by Melissa Good
Now Dar was diligently upgrading the wireless in the condo while she got two washes done, just a typical weeknight at the condo taking care of chores.
Dar poked her head in the bedroom a few minutes later. “Hey.” She entered, removing one of the ear buds. “Dinner’s ready.”
Kerry finished folding the pair of fire engine red panties in her hands and removed the other bud. “What are we having?” She turned off the digital player clipped to the waistband of her shorts. Dar had offered to cook, or actually, had offered to obtain a meal for them. That could pretty much be anything from corn dogs to filet mignon from the island’s restaurant.
Never was the same thing twice.
“Chicken and rice.”
Kerry put the ear buds down on the dresser. “You haven’t had time to cook that so did it come from the Italian place?”
Dar smiled. “Haven’t had time and have no idea how to,” she said. “Would you believe the Cuban place across the channel delivers here by boat?”
“I do now.” Kerry followed her to the kitchen where there were aluminum foil wrapped packages on the counter top. “I don’t even want to know what the delivery charge is.” She unwrapped the items as the clatter of toenails sounded on the tile. “Ah, our children heard the crinkling.”
They moved to the living room with plates of fragrant chicken and rice and sprawled on the couch. Dar flipped on the television.
Kerry forked up a bit of the tender chicken. “This is good,” she said. “You get the Wi-Fi all worked out?”
“Yep.” Dar slung one long leg over the couch arm and studiously ignored the two pairs of Labrador eyes watching her every move. A nearby handset rang and she set the plate on the side table and reached over to answer the house phone. “Don’t know who the hell this might be. Hello?”
“Hey, Dar,” Mark’s voice echoed through the handset. “Just heard from one of our old workmates so I thought I’d give you a buzz. I figured you could use a laugh.”
“Sure.” Dar put the handset on speaker. “Kerry’s listening too. What’s up?”
“Remember you said eventually they’d have a fuck up and then we’d know how screwed up they were?” Mark sounded amused. “Happened sooner than later. Pete, the guy who took over my spot? He just called me. Total cluster. They did some change that the new ops VP told them to do and everything’s cocked up.”
“Oh. Damn.” Dar mentally pictured it. “What kind of change?”
“Pete was in too much of a flop sweat to tell me. He was just praying to cheezus I could tell him what to do, because everyone’s screaming at him.”
“Did you?”
Mark hesitated a trifle then cleared his throat. “No. Not...I mean, if I could have given him a quick ten word answer, I might have, you know? But I don’t know what they changed.”
“Sounds like a mess,” Kerry said, fishing out a small bit of chicken breast for each of her two furry acolytes.
“Yeah, it is,” Mark said. “So besides thinking you’d think it was kinda funny, I thought I should warn ya because Pete knows, and probably everyone else knows there’s only one person they could call who maybe could help them.”
Dar sighed.
“Would you?” Kerry asked, curiously.
“I would tell them just revert their damn change,” Dar said. “Shouldn’t take me to do that, though. It’s common sense, Mark.”
“Hundred percent, boss,” Mark said. “That’s what I told Pete. Problem is, so many cooks were in the kitchen and making changes to try to fix it, they never recorded the start state and they don’t know what to do to put it back.”
Dar frowned. “Pull the configs from the repository and push them.”
“They tried that,” Mark said. “Something went wrong with it. Pete’s kinda freaked.”
Dar paused thoughtfully and took a forkful of her dinner. “Someone making things worse on purpose?” she asked after she swallowed. “Big coincidence the repository going down in the mix.”
“I kinda thought about that but the guys left there want their jobs. I don’t think they’d do that. Bigger gain for them if they run smooth and get in good with the new dude,” Mark said. “So anyway, like I said, just thought I’d let ya know because you never know. They might swallow the pill and pick up the phone.”
“I doubt it, but thanks, Mark,” Dar said. “Let us know if you hear any more tidbits. Pays to be in the know.”
