by Melissa Good
"Cec?" Andy spoke into the phone. "You ain't gonna believe this."
"Steven, don't give me bullshit. Either you can do it, or I'll find someone who can." Dar was perfectly well aware of the fact that she couldn't find a caterer in under an hour and she knew their regular guy knew that as well. "Hell, I'll get Hooters to cater it if you can't. They're close, and I bet their serving staff's cuter than yours."
"Yeap, ah surely am." Andrew half listened to Dar. "Ain't no way...huh?"
"Okay." Dar felt relieved. "Don't skimp, Steve. Some of these guys have been living on Spam for three weeks. They deserve it."
"Cec..."
"Tell me about it. I've been kicking a time clock in the ass all week." Dar argued. "Look..."
"Now, you just hold on there a minute, ma'am!" Andrew sounded slightly exasperated. "Ah don't--"
"Full bar, not that jug wine crap you brought to the office."
"Ceci, you cannot just walk in this here place."
"Mine? I don't, wait, yeah, make sure you have Corona, and a case of limes. We set?"
"Yes, ma'am, ah will be here." Andrew sighed, and closed his cell phone.
"Thanks." Dar folded her phone, at the same time as her father did. They looked at each other. "This is gonna be a circus. We're going to end up with Kentucky Fried Chicken and a keg of Budweiser."
"Your mama's headed this way," Andrew said. "So ah do hope that there chicken comes with them little cartons of coleslaw or she's gonna starve to death."
Dar chuckled wearily, limping over to the crate and taking a seat next to her father. "Wonder when the dancing bear shows up." Kerry could more than handle getting the troops together, she reasoned. No sense in both of them stirring up trouble.
Andrew chuckled softly. "You figure t'get this all squared away tonight?"
Dar exhaled. "Well, we'll get further than we would if we didn't try it," she admitted. "There's still so much construction going on it's hard to say how far we'll get, but...hey. Gotta try."
"Damn straight." Her father agreed.
"Speak for yourself." Dar answered dryly.
Andrew looked at her, then chuckled again. "How's that foot?" He nudged Dar's calf.
"Eh." Dar regarded her foot. "I think it's getting better. Hurts less."She glanced out the open gangway door where she could already see a cluster of people and boxes starting to head their way at a double march. "You wouldn't believe the crazy ass stories those people came up with as to how it happened, though."
"Yeah?"
"Mm." Dar shook her head. "I tell one person I got bit by a fish running after a Frisbee at the cabin, and the last I heard I'd gotten it saving Kerry from a shark."
Andrew laughed. "Jungle talking. Always does it."
"Jesus."
Kerry jogged up the gangway and into the hold. "Okay, everyone's with the program." She announced. "And would you believe it, Dar? They're all excited as kids." She came over to where they were sitting. "I told them they had to work all night and go out on this tub and it was like I'd announced the quarter bonuses." She rested her hand on Dar's thigh. "Just weird."
"For them it's an adventure." Dar smiled.
"For us it's an adventure too." Kerry retorted. "Dar, do you know how much work we have to do tonight?"
Dar nodded. "I know." She circled Kerry's waist with her left arm.
"Ah can help." Andrew offered. "I got me some books on all these things you brought in here."
"On our stuff?" Kerry asked.
"Yeap."
"And you read them?" Dar looked at her father. "Jesus, Dad...six pages and I'm snoozing with those damn things."
Andrew waggled his hand and managed a lopsided grin.
"Well, that's probably more experience than some people we've hired." Kerry headed for the gangway as the first load of gear started up. "C'mon guys...we don't want the ship to sail without us, right?"
"Right." The chorus of voices answered her.
Dar sat back and watched as the line of people and boxes started to stream onto the ship. Eyes moved in her direction, and she saw the hesitant grins appear before the techs went to drop their boxes off near the far wall and head back for the next load. "You guys ready for this?" she asked.
"You bet, ma'am." Carlos replied, with a bright smile. "This is gonna be cool."
Oh yeah. Dar found herself smiling back, almost unconsciously. Cool. It was going to be a mess. It was going to be annoying, and aggravating, and frustrating.
"Ah do believe that feller might be correct." Her father commented. "Ah do like this sorta mess to get fixed up."
And very possibly her angle to success. "You got it." Dar got up off the crate and gathered up her energy. "Let's do this thing." She walked to the edge of the gangway and looked out, craning her head around and peering down at the ship Telegenics was outfitting.
She spotted Michelle and Shari on the dock talking with Quest. Shari was moving her arms a lot, and even from where she was, Dar could sense the heated nature of the discussion.
Would they notice the steady stream of equipment heading to her ship? Dar started down the gangway. "Be right back." She called over her shoulder.
"Where are you going?" Kerry yelled after her.
"To make some trouble." Dar replied, hopping off the end of the ramp and heading down the dock. "Keep my crate warm!"
