by Melissa Good
Ceci shook her head. “Not my kid,” she said, flatly. “Let me tell you from the perspective of someone who had to deal with raising Dar.” She leaned an elbow on the table. “She’s nuts. Not in a bad way, but she does crazy things for people because she’s got some weird internal chivalry that makes her do it.”
Kristie frowned. “What do you mean?”
“She would step in front of a bus for a complete stranger,” Ceci said. “She got into that guy’s face on your behalf just because jackasses offend her sense of what’s right.” She watched Christy’s face closely. “Sorry to disappoint you.”
Kristie looked away. “Well, that’s not what my dad thinks.”
“Therein lies the crux of the problem,” Ceci said. “Because it’s true and it’s not fair of you, or your father to make assumptions like that.
The idiot who was going after you, he could have had a gun. She could have been shot getting involved in that and you know what, kid? You aren’t worth it.”
Kristie stared at her.
“Not to me, not to my husband, not to Kerry Stuart,” Ceci said. “I would rather have seen you raped and beaten than have to have her get hurt doing something like that.”
“That’s harsh,” Kristie said, bluntly.
“Life is, sometimes,” Ceci said. “Your father telling us he intends to make it hard for us to live here until we leave is harsh, too, especially since the only reason he’s doing that is because he thinks Dar’s going to turn you gay.”
Kristy turned bright red.
“You do know that’s not how that happens, right?”
“I don’t know anything about it, but that sounds really stupid,” Kristie said. “You can’t make people any way like that.”
Ceci regarded her. “No, you can’t. But you know, you can’t all the time help who you’re attracted to either.”
Kristy gave her a suspicious look. “What do you mean?”
“Well, take me.” Ceci suppressed a smile. “I grew up in a very rich family up north. My parents were willing to provide me with pretty much anything I wanted. They took a lot of pains to introduce me to young men who were in the same station of life I was and give me a chance to find a partner among people who were like we were.”
Kristie paused and then nodded. “Yeah, I get that. My dad does that, too. He has me go with him to his club meetings and stuff like that.”
“Right. So what did I do? Ran away to a Greyhound bus station and fell in love with the first guy in uniform waiting for a ride I found.”
“Really?”
“Really.” Ceci glanced fondly at Andrew, who was chasing Mocha across the grass. “Andy’s from a very poor family in Alabama. We have exactly nothing in common. But that never stopped us from loving each other and making a life together. So when my daughter told us she wasn’t going to have a conventional love life, it never fazed either her father or me.”
“Did your parents freak out?” Kristie asked, curiously.
“They certainly did. I was disowned,” Ceci said. “But I never cared. Andy was more important to me than they were. So I sympathize with you about your father.”
“He’s so stupid,” Kristie said. “That’s all he can think of—about that gay stuff. It had nothing to do with that, with sex or anything. I just thought it was cool what she did and I said so.” She got it all out in a rush of words. “I didn’t think he’d freak out like that.”
Ceci studied her in silence, glancing up when Andy wandered back over and sat down next to her. “He’s not religious?”
Kristie shook her head. “No, we don’t go to church or anything like that. That’s what I told them.” She gestured vaguely in the direction of the condo. “He just doesn’t like gay people.”
“How come?” Andy asked.
“What?”
“How come he don’t like gay folks?” he repeated. “He grow up with the church or what all?”
Kristie shrugged. “Most people don’t. Right? It’s weird. It’s not...I mean it seems weird.”
Andrew shrugged back. “I guess we got a different view on it. Never much bothered me.” He cleared his throat gently. “Not with Dar, anyhow.”
Ceci turned her head. “But you didn’t like it when they hit on you. I remember that.”
Kristie’s eyes widened. “Hit on you...what do you mean?”
Andrew stroked Chino’s head as the Labrador nuzzled him. “Had me some problems with that in the Navy,” he said. “I got het up when folks talked bad about gay people, cause of Dar, and some folks took that to mean I went that way, too.”
