Andrew's pale blue eyes rested briefly on the supervisor's face, then drifted off again to the water. "Yeap." He agreed. "Them gov'mint types too."
"Nah." The other man shook his head. "They got that paid off...but if one of those mangrove huggers sees it...well, crap. Let me go make a phone call. You go get that box unloaded before those damn women show up again."
Andrew watched him walk off. "Huh." He slowly started across the gangway again. "Paid off them gov'mint types, 'magine that." His pocket started beeping and he stopped, tugging the cell phone out of his pocket and opening it.
Rather than ringing, it was displaying a symbol he'd never seen before. After a moment's thought, he punched the buttons over the flashing icon, and was rewarded by text scrolling across the phone's screen. "What'n the hell is..." The words penetrated, and he turned around, heading off the gangway as he stuffed the phone back into his pocket. "Ah swear them little girls get into more hellfire trouble than a Humvee full of wet swabs."
"Hey!"
Andrew heard the hail, but paid it no mind. He broke into a loping run, picking up the pace as he headed for the port buildings.
Chapter Eight
"ALL RIGHT, LADY. I don't know what you think the rules are here, but let me let you in on a little secret." The biggest of the port security men addressed Dar. "You don't own this place. We do. So step aside and let this guy do his job, okay?"
Dar didn't budge. "No." She stated flatly. "I don't own this place, but I own this gear, and you're not touching it."
"We are going to touch it, and you're going to just move aside and let us." The security chief stepped toward the equipment in question, clearly expecting both Dar and Kerry to move aside. Cheryl was already standing near the wall away from them, and the security guard from ILS was behind them.
"Kiss my ass." Dar suggested. "And make sure your lawyer's on speed dial."
The security officers shifted and looked at their leader. Dar was standing in front of the equipment rack, leaning against it in fact, and showed no signs of moving. Kerry was standing next to her, also clearly challenging their authority with her hands balled into fists and planted on her hips.
"C'mon, we need to get this done." The port technician said.
"I don't really see what your point is." Kerry said. "There's no attack coming from here."
"Not according to this." The tech held up a sheaf of papers. "There's a probe coming from this location, and frankly, I don't give a shit what you think my point is. I think we should call the cops and just have you thrown out and shut down. This is a security area."
"Is that what you want, lady?" The security chief asked Dar, as he stopped within reach of her. "Why not just move, make it easy for all of us?" He suggested. "Because the fact is, this is government area, and I can throw your asses out of here if I want to."
"You can try." Dar warned, in a soft voice.
"Excuse me." Kerry finally felt her interjection would be appropriate. "I tell you what. We'll let you look at our equipment..."
Dar gave her an outraged look. "Kerrison."
Kerry reached out without looking and put a hand on her partner?s back. "If you can explain to me how it can be affecting your systems when there are no wires connecting us to you?" Kerry finished.
The security officials turned and looked at the technicians.
"Can you explain that?" Kerry gave Dar's back a little scratch, feeling the shift as her partner relaxed a trifle.
The security chief turned to the port tech. "Can you?"
"Sure they'd say there's no connection." The port tech laughed.
"They're not stupid." He held up the papers. "This trace shows it as coming from this location. Can you explain that?"
Kerry stepped forward and reached out for the papers. "Let me see them."
"No way." The tech jerked them back.
The security officer turned to Kerry. "Can't you just let him look?" He asked. "It's almost quitting time, lady. I don't want to be filling out paperwork all night, y'know?"
"No." Dar reasserted herself. "This is a secure network. Nothing goes on it that isn't our hardware."
"Okay, then you're admitting to hacking us. That's pretty clear. So get them out of here, and let's do what we need to do," the tech said. "We're wasting time."
"Our time," Dar said. "But if you throw us out of this room, you'll be wasting more than that. Your boss better be ready for a very expensive lesson." Instead of standing back, she now advanced on both the tech and the security guy. "And your boss, if you decide to put a finger on anyone." She warned the bigger man. "Because I don't give a damn what rules and what regulations this damn piss poor port runs under, I guarantee if I go high enough up in the chain around here, someone's going to get FIRED." Her voice rose with each word until the last one was a shouted bark. "Now get the hell out of here!"
