by Melissa Good
Even the slight sound was enough to get a response from Kerry, however, who murmured and opened her eyes, reaching instinctively out as Dar shifted. “Hey.”
“It’s okay. I’m just stretching,” Dar reassured her, seeing the sleep fogged and slightly dazed eyes peering anxiously back at her. “How are you feeling?” She cleared the very disheveled hair out of Kerry’s eyes and watched her blink a few times in confusion. “Ker?”
“Yeah, yeah.” Kerry’s brow creased slightly. “Mmph.” She cleared her throat slightly and tentatively shifted. “Not too bad,” she murmured, in a surprised tone. “What time is it?”
“Five.”
“Jesus.” Kerry swallowed. “No wonder my mouth feels like cotton wadding.” She drew in a breath and rolled over onto her back, stretching out cautiously under the covers. Other than her sore shoulder, everything 404 Melissa Good seemed to be pretty much okay, and she wiggled her toes, feeling a hundred times better than before she’d gone to sleep.
Except for one thing. “I’m starving,” she informed the popcorn ceiling. “Are you starving?” She laid her hand over her very empty feeling stomach.
“I dunno. Let me get enough kinks out to stand up, then I’ll let you know.” Dar groaned, as she slowly extended her legs and arched her back. “Son of a…” She felt like one huge cramp. “Ow.”
Kerry patted her thigh. “Easy there, tiger,” she murmured. “I can’t believe we slept so late. I wonder what’s going on.”
Dar slid out from under the covers and got to her feet, rubbing the back of her neck and walking gingerly. “I’ll turn on the news.” She limped over to the connecting door between their room and her parents and stuck her head inside, smiling at the dark, quiet room with its sleeping occupants. She drew back out and shut the door carefully. “Still snoozing.” She yawned and scratched her belly, then hit the remote for the television and trudged towards the bathroom. “I think I am hungry, now that you mention it.” Walking around loosened things up a little, though her back was still protesting.
“Good.”
Dar listened to Kerry rustle around for a minute, then she used the restroom, ran water in the sink, and splashed handfuls of it over her face.
It was cold and faintly metallic smelling, but it worked to wake her up.
She patted her skin dry and regarded her reflection, smoothing her dampened hair back off her face. “Mmm.” One finger touched a bruise covering half her cheekbone. “Last time I had one like that, I was still in high school.”
She met the eyes in the mirror for a moment, then turned the light out and reentered the room to find Kerry sitting up in bed, cradling her arm. “Oh, wait.” She grabbed the sling and held it up. “Need this?” She walked over at Kerry’s nod and adjusted the canvas support around her, then sat down on the bed and glanced at the menu Kerry had open in front of her.
“Ooo.” She made a grab for the folder, spotting something interesting.
“Ah ah.” Kerry tugged it back one handed. “Dinner first, then dessert.” She scanned the choices, then picked up the phone and dialed room service. “Hello…ah, yes, it is.” A pause. “Thank you. Um…I’d like to order something for dinner?” She scowled at the television, which was on a shopping channel. “Put on CNN, will you?”
Dar keyed the remote, but left the sound down.
“Yes, thanks. Um, two of the clam chowder.” She put the phone against her chest. “How do ribs sound?”
Dar tickled hers lightly. “Fine.”
“Stop that.” Kerry hissed. “Two orders of the ribs. No, the full rack.”
A pause. “Do you have anything bigger? A what? No. No. That’s okay.
I’ll pass on the cow.” She rolled her eyes. “Baked potatoes sound great Eye of the Storm 405
and the salads, yeah.” Another pause. “A large pot of coffee, and um,”
she flipped the page, “two of the Death by Chocolate Killer Mountain Brownies with vanilla ice cream and fudge sauce.”
Dar scratched an ear. “When you put it like that, it sounds so excessive,” she muttered.
“It is.” Kerry smiled. “Yes, thanks, that’s great.” She hung up the phone. “About thirty minutes.” She reached over and turned the sound up, as a familiar scene appeared.
