by Melissa Good
The terminal felt overheated. Dar unzipped her jacket the minute Red Sky At Morning 35
she cleared the doors and plowed through the crowd inside, heading for the security gate in front of the terminal she knew Kerry had to be in.
Impatiently, she dropped her cell phone and pager into the small bucket, then walked through the metal detector as the guard waved her casually by.
She grabbed the electronics and moved on, pausing in the center of the terminal and looking around in mild dismay. It was a zoo. There were people piled everywhere, and angry, tired faces seemed to fill every available space. Dar pulled out her cell phone and flipped it open, then closed it again as a thought occurred to her.
She turned on her heel and headed toward a bank of elevators.
KERRY CURLED HERSELF up into a ball in the comfortable leather chair. She had one hand clasped around a glass of cognac, and she sipped slowly from it as the tension in her body very gradually unwound. All around her were trapped travelers, most on cell phones, none of them happy people.
They were all trying desperately to get somewhere else, and it felt odd to know that she wanted nothing more than to stay right where she was. She took another swallow of the good cognac, feeling the light buzz starting as she sat quietly and let the chaos in the room fade a little.
How long would it take Dar to get to the airport? Kerry tried to think about how far the city was, and how bad the weather seemed. She resigned herself to the wait, curling up a little bit more as the door opened and more disgruntled travelers entered.
Would Dar be able to find her? Kerry set her glass down and opened her cell, then cursed softly as the battery indicator bleeped reproachfully at her and the device shut down. “Damn it.” She tapped the cell against her chin, then put it back in its case. “Guess I’ll wait another fifteen, then go see if I can find her.”
The lights flickered briefly, then steadied, causing a momentary hush in the room before the conversation picked back up again, not without wary looks toward the ceiling.
“Great.” Kerry muttered. “Just make it harder, why don’t you?”
She was facing away from the entrance to the club, looking out the plate-glass windows at the busy terminal on the level below. Suddenly her senses prickled and she felt a tingling sensation between her shoulder blades. Instinctively, she turned in her chair and looked up, startled at the sudden feeling.
And there was Dar, her tall frame outlined in leather and denim, walking toward her through the crowd. Kerry put down her glass and untangled herself, nearly tripping as she stood up and reached for Dar’s already outstretched arms. “Oof.” Off balance, she landed in an embrace that fairly lifted her off her feet anyway. “Oh, boy, am I glad to 36 Melissa Good see you.”
Dar simply hugged her in silence.
“They just brought my bag up,” Kerry murmured.
“So I see.” Dar eyed the leather overnighter. She sniffed curiously.
“What was in the glass?”
Kerry licked her lips. “Cognac,” she admitted. “I was tied up in knots from that damn landing.”
Dar rubbed her back. “Did it work?”
“No.” Kerry peeked up. “But you did. I feel great now.” She smiled.
“Thanks for coming after me. I realized after we hung up I could have just taken a cab to your hotel.” She reluctantly released Dar. “Then I realized you would never know where I was and tried to call you back, but my cell’s dead”
“Bah.” Dar picked up Kerry’s bag. “And had me miss a ride with a prize New York cab driver? C’mon.” She put her arm over Kerry’s shoulders as Kerry retrieved her briefcase. “Let’s get out of here.”
Kerry blew out a breath. “I guess I can keep tabs on the flights from the hotel, right? So I know when I have to come back here.”
Dar glanced at her. “Uh-huh. Let’s worry about that later.” She steered Kerry toward the door, ignoring the envious looks from those obviously destined to spend the night right where they were.
THE STORM HAD settled in overhead by the time they pushed the doors open to the outside of the airport, and Dar blinked as wind driven rain dusted her face. She tugged her zipper up a little and then shaded her eyes from the rain, peering around for her cabbie friend. “Figures.”
“What?” Kerry was buttoning her own jacket. “Here, I can get that.” She reached for her overnighter, only to find it held up out of her reach. “Dar!”
“Leave it.” Dar sighed, watching the jam-up of cars on the ramp, a solid block of traffic honking and blaring their horns. “Lost our cab.”
