Hurricane Watch - DK2

by Melissa Good

  The personnel VP smiled. ”For Santeria, my uncle’s a priest.”

  Skippy’s eyes jiggled. ”Oh, um, next?”

  ”I, um,” Charles swallowed nervously, ”I raise fish,” he mumbled.

  ”Salt water tropical fish. I have a tank.”

  ”Really?” Dar asked. ”How big?”

  He looked up at her and pushed his glasses up onto his nose.

  ”Seven hundred gallons.” He nodded a little. ”I converted my garage.”

  Even Dar's eyes popped. ”That’s not a tank, that’s the Seaquarium,”

  she murmured. ”That must take a lot of time to take care of.”

  ”It does, but my wife and the kids, they help,” Charles stated, happy at the reaction. ”I have a baby nurse shark,” he stated proudly. ”I had to segment him, though. He was eating all the flounder and getting fat.””My god,” Eleanor blinked at her assistant in amazement, ”that’s incredible.”

  Everyone looked at her. ”What?” The Marketing VP snapped. ”Oh, a hobby, how silly. I have no hobby.”

  ”Nothing? What do you do in your spare time?” Skippy inquired, encouraged by her last success.

  Eleanor remained silent for a moment. ”Well, I go to dinner, of course, and go out shopping, and play cards with friends of ours.”

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  ”Oh, well, that’s nice,” the blonde guide smiled perkily. ”What about you?” She turned her gaze to Steven.

  He glared at Dar. ”I run,” he answered grumpily. ”I enter marathons.”

  Big smile from Skippy. ”Oh, that’s wonderful. I always wanted to do that. I participate in all our corporate walks and runs. Isn’t it great exercise?”

  ”Yeah.” He tried to clean the black muck from under his nails with little success. ”Great.”

  Mary Lou leaned back and grasped her knee with both hands. ”I fly ultra lights,” she stated, grinning at the reaction. ”Yeah, that’s me out there in south Dade on the weekends, buzzing around.” Her eyes slid to Dar, who was seated next to her. ”What about you?”

  The blue eyes blinked innocently. ”I collect heads,” she answered with a straight face. ”You know, shrunken ones, with the laces through the lips.”

  Everyone stared at her, with reactions ranging from horror to wry amusement. ”Well, it’s what you all expected to hear,” the executive drawled. ”Isn’t it?” She caught the swiftly hidden grin on Kerry’s face.

  ”Actually, I scuba dive.”

  Skippy nodded her head like a back car seat Chihuahua and turned to Kerry, hopefully. ”Hi there.”

  Kerry drew in a breath. ”I write poetry,” she answered very quietly, her peripheral vision catching the warm twinkle in Dar’s eyes.

  “You do?” Mariana half turned to look at her. “Really?”

  Kerry nodded. “I have, off and on, since I was small,” she elaborated. “And I scu...like to take pictures, too. Photography.”

  ”That’s wonderful.” Skippy looked like she could have kissed her.

  ”So creative!”

  José had propped his chin up on his hand with a bored look. ”I collect baseball cards,” he told them. ”For investments, you know?”

  Another pathetically grateful look from the guide. ”Oh, that’s so fantastic. I always wanted to do that.” She made a mark on her clipboard. ”Well, we certainly are a varied group, aren’t we?” She went through her papers. ”Okay, well, I hope you all learned something about each other. Um, let’s try a trust exercise now.” She stood up.

  ”Everybody stand up, and we’ll take turns catching each other.”

  They all looked at her.

  ”It’ll be fun,” she assured them. ”Really.”

  ”THIS IS A bad idea.” Dar stood in the back of the circle of people.

  Kerry turned and glanced at her. ”It’s okay. We used to do this during practice for gymnastics. It’s just a game, Dar.” She kept herself from giving Dar a comforting pat on the arm, but leaned closer and dropped her voice. “Don't worry, whatever happens, I won’t let you fall.”

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  Dar gazed at her, a smile playing about the edges of her lips. ”I knew that,” she murmured back. ”I just...” She chewed her lip. ”I don’t like people touching me.”

  Kerry rubbed her jaw. ”Well, you could tell everyone not to catch you,” she commented softly. ”But that’s gonna hurt.”