“You got it, boss.” Mark sounded satisfied. “See ya tomorrow.”
“Later.” Dar hung up the phone and for a long few moments they simply ate together in silence, deep in thought.
“It’s so weird,” Kerry finally said. “Knowing that’s going on and not getting any calls for it.”
“Uh huh,” Dar agreed. “They won’t call me. Too much loss of face. They’ll bring in specialists or someone from the vendors to sort it out.”
“I think you’re right.”
Dar handed over a bite of chicken to the patiently waiting Chino, then provided a smaller piece to Mocha who stood up on his hind legs and pattered on her knee with his front paws. “When they get through this, maybe they’ll start forgetting about us and move on.”
“I sure hope so.” Kerry wiped her lips and got up, putting her plate down. “Watch that for me will you? Want some ice tea?”
“Sure.”
Kerry went into the kitchen and got a couple of glasses out, pausing a moment to think about how she felt about ILS being in trouble.
Part of her felt a little gleeful and she wasn’t sure if she was altogether happy about that since she’d spent so much time on the other side of the coin. But there was resentment there, too, of how ILS had treated her and Dar, and it would be folly to pretend that didn’t exist.
And if they did call Dar?
Hm.
She opened the refrigerator and poured the beverage, the tea itself having been made using the sun method. It had tea, of course, but also raspberries and blackberries. It was murky and weird looking but tasted fine.
She brought the tea back into the living room where Dar had found a special on penguins to watch. “Oh, cute.” She settled back on the couch, this time with her shoulder right up against Dar so she could let her head rest there, too.
Dar shifted and touched her head to Kerry’s. “I was just thinking about what I was going to do if they do decide to call me,” she said.
“I was in the kitchen wondering the same thing,” Kerry said. “Hon, tempting as it is to be the knight in shining armor that saves them, I think those bastards will just use that as leverage to say you deliberately crippled the company by leaving.”
Dar smiled. “Now who’s being psychic?”
“Seriously. I think the reason they fired Hamilton is because they want to come after you no matter what our agreement was. They’ll take any excuse.”
“They’re businessmen,” Dar said. “I hope that would mean they’ll do things just to continue the company’s success. Coming after me doesn’t do anything for anyone.”
“I think some of them don’t care.”
Dar shrugged. “Could be. Anyway, it’s a moot point unless they call.” She paused thoughtfully. “I don’t think they will. I think it’ll kill them to have to. But if they’re desperate enough to do that, if I do help, I get one up on them.”
“I don’t know, Dar.”
“Wait ‘til it happens. Or not,” Dar said. “They don’t have idiots
there. I’m sure they can figure it out.” Kerry snorted, but remained silent, finishing up her chicken.
“KERRISITA?”
Kerry looked up from her desk to find Maria in the doorway. “Hey, Maria. What’s up?”
“The receptionist has someone downstairs who wished to speak with you,” Maria said. “I think it might be one of those terrible men.”
Kerry tapped her pen on her desk. “Can you ask Carlos to bring him up?”
“Surely,” Maria said and ducked out.
“Th
is might be interesting.” Kerry cocked her head to one side to listen for Dar in the next room. Silence greeted her, but she figured if Carlos was bringing the guy, it should be all right.
A couple of minutes later Carlos knocked softly at the door frame, then stood back to let his charge enter, following him inside.
Kerry was waiting, her desk cleared, the folder she had of the job openings off to one side. Not to her surprise, the man who came in was the guy who had stalked her. She remained neutrally silent while he crossed over and sat down in one of her visitor’s chairs.
Carlos went over and stood on the other side of him, hands clasped in front of him. “You be polite to this lady or you’re going out the window, bud.”
The man looked at him then back at Kerry without commenting.
“What can I do for you?” Kerry finally broke the silence. “Mr. Patterson, is it?”
“Yeah.” He cleared his throat. “Wheels told me you gave him a list of open positions.”
