Dar stared at the now dead cell phone for a long moment. "Son of a bitch."
"Shit." Kerry's eyes flicked to the horizon, going unfocused as she thought about the suddenly mountainous obstacles before them. "Dar, there's no way."
"Did the infrastructure come in yet?"
"It was due yesterday, but--" Kerry hesitated. "No, wait...I had a note this morning from the shipping company that it was coming in this afternoon."
Dar had her eyes closed again. "Okay." She paused. "Call John. Tell him to bring in however many guys he can get hold of."
"You can't be serious...there's no way to..."
"Kerrison." Dar looked at her.
"Dar, c'mon now..."
"Hey." Dar reached up and cupped the side of Kerry's face, drawing her chin down a touch so their eyes were forced to meet.
"Darrrr..." A thousand arguments died before the look in those blue eyes.
"Kerrison Stuart."
A sudden flash of a cold rainy night in North Carolina formed in Kerry's mind, and she heard Dar's voice all over again in a cool, angry bark when she'd protested the impossible. This time there was no anger, just a gentle firmness just as effective in its own way. "Sorry." She leaned against Dar's hand a little. "Go on."
Dar understood the doubt she saw. "We don't know we can't do it, because we haven't tried yet." Dar stated. "So I vote we try, and if we fail, we do, but it won't be because we quit."
Kerry also knew the tasks ahead of them, and she knew no matter how much Dar willed it otherwise, they did not have the time to do what Quest was asking.
But...hey. Dar was right, they had to try. Neither of them were quitters. "Okay, boss." Kerry smiled again. "Guess we better get moving, huh?"
"After lunch." Dar said. "I'll call Mark and have him send everyone we have over there. We'll overrun the damn boat with nerds, and maybe everyone in our way will just run screaming."
Kerry cocked her head to one side. "You don't want to leave right now?"
"No."
"Um. Okay."
Dar resettled her hands over her stomach. "Ker?"
"Mm?"
"Trust me."
Kerry covered Dar's hands with one of her own. "Trust you? I trust you with my life, my soul, and everything that I am, Dar. It's not a matter of trusting you; I just want to know what you're up to."
A blue eye appeared again. "When I figure that out, you will."
"Oh."
"Mm."
"HEY THERE OLD MAN."
Andrew looked up from his bottle of pop to find the cowboy trucker heading his way. "Wall. howdy there, young feller." He drawled, exchanging an amused look with the man. In truth, they were probably pretty close in age, and the trucker chuckled as he extended a hand.
"Wanted to come over and say hello after the other day. I was halfway outta the state, when a company rig broke down and they turned me back. More stuff for this place."
Andrew looked around the dock, where there were trucks and men unloading everywhere. The pace on the pier had picked up incredibly, and he could almost sense panic from the workers around him. "Wonder what got 'em all in a hustle?"
The trucker looked surprised. "Did'ncha hear? Gov'mint tossing them outta here end of the week."
"Yeah?" Andy said. "Heard something like that, but I didn't figure they'd really do it."
"Well, if they ain't, no one's told my boss. We got ten more trucks headed this way right now." The man said. "Hope you all got room for it."
Ten trucks worth? Two for each ship more than likely. Andrew shook his head. The below decks area of the ship was a mess for sure, and just trying to keep it all straight had taken most of his day so far. "What you got now?" He asked. "Stuff for this one?" He pointed at the ship.
Obligingly, the trucker handed over his manifest. "You get nailed for messing with that little sissy boy the other day?"
"Naw." Andrew studied the papers, noting again Kerry's name on one side. "Got me moved over to this here tub." He indicated the ship with a motion of his head. "This here all for us?" He asked, flipping through to the last few pages and catching sight of something else. A tiny grin appeared on his face.
The trucker took back the manifest and examined it. "Far as I can tell, yeah." He agreed. "Where do you want it?"
"Right over there." Andy indicated a spot on the dock. "I'll have them boys move it all inside after."
"You got it." The trucker agreed. "Man, they got those people all riled up. What a mess." He watched as a group of ship personnel gathered near the stern of the vessel, along with a couple of suits all pointing and looking at the water behind the ship. "Well, let me get going. Be right back."
"Yeap." Andrew finished up his pop and stood there in the shade, considering what to do next. A motion caught his eye and he half turned, surprised to see Ceci pulling up to the curb in the truck. He tossed the pop bottle in the trash and jogged over, leaning down to rest his elbows on the window sill and peer inside. "Hey there."
"Hi." Ceci reached and handed him something. "You forgot this, and our child has been trying to get hold of us."
"Aw, hell." Andrew took the phone. "You call her?"
"No." Ceci glanced past him at the chaos on the dock. "I'd have to admit to causing this if I did."
"Cec..."
"Yes, I know. Our relationship is quantum leaps past what it was, Andy, but I'd still rather you did it." The slim, fair haired woman said. "Uh oh...I better go. That guy knows me." She set a pair of wraparound sunglasses on her nose, and ducked behind Andrew's bulk.
"Lord." Andy started dialing.
"You knew you married a leftist radical."
"Yeap, I surely did."
"Well, it could have been worse, Andy."
"Yeap. Dar coulda joined the Army."
"Pffft!"
KERRY LEANED BACK in the driver's seat of the Lexus, watching the somewhat boring bushes pass by as they headed north. Next to her in the passenger seat, Dar was rattling away on her keyboard, pausing impatiently as she waited for her keystrokes to catch up with her over the cellular modem link. "What on earth did we do before cell modems?"
"Got lots of speeding tickets." Dar answered absently.
"Did you?" Kerry adjusted the sun visor to block out the blast of golden light from the west.
"Uh huh. For a while I almost gave up living in my place and thought about bunking at the office. There was space under my desk."
"Hmm. Is that why you have a couch in your office now?"
Dar chuckled. "Yes, but not if you ask the majority of the small minded." She eased her leg straight, wincing a little as she banged her foot against the center console. "The sordid events everyone was convinced took place on that couch were legendary."
"Legendary?"
"Uh huh."
"How legendary?"
Dar paused in mid type, her eyes shifting from her laptop to Kerry's profile. She could see the curve of her partner's jaw line, and the slight bunching and relaxing of the muscles there that meant the question wasn't frivolous. "Um..." She tapped the side of her thumb against the wrist rest. "They were all fictional, Ker," she said. "The only person who's ever slept on that couch besides me is you."
"Oh."
Dar muffled a grin of her own and went back to typing.
Kerry's face tensed into a sheepish grin, as she glanced at Dar. "Boy, do I have a green streak a mile wide, or what?" She sighed. "You know, I never really suspected that about myself until I met you."
"Well, given all the stories you've heard about me in that office, I can't say I blame you for wondering." Dar admitted. "But I have to admit that my reputation in that area was way overrated. I think it was easier for me to let everyone think I was out there having a wild and crazy time rather than them knowing the truth."