"Hey, Brady, gimme that file." The supervisor held a hand out, and when the tattered manila file was put in it, he promptly turned and gave it to Andy. "There...see what you can do with that stuff. Most of it's Greek to me. I know carpet, hammers, and machine parts. This stuff is just garbage."
Andy opened the folder and studied the first page. "Wall." He sniffed reflectively. "Mah kid's one of them geek types. I think ah can figger this stuff out."
"Yeah?" The supervisor sounded interested. "He want a job?"
Pale blue eyes looked up at him. "She's got one already, thanks for askin'." Andy moved over to a chair near the side of the trailer sitting down and putting the folder on his knees. What he had here, he realized after studying the papers for some minutes, was all the stuff he'd heard Dar and Kerry talking about putting in their ship. So it was a sure bet the two people working against his kids had come up with their own list and here it was. "First off." He looked over at the supervisor. "Better make up some copies so I can mark on 'em."
"Right over there." Brady, the heavyset paymaster, pointed at a paneled wall without looking up.
Andrew got up and went around the wall, finding a copy machine there. With a satisfied grunt, he set the stack of papers down on the top sorter and punched the number 2, then copy.
The super poked his head around. "Listen, I cleared off the end of the table in there. You can use that to work on, okay?"
"All right."
"Great!" The man disappeared, leaving Andy to stand and watch the copier do its work. He bounced up and down on his heels a few times, whistling softly under his breath until he heard the door slam open.
"Where the hell is that asshole?" A woman's voice rasped.
Andy's eyebrow quirked as he recognized one of the two targets he'd heard the previous day.
"Pardon me?" Brady asked in a bored voice. "You'll have to be more specific, lady. There are a lot of assholes around here."
"Heh." Andy chuckled silently. "Ain't that the damn truth?"
"Don't give me that...oh, there you are. Where's our gear?"
There was a scrape and a thump as the door to the trailer's bathroom was closed, and heavy boots crossed the floor. "We're working on it, ma'am. I got my best guy sorting all the deliveries right now."
Andy's eyes twinkled wryly, and he shook his head. "Lord."
"That doesn't help me. I need to know what's here and what's not." The voice snapped back. "We don't have time to waste on your stupidity."
Andrew took his pile of copied papers and sorted them into two piles. He looked up as the super came around the corner. "Sounds like someone's got a bee in their buttocks." He drawled softly.
"Jesus." The super rolled his eyes. "You think you can get me a list of all this stuff?"
"Yeap." Andy allowed. "'Bout an hour, something like that."
"Great." The man ducked back out. "Ma'am, we'll have something for you in about an hour. We just got the invoices in now."
"You'd better, or else your company's going to explain to me why you can't even keep truck deliveries straight." The voice faded, then vanished as the outside door slammed shut.
"What a bitch." Brady snorted. "Sounds like she needs a good screwing."
"You can have her. Not my type." The super also left, closing the door more gently behind him.
Andy went to the small window and looked out, spotting the stocky form of the bigger woman retreating from the trailer. He watched her disappear into the pier building, then he returned to his task, picking up the stacks of papers and going back into the main room.
The other men in the room eyed him, then went back to their work as he took a seat at the end of a long banquet table. He set the papers down and picked up a pencil lying on the table, examining the first page thoughtfully.
When Dar had taken an interest in technology, he'd made a point of going out and reading up on the stuff she'd decided to make her living from. Most of it wasn't that much different from some things he'd encountered in the Navy, but it had its own language.
Since he'd retired, he'd taken the opportunity to delve a little deeper into the subject, and he felt he was almost at a point where he could at least have a somewhat all right discussion with his kid about it. So when he looked at the pages and pages of parts, at least the names and descriptions were somewhat familiar to him.
It seemed like they'd been shipped without any mind to what went with what though. Andy scratched his head and frowned. He knew the names, but had to admit that the functions of each of the gizmos were somewhat foggy, and he really had no way of guessing which part went with the next except by actually guessing.
Darn it.
