Dar leaned back against the console, the intense surge of adrenaline still making her heart race and causing faint twitches to shiver up and down her arms and legs. It was the closest she’d come to losing control in half a lifetime, and it scared her a little, to know just how easily the chief had triggered that. “That was a very stupid thing to do,” she told the sailor, who slowly sat up and was rubbing her head. “I’m not one of your recruits, and if you ever do that again, I’ll knock you right through that damn bulkhead, you got me?”

“Think you could?” the chief asked softly.

“Yes,” Dar answered with utter sureness. “When my daddy taught me to fight, he made sure of that.”

Daniel studied her for a long moment, then she sighed and got up, rubbing her elbow where it had slammed against the floor. She turned a console chair around and sat on it, resting her arms on the back and gazing at Dar. “All right.” She nodded slowly. “I thought we had an understanding that you wouldn’t spout off in front of my staff.”

Dar let her hands rest on her thighs, her heart finally slowing to its normal pace. “I said I wouldn’t give an opinion.” She skirted the issue.

“I didn’t.”

The chief snorted. “Saying a kid designed the sim wasn’t an opinion? Bullshit.”

“I was the kid,” Dar replied simply. Then she got up and walked over to the hatch, taking a breath before she spun the wheel and released the catches, allowing it to swing inward. The air outside rushed in, and she stepped out of the simulator with a sense of relief to face round, wide eyes that rapidly found other objects to look at.

Then she realized they’d all been watching everything on the Red Sky At Morning 107

monitors. Without a word, she walked past them and into the hallway, desperate for a moment of peace and quiet and a cup of Navy coffee.

THE OPERATIONS MEETING had been underway for ten minutes or so before Kerry entered, giving everyone a brief, distracted nod before she took her seat at the head of the table and ran her eyes over a freshly printed agenda. The staff all started warbling at once.

“Kerry, that circuit you were escalating came in.”

“We’ve got six mainframes stuck in customs in Mexico. Midwest OPS wants to know if you can help.”

“The coffee machine just exploded.”

Kerry’s head jerked up at the last statement, and she peered across the table at Enid Petrofax, the MIS coordinator. “What?”

Enid scratched her jaw nervously. “Didn’t you hear the bang? The machine just exploded. We’ve got espresso grounds from the main door to the bathroom.”

Everyone was silent, exchanging startled glances. “Ah.” Kerry sat back. “Well, have we called the company? How in the hell could that thing explode? I realize it’s steam powered, but good grief!”

“Well.” Mark had entered and was now approaching the table, his entire shirt front covered in dark brown liquid and grounds. “I gotta tell ya, that was the stupidest thing I ever saw.” He held up a piece of round metal. “Damn hot chocolate top musta fallen in the espresso handle. It blocked the steam.”

“Ew.” Kerry winced.

“That wasn’t the stupid part.” Mark glared dourly around the table. “We need to find out what technognorp kept pressing the brew button when nothing was coming out.”

Kerry covered her eyes. “Oh, good grief.” She peeked between her fingers at the muddy-looking MIS chief. “Mark, go change. Enid, call Laurenzo Brothers if you haven’t already, and put a note out to the building to remind them we’re a technology company and should act like it.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Enid made a note on her pad. “María already called Laurenzo Brothers. She’s got a cousin that works there.”

“Unbelievable.” Kerry shook her head. “Okay, now...what was that about Mexico? Those aren’t the mainframes for the university project in Illinois, are they?”

John Byers, their Midwest operations manager, nodded glumly.

“Yeah. Next you’re going to ask me how they ended up in Mexico, right? I wish I knew. All I can get from IBM is that they were on one of our POs that had that as a freight address.” He paused and reviewed his notes. “I asked them to fax me a copy of it, but the bottom line is, they want a ton of money to release them out of customs and onto the plane to Chicago.”


108 Melissa Good Kerry leaned back, wishing she didn’t have the headache she did.

The weather, she suspected, was the root cause. “Okay.” She steepled her fingers and rested her lips against the tips of them, trying to figure out what Dar would do.

Something tricky, she was sure, because handing over thousands of dollars into government fingers wasn’t something Dar would have liked. Hmm. She was aware of everyone’s eyes on her, curious and intent, especially Clarice’s at the other end of the table.

What would Dar do?

“Okay. This is what you’re going to do.” Kerry took a breath.

“What’s the closest account we’ve got down there?”

“Tijuana International,” Stacia Brennon supplied, her voice curious. “Why?”

Kerry got up and paced, something she knew her partner loved to do. “Call up the delivery executive for that account. Tell him to take delivery of those mainframes.” She paused and turned, leaning her hands on the back of Mark’s empty chair. “Then write up an inter-divisional transfer between the South American SBU and the Educational, and have FedEx International pick them up on our inter-company account.”

“Ooh,” Stacia smiled, “I like it.”

John Byers chuckled. “Me, too. Stace, you want to call Pedro? I’ll get FedEx on the line.” His eyes twinkled as he glanced back at Kerry.

“Very slick, chief.”

Kerry smiled and walked back around to her seat, dropping into it and stretching her legs out under the table as she cradled her tea mug in both hands. She’d hoped the herbal stuff would settle her stomach, which had been in churning upset most of the morning, but so far it hadn’t, and Kerry hoped she wasn’t coming down with something. “I had a good teacher.”

Chuckles traveled around the table. “That’s what we hear.” Clarice smiled sweetly at her. “Looks like Dar picked a wonderful successor.”

Yeesh. Kerry smiled back at her. “Thank you. I like to think so.” She glanced up as Mark reentered the room, then reviewed the rest of the agenda. “Okay, what’s next? Mark, did we get all of the equipment requests in for first quarter?”