“The explosion, believed to be centered in the middle of the seventh floor, set off a chain reaction when it touched off the gas supply inside the hospital,” the announcer said gravely. “Two hundred people are believed dead, and today the FBI has started investigating, citing a tip they received that this horrible tragedy might not have been an accident.”
“Two hundred people.” Kerry breathed. “Oh my god, Dar.”
“Senator Roger Stuart, in Washington for Senate hearings on his conduct was an eyewitness. Seen here, as he assisted in evacuating victims from the floor worst hit, he stated that so far as he could tell, there was no warning, just a huge explosion that shook the entire building.”
Kerry stared at the screen, seeing her father’s battered face and burned clothing through a faint haze of memory. The camera showed the firefighters perched outside the broken window, and what was, unmistakably, her father’s outline as he handed out one of the children.
Through a billow of smoke she could also see Andrew’s distinctive form, but it seemed like a dream to her, not something that she’d lived through only half a day prior.
Dar blinked at the screen, which showed further film and a close up of the window as a thick puff of black, oily looking smoke poured out.
“Damn.” She watched a dimly seen figure holding onto one of the women, as they climbed into the firefighter’s basket and it occurred to her suddenly that she was watching herself. “Is that…”
“You,” Kerry murmured. “Yeah it is.”
The film cut to Dar clambering over the edge of the basket herself, then all of them ducking as an explosion shook the screen, sending a fire-ball out inches from the erratically weaving platform.
“Oh my god. You just...” Kerry’s eyes widened. “Dar.” She turned her head.
“Yeah.” Dar put a reassuring arm around her. “It was kinda close. I made Dad go before me. I wanted to make absolutely sure he was okay.”
Kerry leaned her head against Dar’s shoulder. “I’m glad I didn’t realize how close you came. I’d have had nightmares, I know it.”
“I thought I was going to have nightmares but I didn’t.” Dar sighed.
“I think I just want to forget the whole thing.” She looked down at her hands, which were covered with tiny cuts and scrapes and really stung.
“It’s sort of a blur already.”
Kerry thought about that. “I remember you being very brave,” she commented softly. “I remember you saving my butt a few times along with some other people’s.”
406 Melissa Good
“I just wanted to get you out of there,” Dar replied. “I didn’t really care about those other people.”
“That’s not true. You cared about your parents,” Kerry objected.
“Well, yeah.”
“You cared about those kids.”
Dar didn’t answer.
“Dar, why is it so hard for you to accept your own heroism?” Kerry asked.
She didn’t get an answer for a while, then Dar shrugged one shoulder. “I don’t know.”
Kerry tucked a hand inside her elbow and studied Dar’s face, its battered profile still and somber. “This really rocked you, didn’t it?”
Dar nodded.
“You want to talk about it?”
Dar drew in a breath. “Not yet.” She gave Kerry a brief, honest look.
“But I will…and you’ll be the first one to hear it.”
Kerry smiled at her. “Fair enough.” She leaned over and kissed Dar’s arm. “How are you feeling?”
Now she got a bit of a wryly raised eyebrow.
“Like a truck ran over me,” Dar answered honestly. “I think I pulled a few things. My back’s really hurting.”
“Maybe they can slide a few x-rays on you when they get my shoulder tonight,” Kerry stated pointedly. “I’m not surprised your back hurts.
You carried my butt for fifteen minutes. Good grief, Dar. I’m surprised you didn’t get a hernia on top of it.”
That even got a smile. “Didn’t even occur to me. I wasn’t in a reasonable frame of mind, I don’t think.”
The television caught their attention. “The Senate committee investigating Senator Stuart has informed CNN that they have postponed further hearings for a short period—perhaps until after the holidays to allow the senator to recover from his ordeal.”
“Oh my god. Did he just say we can go home?” Kerry blurted.
“Yeah. I think so.” Dar now smiled again in frank relief. “Maybe you don’t have to come back.”
“In related news, International Logistics Services confirmed that two of the survivors from the explosion were ILS CIO, Dar Roberts, and Director of Operations, Kerrison Stuart, who is Senator Roger Stuart’s daughter. Both were reportedly there visiting Ms. Stuart’s sister, who was in labor at the time.”