"Wall." With a shake of his head he started sorting out the bits by the maker, figuring at least if he put all the ones from the same place together it was a start.
"That's a mess, yeah?" Brady looked over at him. "What a bunch of morons shipping that stuff."
"Yeap." Andrew scribbled some notes down. "Pain in mah butt, tell you that. Don't know what them folks was thinking."
Brady got up and looked over his shoulder. "Weren't." He commented briefly. "You got a background in this sort of thing? Thought you were just a loader."
"Done some stuff." Andy answered. "Spent thirty years in the Navy, had to learn something."
"Wow." Brady's attitude altered abruptly. "Really? Were you out on the ships?"
Pale blue eyes peeked up at him. "That is what the Navy does," he replied. "But ah tell ya what, someone be this disorganized on a carrier, they'd be pitched overboard or sent shoreside fastern' you could spit at 'em."
"Yeah." The paymaster agreed. "They don't seem to know what they're doing, you know. Like everyone's doing their own thing, and nobody's coordinating. Then you get those bitches like that one coming in here and thinking they own the joint."
"Woman did have her an attitude." Andy nodded. "Ain't a way to get things done."
"Yeah." Brady said again. "Maybe we should stop jumping when she barks. That way she'll back off."
"Could be." The ex-SEAL agreed mildly. "I sure wouldn't be saluting her, that's for damn sure."
Brady wandered off, going over to the other table and leaning over to talk to two of the men sitting there working. Andy peeked over at him, then put his head back down with a smile, continuing his sorting.
DAR PUSHED THE door to the computer center opened with a stiff armed motion, almost hitting one of the techs on his way out. "Sorry."
The tech jumped out of the way and stammered own apology, then slunk out past her as she walked on by. Dar went past the MIS command desk and headed for Mark's office, where she could hear voices already raised in excited conversation. "Hey."
Mark's head jerked up as she entered. "Oh, hey, boss." He greeted her. "Check this out!"
Dar obligingly circled his desk and focused her attention on the small, silver gray box sitting on top of it. "I'm checking. What is it?"
Mark turned it over and displayed a circuit board. "Integrated unit, plugged into our extra port for the projector down there, and get this..." he slid a small panel aside, "cellular."
Dar peered at it. "No kidding?"
"No shit, "Mark said. "They dialed in and activated it, sent the worm in over the cell link, then had it refocus out the network port. If Kerry hadn't found it...Jesus."
Dar picked up the device and studied it closely. "Damn."
"Yeah."
"That's pretty sophisticated." Mark's assistant, the lanky Peter, spoke up. "I checked it out on the web last night. That's like...black bag stuff."
"Mm." Dar nodded in agreement. "It sure is." She looked up. "So, tell me why we didn't catch a rogue MAC on the network?"
Peter stuck his hands in his pockets. Mark cleared his throat.
"Will you excuse us, please?" Dar looked at Peter. "And close the door on your way out."
The tall man escaped gratefully, shutting the door and leaving them alone in the office.
Mark gave her a look
that could easily have been one of Chino's when caught stealing cookies from the closet. "It's not an excuse." He temporized. "But it's that damn projector. We've had it fixed like six times in the last four weeks."
"And?"
"So the guy told me last time he thought it was the MAC blocking that was making it freak out." Mark admitted.
"So you turned it off."
"For that port, yeah." He agreed. "It fixed the problem."
Dar folded her arms, then she walked over to Mark's office window and looked out. "That's a breach of our security policy." She remarked quietly, keeping her eyes focused outward as there was no answer behind her. "Here I have Kerry beating herself up for not asking for a scan, and the fact is the room was left deliberately wide open."
Mark shifted in his chair, the leather squeaking softly. "You want my resignation?" He asked, in a somber voice. "It was my screw up, Dar. I took the security off that port, not one of my guys."
Dar found a small boat to watch as it skittered across the water. "What I'm more interested in right now is who knew you did it, other than you and the projector tech."
Mark remained silent for a few moments. "I don't know, boss. I didn't tell anyone here."
