Dar turned her attention to watching people go by, playing her usual mental game of trying to guess the person’s occupation. She’d picked out three geeks, two accountants, and a TV star before a loud voice drew her eyes back to the desk.
One of the businessmen was at the counter arguing, slapping his hand down on the Formica countertop. The clerk behind the desk simply shrugged and held her hands out and pointed at the clock. The man grabbed his briefcase and stormed off towards an airport limo desk.
“What’s up?” Dar asked her neighbor in line.
“They’re out of cars.” The man grunted. “Figures. They got some damn convention up here going on. And they’re all empty, even the luxury models.”
“Convention?” Dar mused.
“Yeah. Southern Baptists, or something like that.” The man pointed at a group of travelers heading towards a large tour bus.
Dar followed them with her eyes, then considered her options. She could, of course, take a cab to the office, but she hated cabs. Her eyes went to the limo desk. There was that possibility. But she wasn’t sure she wanted to send that kind of message.
Then her eyes drifted back over to a small kiosk near the door, where a young man in denims and a cowboy hat sat, evidently bored.
Fun Rentals. Dar studied the pictures of RV’s, Skidoos, and...
A smile appeared on her face. “Excuse me.” She stepped past the men in line and ambled over to the kiosk. She leaned on the desk and waited for the cowboy to look up. “Hi.”
His eyes widened and he sat up, blinking at her. “Um, sorry, ma’am.
Can I help you?”
Dar pointed. “One of those, please.”
He looked. “Uh, sure.” He scrabbled around his desk for paperwork.
“Um, sorry. Not many...ah, we usually have folks taking out the RV’s first and I...oh, here we go.” He retrieved two forms and slid one across the desk to Dar. “Could you fill that out for me? And I’ll need to see your driver’s license.”
“Uh huh.” Dar pulled her wallet out, removed the license, and handed it over. She took a pen out and started writing. “Here.” She also handed over her credit card.
“Okay. Um, I have to call in your license. Do you have any outstanding tickets, ma’am?”
“No.” Dar continued writing. She ignored his low voice as he called in the license, then straightened as he hung up. “Got what you need?”
“Yes, ma’am.” The boy scribbled something on her form, then pulled 16 Melissa Good a set of keys from a small board near his left hip. “Would you come with me, please?”
Dar followed him out the door into a blast of bright sunlight. She pulled her sunglasses out of her jacket pocket and shoved them into place, then stood back as the boy opened a door to one side of the parking area.
“Gotcha a nice one. Have you ever driven one of these, ma’am?” The boy looked up, tipping his hat back a little. “They can be a little tricky.”
“I’ve ridden one.” Dar took the helmet off the handlebars and removed the keys from the attendant’s hand. “Thanks.” She checked the motorcycle over, biting off a grin. “Harley, eh? Nice.”
“Yeah.” The boy backed off, then waved. “Have a great day.”
“Oh, I will.” Dar seated herself, and started the motorcycle up, adjusted the throttle and slid the helmet over her head. “I definitely will.”
KERRY WAS AWARE of the eyes fastened on her as she entered Allison’s offices and she returned the looks with pleasant smiles as she made her way to the conference room. She walked by the startled occupants and put her briefcase down, then unzipped it and pulled out a thick manila envelope. “All right. This is what the plan is.”
She took out several packets and passed them around. “We have certain criteria your systems need to meet before we permit the connection up to the Intranet. I’ll need your server specifications before the end of today.”
“That’s a lot of machines,” Ann objected coolly. “We’d have to pull resources for that.” She ran her pencil over her lips in thought. “Our clients are already calling, asking what the impact of the merger is going to be on their services.”
“Well,” Kerry leaned on the table, meeting her eyes, “once their traffic’s on our backbone, it’ll double their throughput. I bet they can’t wait.”
She smiled. “Isn’t it nice to have great news for them?”
An awkward silence fell. “Ann, that’s a minor detail, just put some people on it,” Sam drawled. “What else?”
Kerry lifted a sheet of paper. “It’s mostly procedural at this point.
Our personnel people will be in contact with you to transition staff. But I want you to know in advance everyone will be subject to background checks and screening.”
A low murmur rose. Ann leaned close to Sam, as she watched the slim blonde woman review her papers. “That could be an issue.”
The comptroller grunted.
“Is that really necessary? We’ve had most of these people on board for years,” Charlie objected. “I’d hate to have them think we think they’re criminals or something.”
The cool green eyes fastened on him. “Nothing personal,” Kerry replied, smiling for no apparent reason. “It really isn’t. Everyone has to go through it because of all of our government contracts and the fact that Eye of the Storm 17
you all will have access to our Intranet.” She paused. “Is there a problem with that? Sometimes it’s easier if we know in advance.”
They exchanged glances. “Oh. No, no. No problem.” Charlie waved a hand at her. “I was just asking. Seemed like a waste of money to me, and we all know how important that is.”
“Mmm.” Kerry put her paper down and slid her hands into her jeans pockets. “Well, we’ve found that in the long run it’s worth it. One security breach can cost us a lot.” Her fingers touched a small, unfamiliar object and her brow creased, but she merely closed her hand around it inside her pocket. “Okay. I’ll need a current print of your payables and receivables, preferably in soft copy, then we can get started.”
Sam stood up and stretched. “All right. I’ll get that going. Charlie?
Want to coordinate these things with me? We don’t want to keep Ms. Stuart waiting.” The two men left, closing the conference room door behind them.
Ann leaned back in her chair and slid her pencil between her fingers.
“Anything else I can do?” she asked, politely.
Kerry picked up her paper. “My boss had some questions.”
The petite woman smiled. “Would that be the infamous Dar Roberts?” she inquired. “I’ve heard some very impressive things about her. In fact, it’s one of the things I was most intrigued about after I heard we were being bought out.”
“Yes, it would be.” Kerry sat down and folded her hands. “She definitely lives up to her reputation. And as a matter of fact, one of her questions was regarding the bidding process. She found it really…interesting that your company always got the bid on the day of last refusal.”
A guarded look slipped over Ann’s face. “Oh, really? Well, that’s a coincidence. I don’t think I ever noticed that.”
Kerry watched her expression and body language, something Dar had been coaching her in. Ms. Ann was nervous all right and hiding something. “Yeah. She was going to give the account reps at those companies a call. Just to check out how the deals went through.” The pencil moved faster, and she could almost sense the other woman’s tension rising.
“Well, I’m sure she’ll find out it was just a coincidence…and some sharp bidding.” Ann stood up abruptly. “Excuse me. I need to use the restroom. Ah…there’s coffee down the hall if you’re interested.” She took her papers and left quickly, her heels making a staccato tattoo on the tile floor.