They queried him uncertainly.
“I’m a carrier pilot,” he responded dryly. “I’ve landed on something a lot smaller than your field.”
Then they were on the ground, and Jack parked his plane in an unused hangar, shutting it down and turning it over to the watchful eye of an MP sent for just that purpose. They got in the car he had waiting and started off. It was an hour’s drive to Saugatuck, which was right on the water. They could feel the lake breeze hitting the car even before they got there, and Dar peered at the map, giving terse, nervous directions. At last. A somber, white building rose before them, with gates in the front and a full complement of security.
Jack looked at her uncertainly. “How are we going to get in there?”
Blue eyes regarded him. “You’re not. You’re staying right here until I get back. And if I don’t get back, call this number.” She tried to hand him a card, but he wouldn’t take it.
“No way, Dar. I’m going in there with you.” His jaw jutted stubbornly.
“You had me fly all the way out here, I’m not missing out on the fun.”
“Jack, this could mean trouble for you. I don’t want that on my conscience,”Dar objected.
“Flying into Iraqi airspace meant trouble for me,” he replied bluntly. “I went anyway.”
Dar remained silent, then sighed. “All right.” She took her badge from her briefcase and clipped it on her collar, then peered at him. “Here.” She clipped the luggage tag on his flight suit. “Take off the insignia, they won’t know the difference.”
They got out of the car, and Dar stripped off her flight suit, donning 424 Melissa Good instead the trench coat she’d brought against the chill air. She shouldered her laptop, and faced him. “We’re here to fix the computers, okay?”
His brows creased as he pulled off his wings and name patch. “What if they aren’t broken?”
“They are,” Dar assured him. “They have a trouble ticket open with the local account here.”
“That’s a bit of a coincidence, isn’t it?” he inquired warily.
“Not really,” Dar replied as she started walking towards the guard house.
“It’s a long holiday weekend, they have to transmit their payroll tonight, and both of their local techs are with their families three hundred miles away. It’s the worst possible time for a problem, ergo, there is one.” She straightened her lapel. “Computers are like that.”
Jack thought about that. “Oh.” He zipped up his jacket, hanging his luggage tag from the outside pocket. “Murphy’s Law?”
“Dar’s Rule of FUBAR.” Dar smiled grimly as they came up to the gate, a large rectangle of light from the glassed-in window spilling out along the darkened path. “Much more precise.”
As they approached, a small panel slid aside, revealing a young guard with thick, curly blond hair and blue eyes. “Can I help you?” he started to ask, then his eyes fell on her badge. “Oh, thank god! Thank god! Let me get the gate open.”
Dar winked at Jack. “Now, that’s the kind of reception I like to see the company get.” Now that she was here and doing something, her nerves had steadied, and she felt a lot calmer. It was the waiting that killed her.
The gate swung open and the guard hurried out. “You need an escort?”
he asked anxiously.
Dar consulted a paper. “Let’s see…it’s the computer room on the…” She bent closer.
“Third floor, near the lockdown unit,” he supplied helpfully. “Go up the elevator, get off at the third floor, turn right, and it’s three doors down on the left. I’ll have it opened for you.”
“Great, thanks. We’ll try to be quick,” Dar promised.
“Please. If they don’t transmit that tape before the banks update in the morning, I’m toast,” the man begged. “I promised I’d take my mother-in-law out to brunch on Sunday, and at this rate, it’s going to be at McDonalds.”
Dar patted his shoulder. “Relax.” The stones crunching under her boots, she started up the gravel path and exhaled. “First hurdle down.”
Jack moved closer. “Isn’t it bad, raising his hopes like that?”
Blue eyes shot a look at him. “Trust me, they’ve got a lot better chance of getting those damn systems working with me here than if they’d sent one of our field techs.” She continued walking, heading up a low series of steps to the front door of the facility. “I’m not just an administrator, y’know.”
“Bu…uh…well, I know, Dar, but we’re not really here to do that. I mean… Are you actually going to fix it, then?”
Dar sighed. “Why the hell not? I’m here to break a senator’s daughter out of a psych ward in the middle of the night after hijacking a government aircraft.” She paused. “And it’s gonna snow. Might as well fix the damn computers so I can at least bill them before I get thrown in jail and then fired, Tropical Storm 425
if I’m really, really lucky.”
Jack looked nervously around. “Oh. Okay.”
They entered the building, quiet at this hour, and nodded at the guard sitting on the reception desk. He glanced at them, then spotted the badge and looked profoundly relieved. “Damn, are we glad to see you guys. They said they didn’t have anyone in the area. I thought we were really screwed.”
“We flew in,” Dar replied honestly as she headed past the desk and entered the elevator. The doors closed behind them, and she exhaled again.
“Hurdle number two.” It was a silent ride until the doors slid open on the third floor, exposing a long expanse of mind-numbingly mint green concrete.
“Jesus, I hate that color,” Dar muttered as she turned to her right.
Their shoes squeaked on the polished tile, and the sound made the nurse at the desk look up in startled attention. She came around the corner and approached them—a short, slim woman with dark hair and a lightly made up face. “Can I… Oh.” Her eyes widened on seeing Dar’s badge. “Thank the good Lord’s mercy.”
Dar smiled and stopped in front of the room the guard had indicated, nodding at it. “Wanna let me in?”
The nurse hurriedly punched in a code, and the door opened. She pushed it back, holding it respectfully as they entered. “Oh, you have no idea how wonderful it is to see you. I can’t believe they found someone at this time of night. It’s incredible.”
Dar entered the computer room and set her briefcase down, then seated herself in front of the AS400 terminal and examined it. She pulled her laptop out of its case and booted it, while Jack watched with interest.
“Can I get you two anything?” the nurse asked anxiously. “Coffee, a doughnut—we’ve got some turkey and stuffing left.”
Dar glanced over. “Thanks, Ms.,” she squinted a little, “Archer, coffee would be wonderful.” She paused. “I like mine with everything.”
The nurse nodded, then glanced at Jack.
“Just black for me, thanks.” He smiled at her.
“Right you are. I’ll be right back.” She hurried off.
Dar recalled the company’s profile and drilled down to their operations section, retrieving their administrative login and password. She typed it in and was rewarded with full access to their systems.
“How do you guys do this?” Jack whispered. “It’s like you’ve got some massive set of skeleton keys or something.”
“Well.” Dar entered a query to their patient database and waited for the screen to come back. Then she recorded Kerry’s location and the lock code to her room. “It’s like this: We do all the data transfer for most of the credit unions out there. Most places that are members of the credit unions know that, because we take care that they do—with joint advertising, that kind of thing.