Moving Target

by Melissa Good

  Dar's expressive face scrunched into an engaging scowl.

  "Okay. Want to maybe work on budgets?" Kerry tried a different route. "Or, hey... you can help me put together the pricing for those guys in New York."

  Dar put her hands on her hips, exhaling noisily.

  "Want to run away and join the circus?" Kerry mimed carrying a backpack. "We could train elephants."

  Finally, Dar started chuckling. "Sorry." She sighed. "I don't know what's wrong with me today. I've been antsy as a turkey in November." She leaned back against the glass and stuck her hands into her pockets. "I just want this whole damn thing to be over with. I'm tired of it. I'm tired of this stinking building, and that rust bucket outside, and this damn rain."

  Kerry chose a spot next to her and claimed it, leaning back also and hooking her thumbs into her belt loops. "Want to go back to the office? I'm sure you could get stuff done there."

  "Trying to get rid of me?"

  "No, hon. I'm just trying to make you a little happier." Kerry pressed her shoulder against Dar's. "Since you won't run away to the circus with me." She turned her head and looked outside. "Or, to hell with it. Let's just get wet. I like you in a see through shirt. Hell with the rest of the staff."

  Dar's shoulders relaxed and she chuckled again but this time with a far more casual tone. "Nah," she said. "Give me a minute, and we can go cut up some cardboard. My damn jeans are still damp and I don't really want that to get any worse."

  Kerry patted one of her partner's thighs, and grunted. "Yeah, they sure are," she said. "I hope you don't catch cold in the air conditioning in this place."

  Dar grimaced. "Me, too," she said. "That would suck."

  "Mm. But I'd get to make you chicken soup." Kerry found a typically silvered lining in the thought. "And you'd get a chance to stay home and work on your new model."

  The both reflected on the rain drumming at their backs against the glass. Finally, Dar straightened up and removed her hands from her pockets. "Okay."

  "Over it?"

  "Yeah." Dar headed for the stack of PC boxes with a determined, if limping, stride.

  Kerry jogged to catch up, as a crack of thunder rattled the air behind her

  THE RAIN FINALLY stopped near sunset. Dar and Kerry went out onto the dock, and met a group of the techs including Barry and Mark as they came off the ship. They stood in the middle of the open space with the still damp air moving over them.

  "How's it going?" Kerry asked.

  "Okay." Barry shrugged. "I mean, the boxes are coming up, but we knew they would."

  Dar's eyebrows lifted skeptically

  "We can't really do much until we get the end units in, though." Mark added. "And start testing all that interfacing crap." He hefted his backpack. "I wanted to keep going, but they've got some kind of special stuff going on tonight. They chased us off."

  Kerry put her hands on her hips. "Wait, that wasn't supposed to happen."

  "No." Barry pointed down the dock. "But they're all doing it. I heard them talking."

  They turned and looked where he was pointing, seeing streams of workers coming off the next ship down. Loud, yet indistinguishable voices rang out as the men poured through the gates, some shooting rude hand gestures at the ships.

  "Damn." Kerry exhaled. "That sucks. If we could just keep going, we'd just about catch up from yesterday."

  Barry nodded. "I don't want to hang out in there, but you're right, Kerry. Things went really good today." He glanced at Mark. "Right?"

  "Yeah."

  "Did the electrician take care of that connection?" Kerry asked Mark. "I saw him pass the back doors."

  "Yep." Mark appeared pleased. "Not just that, but he did a bunch of other stuff for us. Good guy. He's from the office, isn't he?"

  "Yeah." Dar murmured her brow furrowed in thought. "What did they say this special thing was?"

  The techs were quiet. "I don't think they really exactly said." Barry admitted. "Some nautical thing or something?"

  Dar headed for the gangway. "I'm going to go talk to the captain. See what I can find out about the nautical thing." She called back over her shoulder. "Stay here. Don't let anyone leave yet."

  They all watched her head up the ramp before Mark shook his head. "That captain guy was okay with us, but man, he was not messing with wanting us all out of there. Hope he doesn't chew her head off. He looked like he could be a bastard."

