"Mm." She inhaled a breath of salt air, then climbed up the ladder to the flying bridge. Sitting down in Dar's usual seat, Kerry carefully set the switches, then turned the ignition for one of the big diesel engines that powered the boat. It rumbled to life immediately, and she adjusted the throttle to idle, letting the engine run to replenish the batteries inside the craft.

After a moment's listening, Kerry nodded in satisfaction and made her way down the ladder to join a frisky Chino waiting at the foot of it.

"Hey, Chi," she greeted their pet. "How about some breakfast, hm?

Want to have toast and coffee with me out here?"

"Rowf!"

"Okay, a banana, then." Kerry went back inside and eased into the small galley, setting a teapot on the burner and opening the refrigerator. She'd brought down some staples from the condo last night, and now she selected a cinnamon and raisin English muffin to pop into the toaster.

If Dar had been there, of course, she'd be hearing the tinkling of Frosted Flakes into a nearby bowl, along with the gentle, knowing bump of contact as Dar maneuvered around her in the tiny space. Thinking about that made Kerry smile as she took out two slices of cheese and a small tub of soft butter.

"Ah well." She took one of the mugs from its holder and set up the single cone of coffee over it, looking up as the boat rocked more than the light surf would have caused it to. Then a soft knock came at the door, accompanied by a shadow outside whose height betrayed its identity at once. "C'mon in, dad!"

"Growf!" Chino scrambled for the door as it opened, and Andrew Roberts ducked inside. The Labrador rushed over to him, wiggling in happiness as the tall man crouched to greet her.

"Hey, ya furball," Andy rasped.

Kerry grinned at her father-in-law, who was dressed in his typical pair of shorts and sleeveless blue shirt, and barefoot as Dar would have been. "Morning."

"Howdy there, kumquat." Andy got up and ambled over, joining her at the galley's small counter. "Ah see you're up fore the gulls."

"Mm." Kerry finished her task and turned, opening the refrigerator again. "Want some OJ?" She offered him a container. "You're up early too."

Andy accepted the juice and set it down, opening it with intent, precise motions that were so Dar's image it almost made Kerry chuckle. "Spent a lot of years getting mah butt kicked out of bed at oh dark thirty," the retired sailor admitted. "Long habit."

"Uh huh." Kerry retrieved her now toasted muffin and placed it on a plate, waiting for it to cool before she buttered it. "So, what's Dar's excuse?" she asked. "Because she's better than a rooster, let me tell you. Minute the sun starts coming up, bing bong...she's right there with it."

"Always been like that," Dar's father asserted. "Even as a tot."

Kerry placed a slice of cheese on each half of the muffin. "Can I get you some breakfast, Dad? Since I've now been trained to get up at the crack of dawn, despite my inclination otherwise?" She gave him a knowing grin. "Especially since I'm going to have to beg for a ride back to the other shore?'

Andrew snorted. "You ain't got to beg us for nothing, Kerry. It ain't but a pleasure." He eased into one of the comfortable chairs bolted to the deck. "But I'll take one of them there round things if you got an extra."

Kerry popped another muffin into the toaster and reached behind her for the teapot. She poured some hot water over the coffee grinds. "I haven't looked at the news yet this morning. Any word on power?"

Andy made a sound of disgust. "Fellers ain't got no clue what they're doing."

That thought had also occurred to Kerry quite a number of times the previous day, as a matter of fact. "Well, I won't argue with that. I just..." Her cell phone rang. "Whoops. Scuse me." She picked it up and opened it. "Kerry Stuart."

"Morning, Kerry!" Alastair McLean's voice was certainly a surprise. "How are you?"

Kerry blinked. "Um...fine, sir," she managed to get out. "How are you doing? It's awfully early in Texas, isn't it? Something wrong?" Unconsciously, she ran her fingers through her sleep disordered hair, even though her ultimate boss was a thousand miles away.

"Not at all!" the CEO said. "I just wanted to tell you how much I appreciated your hard work yesterday in getting those circuits up. Brilliant job!"

Kerry made a face, pleased with the praise but a trifle embarrassed at the vehemence. "Well, you know, I had the best teacher," she demurred. "And really, the generator idea wasn't mine. It was Dar's."

Andy sucked at his orange juice, watching her with gently twinkling blue eyes.

"Well now, you know that just figures, doesn't it?" Alastair said. "I'm so glad you two make such a good team."

Kerry's eyebrows jerked up. "Well, I think so," she responded cautiously. "I mean, I'm glad Dar knows when she's tied up helping another client, that I can fill in when something happens and make sure it all comes right."

"Absolutely," he replied. "Well, as I said, great job!"

"Thanks."

There was a slight pause. "Ah, listen, while I have you on the line..."

Ah hah. Kerry leaned against the counter and cupped the phone to her ear as Andy's muffin appeared and she tended to it. "Yes, sir?"

"Oh, Alastair, please. I can't remember the last time Dar called me sir," he said. "If she ever did," he added, in a mildly bemused undertone. "Listen, Kerry...I was talking with Dar last night, and you know...hey, is she feeling okay?"

Kerry's nostrils flared in surprise and her eyes widened. "Ah."

"I mean, you know it's very hard to make that kind of call over the phone, but I've known her for a long time, and you know, she just didn't sound right to me."

Walking around the counter, Kerry handed Andy his muffin as she sat down next to him, trying to decide what to tell Alastair. "Well, I know she was really frustrated with that client," she temporized. "She wanted to be back here by yesterday, but they weren't prepared...now she has to work with their programmer, so yeah, she was sorta pissed."

