"Hm?" Eleanor turned. "Oh, hey Kerry. You ready to go get some lunch? My snappy patter's wilted."
The thought of lunch made her slightly sick to her stomach. She was shaking inside that much. "Actually, I was going to tell you I'm heading back to the hotel to pick up Dar. I'll get something there." Kerry looked around. "We've got a nice crowd going. I figured it was time for the ubergeek to show up."
Eleanor smiled knowingly. "Go on." She nudged Kerry. "See you after lunch."
Kerry signaled to Mark that she was leaving, getting a thumbs up from him as he stood guard over the locked switch box. Feeling that everything was relatively well in hand, she turned and started to work her way out of the room.
Even the rain outside didn't deter her. She cleared the door and stepped out into it, almost welcoming the wash of warm water that plastered the hair on her head and quickly dampened her clothes. She reached the Lexus and triggered the door lock, opening the driver's side and sliding inside with a sense of relief.
It smelled like leather tinged with the faint hint of Dar's usual perfume, and Kerry sat there for a minute breathing it in.
She took a moment to remember the first time she'd ridden in this car, in a rain not unlike the one she'd just escaped from, but with little other similarity.
It had been one of the most miserable nights of her life, and one of the most wonderful. Kerry leaned back in the comfortable seat and ran her fingers through her wet hair, pushing it back off her forehead. "You know what?" she mused. "A navy sweatshirt sure would feel good right about now."
With a sigh, Kerry shook a few droplets of water off her hands and started the car up, shifting smoothly into reverse and backing out of the parking spot she'd chosen. If she couldn't have a navy sweatshirt, at least she knew where to find the next best thing.
"NO." DAR SLUNG her leg over one chair arm, leaning on the other. "I'm not interested."
Peter Quest looked puzzled. "You're not?" he asked. "I don't understand. You're a services company, we're looking for someone to come in and install, maintain, and run networks on all our ships. What's the problem?"
"I'm not in the business of being part of a circus," Dar replied. "Why don't you just throw open the business for bids? Plenty of companies around who'd be willing to tender. Why sneak around making secret deals to have people come in?"
Quest looked around carefully, and then lowered his voice. "It's really complicated." He said. "Listen, can we go somewhere more private...like the bar?"
Dar's eyebrow lifted. "No," she said. "My partner's going to come back through here looking for me and damned if she'd look there," she told Quest. "So talk, or take a hike."
The man exhaled. "You're a difficult person, Ms. Roberts."
Dar shrugged. "So I've been told. But then, you came looking for me, not the other way around."
"Okay, here's the deal," Quest went on. "My company, American Visions, intends on being the first American cruise line in decades," he said. "We've gotten hold of four ships, and we're having them rebuilt to US specifications in New Zealand."
New Zealand again? Dar almost let herself get sidetracked. "Yeah?"
"But it's all hush hush. If we can bring them into the States by January, we can grab a big segment of the homeland cruise market. If those four make it, we have eight more waiting overseas to join the fleet."
Dar looked at him. "Hush hush?" she repeated. "They're cruise ships. What do they weigh...seventy, eighty thousand tons? How the hell do you hide them?"
Quest looked around again. "We're not revealing who owns them," he said. "And they'll get their final paint in San Diego. Anyway, seventy percent of the refurb stuff needs to be US, and that includes the technical infrastructure."
"And?"
"And if we throw open bids, chances are people we don't want to find out about this are going to find out, because they'll send spies in to figure out what we're up to."
Dar braced her chin on her fist. "So what if I'm a spy?" she asked.
"Your company has no connection with the business," he answered readily. "Neither do the other three American companies we asked to compete for the contract...and I've got some friends in the government who tell me you can keep your mouth shut."
Dar shook her head. "Still not interested," she said. "I don't know that we want to get involved in this. It sounds irregular."
"Well..." Quest replied. "It really isn't, it's just business. I have to get some government paperwork straightened out and that's why it has to be kept quiet. You understand? It's political."
Dar frowned. "We have a lot of government contracts," she said. "I don't think we want to be a part of it." She paused. "Who else are you asking? Maybe I can give you some names to talk to."
Quest gazed at her, biting the inside of his lip. Finally he leaned forward a little. "Advanced Tech, KDC, and Telegenics."
"Ah." Dar's expression didn't change, but a dark sparkle lit in her eyes. "Interesting choices."
"Telegenics talks a good game. They've been wooing my director over another contract, so..." Quest shrugged. "Anyway, since you're not interested, let me stop wasting your time." He straightened up in his seat, and half turned, pausing as one of the figures walking across the lobby caught his eye. "Sure must be raining outside."
Dar watched the object of his attention, an unconscious smile appearing on her face. Even drenched, Kerry had her head held high, and despite the rain dampened clothes she had an innate grace as she approached that attracted more eyes than Quest's. "Mm."
Quest started to stand as Kerry closed in on them, but she gave him a polite smile as she dropped into the chair next to Dar's and leaned on its arm. "Hi."
"Hi." Dar rolled her head to one side and indicated her somewhat unwelcome visitor. "Kerry, this is Peter Quest, Mr. Quest, this is Kerrison Stuart, my partner."
Kerry extended a hand politely, and gripped his, then released him. "Mr. Quest."
"Nice to meet you," he replied. "Well, Ms. Roberts, as I said, no sense in wasting your time. I'll leave you to get on with your day."
He turned and walked out, leaving Dar and Kerry behind as he disappeared.
Kerry remained silent for a moment, and then she turned to Dar. "So, what was that all about?" she asked. "Someone propositioning you, since you're hanging out in such cutely provocative clothing?"
"Hardly." Dar pushed herself upright. "Let's go upstairs and I'll take your clothes off while I fill you in." She stood and waited for Kerry to join her. "You look like a..."
"Drowned rat?" Kerry sighed, getting up and following her partner. "I feel like a drowned rat that's been hit on the head with a brick." She rubbed her neck. "I'm not having a good day."
Dar slipped her arm around Kerry's back, ignoring the dampness. "Problems at the show?" she asked. "You should have called me."
Kerry sighed and fell silent, taking solace in the comfort of Dar's close presence. "Not the show," she admitted after they'd entered the elevator. "I got pegged by both our new little friends and I think I lost it with them. They pissed me off."
"Uh oh." Dar chuckled softly. "Did you draw blood?"
"It's not funny, Dar," Kerry muttered. "I told them both off."
Dar slid her keycard into the door and opened it, then held it open as Kerry entered. She followed her inside and closed the door, blinking as she realized housekeeping had been in and cleaned the room while she'd been gone. Somehow, they'd managed to make the bed and place the laptop in its exact position where she'd left it. "Glad I locked the screen."
Kerry took off her jacket and laid it across the back of a chair. She didn't look up when Dar came over to her, but as a pair of a warm, strong hands touched her neck and began to massage it she turned her head to the side and brushed the nearer one with her lips. "So what was that guy all about?"