“Ew.” Kerry scrunched her face up. “I don’t like being a sound bite.”
“According to Chief Executive Officer, Alastair McLean, both employees were among the group rescued from the seventh floor, and he identified Ms. Roberts as the person CNN has been showing in this spectacular piece of footage all afternoon.”
“Ew.” Dar covered her eyes. “Alastair, did we need the publicity that badly?”
“Mr. McLean stated that he was not surprised at the heroism shown Eye of the Storm 407
by Ms. Roberts, a fifteen year employee of ILS, and that he was glad to rush ILS resources to the scene to assist the injured.” The announcer cleared his throat. “CNN featured Ms. Roberts in a Businessline interview only this morning, regarding the ATM outage the previous day.”
Dar watched a clip of her interview and sighed. “I look like an idiot.”
“You do not.” Kerry gave her a look. “You look gorgeous and that guy is all but drooling on you, Dar.”
Dar made a face.
“You’re such a nerd.” Kerry kidded her gently. “I think you look great on TV.”
Dar fiddled with her pager, then turned it on and dropped it onto the table. She stared at it for a few seconds, then jumped as it started to vibrate. They both watched in fascination as the device skittered all over the table, then hopped off to the carpet, where it continued to vibrate.
“Wow.” Dar waited a few minutes until it finally stopped, then she picked it up and reviewed the pages. “Twenty five. It maxed out the memory.” She thumbed through them. “Guess I should probably give Mark a call…maybe have him call María…”
“Why don’t you call her?” Kerry got up and walked over to the window, which was covered in raindrops. “You know she’d love to hear from you directly, Dar. She really likes you.” She turned and leaned against the glass.
“Yeah.” Dar rose and went to the desk, sat down behind it and took a breath, then booted up her laptop. “You should give Colleen a call.” She picked up Kerry’s cell phone and turned it on, then dialed Mark’s number, which she had to fish in her still slightly foggy memory for. It rang twice, then was answered. “Hi.”
There was a brief silence. “Dar?”
“Yep.”
“Son of a goddamn bitch. I am so glad to hear your voice.”
It brought a surprising tightness to her throat. “Thanks. Everything all right there?”
“Here? Yeah! Ah, everything’s great. Perfect.” Mark blurted. “Well, I mean, like the usual stuff is going on, you know. Canada’s down, and we lost the overseas routers this afternoon, so that’s a mess, but…um…”
“I get the picture. Glad things are pretty much as usual,” Dar replied.
“Hey guys! I got Dar on the phone,” Mark yelled, muffling the receiver with one hand. “Man, it’s fantastic to talk to you. I’ve got that whole clip digitized and in Quicktime. The server’s been going wild serving it.”
Dar covered her eyes. “Great. If you blow an array with that, I’m going to kick your ass.”
Mark laughed in delight. “Now that sounds like my boss. How’s Kerry?”
“She’s fine. She’s got a dislocated shoulder and few bumps, but she’s okay.” Dar couldn’t seem to get rid of the lump in her throat. “Is…um…is 408 Melissa Good María still there, or did she leave already?”
“She’s here. I’ll transfer you. Listen, I really mean it, Dar, I’m glad you’re both okay.” Mark put her on hold a minute, then the call clicked through.
“Hello?”
“Hi, María.”
A gasp. “¡Madre de Dios! ” María sounded like she was crying. “Dar, I am so glad to hear you. I was so frightened that something bad had happened to you and to Kerrisita.”
“No. We’re both okay, María. Thanks for worrying though.” Dar cleared her throat and blinked, shocked to find tears stinging her own eyes. A touch fell on her shoulder and she glanced up at Kerry, then just handed her the phone, covering her face with her other hand.
“Hey, María,” Kerry said into the cell, rubbing Dar’s arm with her other hand.
“Oh, Kerrisita!” The secretary sounded overwhelmed. “I thank God everything is all right with you. I have been praying every minute.”
“Thanks, María. It’s great to know people were concerned about us,”
Kerry told her. “The great news is, it looks like we’re coming back. And let me tell you, I can’t wait to get home.”
