.

Her senior year in college, and everything had looked wonderful, good grades, good prospects in the company she’d been working for then for four years, and a delirious, exciting dive into love that had left her giddy and sure she’d found her one and only.

Yeah.

Four months of happiness, followed by two of hell as it all unraveled, and her nightmares were filled with a mocking voice which told her just how inadequate she was. She had no real recollection of even graduating, though brute, raw talent and intelligence had allowed her to maintain an honors grade level. ”You’re an uncultured, crude, mediocre person who’ll spend their whole life as a middle manager dreaming about would have beens.”

And a raw, newly exposed part of her had almost believed that.

A nightmare of depression and alcohol and hopelessness had followed that, leading to a night under a bridge and a gun, and a moment of self-hatred so intense she could still feel it.

She still didn’t know what had stopped her. Only that she’d woken up under the bridge the next morning, and looked out onto a new day, and decided she wasn’t quite finished with living yet.

There was revenge to be had.

It had taken a few years, but she’d felt oh, so very satisfied when all the pieces had fallen into place, and the company had acquired a prestigious consulting firm. And newly made regional manager Dar Roberts had wielded the decision knife and neatly sliced off the design and research wing, calling it…

Mediocre.

Headed up by her former lover.

Dar had signed the termination papers personally, and she'd enjoyed it immensely. Just like she had enjoyed the expression on Shari's face when she handed them over.

Along with her card.

Have a nice day.

”I kinda gave up on it after that.” Dar dismissed her memories.

”Um,” her father grunted. ”Till now.” He glanced up shrewdly at 148

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her. ”Cause I don’t know how you feel about her, but that little green eyed gal’s done lost her mind for you, rugrat.”

Dar smiled, wistfully. ”Until now,” she acknowledged. ”When I met Kerry, I realized I finally really had found the real thing.” Her eyes found her father’s. ”So I do understand, Daddy.”

He walked over and sat down next to her, and they regarded each other in comfortable silence.

THE PHONE BUZZED, for the thousandth time it seemed, and Kerry looked up at it, as she rested her head on one hand. ”No, no, I don’t know, no, it’s not ready yet, I have no idea, no, she didn’t tell me, no, and no,” she muttered, then pressed it. ”Operations, Stuart.”

”Hi.”

It was like a tongue full of ambrosia. Kerry found a smile working its way onto her face before the syllables even faded and she let out a soft sigh. ”You have no idea how good it feels to hear a friendly voice.”

”Mm, rough, huh?” Dar rumbled softly through the speaker.

”How’s it going?”

”Sucks.” Kerry rubbed her eyes. ”I feel like I’ve been dragged behind a dump truck hauling chicken poop all day,” she replied.

”Alastair is here. He’s been in meetings with Mari, and the others for a couple of hours,” she paused. ”How are you feeling?”

”Eh,” Dar answered. ”I slept late, felt washed out all day. Dad and I talked for a while then we had some lunch. Now we’re watching Crocodile Hunter.” She hesitated. ”Thanks, by the way, for asking him to stick around.”

Kerry smiled and tapped a pencil against her upper lip. ”Thought you might like the company,” she replied quietly, then glanced up as her phone buzzed. ”Hold on a minute.” She put Dar on hold, and picked up her other line. ”Operations.”

”Ms. Stuart.” Alastair’s voice sounded quiet, and rather grim.

”Yes, that’s me,” Kerry answered, feeling her stomach drop. ”What can I do for you?”

”We’re having a meeting in the executive conference room. Could you come over, please?”

”Sure,” Kerry replied evenly. ”Be right there.” She hung up, then took a breath before she picked up the other line. “Hi.”

”Bad news?” Dar inquired.

”Don’t know. That was Alastair. They want me up in the big conference room,” Kerry told her. ”Look, the worst they could do is fire me, Dar, and like, whoop, you know?” She shook her head a little.

”After today, I’d probably thank him.”

