”Whoo, haven’t had a reaction like that in a while.”
It took all of Dar’s willpower not to hug her, even with everyone over there watching them. Instead, she put a hand on Kerry’s shoulder and patted it. ”Take it easy. Why don’t you sit down on that bench over there? You’re kind of pale.”
”In a minute,” Kerry stated, tugging her card out of her pack with grim determination. ”I want my stamp.” She watched the machine impact the heavy cardboard. ”Dar, that was amazing.
Everyone
thought you’d lost your mind.” She looked up at her boss. ”Mariana was freaking.”
A shrug. ”Nah, it’s cold out.” She held up a hand in the cool breeze.
”Snake’d be sleepy, they’re cold blooded,” she reminded her lover. ”I just wanted to see if it was sleepy enough for us to squeeze by. I didn’t expect it to be fake.” She glanced back to where Steven was clambering rapidly across. ”It was pretty cool though, huh?” A rakish grin edged Hurricane Watch
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her face.
Kerry laughed gently. ”Yeah.” She walked over and sat down on the bench, willing her legs to stop shaking. She watched as Steven brushed by Dar without a word and stalked to the stamper, then wandered off down the path a little.
Duks was headed across next and Kerry could see that Mariana had convinced Eleanor to cross ahead of her. She wondered briefly what argument the Personnel chief had used, then she contented herself with just watching Dar, who was standing by the exit to the bridge, one hand resting on the rope.
Oh, boy, had that ever rocked. She grinned to herself. The guys got their macho egos kicked right in the balls with that one. She’d been so proud of Dar she could hardly stop herself from cheering as the taller woman made her way fearlessly towards the ominously coiled snake.
She watched Duks get across, exchanging a few words with Dar and giving her a light slap on the side, which got him a modest shrug and a chuckle. Dar was pleased with herself though, Kerry could tell, and she grinned at her as they both walked back to where Kerry was sitting.
”Well, well.” Duks took a seat next to her after getting his card stamped. ”That was a first. I wonder what the rest will be like?”
Dar put a boot up on the edge of the bench and leaned against her knee. ”They can’t get too bad. I mean, after all, this isn’t a military course.
They have to gear it for us soft, lazy executives,” she commented. ”So I doubt we’ll be facing staked pits or anything like that.”“Have you?” Duks asked. “Been the military course?”
“Yes.” Dar plucked at the denim fabric on her thigh. “But that was a long time ago.”
”Ah, I see,” Duks murmured, peeking past Dar and observing as Eleanor squeaked across, with Mark going just in front of her coaxing, and Mariana bringing up the rear. The ropes creaked at the triple weight, but seemed to be holding all right. ”I still haven’t forgiven you for causing me to be awakened like that this morning, Dar. That was not a nice thing to do to a poor, inoffensive, sleeping man.”
”Wasn’t my fault,” Dar responded. ”You guys looked pretty damn funny standing there in your boxers, though, I’ll give you that.”
”Mm. I am going to pretend you didn’t say that, just to preserve my tattered dignity,” Duks replied. ”And, by the way, Mr. ‘I have a Hoover stuck up my rear over there’ suspects you two are more than friends,”
he warned softly. ”He was making some very crude, but completely in character comments after breakfast.”
Dar and Kerry exchanged glances. ”That’s been said before.” Dar shrugged. ”Most everyone’s over that, I think.”
”True, true, but disappearing from the group on the walk was probably not a good idea,” Duks remarked as the three travelers 80
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reached their side of the creek. ”And Kerry, my young friend, do not take any offense, but your eyes give you quite the bit away.” He gave Kerry a wry grin as she crossed her arms and glanced at the dirt trail.
”It’s quite becoming, but you would do as well to watch the birdies or something else, hmm?”
Kerry sighed. ”Sorry.”
”Don’t apologize,” Dar said, suddenly as the other three came up.
”To hell with them. Let them think whatever the hell they want.” She shook herself, then she walked back to the bridge and leaned on the railing, staring intently at the water below.
Kerry gave Duks a wry look, then she glanced up at the newcomers.
”Hey, that was fun, right?”
”Disgusting.” Eleanor was carefully wiping off her hands, muddy from the rope. ”Just disgusting.” She stole a glance at the brooding Dar and then turned her attention back to them. ”I can’t believe they expected us to go past that horrible thing. You can be sure I’m lodging an official complaint as soon as we get back to Miami.”
”That was pretty wild,” Mark agreed, dusting his hands off. ”Good thing we had Dar along. Man, she’d give Tarzan a run for the money for guts, you gotta say that.” He walked over and got a drink of water from the coral fountain that had been tucked into an alcove and got his card stamped. ”This is kinda cool, though.”
Eleanor snorted. ”I didn’t think you’d enjoy anything that didn’t have a computer attached to it,” she sniped. ”What’s your hobby, by the way, Internet surfing?”
”No, that’s my job.” Mark laughed. ”My hobby’s restoring bikes, that one I came in on is my favorite.”
Kerry smiled at him.” Can I get a ride later?” she inquired teasingly. ”I always wanted to say I’d gotten to ride on a Hog.”
He grinned back. ”Absofriggenlutely,” he agreed, ”so long as someone takes a picture for me, or nobody’d believe it.”
Everyone else made it across with no further incident and they moved up along the trail, though this time Kerry was careful to separate herself from Dar who remained at the back. She strolled along with Mark instead, listening as he described what he’d done for the Hong Kong problem. Steven was forging on ahead, searching for the next obstacle, and the rest were strung out in a reluctant string.
Duks fell back to where Dar was pacing along in silence. ”Didn’t mean to get you angry, my friend,” he commented quietly.
”I know,” Dar replied tersely.
”Just a friendly warning. You know what kind of trouble that crap can lead to,” the Finance VP went on. ”And you don’t need any more crap to deal with than what we already throw on you.”
Dar’s jaw bunched, then she reached out and broke off a dead branch as they passed it, whipping the shards off into the underbrush.
”To be honest, I’m not sure I care anymore,” she admitted. ”It’s all so Hurricane Watch
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stupid. I feel like saying to hell with it, and just...” She stopped, and exhaled.
”That puts Mari in a very tough place,” Duks remarked quietly.
”You know that. Come now, Dar, surely you know the consequences.”
She gazed off into the trees. ”Of course I know. It’s just— This is much more than I ever expected it to be, Duks. It might be more than I can handle.” Her eyes flicked to his. ”And if I have to choose, the company’s not going to even be in the running.”
Duks blew out a breath. ”Ah.” His lips pursed. ”I see. All right.
What if we moved Kerry to another division?” he reasoned. ”Then it wouldn’t matter. It’s just the direct reporting that causes the issue.”