A faint smile finally tugged at Dar’s lips. “Don’t worry.”

“Dar—”

“You’ll be right there next to me.” Dar touched Kerry’s cheek with her fingertips. “The only muscle I’m going to be using is this one.” She lifted a hand and tapped her forehead. “I promise.”

She wasn’t going to win this one, Kerry knew. She was also smart enough to realize that what Dar was saying was completely true—

they’d have a much better chance of not missing anything with her there. “Okay,” she agreed. “You should take the rest of your drugs though, even if you don’t want the painkillers.”

Dar’s face took on a wry smile. “I do want them.” She sighed and leaned back, relaxing a little now that the fight was over. “I want to take them, and lie down, and just go out for the rest of the day.” Her body felt stiff and achy, and the tension had given her a headache again. “But yeah, I’ll take everything but those, if you wouldn’t mind bringing the Red Sky At Morning 229

others over, and some Advil.”

Kerry nodded. “Sure.” She leaned forward and kissed Dar’s knee.

“Mark and the rest of the team are going to meet us at the office in an hour.”

“Mark?”

“Of course.” Kerry smiled. “You said you wanted volunteers.”

Dar sighed. “Figures he would. I wonder if anyone else will.”

Wonder if anyone else won’t, Kerry amended silently.


Chapter

Fourteen

CECI CAREFULLY PUT her hands precisely behind her back and clasped them. So, this is where Dar and Kerry work. Her eyes traveled up and up and up to see the top of the atrium skylight, then back down across the marble and steel walls to the pretentious fountain in the very center of the space.

Somehow, she resisted the urge to yodel. The temptation to hear the echoes was almost overwhelming.

A security guard ambled over and handed her a piece of plastic.

“There you go, ma’am. That’s your badge.”

Ceci accepted it and clipped the item to her shirt. “Outstanding,”

she complimented the guard. “Does it check for radiation hazards as well?”

The guard cocked his head in puzzlement. “Ma’am?”

“Let’s go.” Dar had come up next to her. “Thanks, Devon.”

“Any time, Ms. Roberts.” The guard ducked his head politely at Dar. “Haven’t seen you here on the weekend in a long time.” He managed not to look too curiously at her beslinged arm. “Have a good day.”

“Thanks.” Dar led the way across the huge lobby toward the elevator, Kerry a pace behind her and followed by her parents. She felt a little unfocused from the drugs, but still fairly alert. “Did we tell Devon to be on the lookout for the JAG rep?”

“Yes,” Kerry replied. “Twice.” She swiped her keycard into the elevator receptacle and held the doors when they opened. “All aboard.”

“Tell me, Dar,” Ceci commented as they rode up. “Do you rent out mausoleum space in this place to South Miami Cemetery?”

Dar was leaning against the mirrored wall, staring at her reflection.

An extremely grumpy-looking, slightly scruffy figure with a scowl was looking back at her. With an effort, she wrestled a little of her normal work attitude into place. “No.” She eyed her mother. “We charge too much,” she replied. “The American Cryogenic Society has the top floor, though.”

Kerry chuckled. “That explains why it’s so cold upstairs all the time,” she remarked. “I had to wear a parka the first few months I worked here.”


Red Sky At Morning 231

The doors slid open and they left the elevator, moving along the very quiet hallway, past closed or darkened doorways. No one on fourteen worked on the weekends, save the operations group on occasion, and it was pleasantly unchaotic for a change. “Wish it was like this all the time,” Kerry muttered. “It’s usually Circus City at this time of day.” She swiped her card at the front door to Dar’s outer office and heard the lock click.

Andrew reached around her and worked the handle, pushing the door open and allowing them into the darkened interior. “Cec, this ain’t half nothing. That there place in Houston’s got this beat hands down.”

Ceci strolled in and looked around curiously. It was a good-sized space, with seating on one side and a neatly appointed desk on the other. Across from the main entry was a set of inner doors, and one had a plaque on it. She looked at it as Andrew flipped the lights on.

Dar’s name and title.

With a sense of surreality, she followed as Dar opened the door to her office and went inside. It was light, Ceci noticed, and as she cleared the door she saw why.

Good Goddess. She stopped and stared. The place was huge: floor-to-ceiling teak paneling framed two walls; the other two were floor-to-ceiling plate glass, giving a breathtaking view of the sea all the way to the horizon. The room was filled with light from outside, which fell on the fine wood furnishings and the curved expanse of Dar’s desk.

Against one wall was a comfortable-looking leather couch, and against the other, a credenza with a neatly put up silver tray holding a now empty pitcher and glasses.

Ceci noted a few other things. That the desk was absolutely spotless and contained exactly zero clutter, something she’d noticed about Dar’s study in the condo. Remembering what a wreck her daughter habitually kept her adolescent room in, this seemed almost funny. The only things on the desk were the computer screen and keyboard, Dar’s trackball, her in and out box, and a...Ceci walked closer and squinted...and a pair of Siamese fighting fish in a small, interlocked Lucite tank.

Interesting choice. Ceci eyed her husband, who was rocking slightly on his heels, his brow tensed in thought.

“I’m going to start pulling up their network schematics and printing them off,” Kerry said as she headed toward the small door in the rear of the office. “Hope someone left the plotter up and linked.”

“I’ll check it.” Dar went to her desk and sat down. “G’wan and take a seat,” she told her parents as she kick-started her PC. The phone rang, and she hit the speakerphone button. “Yes?”

“Hey, boss.” Mark’s voice echoed slightly. “Saw your IP come active.”

“Don’t you have anything better to do than watch Snoopy?” Dar asked, testily. “Is the plotter active?”


