"Yeah." Mark nodded. "I contacted the place where it was built...they've been going nuts because it's missing, and man, they were crawling all over my ass right through the phone trying to find out how I got it," he said. "If they were Star Trek fans, I'd have had them beaming right onto my desk, hands grabbing for sure."
"Ah."
'They want it back, big time."
"Uh huh. Bad enough to give us an exclusive license on it?"
Mark grinned like the pirate he was. "Man, you are so psychic." He sighed admiringly. "That's the good news. They want to do a deal with us. One of their guys is heading over here."
Dar sighed. "Doesn't help us figure out who it was." She nibbled the inside of her lip. "And if it wasn't who everyone thinks it was, then it could be someone who's on the inside here."
Mark frowned. "An employee?"
Dar nodded. "Yeah."
"That would suck."
Dar drummed her fingertips on her keyboard. "Yeah."
KERRY TUCKED HER notepad under her arm and prepared to leave the conference room. Her team was still milling around, discussing some of the items they had pending, but it had been a good meeting and she was pleased with their progress.
Mark walked over and perched on the edge of the conference table. "Did you hear from the wiring guy?"
"This morning." Kerry nodded. "He's started, but he says it's like trying to wire inside the New York subway system. Tough going."
"I bet." He nodded. "Hey, that shiner doesn't look that bad. The way DR was talking yesterday, I thought your eyeball was hanging out of your face."
Kerry winced at the visual. "The way she was treating me I thought the same thing." She admitted. "She's such a nanny sometimes. You'd never expect it of her." She indicated the door. "C'mon. I've got lunch lined up and it's about that time."
They walked together out of the conference room and down the hall toward the elevators. The tenth floor was somewhat more crowded than the fourteenth, and they had to dodge a stream of bodies, some of whom paused to greet them briefly.
"Hey, Kerry." One of Eleanor's assistants waved. "How's the head?"
Kerry paused and turned, stepping out of the path of traffic for a moment. "Ah, it's not too bad." She indicated her eye. "Just embarrassing, really."
"Yeah." The woman looked sympathetically at her. "Hey, Joyce and I are heading down for lunch...you want to join us?"
Kerry smiled and started to edge away. "Thanks, but I've got a date. Catch me some other time?" She continued toward the elevators, then paused seeing the crush of bodies around them waiting to go downstairs.
"Oh yeah, reclaiming your territory." The woman called after her. "Gotcha. No problem, Kerry."
What? "Heck with that." Kerry turned and pushed open the stairwell door, starting up the steps at a brisk clip. About at the twelfth floor, she heard footsteps coming down the other way, and looked up to find Mariana headed in her direction. "Hey there."
"Morning, Kerry!" Mariana greeted her warmly. "How's the eye?"
Kerry stopped in mid motion and gave her a look. "Was it such a slow news day yesterday that my darn eye had to be the center of everyone's conversation?"
Mark had slowed down behind her and was now standing with a martyred look on his face. "I told you sending that email out was a bad idea," he said to Mariana.
Kerry turned. "Email?"
Mariana nibbled a fingernail. "Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time." She mused. "Maria thought so."
"Maria?" Kerry repeated the name and then she held up both hands. "Excuse me. Could someone please rent me a clue here?"
"Whoops...I'm late for a meeting." Mariana skirted Kerry and skipped off down the stairs. "Catch you up later, Kerry...okay?" She waggled her fingers and popped through the door on the next landing, leaving Kerry to turn slowly and look at Mark.
Mark hesitated and then managed a weak grin. "I'll forward you a copy. It was no big deal, Kerry. It was just that everyone was kinda talking about how something had happened to you and she just aum..."
"Talking?"
Mark prudently didn't answer seeing that one blond eyebrow lift up sharply, uncannily like Dar's when she wasn't pleased about something.
"Colleen mentioned that too. Isn't everyone over using us as discussion fodder by now?" Kerry's voice deepened a little in anger. "She told me people thought Dar did this." She pointed at her face. "Is that true?'
Mark looked suddenly way out of his league.
"Screw you all." Kerry turned and abruptly left him standing there, taking the rest of the steps two at a time until she reached the fourteenth floor and shoved her way through the door, slamming it behind her.
Mark released a breath after a few moments. "Shit." He climbed slowly after his boss.
DAR RELAXED IN the lobby, sucking at the straw in her smoothie as she waited for Kerry to join her for lunch.
She leaned against the wall, crossing her ankles and letting her thoughts wander briefly, going over the design she'd left sitting on her laptop up in her office. Most of a module was finished, and almost ready for testing, and Dar found herself looking forward to the trial with a giddy sense of anticipation.
If it worked...
Well, it would not work at first. No program did, Dar acknowledged, mentally preparing herself for it, but if she tweaked it, and got the logic right, and it worked...
It would be an amazing breakthrough ironically spurred on by her own lack of good judgment.
Life was just so funny that way sometimes. Dar idly let her eyes wander over the lobby, and then she straightened up a little as she spotted Kerry coming off the elevators.
Uh oh. Kerry never threw her arms around or otherwise projected her anger, but Dar could always tell by her body posture when she was pissed off. Her hands would clench up, and her head would tilt forward a little, along with the point of her jaw.
She was pissed off now. Flicking her mind over the events of the morning, Dar decided it wasn't anything she'd done that had caused it, so she pushed off from the wall to go meet her ticked off lover, and see what she could do about fixing whatever was making her so mad.
Kerry spotted her approaching, changed course and headed for Dar, reluctantly grinning as they met near the center of the large space. "Hi. Sorry I'm late."
"Hi." Dar gracefully circled her and gestured toward the outside doors. "No problem. I just got down here myself. C'mon." She draped her arm casually over Kerry's shoulders as they started off, and immediately felt the stiffness in them relax. Okay. So she knew for sure it wasn't her Kerry was annoyed at.
Direct, or non-direct? "How'd your meeting go?" She decided on non-direct for now.
Kerry sighed. "It went fine. The project's on track, though John's having some problems in the wiring. I might have to run down there tomorrow and see if I can smooth things out for him."
"Cool." Dar replied. "My program's close to test state."
Kerry perked up a little. "Yeah? That was fast. You said the other day you were a little stuck." She circled Dar's waist with her right arm and bumped her hip lightly. "What changed?"
"You inspired me this morning." Dar told her, as they walked out the front door and into the heat of the day. "Me?"
"Yup." Dar bleeped open the doors of her car and steered Kerry toward it.
"I thought we were walking?"
Dar opened the passenger side door, and indicated the inviting leather seat inside. "I feel like wings."
"Wings?" Kerry climbed inside, reaching over to open Dar's door. "Are we going to Bayside?"
"We are." Dar got in and started the Lexus, adjusting the air ducts to dump a larger volume of cold air into her lap. "I'm not in the mood for Cuban, and I had my fill of sushi yesterday."
"Mmph." Kerry settled back in her seat and watched the heat simmer off the tarmac as Dar pulled out of the parking lot. "Well, if we eat at Hooters, you can bet there won't be useless little catty do-nothings from our office sitting at the next table."