Kristie frowned. “But you were married, right?”
Ceci raised her hand. “E-yep,” she agreed. “We’re an old fashioned couple. We got married before I had Dar, strange as that probably seems to you young ‘uns.”
“And they still wanted to...uh...have you?” Kristie made a face. “Now see what I mean? That’s gross.”
Ceci had to internally agree that the kid might actually have a point there. She remembered the feeling she’d gotten when Andy indignantly told her of the advances. “That is kind of gross,” she admitted. “But at the time I told Andy to just ignore it.”
“But I did feel something bad. So I thought maybe your father had something like that go on,” Andy said. “Put people off.”
“I don’t know.” Kristie shook her head. “He never said anything like that. I think he just...” She paused and fell silent. “He just wants us to be normal.”
“Ain’t no such thing,” Andrew said.
“I’m sorry we all got into this mess,” Ceci said. “Especially since it all started with a relatively good deed. Any ideas on how we can get everyone’s shorts out of a knot?”
They regarded each other in silence.
“SO LOOK.” BRIDGES folded his arms and leaned back against their rental car. “Here’s where we stand.”
They were outside in the late afternoon sun, a cool breeze moving the air around them. Dar was seated on the hood of the car and Kerry was leaning next to her.
“I know where we stand,” Dar said. “But if it means anything, sorry we pissed you off.” She shifted a little on the hood. “Didn’t mean to.”
“What? Never mind that.” Bridges waved his hand. “That boat’s down the river. Something else came up,” he said. “You’ll be a footnote in an hour. Everyone got focused elsewhere.”
“Great,” Kerry said. “This needed to get more complicated.”
Bridges peered at her. “You should be used to this, Stuart.”
“I’m not. I went into high tech for a reason,” Kerry told him. “I’d rather be home installing servers for the Dade County school system.”
“What?”
Kerry rephrased her speech. “I want to go home. You can keep Congress.”
“Thanks for nothing.” Bridges turned back to Dar. “How close is this thing to being able to do something useful?”
Dar folded her arms. “Six months. We could start a limited deployment in probably four.”
“Not fast enough.”
“Do you want it to work?” Dar said. “I think I asked you that in our last meeting. If you want it to be this, a canned demo, you can take this and use it. Won’t do anything useful though.”
Bridges looked around. “We need this thing. Situation just came up, just after you left off talking to POTUS,” he said. “I can’t give any details, but let me tell you after that piece aired on Turner’s butthole I got a call from some people who want to see this, as in, now.”
Dar shrugged. “I’d be glad to show whoever wants to see this demo. But the real thing’s just not ready. Writing code takes time.”
“Not only that,” Kerry said, “it’s going to take time to get all the taps into all the ISPs for the collecting to start. This can’t happen overnight.”
Bridges pinched his lips with his fingertips. “Will throwing money at it help?” he asked. “Buy a bunch of bodies for you to use?”
“
To an extent, sure,” Dar said. “More people can code segments. But it’s still not going to be overnight.”
“I could find some other bunch of idiots to do this.”
“You could.” Dar’s voice remained mild. “That’s capitalism. There’s always competition.”
“Smart ass,” Bridges said. “Tell you what, I’ll quadruple the contract price. You get me something in four weeks.”
Four weeks. Kerry looked at Dar, mentally doing the math and feeling a touch lightheaded at the amount they’d clear from it. She saw the thoughtful look in Dar’s eyes and remembered their upcoming vacation, feeling a pang of regret.
Regret which lasted barely more than a microsecond.
“No,” Dar said. “I’ve got something scheduled the next couple weeks I’m not going to back out of. I’ll have my team work on it, but they’ll finish it when they do.” She got up off the car hood and unlocked
the doors. “If that’s not good enough let me know. We’ll move on.”
Bridges studied her. “You actually mean that.” He seemed amazed.
