The executive paused in mid-bite, enjoying her sandwich. “Lunch. What does it look like, José’s new account manager?” she retorted, taking a mouthful and chewing it.

“Tcha, that is so bad for you,” Maria scolded. “Kerrisita, you set her a better example, no?”

Kerry rubbed her brow. “Actually, I got it for her,” she admitted sheepishly. “Miami Subs really doesn’t have much in the way of healthy stuff, Maria.” She paused. “Only some Greek roll-up things.”

Dar stuck out her tongue, then went back to the screen. “Maria, what is all this junk in my inbox?”

“Ay, that’s what I’m here talking to you about.” The older woman wrung her hands. “Is Mark, he started up some…what he called it, mailing list,” she said. “Let me go get some of the papers.” She hurried out, closing the door behind her.

Dar clicked with one hand while handling her sandwich with the other.

“Oh, okay, that’s why the damn thing’s subjects range from TCP/IP to a…”

She peered at the screen incredulously. “A recipe for vodka jello eggs.” She glanced up, then punched the phone.


344 Melissa Good

“Yeah?” Mark’s voice sounded, as always preoccupied.

“Get me the hell off this damn list,” Dar growled. “Or I’m going to altroute every single message into an infinite loop and dump them in your voice mail.”

Dead silence. “Uh.” Mark cleared his throat. “Can you do that?”

“Yes,” Dar answered in a silken voice. “I can even make it page you twice for each damned message.”

“You’re off,” Mark squeaked. “Wasn’t on purpose, I’m just testing this new listing software that’s part of our web server. Honest.” He cleared his throat. “Listen, sorry I have to miss out on tonight, but I promised Barbara to take her on one of those Sea Escape things.”

“Don’t worry about it, I’ll catch you next time,” Dar told him. “Any luck on that trace?”

A moment’s silence, and the sound of the keyboard rattling. “Came in via the intranet through a link with the backbone routers in Chicago. Looks like someone hooked in via one of the milnet hubs. I’m sending a query out after it,” the MIS chief muttered. “Did you see the instruction set in that thing? I hex dumped it for you, that’s your shit in there, Dar!”

“I know,” the executive replied quietly. “I was poking around in it last night.”

A pause. “Yeah, I saw you logged in,” Mark replied. “Your incoming IP

looked a little strange, it’s not one of the dial-in lines you usually come in on.”

Dar wagged a finger silently at the phone. “The cellular connection was acting up, I had to use a land line,” she commented. “Listen, can you trace that packet or not?”

“I’m working on it,” Mark assured her. “Later, Dar.”

Dar slapped the button and frowned at the phone. “I think he’s curious about us.”

Kerry fiddled with her watch band. “I think he knows, too,” she admitted. “Or at least, I think he suspects, because he was asking me if I liked your condo.”

Dar’s eyebrows lifted. “Well, he knows you took me home,” Dar said.

“He’s not supposed to know I’m familiar with your waterbed, and that’s what he was asking about.”

“Oh.” Dar produced a brief grin. “Yeah, he said something about you logging in from my machine that next morning,” she admitted. “Guess he saw me come in from your place last night.” She sighed. “Nerds. Can’t hide anything from us, can you?”

“Mmm.” Kerry frowned. “Is that a problem?”

Surprisingly, Dar shook her head immediately. “No problem there,” she responded. “I know all his skeletons. He’s just curious about mine.”

“Ah.”

Maria re-entered the room and walked over to Dar’s desk. “See?” She handed her boss the papers. “It is jokes, yes? I hope so.”

Dar peered at the sheets. “I took care of it.” She set the papers down.

“Sorry about that, Maria.”

“Hmm.” Kerry stood up and brushed off her skirt. “Well, I’ve got a conference all in five minutes, I’m going to go grab some tea.” She left, using Tropical Storm 345

the front door to Dar’s office and closing it behind her.

Dar resumed chewing. “Did we get those contracts?” she asked Maria, glancing up at her.

“You know, Dar, Kerry is such a lovely person.” Maria smiled at her.

“You were so lucky to have found her.”

Dar’s jaws stopped, and she considered the statement for a moment.

“Well, I think so,” she finally answered cautiously. “I’m glad you like her.”

Maria reached over and patted her hand, then smiled, and made an impish face before she turned and walked out.

Dar just stared after her in befuddlement. “What in the hell?” she asked the empty room.

“YOU READY?” DAR waited, leaning against the side of her car as Kerry brushed her hair. The last fading rays of sun caught her through the glass of her windshield, and Dar found herself smiling at the image. They were outside the restaurant, in a small and crowded parking lot that boded well for the quality of the restaurant.

Kerry glanced into the rearview mirror a final time, flicking her hair into place, then she got out and brushed her shirt off. “I look okay?” she asked, giving her boss an inquiring look.

“Very much so,” Dar assured her. Kerry was wearing a pair of very dark, neatly pressed jeans and an aqua polo shirt under a snugly fitting white sweatshirt with its sleeves pushed halfway up. “So, you ready?”

Kerry exhaled and studied her companion, who had changed into a pair of tan Dockers and a red tank top, with her leather jacket thrown over her shoulders. “Yep. Let’s go run the gauntlet.” She tugged at Dar’s zipper. “You look nice.”

The taller woman smiled and patted her side. “So do you, c’mon.” She followed Kerry as they sauntered across the parking lot. “I like that sweatshirt.” She admired the tiny, embroidered birds that danced across the front and scampered down the sleeves.

Kerry straightened a little and smiled as they stepped up onto the deck which held the restaurant. She spotted Mariana and Duks leaning against the railing and cleared her throat. “Okay, here we go. I hope we can pull this off.”

