"Fair enough," Kerry said. "We all make choices we have to live with. I know. I've had to make a few," she said. "Losing my family was one of the consequences of that."
Cynthia eyed her in somber silence for a minute. "Well." She got up and put her glass in the sink. "We do all have to make choices." She went to the door. "I will see about adding you to the flight."
She left, and Kerry tipped her head back and regarded the ceiling, unsure if the situation had just gotten marginally better or a lot worse.
Time would have to tell.
DAR CURLED HER arm around her bundled sweater, putting her head down and allowing her body to relax in the semi-darkened room. The rest of their team and most of the client's were in the media room next door, watching three or four different television screens and talking.
Dar had no desire to either join them or talk. She closed her eyes, just letting the chatter in the background of the computer go past her, trying to tune out enough to get a few minutes of rest before it was time for Kerry to go to the airport with her mother.
Kerry's only comment to Dar's question about how that worked out was 'Ugh.' It made her unhappy because she sensed her partner was unhappy and there wasn't a lot she could do about it. What was that Alastair had said earlier? She'd turned into a good family person?
Ugh.
Alastair had gone to the rooms Sir Melthon had prepared for them. He was waiting for a call back from one of their contract administrators from the government. Dar, frankly, didn't hold out much hope in that regard because she figured everyone was either glued to CNN or in the middle of the confusion, and didn't have much time to call back some CEO of some company.
Kerry's voice filtered softly into her awareness, and Dar opened her eyes to peer at the nearby screen. Then, after a moment's consideration she opened a browser and clicked over to their corporate travel website.
Kerry hadn't said if she was staying at the family townhouse she knew they had in Washington. She might, Dar reasoned, but she also might rather escape to one of the high end business hotels they used when they traveled.
She reached over and typed in the location, then reviewed the results as the website searched and disgorged its results. "Hm." Dar grunted. Hotels were packed, not unreasonable considering air travel was at a standstill. Everyone stuck at the airport had to stay somewhere.
There was, however, an obscenely expensive suite available and Dar clicked on it without hesitation. She pulled down the available profiles on the website and selected Kerry's, and watched as it filled in her information and obediently reserved the space.
Dar selected and copied the details, and then she pasted them into the open instant message box where Kerry's last "Ugh" was still blinking mournfully. She clicked send, and then settled her head back down on her sweater.
Kerry's voice, in the middle of acknowledging Mark's status update, stopped in mid word.
Dar smiled, watching as the message came back with a tiny graphic, a small beating red heart that was a complete, if charming, waste of bandwidth.
"As I was saying," Kerry's voice now had an audible grin in it. "I will be out of contact for a few hours in transit to Herndon this evening. Dar will be covering for me."
"Miami exec, this is Herndon. We're looking forward to seeing you," a voice answered. "Do you need a pickup?"
One blue eye opened and its dark brow lifted as Dar listened for her partner's answer.
"Ah." Kerry was muffling a laugh, she could tell. "I'm going to rent a car at the airport, thanks. I'll let you know if that doesn't work out. I'm sure it's crazy around there."
Dar reached over, and one handed, typed out a series of instructions into a console session, reviewing them before she compiled the results and sent the new little routine to run. A moment later, she heard a soft chuckle come through the mic.
"Hey Miami exec, this is Miami ops," Mark broke in. "Wouldn't that be god of the clock in England?"
"Yes," Kerry responded. "Dar's supposed to be getting some rest now so she can take over, but I just found out she's actually dealing with some petty details behind the scenes."
"Petty?" Dar murmured. "Wench."
"How about I burn minutes and watch stuff from the van?" Mark suggested. "It's not like we've got a lot else to do, you know?"
Dar frowned, considering the question. She trusted Mark implicitly. He'd been working for the company nearly as long as she had, and his knowledge and loyalty were unquestioned.
Trust? Not trust? Dar reached over and picked up her mic, bringing it over to her head.
"I think that's a great idea, Mark," Kerry answered before she could click in. "Thanks. I appreciate it, and I know Dar will appreciate it since there's a lot going on over there too."
Touche. Dar knew rejecting the offer now would seriously embarrass her partner and make her look like a cad since it was made in her best interest. Kerry's little payback for her hotel reservations. She clicked the mic on. "I do appreciate it, Mark," she said. "Especially since now I can send Kerry off shift to get ready to leave and relax before she has to fly."
Kerry forgot to turn her mic off, and her laughter echoed through the speaker, a strangely light sound after so much tension. "Right Kerry?" Dar inquired.
"Right boss," Kerry surrendered. "You win this round."
Dar glanced down expectantly at the message box.
Hoisted, wasn't I? Kerry's typing popped up.
Figured you could use some time to decompress. Dar typed back. You don't know what you're going to get into when you get to Herndon.
True, her partner responded. I'm going to go grab a shower and crash for a few hours. Thanks for the hotel reservations--I hadn't even started to look into that and I sure don't want to spend the night in DC.
I figured, Dar said. Sure you're okay with going?
There was a moment's pause in the response. Yeah, Kerry finally answered. I don't know. Maybe I'll get a chance to get this family thing worked out. I think you were right about the whole thing with my mother. I think she just wanted to have something to show her committee.
Dar smiled. Hell must be freezing over if I'm telling you not to think the worst of someone.
Ah heh, Kerry responded. Yeah. I know. Part of me wants to just move past it all and just drop the whole thing, and the other part of me just thinks about stuff they did and gets pissed off all over again. I just really wish I were home.
Right there with you. Dar sighed, glancing around the room, pausing when the door opened fully and Alastair entered. Hang on, Alastair just came back.
"Well, we've got good news and bad news." Alastair came over and sat down. He looked tired. "Which do you want first?"
"I can't believe there's any good news. So bad first," Dar said.
"Okay," Her boss responded. "Bad news is, there's not one person in the government that can tell me why someone from some agency is knocking on our doors in Virginia. This group says they think that group may be doing it and when you ask that group, they don't know anything about it."
"Ugh." Dar wasn't surprised.
"Hamilton's working on trying to track the request down, but he's coming up against a lot of people who are in high gear with no brakes, if you catch my drift," Alastair said. "But on the bright side, we've got flights to Mexico City tomorrow morning."
Dar blinked in surprise. "They found seats?"
"The board instructed me to charter an airplane," Alastair looked a touch bemused. "Apparently you and I are considered a little important. We've got a transfer in Mexico City to an executive jet service out to Nuevo Laredo and we're being picked up there for the ride across the border."