  "Not if he knows what's good for him." Kerry excused herself and started after Dar. "Besides, Dar's a nautical sort of person too maybe they'll hit it off."

  Barry shook his head. The other techs remained prudently silent. "Didn't DR say for everyone to stay here?" The server manager asked.

  Everyone, with the exception of the now missing Kerry, rolled their eyes and headed for the terminal building.

  "She did, I heard her." Barry protested, following them. "Won't she get mad?"

  "Man." Mark held the door for the group. "You deserve to be an MCSE."

  "What?"

  DESPITE THE LINGERING stench, and the clutter of tools and materials everywhere, Dar found the ship much more appealing with most of the workers off of it. Now that twilight was in the offing the oppressive heat had dissipated. As she strode through the central atrium she could see signs that all the work was having some kind of effect at least.

  The floors had been mostly redone, and bright rounds of carpet were inlaid between circles of newly polished marble. The railings had been resurfaced with a new coating of brass and the curved reception desks sported handsome teak inlays.

  Dar started up the center steps feeling just a touch better about the project. Their systems were in, and the staff was working well. All she needed was to keep the momentum going. She looked around as she climbed upward, seeing only one or two of the workmen heading quietly in the other direction.

  By the time she reached the deck where the ship's bridge was, she was quite alone. All the hammering and noise of construction had stopped and as she walked along the plastic covered carpet. Dar could see a slow veneer of modernism creeping over the aged surfaces.

  It was like an eighty year old woman getting a radical facelift.

  That threw Dar's mind onto a different track, and she pondered over it as she walked down the long corridor that would eventually take her to the front of the ship, and the bridge. Eleanor had revealed to them all at their last meeting that she was taking a few weeks off to go get herself 'done.'

  Everyone had accepted this, and congratulated her, except for Dar. Dar had been a bit puzzled as to why the woman would want to spend ten or fifteen thousand dollars to have invasive surgery just to look like someone had stretched saran wrap over her face.

  She just didn't get it. So then, Eleanor had, with some justified exasperated snarkiness, reminded her that as the youngest person in the room, to please shut up until it was her turn to be ancient.

  So that brought her to thinking about what she'd do when she did become ancient. Would she take Eleanor's route and get 'done'? Outside her immediate laughter at the thought, she'd found a touch of insecurity in wondering if Kerry would want her to...would want them to try to hang on to youth with tenacious claws right up until they qualified for Medicare.

  Logically, she didn't think so. Dar continued down the corridor, glancing ahead to where the walls started to narrow as she approached the front of the ship. But you never knew, really, how people would change over the years. Maybe Kerry's thoughts would change. Maybe hers would.

  Dar's nose wrinkled in displeasure.

  She didn't really think hers would. Just the thought of her parent's reaction to her getting a facelift was enough to make her run in the other direction hollering like a banshee. But, she decided, as she got to the end of the hall and faced the door to the bridge, if Kerry decided she wanted to do something like that, and it was important to her...

  Well, then, she'd at least think about it.

  Dar tested the door latch and found it locked. She knocked
on it lightly.

  Hopefully, neither of them would turn into vain harridans as they got older. Dar sighed, and knocked again. Hopefully they'd just enjoy a long life together and take life's changes as they came.

  The door opened, and she was faced with a man in a starched white uniform and a very unfortunate toupee. "Yes?" He asked gruffly.

  "I'd like to speak with the captain, please." Dar decided to mind her manners, at least for now.

  The man glared briefly at her, then, surprisingly, backed up and opened the door all the way. "Come in."

  Dar stepped inside. The bridge was relatively small, but probably twenty degrees cooler than the hallway and there were several men inside enjoying it. They turned and looked at her as she entered, watching her curiously.

  Dar returned the attention, picked out the oldest guy with the most stuff on his sleeves and walked over to him. "Captain?"

  He was, perhaps, sixty years old with silver gray hair and shrewd eyes. "Yes?" He responded politely. "What can I do for you Madame?"

  Madame? "I'd like to discuss your plans for this evening," Dar said.