“I did,” Kerry said. “He asked me why none of the jobs were offered to you and your friends. The reason is that none of you are registered with a technical placement agency. But I gave him a list of openings in case he was qualified for one of them.”
“Seems like he can talk just fine,” Carlos commented. “Not sure why you’re all in his business.”
Patterson turned and looked at him. “Why don’t you get out of here?”
“‘Cause I don’t have to. I work here,” Carlos replied in a mild tone. “And my job is to make sure that this lady doesn’t have to deal with jackasses. So don’t be one.”
Kerry really liked Carlos. He stayed relaxed, maintaining a benignly friendly expression that was at complete odds with his words. He didn’t see any need to bluster, there was just a calm confidence about him that reminded her a little of Andrew.
“Whatever.” Patterson turned back to Kerry. “So here’s the deal,” he said. “All of us come in together.”
Kerry folded her hands. “Do all of you have IT experience?”
“Wheels knows that stuff, and Doug, too. But it’s all or nothing. We’re a team.”
Kerry cleared her throat. “Mr. Patterson, I don’t hire gangs.” She paused. “If any of you have experience I’d be more than happy to have you apply. If you qualify for a position, I’ll hire you. But no one gets to work here on someone else’s back.”
“That’s not how it works,” he said.
“That’s how it works here,” Kerry said. “I get to make the rules. I own the company.” She had to stifle a smile as she said it because it was impossible to suppress the shiver of pride that went through her. “So if you, or any of your friends, individually, are interested in a position, c’mon in and fill out an application.”
Behind him Kerry caught sight of Dar standing quietly in the doorway between their offices, arms crossed, watching Patterson like a hawk.
“So what’s it going to be?” Kerry asked, since Patterson was just glaring at her. “I don’t have time to debate with you about it.”
“Okay look,” he grudgingly responded. “All of us been friends since grade school. If we could do civ stuff we woulda. But we ended up going into the service and had each other’s backs there. Same thing here. We want to stay together and we can all do useful stuff. Just not all that tech crap.”
“I get that,” Kerry said. “But it’s not how we do things. We’re a small company and every person has to be here to help us go forward. I can’t just hire people with useful skills, because they might not be useful to me.”
“Yeah well I figured you’d say that.” Patterson stood up. “Screw it. We’ll go find someone else who appreciates veterans who served their country.” He turned his back and started out, pausing when he saw Dar watching him. “Too many queers around here anyway.”
Dar looked him up and down. “Takes one to know one,” she said with a smile. “Carlos, see the gentleman out, please.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Carlos caught up to Patterson at the door and followed him out.
“That was icky,” Kerry said as Dar sauntered over and parked herself on the windowsill behind her desk. “Was he serious, Dar? Did he really think we’d just hire a bunch of guys like that?”
“Should have offered to take all of them but only pay for the guys who were qualified. Let them share that,” Dar said, muffling a smile when Kerry turned all the way around and stared at her. “Just kidding.”
“Jesus.”
Dar folded her arms. “I think those guys are in a place where it’s them against everyone. You let someone get ahead, like Wheels maybe, and the group breaks down. I can see why they’d want to stick together.”
Kerry eyed her thoughtfully. “Isn’t that sort of a fantasy land?”
“I think they’re looking at it like that’s all the family they have,” Dar said. “They don’t have anything else. I don’t agree with the request. I think they’re a box of assholes in a pink paper wrapper, but I remember what my dad used to say about his teammates and it is what it is.”
Kerry sighed. “Wish Dad was here. Maybe he could talk to them since he’s been there.”
“I think we should talk to Wheels on the side,” Dar said. “If he’s the one with tech skills, it’s not fair to him to hold him back. Maybe we can force a split there. Might be a good thing for all of them.” She pushed herself up off the sill. “But I wouldn’t hire the guy who was here even if he was Charles Babbage himself.”
“Booyah,” Kerry agreed, giving her a wry grin as she retreated back to her office. “Okay, next.” She picked up the phone and dialed a number. “Charles? Hey, it’s Kerry. Just wanted to make sure you got those quotes.”
