"Yeah, he's right," Shari spoke up again. "We should get an advantage written in to make up for the bid being held down here. We have to get everything shipped in."
Kerry remained silent, her eyes dropping to her PDA as she opened it and started to scribe.
John Sellars spoke up, his voice quiet and gentle. "Good call on him getting those ships done, Kerry," he said. "Pretty slick, if you ask me.
He knows he'll get all the bells and whistles, and we'll be fighting each other to cut costs."
"Agreed. He's a player," Shari commented. "But then, so are we all."
"Mm." Kerry looked up from her screen as the door opened and her assistant entered. Mayte walked around the table and came to Kerry's side, keeping her eyes strictly on her boss. "Thanks Mayte." She held out the contract. "Can you tell them I need this reviewed for execution tomorrow? And show these gentlemen to the fax machine?"
"Of course." Mayte gave Kerry a smile. "Did you know we have the power on now? Everyone is cheering, except there were some people who I think really wanted to be sleeping in our office."
"Best news I had all day." Kerry returned the smile. "Tom? You wanted to send a fax? Anyone else?"
"We make our own decisions," Shari assured her. "We don't need our asses covered by our lawyers."
Tom stood up and hefted his bag. "Then you're a bigger idiot than you sound like," he told her briskly. "As well as being one of the biggest boors I've run across in a decade. Ma'am? After you." He courteously indicated Mayte precede him. "Gentlemen...ladies..." His eyes went to Shari. "Whatever. Have a great day."
He left with his associate. John Sellars and his assistant scuttled after him. "We'll take you up on that fax, Kerry, thanks." He gave her a half wave as they disappeared through the door.
That left Kerry with Michelle and Shari, a condition she had no intention of continuing. Accordingly, she picked up her cup. "Excuse me."
Michelle half stood. "Kerry, wait."
Her polite upbringing was sometimes very unfortunate. Kerry paused and waited, one eyebrow cocked in a reasonable imitation of her partner's attitude.
"Can we take you to dinner?"
Kerry almost laughed. "You're kidding, right?" she finally answered. "Come on, people. It's been a tough couple days. You think I'm into sitting and listening to bullshit all night?"
Shari snorted. "You just can't take it." She waved a hand. "None of you people have a sense of humor."
"I have a sense of humor," Kerry replied. "Jerks being rude don't qualify as funny in my world. Sorry about that."
"Well, if you..."
Michelle stood all the way up. "Shari, would you please shut the hell up," she said. "You're not making this situation any easier on any of us."
Shari's eyes narrowed, but she closed her mouth with a click of her teeth.
"Thank you." Michelle turned back to Kerry. "How about it?"
Kerry turned to leave. "Sorry. I'd rather have dinner with my dog."
"Kerry. C'mon." Michelle moved forward and intercepted her on the way to the door. "We're going to have to deal with each other for this whole damn project. Let's not start it off this way."
Kerry stared at her, then pointedly at Shari, then back at Michelle.
"Besides, we've got something you might want to hear." Michelle tilted her head to one side in acknowledgment. "You pick the place. I know this has been a battle so far, but I promise you won't regret listening to what we have to say."
On the verge of saying no, Kerry paused, remembering what Dar had said about Shari's plans. Maybe she could get her to put her cards on the table now, and have it be over and done with, before her partner even got home. "Okay," she decided. "My choice, huh?"
"Anywhere you want to go," Michelle assured her. "How bad could it be?"
Kerry smiled. "It's a favorite spot of mine. Out on the beach. I'm sure you'll enjoy it."
Chapter Sixteen
DAR BUMPED THE door open with her elbow and proceeded inside. Hans was still hunched over his laptop cursing in German, and the sun was slanting inside the tinted windows to a far more radical degree. She set one cup down next to the programmer and went back to her own seat, settling into it and leaning back. "How's it going?"
"Like crap. Do you know how much I have to change in this to do your foolish test?"
Dar sipped her cappuccino. "Want me to take a look at it?"
"No."
Programmers. Dar cheerfully acknowledged her own species. "Yeah, I'd give you the same answer," she admitted. "Keep your paws out of my code."
Hans glanced up at her briefly, then went back to his screen. "Do you program?"
"I used to," Dar admitted. "Before I went into design and engineering. I still mess with it a little bit sometimes."
"Hmph."
Dar pulled out her PDA and opened it, seeing the stuttering light. She tapped on Kerry's message.
Hi sweetie.
Quest just chucked up strained peas on the conference table. He wants all of us to do one of his old ships and whoever comes in best value wins his fleet contract. I complimented him on getting his ships done for free, but I'm sending the contract down to legal now. Is it worth doing?
K
Oh, ps -- I snapped my fingers and the power came on. I think your geek genes are leaking into me.
Dar snickered. "Oh, that's rich." She shook her head. "Slimy bastard."
"Eh?" Hans glanced at her again.
"Another company." Dar started scribing. "My partner's handling it."
Ker --
My geek what? Glad the power's on. Least I know you'll be comfortable tonight while I sit here babysitting a cranky programmer--must be paybacks.
Quest is a slick operator. I wish I could tell you to drop it, but with the coverage Telegenics has started, we'd look like crap if we gave up now. They'll say we're afraid of them. So we'll suck it up and participate unless you find something in the contract you don't like.
Dar hesitated, and then continued.
I think I found the problem up here. This guy's trying to fix it, and then we'll test. If it's what I think it is, he'll have to rewrite half the program code. He's pissed off. I half want to open the pipes even if it's not the problem. I want to go home.
D
She hit send, and then waited a little. However her PDA remained silent and she set it down on her leg, reasoning that Kerry might be busy. Bored, she pulled her laptop over and set it on her knees, minimizing the network sessions she had open and clicking to her personal storage icon instead.
She had several folders there, but she opened her favorite one, which had pictures of Kerry, her family, and scenes of home in it. They were set in date order, and she occasionally amused herself by just letting her eyes linger over this visible record of their relationship.
One of the ones she liked the best was the one that had caused Kerry the most problems when she went home that first thanksgiving. It was of the two of them, sitting on the couch together. Kerry had one leg slung over hers and they were leaning against each other, grinning at Colleen's camera.
She shifted her eyes to a picture of the two of them dressed for her high school reunion. She was standing behind Kerry in this one, her arms wrapped around her partner's bare middle. The sight of Kerry's mildly embarrassed expression at her skimpy gear always brought a smile to her face. But she looked adorable in her leather bikini, and Dar was always trying to find an excuse to have her wear it since then.