232 Melissa Good

“Hang on.” The sound of a keyboard cut clearly through the connection. “It is now. Let me boot the print server if you’re gonna be sending anything big to it.”

“Diagrams. Kerry’s sending,” Dar replied. “You get some people to come in?”

“Yeah.” Mark sounded preoccupied. “I had to rig a lottery though.”

Dar braced a knee up against the edge of her desk. “What?” Her brow contracted. “Mark, damn it, I told you I wanted volunteers. What part of that didn’t you understand?”

There was a momentary silence. “Um...you said you only wanted six people, boss. I had to do a lottery to get it down to that,” Mark replied carefully. “I had twenty-five of those suckers show up here.” He paused. “Did I do something to piss you off today?”

Dar regarded her hiking boot in mild embarrassment. Get your head out of your ass, Dar. “No, sorry, Mark,” she replied. “I just want to get this started. Give Kerry twenty minutes to get those diagrams done, then c’mon up here.”

“Will do,” Mark replied, then hung up.

“Ahm going to get me some coffee,” Andrew said. “You want some, Dardar?”

“No.” Dar shook her head. “Dr. Steve said to stay away from that for a couple of days.” Awareness of her injury nibbled uncomfortably at her. “Thanks for the offer.”

Her father left, and Dar became aware of her mother’s pale eyes glancing her way curiously. She lifted a hand and indicated the room with wry irony. “What do you think?”

Thus invited, Ceci obligingly got up and toured the room, ending up next to Dar’s desk. “It’s...um...”

“Pretentious?” Dar dryly supplied.

“No, actually it has very pleasant proportions,” Ceci disagreed gravely. “Nice view, lot of open space, clean...” Her eyes and Dar’s met, and she hesitated, a teasing remark on her tongue she wasn’t sure she should utter.

Dar’s cool gaze gentled slightly. “What am I doing in here, right?”

A hint of a smile warmed her features.

Ceci returned the smile. “Nah. I think you fit right in here,” she disagreed. “I especially like the blue jeans; they go well with the teak paneling.”

That got an actual chuckle out of Dar, who plucked at the denim fabric covering her knee. “It’s not how I usually dress here,” she admitted. “Wish it was. Those damn business suits drive me nuts.”

Her mother studied the faded jeans and untucked cotton shirt Dar was wearing, the easiest things she could manage with her arm in a sling. “That strap’s twisted,” she gestured. “Want it fixed?”

For a moment, there was a flash of wary uncertainty in Dar’s eyes.

Ceci merely waited, wishing for the thousandth time she’d made some Red Sky At Morning 233

different choices years back. She was almost sure Dar would politely decline the offer, when her daughter shifted and leaned forward slightly.

“Sure,” Dar said. “Felt a little weird.”

Ceci unbuckled the strap and straightened it, tucking the cotton fabric under Dar’s collar and refastening the buckle. She had to move a bit of thick, dark hair out of the way to do so. “I always wondered what Andy would have looked like with long hair.”

Dar slowly turned her head and both eyebrows arched almost to her hairline. “Dad?”

“Mm.” Ceci nodded, giving Dar’s shoulder a light pat. “There you go.”

“I don’t think he’s ever had it even covering his ears, much less his neck.” Dar relaxed a little, settling back in her chair as Ceci stepped away.

“Nope, he sure hasn’t.” Ceci shook her head. “But when he was your current age, his hair was just like yours, same texture and everything. I remember he let it grow...oh, all of two inches over one summer before he had it buzzed again.” She studied Dar’s angular face and smiled. “I can almost imagine it, now.” It was nice, a wistful thought intruded, to be able to see her husband so clearly in their child, and have it not hurt.

She wondered if Dar realized that. They’d both changed so much, it was hard to say what went on behind those very familiar eyes anymore.

Ah well. “How’s your shoulder doing?” Ceci changed the subject.

“Lousy,” Dar answered, with surprising honesty. “Sorry I didn’t mention it the other day.”

“I’m not,” Ceci replied, with equal honesty, seeing the quickly shuttered wariness in Dar’s eyes. “Don’t get me wrong, Dar. What happens to you matters to me, and I’m sorry you got hurt by that a—”

She paused. “By Chuck, but we both know it was better for him and Andy for your father not to know.”

“Mm.” The door opened and Andrew reentered the room, carrying two cups. Dar and her mother exchanged glances, then Dar smiled.

“Thanks, Mom. Glad I made the right choice.”

Well. Ceci accepted the cup of coffee, feeling pleased, if a touch bemused, by the reaction. I think that was almost a Kodak moment.

She liked it. Ceci moved off toward the window and studied the view, half listening to her husband and Dar in the background talking about the base.

DAR HAD MOVED the strategy meeting into the big conference room down the hall from her office. Kerry had gotten in ahead of her and clipped the network diagrams to the big presentation board, and now she watched as the operations team filed in and took seats.


234 Melissa Good Mark, of course, was in the lead, carrying the backpack Kerry knew held the big network analyzer and its cables. He set it down on the floor and took a seat as the rest of the group settled around him. Kerry’s eyebrows rose as she recognized Brent among the group, but she refrained from commenting as Dar entered from the back door.

The JAG officer and Andrew were with her, and they took chairs near the other end of the conference table as Dar circled it and headed toward the podium. Ceci had seated herself near the window and was watching quietly, her eyes flicking between the charts and her daughter, and occasionally crossing gazes with Kerry herself.

“All right.” Dar’s low, vibrant voice cut through the quiet. She put a sheaf of papers on the podium and drew in a breath, letting her eyes run over her audience. Kerry could almost see the subtle shift as her lover assumed her professional demeanor, and she sharpened her own attention as she listened.