Dar snorted. “No problem. Just relax, we’ll be fine.”

“Dar?” Kerry murmured softly.

“Hmm?” The dark-haired woman leaned a bit closer.

“You might want to take your hand off my back.”

“Right.” Dar took the disobedient hand and waved at Mariana and Duks as they came closer. “I was just making sure you didn’t fall off the steps.”

“Well, hello, you two.” Mariana smiled at them. The Personnel VP was wearing a pair of slacks and a sweater, and Duks had changed into a dark blue sweatshirt and black chinos. “It smells great out here, let’s go in.”

Dar gave them both a brief nod, then followed them inside, taking in the typical gold, red and black décor that oriental restaurants seemed to regard as almost a livery. The room was large, with a few scattered, small tables in the center, and a raised platform all the way around the walls which featured low 346 Melissa Good tables and pillows. Lots and lots of pillows. And no chairs.

They were led to a table area in the back by a smiling, bobbing waiter, who indicated they were to take their shoes off and make themselves comfortable. The table had padded backrests to sit against, and piles of soft, silk-covered pillows that lined the pit like enclosure.

“Isn’t this cute?” Mariana mused. “I’ve never eaten in a place like this before.”

They sat down, one on each side of the table, and settled into the cushions. Dar found it surprisingly relaxing. She spread her arms out on the cushions, and gazed back. “So, hell of a day, huh?”

Duks looked up from his menu and cracked a sardonic grin. He had a powerfully built face, with a square jaw and a thick neck that disappeared into heavy shoulders that betrayed a youth spent doing something other than running a calculator. “If I believed in Hell, I’d agree with you.”

Kerry leaned forward, curiously. “Are you an atheist, Mr. Draefus?”

He turned his grin on her. “Duks, please, Kerry. And yes, I am.” He selected what he wanted, then put the menu down. “I find it makes my life so much simpler.”

“Simpler? How?” Kerry inquired. “I would think having to find explanations for everything would make it more complicated. It’s so easy just to say ‘because God said so.’ ”

“Yes, isn’t it?” Duks agreed softly. “Simpler because I have no expectations. I have nothing to live up to, nothing to spend my life striving for, because at the end, it’s just…the end,” he told her. “You stop and feed the worms. And so life becomes more precious, and you enjoy it more, knowing it’s the only chance you’ll get.”

Kerry cupped her chin in her hand. “You don’t believe in souls, then, right?’

A smile. “No. I think what we have in here…” He thumped his chest.

“…is blood and muscles, and nothing more.” A pause. “Do you believe in a god, Kerry?”

“Yes, I do. In that I believe there’s a higher power who directs things in our lives, and I think we all have an immortal soul,” Kerry answered seriously. “And that soul continues from life to life.”

“Ah, not a conventional Christian, I see,” Mariana murmured, fascinated.

“I had an orthodox Catholic upbringing…and it stuck, along with all the glorious pageantry and mysticism that goes with it. I still shiver during the Mass.” She glanced at Duks. “We have a long-standing argument over that.

He thinks I’d get over it if I’d just go and see a good opera.” Kerry let out a surprised laugh.

“What about you, my friend?” Duks turned to the silently watching Dar.

“I don’t think we’ve ever discussed the big R. And I don’t recall you ever saying you’d been in church, so…”

Pale blue eyes flicked over their faces, then Dar shrugged a little. “My mother is a pagan.” She smiled wryly at the surprised looks. “My father was as much of a Southern Baptist as you can get and not be a snake handler.” She regarded the table for a moment. “We didn’t have anything organized when I was growing up, I just knew they both believed in something, not necessarily Tropical Storm 347

the same something, but something.”

“What a mix!” Mariana said in a surprised voice.

“True, I picked up on that. I believe in something, but I never got around to defining what that something was,” Dar finished. “So I celebrate what I want, when I want.”

The waiter came back, and they ordered, with Mariana getting conflicting advice from Dar and Duks. “Shush,” she finally said, then turned to Kerry in appeal. “Which is it?”

The blonde woman laughed a bit. “The massaman is a sweet curry, with meat and potatoes in it. Then you have the green curry which is very sharp.

Finally, the red curry is milder and usually has coconut milk in it.”

“Ah, so you’re an expert.” The Personnel VP gave her an approving nod.

Kerry just grinned and watched as they completed the order. Then she half turned her head to glance at Dar and blinked at the suddenly frozen expression on her companion’s face. Her eyes flicked to where Dar was looking, and she spotted a tall, willowy brunette in an impeccably cut suit entering with two other women. When she looked back at Dar, the dark-haired woman’s face was carefully controlled, but she could see the faint bunching of her jaw muscles and she leaned over. “Dar?”

Ice blue eyes pinned her, then gentled. “Remember when I told you it would be unlikely for you to meet certain people?” the taller woman commented with forced casualness.

What? Oh, her former lovers. Right. “Yes.” Kerry darted a glance to Duks and Mariana, who were busy with the waiter.

“I should have kept my mouth shut,” Dar replied softly. “Jinx.”

Kerry’s eyes flicked away, then back. “Oh.” She slid a hand around the edge of the low table and patted Dar’s ankle. “Let me go get my boots.”

That got a smile from Dar, who leaned her forearms on the table and considered her options. Given where she was seated, and where Elana was going to sit, there was no way in Hell the bitch couldn’t just look over and see her. Sure enough, after glancing at the menu, Elana looked up right at her.

Dar half turned her head as though she was listening to Duks and Mari bicker, and watched as a slow, malicious smirk made its way across the aristocratic face. Damn. She reached over and touched Duk’s arm. “We’re going to have a nasty scene here in a minute,” she advised him in a low tone, letting her eyes move across the room and back.