  Dar sighed and watched as Skippy joined them with her ever-present clipboard, her hair tucked up under a delightfully pink hat with a prancing, coy pony on it. The executive had an almost irresistible desire to snatch it and bury it deep in the earth.

  ”Okay. This is how this works,” the guide explained. ”One person stands in the middle, and the rest of you get behind. Then that person just lets themselves fall back, and everyone else catches them. Okay?”

  ”What if they don’t?” Duks asked, in his deep rumble.

  ”Excuse me?” Skippy peered at him.

  ”What if they don’t catch the person?” The Financial VP inquired.

  ”Oh, well...um... I guess they just...well, they fall, I guess.” The woman’s brow knit. ”I don’t know, really. It’s never happened.”

  ”That’s very reassuring.” Duks put his hands behind his back and rocked on his heels. He was wearing a pair of cotton painter’s pants and comfortable looking hiking boots, along with a crimson flannel shirt.

  Then he turned to Mariana, who was wearing a crisp tan shirt over blue jeans. ”You did bring workman’s comp packets just in case, right?”

  Mariana cleared her throat. ”Of course.”

  Skippy blinked at her, disconcerted. ”You did? Oh, well, I’m sure you won’t need them,” she hastened to reassure her. ”This is a very safe course. We never have accidents, never.”

  ”Don’t worry, my dear. The ship is absolutely unsinkable,” Mary Lou muttered, sotto voce, making Dar snicker in reaction.

  ”Shh,” Kerry scolded her. ”Or we’ll be at this all day. Let’s get it over with.”

  ”Um, who wants to start?” Skippy gave Steven a little smile.

  With a little shrug he came forward. ”Might as well, can’t be worse than being dumped on my ass in the mud this morning.” He glared at Dar.“I didn’t touch you,” Dar shot right back. “If you can’t watch where you’re running, don’t blame me.”

  ”You could have warned me!”

  Everyone looked at Dar, who shrugged. ”How was I supposed to know that mud was there?” she asked reasonably. ”You decided to run ahead of me. Not my fault you didn’t stop in time,” she said. “My reputation as a psychic is highly overrated.”

  “Your reputation is highly overrated, that’s for damn sure,” Steven shot back.

  ”Oh, will you two shut up?” Eleanor snapped, in a foul mood.

  ”Let’s get this idiocy over with already.”

  Sullen glares all around. Steven turned his back on them and let his Hurricane Watch

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  arms hang down straight, his bright blue sweatshirt over a white polo shirt contrasting with his khaki chinos. ”Ready?”

  José sidled forward and nudged them all along. ”Come on, come on.” They clustered in a group. ”All right.”

  Steven very obviously squared his shoulders, then let himself tip back.A loud explosion behind them sounded. Everyone jumped and whirled, even Skippy, who threw her clipboard up as a defense. ”Oh my!”Steven, forgotten by the distracted group, dropped into the pine needle filled ground with a thump. ”Son of a bitch!” he screamed as his head hit the turf. “You bastards!”

  The sound was repeated and they realized it was a backfire from some vehicle. Skippy dashed over to where Steven was lying, rubbing his head, and knelt down. ”Oh my gosh, oh my gosh. Are you all right?”

  They were all torn between giving him guilty looks and watching the camp entrance, where a low growling sound indicated someone was approaching. ”Listen, sorry about that kid.”
José offered him a hand up.

  ”That noise, you know, it just startled us, sounded like a damn gun.”

  The sound got louder, then a flash of sun on metal almost blinded them as a Harley roared in. It slowed a bit as the driver checked out the scene, then thumped across the uneven ground and headed in their direction. It pulled to a stop and the rider pulled his helmet off. ”Hey.”

  It took all Dar’s considerable concentration to keep a devilish grin off her face. ”Hey, Mark, didn’t think you’d make it.” She greeted him.

  The MIS chief got off his bike and glanced down at his body, which was covered in tiny, blood specked forms. ”Neither did I, goddamned love bugs. The company owes me big time for this one. It’s gonna take me a week to get all their guts off my bike.” He glanced over. ”What’s he doing on the ground?”