Kerry glanced around. “Well…” She peered down the slope nearby.
“Hey, there’s a cab stand down there. Let’s go for it.”
Dar abandoned searching and resigned herself to a wet walk, putting her arm around Kerry as they emerged from the overhang, and the cold rain spattered over them.
They left the crowd behind quickly, no one else apparently willing to brave the weather in return for a shorter wait for a ride. The slope led them down toward a set of bus shelters, where a broken down city bus was standing with several people around it.
“Yeesh.” Kerry turned her collar up. The combination of the cognac and her recent experience had her knees feeling a little unsteady, and the long slope downward didn’t make that any better. She wrapped her arms around Dar for support and sighed.
“Did you get dinner on the plane?” Dar asked.
Red Sky At Morning 37
“No.” Kerry paused. “Wait, yes I did,” she corrected herself. “But even if I hadn’t, this headache’s making me sick to my stomach. I’d settle for a cup of hot milk and you.” She wiped the rain out of her eyes.
“How did your dinner with what’s-his-name go?”
Dar guided them both around a group of men standing under the bus shelter, catching a whiff of long stale urine and marijuana coming from it as they passed. “Nice.”
“What?” Kerry eyed her in puzzled bemusement. “After all that doubting?”
“Um…dinner was fine.” Dar cleared her throat. “We grabbed some sandwiches. He wanted to take me some place underground but I wasn’t going for that.” She hesitated. “Didn’t last long.”
“I bet.” Kerry glanced around at their darkened surroundings and began to regret not waiting up at the top of the ramp. The cab station, which had seemed so close from up there, now was across a dark stretch of underpass and the rain had started to come down harder. “This wasn’t the best idea, apparently.”
“Eh.” Dar was glad enough to change the subject. “I’ll take your cup of milk and raise you a blob of chocolate syrup in it.”
Her partner chuckled a bit, but then a soft sound behind them made Kerry glance back. Of the group near the bus, two had separated, and were strolling casually behind them, their faces hidden in hoods they had up against the weather.
She looked ahead again, then she looked up at Dar. Her partner was walking with her eyes on the ground in front of them, a faintly troubled expression on her face. “Dar?”
“Mm?”
“Is it totally WASPy for me to think that just because two guys are following us, we could be in trouble? Or has it just been that bad a day?”
Dar looked behind them. “Maybe they’re heading for the cab stand too,” she reasoned. “Bus’s broke down.”
“Mm.”
Dar abruptly changed direction, taking them into the street as she headed across it toward the sidewalk on the other side of the road. She felt her heartbeat increase as she heard footsteps on the tarmac behind them, and felt a lump in her throat as she realized her lover’s instincts were probably correct. “Got your cell?”
“Batteries dead,” Kerry muttered back. “They following us?”
“Yes.”
“Got yours?”
“Yeah, but it’s in my pocket can you…”
“Hey, babes, where ya going?”
“Shit.” Kerry felt an unreasoning wave of anxiety. “Le
t me get your phone and I’ll call 911.”
Dar handed her the overnight bag as she released her arm and 38 Melissa Good started to turn. “Hold this. Let me see what the hell these idiots want.”
She slowed and swiveled her body, as the two men following them came up behind them. “What do you want?”
“Hey, that any way to talk to a man?” the nearer one said. “Chill your jets, baby.” He had his hands in his jacket pockets and now one emerged with a dark solid block in it. “Now you and little blondie just dump your wallets on the ground, quick!”
The other man got between them, and the crowd left around the bus, blocking their view. “That’s right. Hurry up! We ain’t got time to mess around here!”
Kerry’s heart almost stopped as she recognized the shape of a gun pointed at Dar’s chest. She took a breath to stammer a reply and reached for her wallet, but froze when Dar stepped in front of her and squared her shoulders defiantly. “Dar!”
“What the hell do you think you’re going to do with that, you little jackass.” Dar answered him. “You think you’re gonna shoot me? You’re not near a man enough to do that.”
