Roger yelped. ”Um, the sprinkler system went off over here, and umm.

Yeeoww!” The phone fumbled and clattered, then was picked up.

”Damn chair hit me in the, uh, well, anyway, we’re flooded.”

”Flooded,” Kerry repeated carefully. ”As in underwater?”

”Shit!” he yelped. ”Uh, sorry. Yeah, the control room’s three feet deep, and it’s not getting any— Wow!” A loud popping and snapping was heard. ”Yow, I think that was the main breaker panel going—”

”Roger?” Kerry spoke loudly into the phone.

”Yeah?” he answered. ”Oh, wait I gotta get up onto the desk.”

”Get out of there!” Kerry yelled, then put him on hold and dialed Dar’s extension, waiting for her boss to pick up. ”Help!” she barked into the phone, then switched back to the other line. ”Roger?”

”Uh, I’ve got a problem, Ms. Stuart.” the man answered nervously.

”More than one,” Kerry told him. ”What is it?”

”I can’t swim,” he answered. ”And I think I just saw a 3270 float by.” The phone suddenly disconnected.

”Shit.” Kerry glanced up as she heard running steps, then half stood as her inner door burst open and Dar pounced inside, her pale blue eyes snapping, and every inch of her bristling with unreleased energy.

”What’s wrong?” she snapped.

Kerry drew in a breath. ”God, you look sexy when you do that.”

Dar was obviously knocked off stride. ”Wh...buh...” she exhaled.

”Kerry, you yelled for help, what in the hell’s going on?”

”Oh, right. Charlotte’s been flooded out,” Kerry quickly explained.

”Sorry about that but they’re in big trouble.” She walked over and put an arm around her lover. ”Sorry, Dar. I didn’t mean for you to think that I was, um...” She rooted around for a phrase.

”In mortal danger?” Dar relaxed a little. ”You know I just knocked a Xerox repairman so far back onto his butt they’re probably going to have to remove the toner drum from his throat surgically.” She sighed, and rubbed her face. ”Okay, so we’ve got a potential disaster here.

That’s our routing hub.”

”Mm, the guy from Netops just told me he thought he saw a 3270

terminal floating in the control room,” Kerry advised her.

”Anyone check to see if they’re burning hemp around there again?”

Dar snorted. ”3270’s don’t float.” She exhaled. ”Okay, let me go start working the problem. Try to get them back on the phone, or call the cells,” she muttered as she walked back out, shaking her head.

Kerry smiled a little as she heard the interested, but muted excitement in Dar’s tone. With a soft chuckle, she turned back to her 170

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desk and called up a network schematic, wincing at the flashing red dots that indicated down sections. ”Oh, that bites.” She started dialing emergency numbers.

“LOOK, I DON’T give a damn about what you have to do to release that,” Dar growled into the phone. ”I need your damn president on this phone in five minutes, or the next call is from our legal department.

Your choice.” She glanced up as Maria stuck her head in and waved a small cardboard tray. One hand lifted and waved her forward. ”I’ll hold.”

Maria came over with the pastalitos and offered them to her. ”I have three of those little queso ones,” the secretary whispered. ”I know you like them.”

Dar's eyes twinkled gently as she nodded, and put her hand over the receiver. ”Thanks,” she mouthed as she accepted the pastries and the steaming cup of creamy looking coffee, glancing up and meeting Maria’s eyes.

It was an odd feeling, somewhat naked, somewhat embarrassing, and Dar found herself blushing a little. She was glad her tan hid most of it, but she knew that probably the tips of her ears had turned red by the little chuckle Maria gave before she backed mercifully out of the room.

Not that Maria hadn’t known before, but... Dar sighed and took a bite out of one of the pastries. She was used to keeping her private life private, even her brief interlude with Elana had been under wraps, until that last, very public, scathingly sarcastic encounter.

Maybe that’s why she was feeling a little skittish, hmm? It had taken her a long time to get to the point where she could think about that and not cringe inside, though outwardly she’d shown as much emotion as if Elana had merely been turning over a report.

Stoneface. Duks had told her later that it had pretty well cemented her reputation as the company’s premier iceberg, the way she’d brushed off Elana’s pointed rending with a mere lift of a brow, and a twitch of the lips.

Oh god if they’d only known.

Dar regarded her desktop for a moment in silence, then looked up as a voice came back on the line. ”Well?” She snapped.

”Ms. Roberts, we have a team of people heading out that way. I’m not sure...” the voice hesitated.

”Look,” Dar growled, sending her voice down to its lowest pitch. ”I need to know what chemicals were in that sprinkler mixture and I need to know NOW!” She punched up the volume, feeling the sound reverberate in her chest. ”Or you’re going to take responsibility for the bill when I have to fly a chemical hazard team in there on a goddamned Learjet!” The insurance company was refusing to allow any employees to enter the networking office, until the dangers were evaluated, and Hurricane Watch

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they had fully three quarters of the domestic network down, three hours after the accident had happened.

”Dar. ” Maria poked her head in. ”Mariana on line numero dos,”

she called, in a low voice.

”Not now,” Dar muted her current call. ”I’m in the middle of a disaster.” She watched as Maria disappeared, then she propped her head up on one hand and released the mute button with the other. ”Do I get that, or do I call my legal department? I’m done screwing around with you people.”

Rustling papers and low mutters. ”Where do you need the information sent?” the voice stiffly answered. ”We can pass along our usual information, but you have to understand that the composition will vary depending on local water quality, and the types of pipes, and—”

”Just send it,” Dar interrupted him, and repeated the fax number at their insurance company’s branch office in North Carolina. She looked up as Kerry entered, suppressing a smile. ”And I’d like to know why that system discharged.”