“Are you all right? Is Dar all right?”
“We’re fine,” Kerry assured her. “A little scratched and dented, but that’s it. But I think God was watching over us, so we did just fine.” She scratched Dar on the back of her neck and watched as her lover rubbed her face, then straightened, her composure restored. “You don’t know how wonderful it is to know how you all were watching out for us too.”
“Kerrisita, I know God watches over you and I will be glad when you both are back here, safely and soundly.” María exhaled. “Now I can go home and my family will be happy tonight. Mayte was so concerned also.”
“Thanks.” Kerry smiled. “Tell her I say hello and that she’s going to have to help me with typing for a little while.”
Dar held hand up and took the phone back. “Thanks, María. Pass along my regards to everyone, will you? We’ll see you Monday morning.”
“Sí, Dar. I will do that. You take good care, yes?”
“I’ll do my best. Good night. Have a good weekend.” Dar hung up and sat there, staring at the phone for a moment before folding it and putting it down.
Kerry perched on the edge of the desk, running the fingers of her good hand through Dar’s hair as her partner gazed at the floor, her head bowed. “You know, I’ll never forget the first time María caught me red handed in fussing over you,” she remarked, conversationally. “It was after one of those awful marketing meetings, where you’d stormed out and then gone out onto the balcony to cool off.”
“Mmph,” Dar grunted softly, nodding her head a little.
“I’d gone downstairs for some ice tea and, I don’t know, I was just Eye of the Storm 409
frustrated and pissed off, I think. I went into the shop next to the cafeteria and got you a pint of Haagen Daz and a little stuffed bear before I thought about what I was doing and went back upstairs with it, snuck into your office, and just as I was done setting it on your desk, María walked in.”
Dar chuckled softly. “I remember that day.”
“I think I could have explained the ice cream.” Kerry also chuckled.
“I had no idea what to say about the bear,” she admitted. “But María just acted like she didn’t even see it.”
“It was a cute bear,” Dar murmured. “And my favorite ice cream.”
“When I came out of the office, though, she stopped me and told me how glad she was that I was really part of the team,
” Kerry went on.
“Then she said ‘thank you, Kerrisita, for being so considerate of our jefa, because she is one of a kind.’”
Dar turned her head and looked up at her.
“And that’s so true.” Kerry leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. “You’re very special.”
The pale blue eyes took on a look of gentle adoration that snared Kerry in utterly. “Thanks. I feel the same way about you.” She laced her fingers into Kerry’s and kissed the back of her hand. They both smiled.
“My turn.” Kerry picked up the phone and clumsily keyed in Colleen’s number, then pressed the send, just as a knock sounded at the door. “You know, I realized we have a problem,” she muttered, as she waited for the line to ring through.
“Hmm?” Dar had gotten up and headed for the door.
“Ice cream’s gonna melt.”
Dar paused, with her hand on the knob, and turned her head. “Like hell it is.”
Chapter
Forty-four
“MS. STUART, COULD you move over just a little?”
Kerry obligingly shifted slightly, peering up at the x-ray machine and trying to relax. It was hard, though, since the table was cold and her skin was warm and the machine was making weird little chuckling noises that made her jump.
“Okay, now hold still,” the voice called, and she heard a buzzing noise. “Thanks. One more.” Another buzz. “Okay.” The technician came over and helped her sit up. “There. That’s all for me. Now they said you needed to go,” she consulted a chart, “to CAT scan next.”
“Mmm, yippee.” Kerry sighed. “Do I have to? I don’t even have a headache now.”
“Not for me to decide,” the tech told her cheerfully. “I’m just a stop on the way. We can’t force you to do anything you don’t want to do, but if the doctor thought it was a good idea, it probably is.”
“I guess.” Kerry fastened her short, hospital issued little tunic thing up, which tied in front and was a vast, vast improvement over the old backless gown number. At least they’d let her keep her jeans on, since her lower body seemed to have taken good care of itself, and her sneakers which kept the cold floor from chilling her toes. “I wonder where my friend is?”