"Mm."
Dar gave her a one armed hug, and then she went over to the incline board, and took Kerry's place on it. She adjusted the length, and then settled herself in to start her own set of sit ups, the motion relaxed and easy.
Kerry watched her a moment, then sighed enviously and got up on the stair climber. "What do you think...another twenty minutes? We should leave a little early in this weather."
"Yeah. Sounds about right." Dar had her arms crossed over her chest, and was moving up and down steadily. "You said you had to go over to the pier today?"
Kerry increased her pace. "Yep."
"How about we go there, and then take off." Dar said. "If you drive, I can get the revisions done on my program, and I won't feel guilty all damn weekend."
"Sounds like a plan."
They were both quiet for a few minutes, concentrating on their exercising. Finally after several sets, Dar let herself down on the board and gazed up at the ceiling, sweat dripping liberally across her body. "Hey, Ker?"
An equally dewy blond head lifted. "Hmm?"
"Any time you want to quit this and become couch potatoes, just drop me an email, yeah?'
Kerry chuckled, as she straightened on her machine and took a swig from the water bottle hung by her wrist. "You got it, baby. You got it."
They both started laughing, the noise echoing softly off the ceiling of the gym.
"ALL RIGHT." Dar motioned Mark to follow her into her office. "Let's see what you've got." She walked across the carpet and changed direction at the last minute, going to the small worktable in the corner of her office instead. "Here."
Mark followed her and put a cardboard box on the desk. "Sorry to grab you so early, DR, but I heard you were taking off today so I figured I'd better do it when I could."
"No problem." Dar perched on one of the two stools behind the worktable. She opened the top of the box and peered inside, reaching in to remove the cellular gadget along with several other miscellaneous bits of hardware.
"Going down south?" Mark asked.
"Yep." Dar set the cell unit down and leaned forward, removing the battery pack and examining the inside surface. "We're taking off after lunch. I'm going with Ker down to the boats, and then we're outta here for the weekend."
"Ah." Mark picked up a second bit of hardware and showed it to Dar. "This is the remote interface. I took it apart. It's got a circuit card in it to mask its internal ID."
"Huh." Dar took it.
"So, I guess after all that crap you guys needed some time out?"
Dar glanced up. "Not really. We just decided to go down. Why?"
Mark looked distinctly uncomfortable. "Just some stuff I heard." He knew better than to dissemble in front of Dar. He could get away with it with Kerry on occasion, but those icy blue eyes lanced right through him as Dar's expression changed.
"Now what?" With a look of disgust, Dar dropped the part on the table. "C'mon, spill it. What bullshit are they passing around this time?"
Mark studied the table, wondering for the nth time how he let himself get into situations like this one. Stolid loyalty to Dar? Maybe. "People are saying you guys are having problems."
"Problems?" Dar's tone sounded honestly puzzled. "Mark, we always have problems. Our whole damn job is nothing but problems."
Mark looked up. "No, not here." He took a breath. "Like, between you." He watched Dar's face, feeling a sense of weird relief at the expression of mild confusion that appeared there. "It made like, no sense to me, you know?"
Dar crossed her arms over her chest. "Is this..." She fished for an explanation. "Having something to do with her black eye? I'd heard rumors some idiots think I did that."
Dar's reaction wasn't what he'd been expecting. Mark fingered the piece of gear again. "No, um...it was more like that Kerry's mad at you and thinking about moving out," he said. "And that, yeah, I guess you guys were fighting, and that's how she got a black eye."
"That's ridiculous."
"Well yeah, I know," Mark said. "I don't know where this crap comes from."
Dar sighed, tossing the bit of hardware away from her. Then she paused and considered what she was feeling--impatience, annoyance? "Maybe we should put on a boxing exhibition," she remarked, with wry humor. "Or...I know. We'll put on a kissing exhibition in the lobby. How's that? Think anyone will catch a clue we're not breaking up?"
Mark blushed. "Um..."
"I just don't get it." Dar gazed thoughtfully at the other side of her office. "We've both been hurt before. Hell, we've spent weeks in slings since Kerry's started working here. Why all this crap now?" She rested her elbows on the table and shook her head. "Hope Ker doesn't hear all of it."
"Me either," Mark said. "She's got a mean temper."
The words made Dar smile a little. "Anyway." She picked up the cellular device. "Talk to me about this thing. When are its owners coming after it?
Mark gathered his wits and accepted the change of subject. He'd half expected Dar to fly off the handle, or react in some way, so the almost benign indifference she was exhibiting puzzled him. It wasn't as though he thought the rumors were true--after all, he interacted with his two bosses on a daily basis, and neither of them was great at hiding even minor spats.
Kerry got all nervous when they were disagreeing. She was restless as hell in meetings and she lost her usual even tempered patience when dealing with the staff or the daily problems they often faced. Luckily it never lasted that long, but it was easy to spot.
"I think they'll be here Monday," he told Dar. "But the basics are-- it's a remotely accessed cell device."
"I got that far on my own." Dar cocked an eyebrow at him.
Now Dar, on the other hand, she'd pull back into her shell, glaring and snapping at everyone. Nobody liked dealing with her when she was like that, but Mark could also remember that before Kerry had entered her life nobody had much liked dealing with Dar even when she wasn't angry or upset,.
So he usually knew when they were squabbling. Just looking at Dar's relaxed body posture reassured him that nothing like that was going on, so now he considered her previous words and wondered himself--yeah, why now?
Why now? "It doesn't ring like a cell; it just picks up and makes a data link." Mark went on. "It's pretty sophisticated." He picked it up and looked at it. "I was trying to think of what the hell legitimate purpose it had for those guys developing it."
Dar snorted.
"Yeah, I thought that too."
"No wonder they're coming out here." Dar got up off the stool. "What you're telling me is that this thing was designed to bust networks from the inside."
"Yeah." Mark agreed. "Pretty much. The slickest thing is, it pops up on the network, listens for a real MAC address, and then spoofs it, so if you have MAC security turned on, it bypasses."
"Hmm." Dar juggled the device. "What about these things?" She pointed at the smaller pieces of technology, as she turned her hand and checked her watch. Almost lunch time. "Anything to tie them back to who planted the damn things?"
Mark got up and paced around a bit. "Boss, you sure this isn't from those Telegenics guys? I mean, the time's right, you know? I checked with the projector people, and the tech they sent out here is a guy who's worked for them for like twenty years. He's pretty clean."
Dar put the phone down and leaned back. "It's not them."
"Boss, c'mon. They were the only ones in there from outside the company in weeks." Mark coaxed. "I know it sucks to think they got one over on us, but chasing the cleaning people kinda sucks too."
Dar crossed her arms and glared at him.
"Y'know, it does." After so many years, he knew pretty much what he could get away with. "If we know it's them, maybe we can do a jive on the guys coming over here, and get them to spill."