“Well, well. Hello, Dar.” Alastair’s voice was extremely cheerful, which usually meant nothing but trouble. “How’s the weather down there?”
“Partly cloudy, chance of afternoon showers. Why?” Dar responded.
“Can’t I just be asking?” the chairman inquired. “No, of course not. I just thought you’d like a little change of scenery.”
The executive rolled her eyes. “How little?”
“Orlando,” Alastair responded. “We’re bidding Disney.”
Dar’s eyes widened in honest surprise. “They’re taking bids? I thought they were so goddamn proud of doing their own stuff, they’d rather have Mickey admit to cheating on Minnie before they’d outsource.”
A rich chuckle. “Not since they had that management changeover. They finally figured out it’s better to farm the stuff out. All the majors are in there, but I want it.” Alastair cleared his throat. “We’ve got a good team bidding, but it needs… Well, John Byers, the account lead, is getting beat up pretty bad by IBM. He needs us to show some weight behind him, and you know the IBM
rep, Jerry Andrews.”
“Ah. Jerry.” Dar let out an unpleasant laugh. “He won’t be glad to see my face, let me tell you that, Alastair. Last time I saw him he threw a desk chair at me.”
“Exactly,” Alastair agreed jovially. “Just what John needs to throw off Jerry’s focus.” He shuffled some papers. “The meetings are tomorrow and Thursday, but I’d like you to get up there tonight.”
Dar considered. “I can take a puddle jumper up. All right, I’ll take care of it, Alastair.”
“Great.” The CEO sighed. “You’re in a good mood today. What’s up?”
“Nothing much. Just had a good morning, that’s all,” Dar replied dismissively. “Let me get started on pulling up the files for Disney, Alastair.
Talk to you later.”
“Give ’em hell, Dar. Bye.” Alastair hung up.
162 Melissa Good Maria sighed. “Travel again? My goodness.”
Dar worked seriously at her keyboard for a moment, then looked up. “I’ll need a flight out tonight, Maria. Book me for tonight and tomorrow night at someplace relatively close to the admin center up there, and get me the usual…” She paused, considering. Alastair wanted to put on a show, okay, and she wanted to break in her new assistant, maybe she could knock off two birds… “Actually, I think this is a good opportunity for Kerry to get a look at what an account battle looks like. Book two seats, and two rooms, and clear both of our schedules until Friday,” she decided crisply, then dialed the phone. “Kerry?”
“Right here,” Kerry answered softly, over a flutter of keystrokes. “Just working on some e-mail.”
“We need to go up to Orlando for a few days; we’re bidding an account up there. Is that a problem?” Dar was busy calling up records.
“Uh, um…sure. No, no problem. I can do that. How long?” Kerry’s voice sounded surprised.
“Two days. We’ll fly up tonight and come back on Thursday night, probably,” Dar replied. “I’d like you to see the process first-hand.”
“Sure, no problem. I’ll get going on these projects and try to get them out the door before tonight.”
“Good.” Dar hung up. “Okay, let me just print these. Maria, I’m going to have to run home and pick up a bag since I didn’t drive today. Schedule the flight for seven or so, the last one out.” She felt her energy picking up as the challenge pricked at her competitive nature. If I could bring home Disney, ooo…
Her nostrils flared in anticipation.
“Si, I will.” Maria was making rapid notes on her pad. “You want two rooms together?”
“Yeah, sure.” Dar nodded absently, absorbing the information. “That’s fine,” she muttered to herself as Maria left, sending sheet after sheet to the printer.
“Ay, Dios mío.” Maria sat down and pulled out her contact book, checking for a number and then starting to dial. She paused, however, when the outer door opened and Kerry slipped in. “Oye, chiquita, you go on your first trip, hmm? Not so far.”
Kerry perched on the corner of her desk. “Am I reading this right? Are we going to Disney World?”
Maria smiled. “Si, is business, though. No Mickey Mouse at the meetings.”
A twinkle of mischief showed in the sea green eyes. “Hmm. So, where are we staying?”
Maria pulled up a trip planner and reviewed her choices. “The Village area is close, it has access to the administrative offices. Is nice…the Hyatt, I think.”
Kerry drummed her fingers on the desk. “I kinda thought it would be something like that. What if it’s full?”
“Ay, well, there are seven, eight hotels in that area. Is not holiday season yet,” Maria stated, giving her a curious look.
“Well, what if it…what if they were all full?” the blond woman persisted.
Tropical Storm 163
“What if…” She pulled the monitor over and scrolled down the choices.
“What if we had to stay…here?”
Maria studied the screen. “Chiquita, that’s right inside the park.”
“I know,” Kerry assured her.
“What little plans are going through your mind?” the secretary demanded. “Dar will go crazy if I book her in there.” She checked the profile nonetheless. The Floridian was one of the nicest hotels on the Disney property, and the picture showed a huge, filigreed white Victorian structure.
“Is nice.”
“Mmm.” Kerry agreed. “Listen, her doctor keeps bugging her to take a vacation, and I know this is a business trip, but those meetings can’t last all day. Maybe I can get her to just cut loose, and relax for a while, you know?”
“Ahhh…” Maria smiled and patted her hand. “Chiquita, you are so sweet…and very tricky. That is a good thing.” She picked up the phone. “I will do it. If she gets mad, she gets mad.”
Kerry smiled. “If it works, it’ll be worth it.” She got up when she heard movement inside Dar’s office. “Whoops, gotta go. Listen, I’ll bring you back a stuffed Pluto or something.” She slipped out of the office and back down the hall. Maria shook her head. “Pluto. Ay, chica, make sure she doesn’t stuff you.”
Chapter Fifteen
MIAMI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT had started out as a small airport, with one terminal. As Miami grew, so did the airport, adding more terminals and more concourses as more airlines wanted to fly out of it. Now, being the gateway to South America and the Caribbean, it moved an unimaginable number of people twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Unfortunately, it wasn’t so much designed as grown, and the concourses were long, endless corridors with no moving sidewalks that seemed to go on forever. The airport was always full of people, with a dozen languages to be heard and overhead announcements in Spanish as well as English.
An overnight bag slung over her shoulder, Dar strode through the crowd while she examined the travel documents Maria had handed her, couriered over by their corporate travel agency. “Where in—Jesus! She booked us inside the damn park.”
“Really?” Kerry was working to keep up, and she peered over her boss’s elbow curiously. “Oh, wow! That’s supposed to be a nice place, I’ve seen pictures.”
Dar gave her a look. “We won’t get much of a chance to see it,” she warned, then hesitated, seeing the veiled look of disappointment in those interesting green eyes. “Well, maybe a little,” she relented. “We can have breakfast with Mickey, anyway.”