  Chapter

  Seven

  “SO MUCH FOR that.” Kerry leaned back against a pine tree, crossing her ankles and folding her arms. She looked past the figures of Skippy and Steven, in earnest conversation nearby. “Okay, so it probably was a bad idea.”

  Dar was scuffing the pine needle littered ground with one boot.

  “Pure chance,” she shrugged. “Not like I called Mark up and arranged it, or told him to go first.”

  “You’ll get blamed anyway,” Duks said. “The man does not like you, my friend.”

  ”That was a bitch, Dar.” Mark shook his head as he joined them, having changed out of his leather and love bug carcass outfit into something less gruesome. ”I ended up having the Erding office bring the equipment in for them. You’re gonna owe a few folks out there.”

  Dar nodded. ”Good going.” She re-tucked her long sleeved, heavy cotton shirt into her jeans. ”Glad you could join us.” She glanced over where Steven, José and Eleanor were now clustering together. “Tilts the scale a little.”

  ”Yeah, you look like you’re having a great time,” Mark commented dryly. ”This place is a dump.” He glanced over as Skippy returned with a bunch of little sacks slung over her shoulder. ”Uh oh, now what?”

  ”Okay!” Skippy looked perkily grim. ”Here’s what we’re going to do now. We’ve got a course set up—you can see the entrance to it over there.” She pointed and they all looked over to where a trail was clearly marked. ”It’s a ten mile path, and along the way there are different stations and obstacles you have to get through.” She handed each one of them a bag. ”The object of this is for all of you to get through.” She gave them a look. ”All of you, not just some of you, okay? You all have to get back. All of you. Everyone get my point?”

  Kerry muffled a wry chuckle.

  “Great,” Mariana sighed, “I can see where this is going.”

  Skippy looked at them as though waiting for more commentary, then she shook her head and went back to her program.

  ”Okay. In this sack is your lunch and a snack.” She held up a sample. ”The directions are on the top.”

  Dar laughed on seeing them. ”You guys shop on the Military channel by any chance?”

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  Skippy scowled, in a nice way, at her. ”Anyway, at each station is a check point. You have to get this card stamped at each checkpoint.

  About halfway, there’s a cabin with water and juice, and things like that,” she exhaled. ”It’s not a race, okay? The purpose is to make you work together, to get through the obstacles.”

  ”We got that point,” Duks informed her. “Yes, we understand we are not to leave any of our colleagues behind.”

  ”Right...okay...well, go on. We’ll have dinner waiting for you guys when you get back.” Skippy made shooing motions with her hands.

  ”Wait, you want us to walk for ten miles?” Eleanor objected. ”You must be joking.” She glanced around for support. ”That’s ridiculous.”

  ”It’s not that bad,” Kerry told her kindly as she moved closer to the Marketing VP. ”Really.”

  ”Oh no, no, no way.” Eleanor backed away from her. ”I’m sorry.

  I’ve had enough.”

  ”Look.” Skippy clasped her clipboard to her chest. ”This is the important part of the seminar, okay? I have to write a report on your group for your leadership team, and it’s based mostly on this exercise.”

  “Yes,” Steven spoke up suddenly. “You don’t want to be the one with the bad marks in that report, do you, Eleanor? We know YOU

  don’t want this to be a failure.”

  Dar’s eyes narrowed.

  Mariana exhaled. ”Come on, Eleanor. God knows I’m not up to walking ten miles, but we’ll get through it.” She glanced over at Dar.

  ”Let’s get going. The sooner we start, the sooner we finish.” She shouldered her pack. ”We can rest along the way, right?” This she directed at Skippy.

  The guide smiled in relief. ”Right. There are benches and things for you to rest on. It’s not an endurance race or anything,” she assured them. ”And there are water fountains.”

  The group moved off reluctantly and approached the path, passing the sign and entering a tree lined, fairly well marked lane covered in sand and pine needles.

  A grumpy silence held over them and they strung out a little on the path, with José and Steven deciding to set the pace and Dar choosing to bring up the rear. Kerry casually dropped back next to her.

  The wind picked up a little and blew the leaves against each other, whistling lightly around them and isolating their conversation.

  ”Having fun?” Dar inquired.