Andy's eyes fastened on her face and his head cocked faintly to one side.

"That wasn't really..." Alastair hesitated. "But everything's all right otherwise? Her folks okay? You okay?"

It was amazingly personal, and Kerry realized at some level that Alastair's query went beyond business. Her prior dealings with the man had given her the impression he genuinely liked Dar, and she could hear a note of honest concern in his voice now. "Everyone's fine," she replied. "In fact, her dad's here right now." She watched Andrew's brow crease. "I think it's just that we had a tough time at that show, and this whole ship bid is really aggravating."

"Ah," Alastair said. "Telegenics, eh?"

"Yeah," Kerry said. "She also hates New York."

A low chuckle sounded through the phone. "I should have remembered that. Yes, you're right. Well, long as everything's okay, Kerry. Glad to hear it. You know Dar means a lot to me, right?"

"I know. She means a lot to me, too," she said quietly. "Thanks for asking."

"You take it easy today, you hear? Everything's up and hunky dory, and I just got a call from Bantelonics, and they're happy as clams to be up. Wanted me to know it, so I thought I'd call and let you know it," Alastair said, in a brisker tone. "Tell you what...how about I bring lunch in for everyone? I'll have Bea take care of it."

"If you can find someplace whose kitchen has power," Kerry reminded him. "That would be great."

"Ah." A sigh. "Well, everything's just another challenge. You call me if you need anything, all right, Kerry?"

"I will," Kerry promised. "Thanks." She folded the phone up and rested her elbows on her knees, hesitating a second before she turned and met Andrew's eyes. "Well, that was interesting."

"Yeap," Andy agreed slowly, drawing the word out. His grizzled eyebrows twitched. "Something goin on with mah kid?"

Kerry thought hard about what to answer, for a totally different reason than she had with Alastair. "She's okay," she reassured her father-in-law. "We just had to deal with someone who gave her a really hard time way back when, and it shook her up a little." She exhaled. "And I think, honestly...she's a little restless with the company."

"Huh." Andrew took a bite of his muffin. "Someone mess with her?" he asked, deceptively casual.

She loved Andrew. Kerry felt a smile slowly tugging at her lips. He was forthright and honest, a proud man of unbending will whose adoration of his family was so absolute it touched the very soul. So she knew his question was meant to ferret out whether someone had hurt his beloved daughter, and if that was so, well then Andy was apt to see what he could do about it.

There was, she acknowledged, a violence to him that could not be denied. But then, Dar had that same dark thread running through her, though it was far more deeply hidden. "A long time ago," she told Andy. "When Dar was younger...it was someone she got involved with who didn't feel the way she did."

Andrew scowled immediately.

"Yeah, well, I can't understand it either, but anyway, she was pissed off, I was pissed off...it wasn't fun. Then they're part of this bid for the ship contract, so I'm sort of glad Dar's not here. At least from my perspective, I just get mad as hell and want to kick them."

"Huh." The big ex-sailor grunted again. "World's full of jackasses sometimes."

"Sometimes," Kerry agreed. "But then there're people like you, so it all balances out." She rested her hand on Andy's knee. "I guess it's time for me to go take a shower and get to work. At least I got some sleep, thanks to you and mom."

Andy got up and tousled her hair. "Tell you what, kumquat. Ah'll go light me some coals under that there boat, and wake up my pretty lady. You get your gear squared away, and c'mon over when you got a mind to."

Kerry watched him leave, then she stood up and went back to the galley, to take a gulp of her coffee and a bite of her own, now cool, muffin. She leaned on the counter for a moment, acknowledging the fringes of exhaustion still clinging to her from her lack of sleep.

For two cents she'd stay here and sack out. Kerry glanced over at her PDA, which chirped. "But I don't have two cents. So..." She trudged over and retrieved the instrument, glancing at it. A message from Mayte, already in the office.

Miss Kerry, Senor Quest has called, and is wanting to meet with you urgently.

"Kiss my ass." Kerry exhaled, a little knot of worry now twisting in her stomach from her conversation with Alastair. She sent a reply back and put the PDA down, making her way into the tiny head for a hopefully refreshing enough to wake up shower.

She only hoped Dar's day was starting out better than her own.



Chapter Fifteen



THE CLOCK OUTSIDE the hotel clicked to seven a.m., and as if on cue, the front doors swung open and disgorged a flood of people all heading purposefully out of the air conditioned lobby to somewhere else.

Dar took one look at the traffic in front of her hotel and decided to walk instead. Accordingly, she turned and headed downtown, the early morning sun not yet oppressive as it splashed over her polo shirt and denims.

She'd settled for coffee and a banana for breakfast, after waking a bit later than she'd anticipated and rushing through a shower and dressing in some of the new clothing she'd purchased the previous day.

Shifting her briefcase on her shoulder, she lengthened her strides and picked her path through a slowly increasing stream of humanity, moving quickly to one side as a man walking a goat passed her going the other direction.

Dar kept moving, resisting the urge to turn and see if she'd really seen a hoofed mammal strolling down the sidewalks of Manhattan. After all, she'd seen llamas in San Diego and alligators in Miami. What were a few goats?

The foot traffic was also busy, everyone seeming to want to rush to work early on this Friday morning. Dar relaxed into her walk, though, glad of the opportunity to stretch her muscles out in lieu of a session in the hotel's gym.

She spent the time on the walk deciding how to approach the problem facing her. Her first instinct--to simply run roughshod over the German coder--would probably not get her anything more than a sense of personal satisfaction and a lot of long, screaming arguments.