Clarice looked back down at her notes with a smirk, ignoring Mark as he circled around her and took his seat again.

Kerry’s nails drummed softly on her pad.

“HEY, KER, YOU up for lunch?” Mark caught up to her in the hallway on the way back to their offices. “They’ve got some decent-looking fried chicken down there today.”

Kerry winced and laid a hand over her stomach. “Ergh...I don’t think I’m up to that. I’ll go down and have a cup of soup with you, Red Sky At Morning 109

though.” She punched the elevator button. “My guts have been in knots since before the meeting.”

“Flu, maybe?” Mark hazarded. “Been going around, I hear.”

“Maybe,” Kerry agreed, as they entered the elevator and let the doors close. A thought occurred to her, and she shifted her portfolio under her left arm and removed her cell phone from its clip with her other hand. As they reached the bottom floor and exited out of the elevator into the huge lobby, she hit the auto dialer and held the phone to her ear.

It rang an unusual number of times before it was answered and she heard Dar’s voice, a slightly hoarse note in it that immediately worried her. “Hi.”

“Hey.” The note modulated and deepened, sounding relieved even through the cellular connection. “What’s up? Problems there?”

“Um.” Kerry wracked her brains for a reason to be calling.

“Well...ah...I just need to know...” She stopped and took a breath.

“Would you believe I just wanted to hear your voice?” She lowered her own and gave the two passing admins a smile. “Mark, can you grab a table?”

“Sure.” The MIS chief waved at her. “Say hi to the boss for me.” He disappeared into the cafeteria, leaving Kerry in relative isolation.

“Sorry.” Kerry returned her attention to the phone and moved toward the plate-glass wall. “Anyway, it was silly. How are you?”

A sigh came down the line. “Tough morning,” Dar said. “I think I went over the line for a few minutes.”

Uh-oh. Kerry found a bench and sat on it, ignoring the passing crowds on their way to lunch. “What happened? The petty person get to you? I knew I should have come down there and booted her in the behind.” Her guts started to ease up a little, and she took a deeper breath. “No wonder my insides are in knots.”

There was a little silence. “Are they?” Dar asked. “Really?”

“Yeah,” Kerry said. “Have been for a while. Between that and the headache I’ve got, I thought I was coming down with something. Are you all right?”

“Pretty much. I found a bottle of iced tea and a balcony. I’ve been standing out here for about ten minutes just watching it rain,” Dar answered. “I think I’ve got your headache’s twin sister. Damn, I haven’t lost it like that in years, Ker.”

“Did you yell at her?” Kerry returned the waved greeting from Duks.

“No.” A sigh sounded. “She backed me into corner and started bawling me out. One poke too many, I guess. I took her down and nearly ripped her head off.”

Kerry stared at the phone in shocked silence. Apparently Dar realized it, because her next words were rushed, almost stammered.

“It just happened so fast... I don’t know what she thought she was 110 Melissa Good trying to do, but I—”

“Wait a minute,” Kerry interrupted. “Just hold it there.”

Dar fell silent.

“She poked you?” Kerry’s voice rose. “She laid a finger on you?

Who in the hell does she think she is? That’s bullshit, Dar!”

“Um...”

“Jesus! You should call that general buddy of yours and get her butt transferred to the bottom of Hoover Dam!” Kerry went on. “Son of a bitch!”

“Ker, take it easy.” Dar’s voice had calmed. “I took care of it. I pretty much think she won’t try that again.”

“Damn straight she won’t,” Kerry snorted. “Boy, wait ’til I see her.”

Dar laughed softly. “Oh, sweetheart, you just made my day,” she said. “Thank you.”

“I haven’t done anything yet,” Kerry muttered in protest.

“Dipwad.”

“Why don’t you get some warm milk and go lay down on the couch in my office for a little while?” Dar was still chuckling. “I’m figuring on taking off from here in couple of hours. There isn’t much I can do without the T1; and frankly, I think I’m going to find more when I get everything sucked down and into the analyzers.”

Kerry imagined the plush comfort of the couch upstairs and smiled.

“Actually, I feel better now,” she admitted. “But be careful, okay? I keep having nightmares of you being buried under the billowing clouds of testosterone out there.”

“I will. Talk to you later, cute stuff.”

“All right,” Kerry replied. “Love you.”

“Love you, too.”

Kerry folded the phone and juggled it in her hands as she leaned back, definitely feeling the knots unraveling in her stomach. Her headache was still there, but the tension she’d felt all morning was dissipating. She stood up and stowed her phone, then tugged her sleeves a bit straighter and made her way into the cafeteria.

DAR BRACED HER boots against the lower railing on the small porch she’d rediscovered near the back end of the training area. There was a small hard bench built against the wall, and just enough cover to avoid being soaked by the still-heavy rain outside.

Ah, Kerrison. Dar sighed silently. What in the hell would I do without you? She’d been thumping herself over her reaction to Chief Daniel, but now she sat back and considered it more objectively. The woman had locked them into a closed place and come at her in a threatening manner, aggressively shoving her back against a bulkhead.

What was the chief expecting to happen? Had she really expected Dar to break down and blubber or something? Dar folded her arms Red Sky At Morning 111

across her chest. Maybe that’s what Daniel had been looking for, to see how far she could push Dar before Dar pushed back.

Or.

Maybe she’d been hoping Dar would take a swing at her, and give her grounds to force the base commander to take action.

Hmm. In that case, her response had been appropriate, with just enough force to prove her point and not enough aggression to get her in trouble. Hey. Dar rubbed her jaw and had to laugh. Only took thirty years for you to figure out how to balance that act. Way to go, Dardar!