  ”Mm, not really, but did it seem to you like Mary Sunshine back there was awfully glad to get rid of us?” Kerry asked, adjusting her canvas pack to settle around her slim waist, instead of over her shoulder. ”Here, let me get yours. It’s easier to carry this way.” She adjusted her companion’s pack, slipping her arms around Dar for the moment needed to fasten the straps.

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  Melissa Good

  attention from their grousing coworkers stomping ahead of them.

  ”Yeah.” Dar glanced around. ”I don’t think we’re going to rate a good report from her. We’ve been sort of uncooperative.” She took a breath of the cool air and felt her temper settle a little. ”This is kind of nice, though.”

  ”Wait until we get to the obstacles.” Kerry chuckled, rolling her eyes. ”Hey, you know, I had the weirdest dream last night.” She missed the sudden, startled glance in her direction from Dar. ”We were riding a horse and you were wearing armor.”

  ”What?” Dar started laughing. ”You’re joking.”

  ”No, no, really.” Kerry chuckled too. ”I know, it was really strange, but it was really vivid, too. I could smell the horse and the leather stuff you were wearing, and the armor was some kind of brass.”

  Dar didn’t reply. She went silent for a moment and paced along, thinking. ”Well,” she finally said. ”I guess it was the atmosphere then. I had a pretty strange dream too.” Then she fell silent.

  Kerry waited for a long minute. ”What was it about? Was I in it?”

  she coaxed, interested.

  ”Yeah,” Dar responded. ”We were on a hill, someplace I didn’t recognize really, over some river. It was warm out and we were just out there, watching the clouds go by.” She paused. ”You were sleeping. You had your head resting on my leg.” She tapped her thigh.

  Kerry waited. ”And that’s strange?” she queried, puzzled. ”I don’t get it.”

  ”You were pregnant,” Dar said, very softly. ”That was the strange part.” She walked on a few more paces before she realized she was walking alone. With a start, she stopped and looked behind her. Kerry was standing on the path, staring at her. ”Hey, it was just a dream.” But she felt the question in her own voice and knew Kerry had heard it.

  Kerry took a breath, then started forward, breaking into a trot and catching up with Dar. They continued walking in silence for a little stretch.

  ”That is strange,”
Kerry finally said. ”I mean, it’s kind of a shock to hear that, it’s something I...” she hesitated. ”I know I don’t have to worry about that anymore, unless I want to...um...you know.” She looked up at Dar’s face, seeing the odd hints of tension around her eyes.

  ”Uh, have you...I mean, do you want...um...”

  ”No, no.” Dar lifted her hands and let them fall. ”Kids and me, they don’t mix well,” she stated firmly, then hesitated. ”I mean, well, I um...I mean, if you wanted...someday...I think...um...” She fell silent, then peered at Kerry. ”You know?”

  Kerry’s face wrinkled up into a confused grin. ”I think so, but it’s not in my plans anytime soon, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

  ”I wasn’t worried,” Dar replied instantly. ”Not at all. I was just saying that...um...it’s possible to get used to anything, if you know what I mean.”

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  Now, Kerry smiled. ”I know what you mean,” she reassured her boss. ”But that’s a strange image, for a dream.”

  ”Well, what about me in armor?” Dar asked, glad to change the subject. ”Maybe it was those sandwiches we had last night. I’m still not sure of what they were.”

  ”Maybe,” Kerry agreed softly. ”Jesus, I haven’t thought about being pregnant for...” A pause. ”A while.”

  A gust of wind blew past them, lifting up dark and pale hair and whipping it around both their faces. They’d let the group get a short distance in front of them and the winding path had isolated the two of them briefly.

  Dar glanced over and saw the look of quiet, grim introspection on her lover’s face and she debated with herself, whether or not to push Kerry on the subject. Finally she sighed, and flexed her shoulders. ”You, um,” a light shrug, ”Want to talk about it?”

  Kerry regarded the passing trees thoughtfully. ”Not really much to talk about. It was just mostly stupidity on my part, when I was home last year,” she related, in a quiet tone. ”They were giving me a hard time. I felt lousy,” A slight pause. ”I felt ugly,” Kerry wryly corrected herself. ”And I went to a party with some old friends from college, got drunk until I didn’t know half of what I was doing, and ended up in bed with some guy I hadn’t seen for five years.”