“I do,” Dar said. “I don’t want to put my life on hold right now. Kerry and I are going to the Grand Canyon.”
Bridges stared at her. “You’re shitting me. You’re going to blow me off for that?”
“Yes.”
“What in the hell is wrong with you?”
“Excuse me, we’ve got an appointment with Congress.” She opened the car door and slid behind the driver’s seat as Kerry scooted around and got in on the other side. “Do me a favor and let us do this right. It’s going to be damned embarrassing if you don’t.”
He put his hand on the door. “Roberts, if something happens that this thing could have prevented and didn’t, it’s on your head.”
Dar met his eyes without flinching. “It is,” she said. “Which is why I’m going to deliver it to you when it’s ready. It’s my reputation on the line.”
For a moment she was sure he was going to slam the door on her. She made sure her body parts were inside, but he merely shut the door gently and patted it. Then he lifted a hand and walked off, heading back toward the gate with its stern guardians.
“I have no idea how that ended,” Kerry admitted.
Dar started the car. “I think we’re okay,” she said. “And if not, screw it.”
“I don’t know, hon.” Kerry settled back in her seat. “This is pretty deep.”
“Honestly, I don’t care.” Dar backed up and started out of the lot. “I’m going on my goddamned vacation and I don’t care if the whole Western world falls on its ass while we’re gone.”
Kerry started to make a comment, then saw the line of Dar’s jaw tighten and she merely reached over and tucked her hand around her Dar’s arm. “Can we stop and grab a snack?” she said, instead. “I’d like to get something in my stomach first before I start returning these calls or talking to Congress.”
“Sure.”
Kerry leaned over and let her head rest against Dar’s shoulder. “What a weird day.”
Dar diligently searched the passing buildings for something edible, wishing the demo for the Senate was behind them. And more than that wishing they were on the way home. The events had left her more than a little unsettled. “Tacos okay?”
“Mm.”
“How about fried chicken?”
“Mm.”
“Jamba Juice?”
“That’s the ticket,” Kerry said. “My gut’s not willing to deal with that other stuff right now.” She kept her head where it was as Dar pulled off into a small strip mall and into a parking spot. “Thanks.”
“Anything for you.” Dar patted her cheek. “And there’s a chicken wing place next door. Meet you back here?”
Kerry gave her arm a squeeze and released her. “You bet.”
They got out of the car and split up, Kerry ducking into the smoothie shop and Dar making her way into the wing joint. It was moderately busy in both and Dar got in line and waited, thumbing through her messages.
One from Maria, hoping things were all right. Another from Colleen, congratulating her on the interview.
Dar smiled a little at both of them. She opened a third that had an attachment. She opened that to find a set of code snippets for her to review.
“Ma’am?”
Dar looked up to find the cashier waiting for her. “Sorry.” She put the Handspring away. “Dozen wings hot and a large coke.”
“Sure,” the woman said. “Naked?”
“Yes.” Dar responded, ignoring the sniggering of the two teen boys behind her. She paid the woman and moved down the counter and heard the door open. Without turning, she felt a sense of warmth on the side of her body facing the entrance and knew without looking that Kerry would be there.
“Hey.” Kerry bumped her with an elbow. “I got you one, too. I thought it might counteract the wings.”
Dar collected her wings and they went to a back table, sitting down together on the bench seats. Dar pushed the basket of wings in the center of the table and Kerry handed over a tall, blended smoothie. “Are there peaches in that?”
“Of course.”
Dar pulled the cup over and contentedly sucked on the straw. “Thanks.”
“Anytime.” Kerry picked up a wing and nibbled on it. “I called Richard while I was waiting. I thought he’d have stacks of subpoenas for us so I figured I might as well find out the worst before we fly home.”
“And?” Dar was divesting a wing of its meat, sucking at the bone with single minded intensity.
“And nothing,” Kerry said. “He called the lawyer that was in that press release and the guy hung up on him.”
Dar looked up and frowned.