"Uh oh." Kerry drummed her fingers against the rusted steel plate. Torn, she half turned as one of the techs called out to her, asking a question. She stared at him, then held up one finger. "Hold that thought."
"Ma'am?" The tech queried, watching as his boss disappeared down the ramp at a high rate of scamper. "Hey, where's she going?"
"T'where she belongs." Andrew got up and went over to him. "Here, put that thing there, and that other box sideways, son. Ain't no way that's gonna fit otherwise."
"Uh..."
Andrew cocked an eyebrow at him. "Y'all ain't gonna make me mad, are you?"
"No, sir." The tech scurried to do as he'd been told.
"Damn straight." Andrew leaned against the wall, with a satisfied expression.
"DAR!" KERRY SCRAMBLED off the gangway just as another group of techs reached it. She pointed up, and then went after Dar, catching up to her in a few strides. "Hey."
"Hey." Dar replied. "Thought I told you to keep my crate warm."
"You seriously thought I was going to stay there?"
"Not really, no." Dar admitted.
"Well, okay then." Kerry settled down at her side and they walked along the pier toward their erstwhile enemies. She'd started putting Quest into that category lately, and based on the glare he gave them as they walked up she suspected she was dead on right. "Evening." She greeted them cordially.
"Ms. Stuart." Quest responded, in a brief tone.
Dar strolled around them and stopped to their east, forcing them to turn to keep her in view. "Another challenge you tossed us, Mr. Quest?" she asked. "At this rate, I figure the bomb squad to show up next."
Surprisingly, Michelle chimed right in. "Just exactly what I was saying. You can't expect to keep changing the rules, and have us pay for it."
"Right," Shari said.
"They aren't my rules!" Quest lifted his hands. "I can't do anything about these damn government people! I told you that."
"So what are we supposed to do?" Shari asked, her hand indicating Dar and Kerry as well as herself and Michelle. "You get in government trouble, and we have to pay for it? Hell no."
Dar and Kerry exchanged somewhat bemused glances.
Behind them all, the techs had started toting in cartloads of monitors, terminals, and boxes of the various accoutrements computers require.
"Ah, that's right." Kerry spoke up. "Mr. Quest, we really can't be expected to be penalized because of all these external factors. It's not fair."
"Right." Michelle agreed.
Having nothing else to add to the conversation, Dar decided to just fold her arms across her chest and listen.
"We
ll, I can't be held responsible either!" Quest argued. "A deal is a deal. You want the contract? Then fulfill your part of the deal."
He turned and stalked off, heading for the gate in the fence that would take him outside of the pier area. Outside the wire, three men were waiting, and as Dar looked at them, one turned away and almost triggered a sense of familiarity in her.
"Well." Michelle exhaled. "So much for that." She eyed Dar and Kerry. "Not that it would have helped you much anyway. Bad luck, huh?"
Dar shrugged one shoulder. "Happens."
Shari looked at her. "What drugs are you on today?"
Kerry felt herself bristle, and wondered if it was a visible reaction. Did her hair fluff out like a cat's, maybe? Certainly, Michelle edged away from her, so something must have shown.
"Drugs?" Dar asked. "Tetracycline, why?" She unfolded her arms and stuck her hands in her pockets instead. Curiously, Shari's taunting didn't even bother her in the slightest.
"Because for someone who's going to lose big, you're too damn relaxed," Shari said bluntly. "Give up already? Going through the motions, Dar?"
From the corner of her eye, Dar watched as Mark led a group of six other techs out the door to the terminal, steering a huge flatbed covered in gear. "Yeah, maybe." She drawled. "Can't fight fate all the time, can ya?"
Kerry patted her arm comfortingly.
"Well." Michelle ran a hand through her hair. "Not like we can say much at the moment either. I can't believe they made us stop work. It's just not fair."
Shari snorted. "At least we know no one's getting an advantage." She looked at Dar pointedly.
Dar produced one of her best, most innocent smiles, as the last of the gear trundled past behind their backs and went up the gangway. "Nope."
"Doesn't that bug you?" Shari persisted. "Not having an angle?"
Michelle took Shari by the arm and simply turned and started walking. "Come on. I'm not listening to this crap again." She sounded angry. "I've had enough already."
"Hey!" Shari protested, pulling on her hand.
"Either come with me, or stay here and act like a jackass, again." Michelle turned and spat at her. "Make up your mind." She released Shari's arm and started marching for the gate again.
Shari looked at her, then turned and looked at Dar and Kerry.
Never one not to take an advantage when she saw it, Dar draped an arm over Kerry's shoulders and gave her a kiss on the head. She winked at Shari, and smiled.
Without a further word, Shari turned and followed Michelle.
"Mm." Kerry grunted contentedly. "Nice."