“Hey!” The gun wielder shoved the weapon forward. “Shut the fuck up! Put your wallet down or I’m gonna kill you, you stupid bitch!”
“Dar.” Kerry felt a sense of panic overwhelm her again. “For the love of God, please, just give him the damn money. It doesn’t mean anything.”
Dar mentally knew Kerry was right, but her nerves were close to snapping after the long day and she took a step toward the robber instead. “Yeah?” She growled. “C’mere, asshole. I’ve had a bad day and you’re gonna be the bright spot at the end of it.” She gently pushed Kerry behind her as she made her choice and started moving, heading for the robber and keeping her eyes fixed on the gun.
She could feel a hot bolt of fear hit her in the guts, and it almost made her waver, but the robber was raising the gun and now she was out of time.
She launched into an attack, committing herself to the motion as she saw the other man start to run forward, then hesitate as she set her body and whipped her leg around in a roundhouse kick just as the man with the gun went to pull the trigger.
“Hey!”
Her foot struck the weapon as it fired, and it spun out of his hand to land past where Kerry was standing. Dar didn’t wait for him to react.
She back kicked him as she continued around in a circle, then straightened and reached for his arms as he reeled, grabbing him and turning to throw him over her shoulder to the ground.
Kerry broke out of her frozen fear and ran over to the gun, kicking it as hard as she could and sending it spinning away from them over the edge of the overpass where it skipped down out of sight. She turned to find the two men running away, back toward the bus, and a pair of headlights headed straight for them. Then Dar’s arms enfolded her and Red Sky At Morning 39
they were on the side of the road, safe for the moment, though her heart was beating so fast she was lightheaded. “Oh my God.”
“That’s it.” Dar sounded a bit out of breath herself. “I’m taking today off the damn calendar.” She glared past Kerry at the oncoming car. “Stupid city. Stupid bastards. Stupid…”
The car pulled even with her, and the sheets of rain parted to reveal a cab. “Hey! There you are!” The cabbie stuck his head out of his window. “I was lookin for ya! They made me get off the ramp, you know?” He looked around. “You shouldn’ta come down here, y’know?
It’s dangerous.’
“Thanks.” Dar opened the back door and threw Kerry’s bag in, then ushered her partner in after it. “Think you can get us back to my hotel without anything else happening?”
The cabbie rolled his window up and gave them a dubious look in the mirror. “I dunno, lady. It’s New York, y’know?”
“Yeah, I know.”
He put the car in gear. “You wanna stop by the corner there at the liquor store?”
“No.”
“You sure? You look like you could use a drink.”
“They probably don’t sell milk.” Dar propped her head up on one hand as Kerry curled herself up next to her and buried her face against Dar’s chest. “Thanks anyway.”
The cabbie looked at her in the mirror again, but just shook his head instead of answering and got down to the business of driving.
Dar exhaled, and rested her cheek against Kerry’s damp hair. “You okay?”
“No, I suck,” Kerry replied. “But if I can stay like this until we get to the hotel, I might be able to get up to the room without freaking out.”
She slowly let out a long breath. “Uuuuhhhhggggggh.” She felt Dar give her a kiss on the head and for a minute her world narrowed down to the sound of her lover’s heartbeat as she let the blare of horns and the sound of the rain fade out.
Dar felt her tension ease as Kerry relaxed against her. She pushed the wet hair from her eyes and stared unseeing at the passing lights, hoping the rest of the night would hold far more comfort and far less excitement.
What was it about her life anyway? Couldn’t she even have a damn business meeting go on without six kinds of calamity happening? “Hey Ker?”“Mm?”
“You think I attract trouble?”
Kerry was silent for a long moment. “Well,” she finally said. “You attracted me.”
“Ah.” Dar grunted softly. “Good point.”
“I can’t even imagine what that says about what I attract.”
40 Melissa Good
“Hey!”
They both chuckled tiredly, and sat back to watch the city go by.