”Mm.” Dar considered that. ”Relax, be honest, and don’t let him rattle you,” she instructed Kerry gently. ”Keep your head up. You’ve only ever done good for the company, Kerry.”


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She felt herself calm with the words. ”All right, I think I can do that,” she answered. ”But if he or anyone else starts trashing you, they’re toast.”

A soft chuckle answered her. ”That’s my Kerry.”

The blonde woman grinned. ”You bet your boots I am.” She stood up and straightened her collar, then donned her jacket. ”Wish me luck,”

she sighed. ”I’ll call you one way or the other when I get out of there.”

”Good luck,” Dar answered, obediently. ”I’m with you.”

Green eyes twinkled gently in the afternoon sunlight. ”I know,” she replied. ”Talk to you later.” She hung up and ran a hand through her hair. ”All right, let’s go.”

It was a short walk to the conference room, and she gathered her wits, along with the knowledge of Dar’s confidence in her as she reached the door, and knocked lightly on it.

”Come,” the voice inside sounded, and she pushed the handle down, pulling the door towards her and walking inside, to a room where the hostility was so thick, it was almost like a smoke pall. José, Eleanor, and Steven were there, as was Mariana, and of course, Alastair.

Kerry lifted her chin a bit, then walked across the carpet to the end chair, directly across from the CEO, resting her hands on the back of it and regarding them coolly.

”Sit down, Ms. Stuart,” Alastair told her, courteously, his eyes regarding her with interest.

Kerry took the end chair, the one Dar usually sat in, and settled into it, folding her hands on the table and cocking her head in a listening attitude.

She waited, patiently. Make them talk first, Dar had advised her.

Let them lay their end on the line before you do.

”Well. We’ve got quite a mess here,” Alastair cleared his throat and started.

”Yes, we do,” Kerry agreed mildly. ”I’ve done pretty much all I can, considering the circumstances.”

”That’s bullshit!” Steven stood up. ”You haven’t done squat except for screw things up.”

”Shut up,” Kerry snapped at him. ”You clueless, spineless, useless piece of wannabee macho pissant.” She caught Alastair’s gray eyebrow rising across the table, and she stood up, feeling the blood pump through her. ”In fact, I haven’t seen a more useless collection of people in my life.”

”Hey, you can’t.” José stood and challenged her.

”Sure I can,” Kerry responded hotly. ”You people couldn’t find your way out of a paper bag unless Dar wrote directions on the inside of it, and you’ve got the balls to be in here criticizing a situation that’s your own damn fault.” Her voice rose to a yell, all the anger she’d been holding in for two days boiling out.

”We didn’t ask her to quit!” José responded.


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”Oh, but isn’t that what you were after?” Kerry countered, leaning forward on her hands. ”Or else why hire someone with the specific intent to go against her?” She pointed at Steven, who was seething at his side. ”Someone who had written instructions from you.” She pointed at José. ”To ’find that bitch's weak spot and put a knife into it’, wasn't that the quote?”

Silence.

”Well. You got what you wanted,” Kerry continued. ”And now the problem is everyone knows the only thing that kept the damn company running was her. You sure can’t.” A long pause. ”I can’t. After one day, I can’t imagine how in the hell she managed to put up with all this for so long.”

José stared at Mariana, who was chewing on a pencil. ”You’re going to let her get away with that?”

The Personnel VP shrugged. ”EEOC, José. I let Mr. Fabricini get away with saying worse about Dar to her face. I have no leg to stand on to stop Ms. Stuart from speaking her mind.”

”That’s just because you and she are thick as thieves.” Eleanor stated hotly. ”No wonder we can’t get anything done.”

“Yeah, you can say that again!” Steven broke in. “What a bunch of bullcrap!”

“I’ve got news for you, lady!” José stood up. “You know what I think? I think—”

”Excuse me!” Alastair barked suddenly, in a voice that was quite surprisingly angry coming from his somewhat benign appearance. “I’d really like you all to shut the hell up.”