“He thought it was pretty weird, too.”
Dar’s phone rang and she sighed, putting down her wing and fishing the gizmo out. “Dar Roberts,” she said. “Who’s this? What? Oh.” She cleared her throat. “I’ve said everything I’ve got to say already about that.”
“Uh oh.” Kerry picked up another wing. “Hope they don’t get a cell signal in the Grand Canyon.”
Chapter Sixteen
THEY SAT IN the car parked in the lot outside the congressional office building finishing up their fruit smoothies, the windows rolled down as the late afternoon sun streamed through them.
They had ten minutes before their appointment. Dar leaned back in the driver’s seat, one knee hiked up with her elbow resting on it. She was looking out the window, watching people walk down the sidewalk and turn up the steps to enter.
“Ready?” Kerry asked, putting her cup down. “Let’s get this over with.”
Dar nibbled on the straw from her smoothie and remained quiet for a moment. “Hm.”
Kerry half turned and regarded her. “Hm? Hm what?”
“Not sure what I should tell these people,” Dar said. “I’ve been thinking about that since we left The White House.” She shifted a little and also half turned so they were facing each other. “I keep wondering if we got ourselves into something we shouldn’t have.”
“It’s a little late for that, hon,” Kerry said in a gentle tone. “We made a commitment to them.”
“I know.”
Kerry watched her profile, which was thoughtful and sort of somber. “Well,” she finally said. “Regardless of what we end up doing, we probably should do this thing here and not blow them all off.”
“Yeah,” Dar said. “You’re right.”
Kerry waited. “But?” She prompted after another silence between them.
“But I realized when he was typing in questions into it that I’d overlooked something about this system,” Dar said. “I’ve been thinking about it in the terms of having trusted people use it.”
Kerry exhaled a little. “And you realized that trust is relative?”
“Outside you and me, yes,” Dar said. “It’s too enticing. You could find out anything about anyone who uses computers with this.”
“That’s true. But you also
said it’s technology that’s out there in the wild. So it’s going to happen anyway.”
“Yeah,” Dar said. “I don’t know, Ker. I don’t know what to do. My perspective’s all turned around now.” She put her cup down and opened the door, pressing the buttons to roll the windows up. “But you’re right. We do have to go show them something.”
Kerry got out and pulled her messenger bag from the back seat. She slung it over her shoulder as she joined Dar in the front of the car, and they walked toward the building entrance. They walked up the steps and through the door, walking across the floor to the reception desk.
Dar handed over her business card and the woman nodded, handing it back and pointing to the door behind her that had, once upon a time, been guarded by some big, hungry Marines. Kerry followed Dar through it, then took the lead on the way to the big room the intelligence committee met in.
Just outside they paused and Kerry reached up to twitch Dar’s collar straight. “So, I’m sure—” Dar put two fingertips against her lips and Kerry looked up at her in surprise.
“Don’t do that,” Dar said, quietly.
Kerry’s fair brows contracted. “Hm?”
“Be straight with me. You’ve been telling me what you thought I wanted to hear all day. Stop it.”
Kerry was stunned speechless. She stood there just staring into Dar’s eyes. Finally she took a breath. “I ju—”
“I know,” Dar cut her off gently. “You just didn’t want to piss me off and I was in a crap mood. I get it.” She moved her fingers and cupped Kerry’s cheek instead. “But don’t do that. I don’t want that between us. I don’t want to wonder what you’re thinking.”
It was painful and not. It poked a pin in her heart and yet she felt a certain relief at Dar’s words. That surprised her and yet as she thought about that, it didn’t surprise her at all. She put her hands in her pockets and exhaled. “I think maybe this place does that to me.”
Dar looked around, then back at her.
“I lived most of my life inside the mirror funhouse of politics,” Kerry said. “Reality was whatever you convinced people it was.” She felt her skin flush as a skittering of past memories flashed into her mind’s eye. “I had to learn how to pitch everything.”
