“Hello, I need to speak with Walter Blakelock. … No, this is business.” A pause. “I don’t give a goddamn if he’s humping with the mayor’s wife, I need to talk to him.” Another pause. “Either get him on the phone, or I’ll be calling his boss out of bed, too. … Thanks, I’ll wait.”
KERRY DIMMED HER lights as she pulled into the underground parking, slid into place next to Dar’s Lexus, and turned off the Mustang’s engine. She glanced at her reflection in the rearview mirror and gave herself a little lecture. “This is business, Kerrison. You are here because the company is in crisis, and it’s part of your job,” she told her reflection sternly. “No doe-eyed looks, no batting of the eyelashes, and no backrubs, got it?”
She exhaled, then cleared her throat and got out of the car, bringing her laptop case with her. She trotted up the stairs and rang the bell, listening for and hearing Dar’s low voice in response. “It’s business, it’s business, it’s business,” she repeated silently, as she pushed open the door and ducked inside.
Dar was sprawled on the couch in her pajamas, one long, bare, muscular leg slung over the end of the furniture and her shirt half unbuttoned. Oh well.
So much for that, Kerry sighed, as every single solitary hormone in her entire body stood up and said, “Hi there!” She managed to give Dar a crisp nod as she put her case down and got her laptop out. “Hey. Long time no see.”
Dar glanced up and over the back of the couch at her, eyes flicking over her as a brief grin appeared. “Hope you brought something more comfortable to change into. It’s gonna be a long night.”
Kerry just managed not to smirk. “Yeah, I feel a little overdressed,” she agreed as her eyes lingered on Dar's bare legs. “I’ll go fix that.” She took herself off to the nearby washroom, leaving Dar to her phone call.
236 Melissa Good Dar’s eyes briefly followed Kerry toward the washroom, and then she returned her attention to her phone call. “Look, Jim, I don’t care what it’s going to take, I need the building back online.” She leaned forward and cradled her head in her hand. “They can’t go on backup power because the fire department won’t certify the electrical substructure as safe. That means I need an electrical engineer in there, and I need them now, not tomorrow or Monday. Got me?”
Kerry got her system going, then she stood up. “Bet you could use some coffee,” she guessed, getting a pathetically grateful look from her boss.
“Thought so. I’ll go make some.” Okay, I can do this. We’re functioning. Kerry felt a little relieved, her initial nervousness fading as she rattled around the kitchen, setting up the coffee maker and starting it going. She returned to the doorway and leaned against it, watching Dar as she persistently threatened, cajoled, and harangued a series of people, finally resulting in a string of curses in two languages that caused Kerry’s eyebrows to lift as the executive slammed down the handset.
Dar glowered at the phone, then looked up, to meet warm, green eyes looking back at her. “Idiots.”
Kerry disappeared, then reappeared a minute later with a cup of steaming coffee, which she handed over before taking a seat next to Dar on the couch. “No luck, huh?”
Dar sighed and leaned back. “I have an electrical engineer headed there from South Carolina, and two backup machines being prepped in Houston, but…it’s not enough.” She took a sip of the coffee, then gave Kerry a look.
“You remembered how I like it.”
Kerry laughed. “Dar, c’mon. You add enough cream and sugar so that it stops tasting like coffee, and there you are.” She patted her companion’s leg, feeling the subtle shift of muscle under her hand as Dar stretched a little.
“Eh, that’s true,” Dar admitted, giving her an affectionate look. “God, what’s next?”
Kerry was searching the database. “Jesus, that board looks like a frigging Christmas tree.” She pulled her laptop back onto her lap as she settled deeper into the soft leather and sat cross-legged next to Dar. She glanced up. “Hey, Beauty and the Beast, I love those candlesticks.” She grinned and shook her head, not seeing the startled look in Dar’s blue eyes. “Yeesh, Dar, this is terrible. We really don’t have a backup if we lose that facility.” She looked up at her boss, who nodded slowly. “Wow.”
“I know. Three years ago in executive committee, we made a decision not to duplicate that center. I fought it like crazy, but no one wanted to allocate the budget for it. I wanted to split the processing, but they just wouldn’t go for it.” Dar sighed. “This is one of those times when I wish I wasn’t being proven right.”
Kerry shook her head. “Well, we can shift critical stuff here and here, but they’ve got all the routers up there, Dar. We don’t have enough alternate routes to get around that.”
“Yeah, that’s why I’ve been putting my efforts into getting the building back up,” Dar acknowledged glumly. The phone rang, and she picked it up.
“Yeah?”
Tropical Storm 237
“Dar, it’s José.” Montarosa’s voice was excited. “Do you know what’s going on?”
“Yeah. We’re down,” Dar replied tersely. “Now get off my goddamn phone so I can do something about it.”
Kerry glanced at her, then disengaged a hand from her keyboard and rubbed the taller woman’s back in gentle circles. She could feel the tension in the tight muscles, and she let her fingers probe the knots she found in her neck.
There was a slight pause before Dar’s voice resumed. “I’m sorry, José.
What was that you asked?” Her tone had relaxed a little. “No, there was a fire in the building. The mainframes are fine, but we don’t have power because the fire department won’t let us put juice in from the generator.” Dar closed her eyes as strong, sensitive fingers probed muscles sore from painting. “What?
Oh, yeah. No, we don’t have a backup location. You know that, you voted it down, remember?”
Kerry put down her laptop and crawled up onto the back of the couch, going to work with both hands.
“Uh, I don’t…I’ve got an electrician coming down to certify the building, so yeah, probably. But I’m going to keep pushing on the fire department anyway. Maybe they’ll get tired of hearing my voice and give up. … No. …
Okay, I’ll let you know. Bye.” Dar let her hand drop with the phone in it and groaned. “You are very good at that.”
“Thanks,” Kerry murmured. “You’re really tense.” As the dark-haired woman leaned forward, she worked her way down Dar’s back, then started back up. “There. Better?”
Blue eyes gazed back at her as Dar half turned. “Much.”
Kerry grinned and slipped back down onto the couch. “So, what’s next?”
Dar draped an arm across her shoulders. “Just stay here and keep me company while I yell at people, okay?”
Okay? Kerry squirmed closer, settling against Dar’s warm body with a little sigh of contentment. “Sure.” She let her legs join the taller woman’s, propped up on the coffee table, her green socks an odd contrast to Dar’s bare feet, then pulled her laptop over, resuming her search for resources. “We could shift these routers and get some of the bank traffic up, or…wait…here, and get Interline back.”
Dar peered over her shoulder. “Mmm. Do it. I’d rather have NOTAMS
and the weather service back for the airlines. It’s the weekend, the banks can wait.”
Kerry almost didn’t hear the last part of that, since Dar’s breath was tickling her ear very distractingly. “Uh, okay…erf…uck, I forgot I can’t use…