Kerry circled her and picked up a pastry, nibbling it as she perched on the corner of Dar’s desk, listening to the agitated muttering coming from the phone. ”Everyone’s screaming,” she mouthed.

Dar lifted her hands and let them drop. ”Bite me,” she mouthed back. ”I didn’t set off the goddamned sprinklers.”

Kerry obligingly put her pastry down and captured Dar’s fingers, lifting them and nibbling on a thumb instead. ”Okay.”

”Ms. Roberts, we just don’t know what caused it yet,” the hapless voice came through the phone. ”It could have been a false heat reading, it could have been a mechanical error. There’s no sense in speculating since we don’t really have any data. My team is on their way there. As soon as they get there and figure out what happened, believe me, I’ll call you.”

Dar felt an enjoyable tickle as the neat white teeth scraped lightly across the sensitive skin on the side of her finger. ”All right,” she agreed. ”But I have an entire data center down, and they can’t even get in there to start cleaning up. So they’d better move their asses.” She hung up, then noticed the other line was still lit. She punched it.

”Mari?”

A loud argument filtered through. ”Oh, what? Dar, yes.” Mari cleared her throat. ”Listen, you said you were going to handle a certain situation...well, I think...” Steven's loud voice was heard in the background, demanding something.

”Send him up here,” Dar spoke quietly, but forcefully into the phone.

”What?” Mariana asked.

”I'll take care of it. Send him up here,” Dar repeated, a slow, dangerous smile crossing her face. ”After this morning, I’ll enjoy it.”


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A hesitation. ”All right,” the Personnel VP agreed, reluctantly.

”But— ”

”Dar.” Kerry regarded her quietly. ”What are you going to do?”

Pale blue eyes lanced into her. ”Fire him,” Dar answered, coolly.

”And watch him squirm his little ass right out of this office between two nice, big security guards.”

Kerry exhaled, as she studied her lover in silence for a moment.

”Dar listen to me a minute.” She slipped off the desk and knelt, resting her hand on Dar's thigh for balance. ”He still holds a grudge from ten years ago, right?” she asked. ”That’s what started this whole stupid thing.”

Dar’s brows knit. ”Yeah, so?” She leaned closer to the phone.

“Mari, hang on a minute, okay?”

“Sure,” the Personnal VP sighed as she was put on hold.

Kerry gently traced an idle pattern against the cotton fabric. ”Isn’t there some way you could do this so it didn’t perpetuate the hatefulness?”

”What?” Dar stared at her.

A sigh. ”He hates you because of a thing that happened half a lifetime ago, that’s a long time to keep that anger inside. Now this. It’s just more anger, and more hate, and more need for revenge.”

”Who cares?” Dar asked. ”Kerry, there’s no way we’re going to ever not hate each other, and frankly, I don’t give a damn if he does. I just want him out of here,” she told Kerry. ”You’d better scoot before he shows up. No sense in getting you involved in it.”

Kerry took a breath. ”Dar, I am involved in it,” she told her lover firmly. ”If he hates you, then he hates me.” She looked right up into Dar’s eyes. ”And I don’t like being hated.” A pause. ”Even by someone like him. My family’s enough for me to handle right now.”

Dar blinked at her.

”You’re so smart, can’t you find a way to get him out without escalating this?” The green eyes gazed sadly at her, reading the stunned look on Dar’s face. ”So it doesn’t come back at us someday?”

“Kerry, that’s how business works,” Dar said. “You can’t be everyone’s friend.”

Kerry rubbed her temples. “I know that,” she said. “But what’s he going to do if you fire him, Dar? He’s going to do his best to get back at you, and at us. Do you really want those pictures in the Miami Herald because you know he’s going to do it.”

Dar crossed her arms over her chest and frowned.

“Besides, didn’t Alastair say he wanted it done so he couldn’t sue us, at least?” Kerry went on, gently. “Dar, I’m not trying to be a jerk, I just want things not to get worse here.”

“Goddamn it,” Dar muttered. “Alastair was right.” She relaxed her posture and leaned an elbow on her desk, resting her head on her hand.

“I should have taken a few days off and let this defuse.” She reached Hurricane Watch

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over and punched the hold button. “Mari?”

“I’m here,” Mariana answered.

“It’s going to have to wait. I’ve got an operational crisis here. That takes precedence,” Dar told her. “Just tell the stupid bastard to go do what we pay him to do and leave you alone for right now.”

“Right.” Surprisingly, Mariana sounded more relieved than upset.

“I stonewalled him and told him if he had an issue with personnel policies he could go talk to Alastair,” she said. “And I warned him he should walk softly, since it was very obviously Alastair who was involved yesterday.” She hesitated. “But I thought you—”

“Has to be done right,” Dar cut her off. “That needs some time to arrange, and right now I don’t have any.”

“Gotcha,” Mariana’s voice turned brisk. “I’ll get off your line now.

Thanks, Dar.”

“Yeah.” Dar cut the phone off and turned to regard Kerry.

Kerry gently brushed the side of Dar’s head, where a slight bump could still be felt, then she got up off the desk and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “I love you,” she whispered in the perfect, curved ear, then turned and left quietly.

Dar sat in a puddle of filtered sunlight, the slanted rays dusting her cotton pants in warm ochre panels as she stared at the empty place where Kerry had knelt mere moments before. Her cheek tingled with the soft pressure, and she could still smell Kerry’s distinctive scent lingering in the air that surrounded her.

Her savage resolve of just five minutes prior was gone, dissipated into a somber confusion that knitted her brow as she slowly turned in her chair, resting her elbows on her desk and surrounding her coffee cup with a pair of loosely interlaced sets of fingers. It had been so easy.