Dar turned and leaned against the window. "So then either someone here just happened to see the change in the switch and got bought...or we have a problem with a vendor, because whoever put that..." She pointed viciously at the device. "Sure knew it."
Mark relaxed just a trifle. "You think it was one of those Telegenics goons, right?"
Did she? It was tempting to. They were in the room and no doubt about it, they had a motive. And yet... "That's more tech than Shari's capable of, and damn it, I think Michelle's too ethical for it."
"Huh."
"But you never know. Let's start hunting." Dar decided. She headed for the door, stopping as she reached it and turning. "No, I don't want your damn resignation. I screwed up, Kerry screwed up, you screwed up...that's it. We've exhausted our once in a blue moon big time. No more screw ups."
She walked out and shut the door behind her, leaving a slightly stunned Mark sitting at his desk in silence. After a moment the door cracked open again and Peter stuck his head warily inside. "You okay?"
"Yeah." Mark finally let his held breath out. "I think so. She's just really pissed." His brow creased. "I think."
"You think?"
"Yeah." Mark rested his chin on his fist. "But I can't really tell who she's more pissed at, the joker who stuck this on the network, or herself."
Peter looked confused then he slowly withdrew his head and shut the door again, leaving Mark to ponder the question alone.
"KERRY?" Mayte stuck her head around the corner of the door. "I have a fax for you." Kerry looked up from her pile of paperwork, one blond eyebrow cocking. "Nifty. I needed more paper on my desk. Bring it over." Mayte walked into the office and put the thick stack of paper down. "It is from the port, but I do not understand what this is."
Kerry glanced at the cover sheet, and saw a somewhat crude rendition of a seal scrawled on the page. "Ah." She tossed aside her current list of ordering and pulled the stack over. "I do, and boy, we sure did nail down which of her folks Dar gets her doodling from." She flipped through the pages, leaning a little closer to study the details. "Ah." She repeated softly. "Interesting."
"Kerry?"
Kerry looked up again. "Sorry Mayte. Was there something else you needed from me?"
Her assistant fiddled with her hands, then she sat down in Kerry's visitor chair. "Is it all right if I ask you something that is a little personal for me?"
Uh oh. "Sure." Kerry pushed aside the fax and focused her attention. "What's up?"
"Did you...I am sorry, this is very embarrassing, but...did you know right away when you were liking La Jefa?"
Liking? "Um...well, not really." Kerry replied very slowly. "If...I mean, Mayte, are you asking me when I knew I was in love with Dar?"
Mayte turned brick red, even under her already well tanned skin. "Si." She answered in a whisper.
"Boy, that's a tough question." Kerry frowned. "Because we came together in such an odd way--with work and all. But, you know, I will tell you this. I felt something in here," Kerry touched her chest, "from the very minute I set eyes on her. I just didn't know what that something was for a while."
Mayte nodded slowly. "That does make very much sense."
"Are you...uh..." Kerry hesitated. "Someone you're interested in?" She finally asked then they both looked up as Kerry's inner office door opened and Dar entered.
The blue eyes flicked to both women, and Dar paused. "Sorry. Didn't mean to interrupt," she said, retracing her steps.
"No no. I was just leaving." Mayte jumped up and raced out, closing the door quickly behind her.
Dar looked at the door, then looked at Kerry. Both eyebrows shot up.
"Beats me." Kerry shook her head. "She was just asking me about how to know when you're in love."
"Uh oh." Dar advanced again. "Someone catch her eye? Maria hasn't said anything to me at any rate."
"I got the feeling yes." Kerry pushed the fax over toward her.
"Look what Dad sent, and did you talk to Mark? He gave me a rundown on the thing he found. Holy cow, Dar."
Dar flipped through the pages, then looked up at Kerry. "What did you tell her?"
Green eyes blinked in confusion. "Huh? What did I tell who?"
"Mayte."
"About what?"
Dar glanced out the window. "About how you know when you're in love." She peeked back at Kerry's face, with a half abashed grin. "Or did I interrupt that part?"