Kerry planted herself squarely behind her partner, her heart beating fast as she hoped the men would back off. Not that she doubted Dar's threats were real--after all, she knew darn well they were in the right--but the men looked like they were used to getting their way, and she didn't want to see Dar hurt.
"Wall." A new voice interrupted the chaos briefly. The men turned as Andrew slipped into the room, ducking around the desk to end up next to Dar. "What's all the hollering about, Dardar?"
Kerry relaxed against the rack, reassured now they weren't going to get bruised in any way. The ILS security guard, apparently emboldened by the new arrival, also came around the desk and stood facing the bad guys as well.
Cheryl slipped around and came up next to her, wide eyed. "Jesus." She whispered. "What in the heck's going on around here?"
Good question. Kerry observed the bristling antagonism in the room, and felt compelled to try and circumvent it again, though her first attempt had been a dismal failure. "Okay, folks." She edged around Andrew's bulk and got in front of him. "Tell you what. This is going nowhere. How about you show me what makes you think anything's coming from here, and if it's our stuff, we'll let you look at this end."
Dar actually growled, low and deep in her throat. Kerry decided to pretend she didn't hear it, and waited for the technician to answer. "It's the best deal you'll get. Otherwise, I think we're really talking police here, because without seeing that, I agree with Dar. You're not getting access to our corporate systems. No way."
The security chief decided to take control now. "Give me that." He reached over and grabbed the papers from the tech, who squawked in protest. Shuffling them, he handed them over to Kerry, holding out a hand to stop the tech from advancing. "Stop it. I'm not missing my beer because of you."
Kerry glanced at the trace, her eyes flicking over the details as she moved closer to Dar. "Here." Dar put a hand on her shoulder and read the page as well. "What do you think?"
Dar's brow creased. The trace without a doubt contained one of their addresses, but...she leaned closer. "That's not our router." She indicated the resolved name. "Someone's spoofing us."
"Oh, sure."
"It's an MCI router." Kerry told him. "The building's lit with Bellsouth. You should know that."
The tech grabbed the paper back and looked at it. "No way."
Dar shifted her position and now leaned her arm on Kerry's shoulder. "Sorry. She's right."
"Someone making trouble for you all?" Andy asked his eyes fastened on the techs.
"Shit." The tech put a fingertip on the paper. "That's the damn Seaport center router."
The other tech looked at it then silently shook his head, his expression altering to glum.
"You couldn't have checked that before you dragged our asses over here?" One of the other security men asked. "That lady spotted it in a half second."
"I wasn't looking at that, I..." The first tech was turning red. "We just ran a check on that IP and it was assigned to them." He pointed at Dar. "And they just put up an office here. What would you think?"
The security chief now appeared impatient and bored,
rather than impatient and menacing. "Okay, so it's not them. Let's get out of here, and you can figure out who it is, right?" He edged away from Dar. "Sorry about that, but you know security's a touchy subject around here. We got a lot of merchandise going through the port."
"Uh huh." Dar snorted. She reached over and grabbed the papers back. "Give me that. I've got a lot better chance of finding the damn pirate than you do." Inside, she was rattled. Seeing their own IP structure in the trace had made her heart race just long enough to make her lightheaded before she realized the source wasn't inside their network.
Someone was taking a lot of time and effort to cause trouble, all right. Question was, who? Was it hackers still trying to embarrass her, or... Well, hell, what were the chances some hacker would pick this particular target?
"You can't have that, it's restricted information." The tech protested.
"Yeah, well, she sure looks like she can do more with it than you can, buddy. Move." The security chief knew when to cut his losses. "Next time you call us, try to have your act together, huh?" He and his men herded the techs out of the office. "Sorry again."
"Jerks." The second security guard muttered, shaking his head. "Get us all tangled up for no reason."
Dar folded the paper in her hand in half, sharpening the crease with intense, precise motions. She waited for the men to leave and disappear around the corner before she half turned to look at the rest of the people in the room. "Hi, Dad," she murmured. "Was I yelling loud enough for you to hear me outside?"