DAR DROPPED INTO her chair and leaned back, glancing over her shoulder at the darkening sky. Mark had just settled in her visitor chair and they both had bottled drinks they were sucking on. “Hear from your buddy?”
Mark rolled his eyes. “Six times,” he said. “I’m feeling it for the guy. They’re roasting him. They got like three contractors and half the tech staff from two vendors and they’re still in the weeds.”
Dar frowned. “What in the hell could they have done to screw things up that badly? Network was stable for two god damned years before I left.”
Mark muffled a smile. “He told me that new guy—the one who took Kerry’s spot—said we’d been doing it wrong, you know? So he had them switch all the routing protocols because it would make everything faster.”
Dar covered her eyes in eloquent silence.
“Boss, it’s a mess. They literally had to static route stuff in the main office just to keep systems up.”
“Oh my fucking god,” Dar muttered. “Are you kidding me?”
“Pete’s sure it’s gonna get out he was talking to me and he’s gonna get fired, but he said today, he’s probably gonna get fired anyway because the new guy’s got Teflon boxers and he’s throwing them all under the bus.”
Dar lowered her hand and stared at him. “What?”
“He told the big cheeses that Pete and his team screwed up the change and he’s doing his best to fix it.” Dar’s face changed from exasperated bemusement to a dark, cold anger in the flash of an eye. “I felt bad for Pete. He was kinda losing it. Said he never thought his boss would do that.”
“No,” Dar said, in a clipped tone.
“We never had to worry about that,” Mark added gingerly. He saw Dar was totally pissed off, her body was getting restless and she was breathing a little faster. “Sorry, boss, didn’t mean to tick you off.”
Dar took a deep breath and released it. “What an asshole.”
Mark grinned wryly at her. “I kinda hope they call you,” he admitted. “I want to be there when you finish fixing that crap and tell that guy, David Willerson, what he’s going to die of.”
Kerry came in, sorting through a handful of papers. “Charles signed the letter of intent. He got funding for about ninety five percent of the quotes we gave him.” She glanced up at Dar
and saw the storm clouds. “What’s up?”
“Just filling Big D in on stuff at the old place,” Mark said. “Anyway if I hear any more, I’ll clue you.” He got up. “Time to go get on the bike and ride.” He lifted a hand and waved, then left.
Kerry put her papers down and went around behind Dar to start massaging her neck and shoulders. “What’s got you so torked? They still screwed up?”
Dar exhaled again. “The new guy told them to make that change, then when it went south he blamed them.”
Kerry winced. “They would never see that coming.”
Dar braced her elbow on the arm of her chair and rested her head against it. “Yeah, that’s what Mark said.”
Kerry leaned over and gave her a kiss, along with a compassionate hug. “Aw, hon.” Dar reached up and took hold of her hand. “Hey, maybe those guys will figure out how to fix it and turn the tables.”
Dar shifted and looked up at her, eyebrows hiking.
“You never know.”
DAR TAPPED HER boxing gloves together and studied the big hanging bag, determining what to pound the crap out of next. She’d spent forty five minutes whaling at the bag.
Kerry was wisely across the gym, doing sit-ups. They’d been together long enough for her to know when to leave Dar alone for a little while. She knew Dar would come over to join her at some machine once she felt better.
She was almost at that point.
Dar switched bags, going from the big body bag over to the speed bag and starting a slow rhythm on it. As she sped up the routine the stress finally released out of her and she was able to focus on the exercise and not wish it was a human being taking the punishment.
She spent ten minutes on a rapid patter battering of the bag, then slowed it down and finished, feeling a pleasant ache in her arms. With an exhale of satisfaction, she turned and left the boxing area, working the gloves off her hands.
The island gym was mostly empty at this hour and she was unimpeded as she crossed the floor and zeroed in on Kerry, who was taking a break from her routine. “Hey.”