  Several of the other men chuckled as the captain raised his eyebrows at her. "I am sorry, Madame, do I know you?" he inquired. "I do not believe we have met."

  "We haven't." Dar turned and pointed at the air conditioning unit. "But I own that."

  The smiles disappeared from the officers' faces replaced by looks of apprehension.

  "So, can we talk?" Dar turned again to the captain, easing her words with a smile. "I solved a problem for you; maybe you can do the same for me."

  The captain looked doubtful, but he stood and gestured toward a small office at the rear of the bridge. "By all means." He waited for her to precede him. "But it will have to be done quickly, as we are preparing to remove the gangways and you must be off the ship."

  The door to the bridge opened as they got to the office, and the staff captain entered. He took one look at Dar and his eyes started to emit sparks, but she stepped past him, and the captain closed the door to the office before he could speak.

  Probably a good thing. Dar found herself inside a closet smaller than the head in the Dixie. The captain seated himself behind his desk, and she took the rickety chair in front of it, turning it around and sitting on it with her arms resting on the back.

  They looked at each other in silence for a moment. The captain steepled his fingers. "Madame, I don't know what it is you think I can do for you, but please, be quick in asking," he said. "We have little time."

  Dar glanced around. "We're the ones with little time, Captain. You've got plenty of it, since you're not going anywhere."

  A faint smile crossed his face. "But you are wrong. We are going somewhere. We are leaving, casting the lines, and removing ourselves from this port."

  Dar blinked. "Now?"

  "Exactly now." The man nodded. "So as you can see, we really cannot help you. I would..." he cleared his throat, "like to thank you with all my heart for the loan of your piece of machinery. It has made it so comfortable for us today."

  "I thought you weren't leaving until Friday." Dar tapped her thumbs on the chair. "So this is over? The renovations?"

  The captain lifted his hand. "Not exactly. We are leaving, yes," he admitted, "but we will be coming back. It is just that the government people, the..." he cleared his throat again, "they insist we move away so they can examine the water damage, or so they say."

  "Ah."

  "Is that all?" the captain asked. "I do really have many things to do."

  Damn, damn, damn. Dar thought fast. "What would it take to get you to let us go with you?" she asked. "My crew."

  The man blinked at her. "It is impossible."

  "Why?"

  "You are not authorized to sail on the vessel." The captain spluttered. "I cannot be responsible for all of you to be on the ship. It's insanity."

  Dar leaned forward a trifle, her eyes narrowing a bit and the more feral part of her personality flexing its paws and extending sharp claws just the tiniest amount. "What would it take, Captain?" She held his

  gaze with hers. "Name your price."

  For a moment, he merely looked at her. "You insult me, Madame." He responded stiffly, then hesitated just enough. "I do not even know who you are."

  Dar removed her wallet, opened it, and retrieved one of her business cards. She tossed it on his desk. "That's who I am." She fished in the wallet and removed something else. "And I'm not a stranger to the water." She tossed over a small square of well laminated cardboard, her captain's license with its surprisingly old issue date.

  The man picked up both and examined them.

  "Look," Dar said. "That blowout yesterday put us behind. I just need the time to catch up. My people need to get things onto this ship, put them in places, and make sure they work. It's better for us to do it without the rest of the circus onboard, and I'm willing to pay for the privilege."

  The captain tapped both cards on his desk. "All right," he said. "I will accept your offer, but here is what I want." He slapped his hand on the desktop. "You cannot buy me, woman. I am not for sale."

  Dar waited.

  "But my crew on this ship, they have been screwed by these people. We have had nothing but canned garbage since we have gotten here." He stood. "You bring on to this ship a meal, some good drinks, some comforts for my crew, you can stay."

  It was absurd. Dar almost felt like crying. It was like finding a clean spot in the middle of a garbage heap. "No problem." She managed to say. "Give me an hour."

  "An hour?"

  "An hour." Dar stood also and extended her hand. "Deal?"

  The captain reached over and took her hand, squeezing it powerfully. "We have a deal," he said. "You have how many people?"