"Naw." Andy retrieved his cell phone and held it up. "Kumquat sent me a note thing."
Kerry sat down on the edge of the desk. "What the heck was that?" She looked up at Dar. "Can you trace it from those notes?"
"I don't know." Dar half shrugged. "But I guess I'll find out." She added, "I'm sure someone was trying to make it look like we're doing something wrong."
Kerry's eyes darkened. "Oh, I can't imagine anyone would want to do that," she replied sarcastically. "But Dar, who says they won't try it again? This location's so vulnerable."
Cheryl sidled up, with a worried look on her face. "She's right about that." She gave the security guard an apologetic look. "No offense, Charles, but you wouldn't have stopped those guys if they'd charged in here."
The guard didn't look embarrassed. "No, ma'am." He agreed. "But I would have called the police. We're not bouncers." He looked at Dar and Kerry. "Ah, not that?"
"Why not? I've got a black eye. Maybe we moonlight." Kerry remarked dryly.
Andrew chuckled under his breath. Dar gave him a look, then folded the paper into quarters and stuck it in her back pocket. She walked past them to the rack, circling it as she considered her options.
The box on the wall was connected to their gear by a set of conduits running through the drop ceiling.
Dar walked over and grabbed a chair, dragging it behind her until it was behind the rack. She climbed up onto it and punched the ceiling panel up, shoving it up and into the framing as she stuck her head up into the dark space.
The rest of the room's occupants looked at each other. Cheryl gave Kerry a slight shrug, and then she went back to her desk and sat down. The security guard sidled back out to his station in the hallway, leaving Kerry and Andrew standing in the center of the space.
"Long as there ain't no more hollering, I'm going to get back to mah work." Andrew said. "Them fellers don't much like when folks wander off."
"Thanks for coming over Dad," Kerry told him. "I just wasn't sure what was going to happen."
"No problem, kumquat." Andy told her. "You find anything up there, Dar?"
"Dust bunnies with fangs." Dar sneezed. "Thanks for asking," She looked down for a moment, "and thanks for coming over to make sure we weren't in trouble."
Andrew patted her leg. "No problem, squirt. See y'all later." He headed for the door, giving Cheryl a brief nod as he passed her. "Lo."
"Hi." The office worker waggled her fingers at him. "Bye." She waited for Andrew's tall form to disappear beyond the door before she looked at Kerry in question, her brows lifting. "Dad?"
Kerry nodded. "Hers, not mine unfortunately." She pointed at Dar. "He's doing some work on one of the other ships."
Cheryl peered at the now empty door. "Is he working for them?" She indicated the next pier.
"He's working for us."
"Ahhhh." The office manager smiled, giving Kerry thumbs up. "Nice."
Dar put her head back up into the ceiling, her eyes tracing the conduit. It moved in an unbroken curve from where it dropped down to her rack, up through the drop panel, bracketed to the concrete true ceiling, and dropped back down through the panel to the box on the wall.
No taps, no junction boxes. Dar felt better. She tugged the ceiling panel back into place, then pulled her way along the drop ceiling as she balanced on the chair, it's wheels squeaking in protest.
"Dar!" Kerry popped up off the desk and grabbed hold of the chair back as it threatened to squirt out from under Dar. "Careful!"
"Ah, with any luck, I'll fall on my head." Dar now carefully examined the box on the wall, unlatching it and swinging it open. With a satisfied grunt, she closed and latched it. "Put a lock on that," she ordered Cheryl, as she turned and hopped off the chair. "No one goes near it, no one touches it, no one does anything to that unless I'm standing here watching. Got me?"
"Yes, ma'am." Cheryl nodded.
Dar dusted her hands off, her eyes falling on Kerry as she reached for the chair to move it back. Kerry had her fingers resting on the rack, a look of quiet pensiveness on her face.
Sensing the attention, Kerry looked up. "Maybe we should stick around here this weekend?" She suggested.