"Oh." Kerry leaned back. "Yeah, I think you sorta did." She pondered, twiddling her thumbs together. "Probably a good thing...I don't think my going into racing heartbeats and sweating palms would do anything for our professional rapport."
"Probably not." Dar's face eased into a smile.
"Though I did tell her I knew the second I met you." Kerry smiled back. "I'm not sure why she ran out of here like that, though." She idly stifled a yawn. "Was it something I said?"
Dar took a seat on the edge of Kerry's desk, regarding her with a faintly amused expression.
"Stop it." Kerry punched her in the leg. "Don't start with that crush stuff again, Dar. The last thing on earth she'd be asking me if she really had a crush was the question she just asked. Right?"
The taller woman shrugged one shoulder.
Kerry made a face. "You really think so?"
"I really do," Dar replied. "But I don't think you've got much to worry about. She knows you're taken."
Kerry's eyes that twinkled. "Now that's the truth." She leaned her head back against her leather chair. "I'm looking forward to class tonight. You going to be out of your meeting in time?"
Dar had been studying the fax. Now she dropped it lightly onto Kerry's desk and stood. "Yep." She indicated the papers. "Not sure what that gets us, besides what they're paying for the standard gear. Nice of Dad to send it though. Wonder why he had them?"
"Yeah." Kerry twiddled her thumbs. "At least I know we're paying less than they are. Volume has to count for something, eh?" She pushed the fax with her index finger. "What did you think of that thing Mark found?"
Dar had wandered over to the window and was gazing outside. "Slick."
Kerry waited, but Dar offered nothing else on the subject. "Okay." She leaned forward and went back to her mail, recognizing a rebuff when she felt one. "Guess I'll leave that in your ballpark. Mine's busy." She put her head down and concentrated on the screen, trying not to become hyper aware of the figure standing behind her.
She knew Dar was looking at her though. She could feel it, feel the impact of those blue eyes on the back of her head even before she heard the soft rustle of fabric as Dar turned. She heard the light scuff of her footsteps against the carpet, and against her will, she found herself straining to figure out if they were coming closer or leaving.
"I really don't know w
hat to think." Dar's voice sounded unexpectedly loud in the office.
Kerry continued typing. "Well, I'm sure you'll handle it."
Dar resumed her perch on Kerry's desk, making it very difficult to continue to ignore her. Kerry tried, but after a moment she felt a nudge against her shoulder, and it was either look up, or really escalate her miffed feelings into a fight.
Did she want a fight? Kerry swiveled a little and rested her chin on her fist, gazing up at her partner. No. She never really did want to fight. It was just that sometimes their differences pushed them in opposite directions until they clashed. "Yes?"
"Was I being a bitch?" Dar asked.
Kerry shrugged one shoulder.
"I wasn't trying to be," Dar admitted. "That thing Mark found has got me confused."
"Why?"
Kerry's phone rang, and she gave it an evil look. She hit her intercom button. "Mayte, can you get that please? I'm in an important meeting right now."
"Si, of course." Mayte answered back promptly then clicked off.
Kerry returned her attention to Dar. "What's confusing you, honey? Was it more than you expected it to be? Mark showed me the details. It was pretty sophisticated."
Dar sighed. "It was pretty sophisticated," she admitted, running her fingers through her hair in some distraction. "Ker, I know you want to think it was Shari and Michelle, but I..."
"You don't think so? Really? C'mon, Dar. Who else could it be?" Kerry almost laughed. "I mean, let's be real. We have our worst enemies right here in the building, I leave them unsupervised for a half hour, and a couple days later we get hit with an internal probe." She put a hand on Dar's leg. "Honey."
Her partner exhaled. "So now you know why I didn't want to talk about it." She got up and headed for her office, shaking her head. "Just forget it. Yeah, it was probably them."
"B...? Kerry got up and chased after her. "Dar! Wait a minute?" She caught up to her at the inner door and gently took hold of her arm. "Hey, hey...hey--"
Stormy Waters: Book 10 in The Dar & Kerry Series Page 12