  "Thirty--one." Dar mentally counted. "You?"

  "Two hundred."

  "Done deal." Dar released his hand. "See you in an hour." She turned and opened the door, drawing it back and gracefully gesturing him to go first. Then she followed him outside and headed for the door, not forgetting to give the staff captain a smile as she passed.

  "WE'RE GOING TO what?" Kerry stared at Dar's back, as she trotted past her on the stairwell. "Dar!" She turned and bolted after her partner, catching up to her and grabbing the back of her jeans. "Whoa!"

  Dar halted and turned around. "Yeees?" Her eyes twinkled mischievously. "C'mon, Ker. You wanted to ride on the thing, didn'cha?"

  "Are you serious?" Kerry asked. "The ship's really leaving?"

  Dar nodded. "EPA's asking them to move so they can review the water." She explained. "So they're taking off, that's why they kicked everyone out." Tugging Kerry's belt loop, she started to move down the steps again. "I got the captain to agree to let us stay on, but we've got a ton of prep to do and only an hour left to do it in."

  "So, we're going."

  Dar gave her a sideways glance. "We're going."

  "On the ship."

  Dar stopped. "Ker, you need a cup of espresso or something?" She asked curiously. "You're not usually this slow."

  Kerry gave her a poke. "You are the woman who chased me down on this thing the first day and wanted to carry me off over your shoulder because you were afraid it would sink. Now you want to sail on it?"

  Had she done that? Dar frowned, and then her brows lifted. She had. "Well, they've had time to stuff silly putty in the holes." She temporized. "Anyway, they're not going that far."

  They both started down the steps together. "All the staff?" Kerry asked.

  "Yeah." Dar nodded again. "But the price was that I've got to get the catering guys in here and feed the crew." She pulled out her cell. "Hope they're up for it."

  "The crew?"

  "The caterers." Dar punched a number in. "Get our guys ready to start moving everything in sight onto the ship. Just dump it in the hold and we'll hump it upstairs later."

  "Hm." Kerry skipped a few steps to keep up with Dar's powerful strides. "Think your dad wants to come along? I think h
e can carry a few PC's in each hand."

  "He might have left already."

  They got to the bottom of the steps and entered the shipping hold, stopping as they spotted Andrew seated on a crate, kicking his heels against it. "Guess not," Dar said. "Hi, Dad."

  "Howdy, Dardar." Andrew greeted her amiably. "Whatcha up to?"

  "Hey Dad." Kerry went right up to him and put her hands on his knees. "Guess what?"

  "Wall." Andy considered. "I guess that this here boat's fixing to leave," He said. "Heard them kicking over those mules back there." He thrust his thumb over his shoulder. "Thought they were staying till Friday."

  "They're making them leave to check the oil leak," Dar explained.

  "Ah." Her father nodded. "Figured."

  "Was that mom's idea too?"

  Andrew scratched his jaw, and gave his daughter a mildly sheepish look. "Ah do not believe she had anything to do with that this time," he said. "So y'all going home?"

  "Nope." Kerry smiled. "We're going on the ship."

  Andrew stared at her, then looked past her to where Dar was lounging against the wall. "Ya'll are joshin' me."

  Dar shook her head. "No. We're behind the rest of them. This was the only way we could catch up. All of us are going." She watched her father's face. "Wanna come with us?"

  "Hell yes." Andrew snorted. "If you think I'm letting you kids out on this here crate by yourselfs you have lost your minds."

  Kerry leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "You're so sweet." She grinned, then headed for the gangway. "I'll get the guys going, Dar. I'm glad they all brought a change today."

  Dar's cell phone rang, and she answered it. "Steven?" She listened. "Yeah, it's Dar Roberts. Listen, I've got a very big job for you, I'll pay premium for it, but it's got to happen in less than an hour." She listened again. "I am nuts, but I want it anyway."

  Andrew pulled out his own phone and studied it, then selected a sequence of numbers with studied precision.

  "Okay, here's what it is," Dar said. "I need a class A dinner, the works, with alcohol, for two hundred and fifty people, delivered to the pier."