Perhaps they should, Dar acknowledged silently. There was too much going on, too many loose ends for them to just take off out of town. She could see the agreement in Kerry's posture, the slight relaxing of her shoulder muscles that almost, but did not quite seem like a slump. "No." She was surprised to hear herself saying. "We've got a line at the cabin and our cell phones. C'mon." She tapped Kerry on the arm and pointed to the door. "Let's go onboard, and get moving."
Without further argument, Kerry simply nodded, and headed for the door. Dar followed her, wondering if that decision, too, wouldn't come back to bite her in a bad, bad way.
"C'MON, CHI...IN you go." Dar held the door to the cabin open, allowing her family to enter before she stepped over the threshold and followed them inside.
It was dark, close to ten p.m., and later than either of them had expected to arrive after traffic and a stop at a tiki hut. But it had been a nice drive even so, and Dar didn't regret it as she detoured toward the wall switches.
Ah. She turned the lamps on and gazed around appreciatively.
Definitely worth the trip.
Kerry dropped her overnight bag on the couch as she headed for the cabin's kitchen, putting down the bags she was carrying on the stone countertop just inside the door. She whistled softly under her breath as she put away the supplies they'd picked up, listening to Dar ramble around turning on the air conditioning and flipping on the lights.
It felt very good to be here. Kerry opened the cabinet after she finished, taking out a coffee filter and going about the task making coffee. The cabin was now finished, and she leaned on the counter as the hot beverage brewed, looking out over the interior with a sense of pleasure.
The living area had a long couch against the wall, its ends curving around to make a huge seating pit across from a wood enclosed television set. The furniture was overstuffed and comfortable, butter soft green leather that blended with the stone floors and wooden walls.
There were richly woven colored carpets scattered around, and in one corner a large round dog bed that Chino was busy scratching and snuffling. On the walls were a few pictures, one piece of Dar's mother's art, and some of Kerry's photography.
Overall, the impression was one of a richly appointed, if very small, hunting lodge, except it had no tacky animal
heads on the wall and there was a distinct lack of testosterone.
Kerry turned around in the kitchen. It had stone countertops of polished and cool granite that framed the gas stove, brushed stainless refrigerator, and blue shutters that closed over the window above the sink.
Rustic. Except that there were wireless access points mounted on the walls near the ceiling. The television was a flat plasma display, and the entire cabin was hooked up to a remote monitoring system that could have let her turn on the air and the coffee from the car on the way down, if she'd really put her mind to it.
But she hadn't. Kerry smiled as Dar appeared from the bedroom, having already traded her jeans and crisp cotton blouse for a pair of shorts and an old, ratty t-shirt. "Know what?"
Dar walked over and leaned on the other side of the counter from her. "You're glad we're here," she said. "So am I."
Yes, she was glad. Kerry sighed happily. It felt so calm and peaceful here in the cabin. The sound of the ocean was audible through the sliding doors that opened onto their big porch--which was a little funny, because their condo on the island was equally quiet, and had an equally close relationship to the sea--and yet, she always felt different when she was here. "I am very happy to be here, yes," she said. "But what I was going to say was, how about a bowl of designer popcorn and a movie?"
"You don't need to ask me twice," Dar replied instantly. "Tell you what; I'll fix the coffee while you go change."
"You don't need to tell me twice." Kerry said doing a little dance as she exited the kitchen, bumping hips with Dar on her way to the bedroom. "Pick something gory."
"Only if you promise not to use that red candied apple stuff on the popcorn." Dar took her place in the kitchen, taking down a set of mugs and putting them down on the counter. "Gave me nightmares the last time."
Kerry chuckled as she entered their bedroom, smiling as she bypassed the neatly made waterbed and the mahogany dressers that held the clothing they now left at the cabin all the time. They'd picked ocean colors for the bedroom--blues and greens, with the odd punch of color, fiery orange and red, as though tropical fish had made an unexpected appearance. On both sides of the floor to ceiling windows were stained glass panels, throwing warm bars of color when the sun slanted through them.
Stormy Waters: Book 10 in The Dar & Kerry Series Page 22