“THANKS.” DAR SCRIBBLED her name on the room service bill, then shooed the waiter out, shutting the heavy door behind him. She turned and regarded Kerry in silence for a moment, and then walked over to the tray on the table. Kerry was curled up in one of the leather chairs, propping up her head with one hand as she gazed out the windows at the city lights.
“Ker?” Dar picked up a cup of hot chocolate and walked over to her, holding it out invitingly.
“Mm...thanks.” Kerry accepted it, turning in the chair to face Dar as she sat down next to her. “I think my insides have stopped shaking, at least.” She raked her fingers through her hair and sighed. “God, I’ve never been so scared in my life, Dar. What a night.”
“I’ve had a couple of moments in the air, but nothing like that,” Dar said. “Makes you glad to be on the ground though.”
Kerry took a sip of her chocolate, licking her lips free of the foamy topping. “Boy, does it ever.”
Dar pulled her knees up and circled them with one arm, sipping on the glass of milk she held in her free hand. “Yeah. I...” She hesitated, and then shook her head. “Been a long day for both of us, huh?”
“Between my flight and you beating off armed robbers? Yeah.”
Kerry eyed her partner. “Should we call the police?”
Dar just looked at her.
“Yeah, I know. Two guys in hoods, with a gun, and you beat them up and made them run away. We’ll be at the station until tomorrow morning.” Kerry sighed, taking a sip of her hot chocolate. “You scared the hell out of me.”
“If we’d have gave him our wallets, we’d have had to walk back to this God damned hotel and I just was not in the mood,” Dar replied.
“Stupid stockholders, pain in the ass New York salesmen, my…” She paused. “Too long of a damn day.”
Kerry watched her over the rim of her cup. “I picked up my voice mail. What was it you wanted to talk to me about?” she said, changing the subject. “You sounded weird.”
Dar got up and walked over to the table, selecting a shrimp chip and scooping up some crab dip with it. She put it into her mouth and chewed slowly, aware of the curious eyes on her back. Her attack of nerves had now taken on another, even stranger cast, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to talk about it. “Ah...I just had a strange idea and I wanted to run it by you,” she answered casually. “Nothing important.”
Red Sky At Morning 41
“Well...it’s important enough for you to lie to me about it,” Kerry stated with quiet bluntness. “And I, um...don’t think you’ve ever done that to me before.” She laid both hands against Dar’s stomach and leaned into her. “Honey, don’t do this to me right now. I can’t handle it.” She said. “Just tell me. Was it that guy? Did something happen?”
“What guy?” Dar frowned. “Oh. Bob? No.”
Kerry lifted her head and peered up at her.
Dar inhaled sharply, responding to the look in Kerry’s eyes. “It’s not...what you think. I just...right before I called you, I had this...this fit,” she said. “It was like I was going nuts or something.”
Kerry’s expression altered into one of mild alarm. “A fit?”
Upset, Dar sat down on the arm of the nearby chair and ran her hand through her hair. “It was like a..a panic attack or...but I’ve never had that before, and I know I’m not...”
Kerry slid between her lover’s knees and let her forearms rest on Dar’s shoulders. “Were you scared?”
Dar nodded unhappily. “I was totally freaking out,” she said.
“Right in the middle of dinner with Bob. He drove me back here, must have thought I was losing my mind.”
“Wow,” Kerry murmured. “That’s really not like you.” She leaned against her partner as she felt Dar’s shoulders tense.
“Yeah, no kidding.” Dar put her hands on Kerry’s hips. “So I called you, but when you didn’t pick up I went to check your flight and saw you were delayed.”
“Did you know why?”
Dar nodded. “I called and bullied the airline into telling me,” she admitted. “I just felt like there was something wrong and frankly it got my mind off my going crazy.”
“You felt like there was something wrong…you mean, with me?”
Dar nodded, then frowned. “That sounds weird. I don’t mean…hell, I don’t know what I mean.”
Kerry took out her cell phone and examined the memory. Her brow creased. “When did it happen?” she asked suddenly. “Do you remember what time? When you got…when you freaked out?”