"Yeah." Dar turned them both around and pointed. "Nice timing. I don't think they even noticed us taking half the domestic inventory of Computers R Us on board."
"Couldn't care less about that part." Kerry put her arms around Dar and hugged her tightly.
Puzzled, but not unhappy, Dar returned the hug. "You want to grab our bags?" She asked. "Might as well get on there and make sure it's all getting to the right places."
"Sure." Kerry released her, and patted her side. "I'll have the security guys clear the front doors for the caterers, too. I bet they'll come in here on screaming tires."
"Bet you're right." Dar lifted her hand and waved as Kerry made tracks for the terminal. She fondly watched her partner's determined little swagger, then she retreated back to the ship's gangway and climbed up it, noting the angle had increased a little as the tide came in.
The sun had come out too, and it was preparing to grace them with a decently photogenic sunset. Dar gazed benevolently at it, as she ducked inside the hold and found her father organizing the troops. Around them, the ship's crew went about their tasks, giving the techs skeptical looks, but staying out of their way as they dogged down hatches and prepared the ship for sea.
Dar knew those sounds. She'd gotten to sail one or two times on Andy's ships, illicit adventures where the crew would hide her when they went out for a day cruise, or when the ship was repositioning from one pier to the other. The scent of diesel was the same, and the sounds of metal doors being rolled closed and locked was the same.
She wondered if her father found it as nostalgic.
"Hey. You there." Andrew suddenly raised his voice. "Get that box out from that doorway, son. Doors gonna close there and make that a pancake."
"Yes, sir." The tech in question started tugging the box out of the way. "Sorry, I thought this was open space."
"Ain't no open space on a ship," Andy said. "Every little inch's got someone's claim on it."
Dar walked over and joined him, watching the boxes line up against the back wall. "Lot of stuff."
"Ain't that the truth." Her father agreed. "Y'know I can remember when the most techno thing we had on one of these here things was a water fountain." He reminisced. "And wasn't that a six day wonder when they put that in."
"I remember that." Dar recalled, with some surprise. "I brought you a bag of shirts from mom that day. I remember wondering why everyone was staring at that damn fountain like it was a television set."
Andrew chuckled. "Cause sucking that there stuff from the commode sink was not a whole lot of fun, Dardar." He reminded her. "Not everybody liked getting a drink from the hose, neither, like you did."
Dar licked her lips in memory, and produced a grin. "I ever tell you about the first time Kerry took a drink of hose water?"
"Heh." Andrew glanced around at the cramped ship hold. "You know what, Dar?"
"What?"
"It's a hell of a lot better to be the skipper of the damn boat," he said. "I would not go back to doing this if they paid me all the dollar bills in the Navy."
"Hm." Dar remembered those stolid seamen who suffered the cramped spaces and shared their hoarded candy bars with the scruffy child she'd been. "I'm damn glad you'll never have to."
Andrew looked at her, then chuckled. "Darn good thing you went after them computer things, ain't it? Or we'd all be having crackers and peanut butter stew down there in Stiltsville." He clapped her on the shoulder. "Got all the stuff you all need?"
Dar nodded. "Got a pair of jammies?" "We don't wear them." Dar replied absently, then shot her father a look as the silence lengthened. "Hey, you asked." Andrew pointed at the techs. "Got some pills for them fellers?" Dar peered at them. "Dad, we're just going offshore." Andrew lifted his grizzled eyebrows. "I'll go get some." Dar sighed, and headed for the gangway. "No sense in wasting good roast beef."
Chapter Four
KERRY HAD TO admit she felt a little excited. She was standing outside the terminal, checking her watch as she bounced from foot to foot waiting for the caterers. It was close to the time they were supposed to depart, and she didn't want to either miss the ship or miss the dinner. "C'mon, c'mon."
From where she was standing, she could see the bridge that connected the port to the rest of Miami. At this time of night, in this time of the year, it was probably the only major roadway in the vicinity bare of traffic. But that helped Kerry's mental state because she knew she'd see the big catering truck before it got anywhere near the terminal.
If she looked behind her, she could see lights beginning to come on aboard the ship. Dar had their bags inside, and she'd heard rumors that they were being assigned cabins. From the few she'd stuck her head into over the past weeks, Kerry was pretty sure she'd rather sleep on the deck. The musty smell and the grungy interior hadn't seemed appealing in the least, but she did appreciate the ship's attempt at hospitality.
Ah. Her eyes caught a white panel truck cresting the rise and heading in her direction. Unfortunately her peripheral vision also caught Michelle Graver approaching obviously intent on talking to her. "Pig farts." She composed her expression, and half turned, giving the oncoming woman an inquiring look. "Hello again."
"Hi." Michelle mounted the two low steps to the foundation Kerry was standing on and approached her. "Listen, can we talk?"
Kerry watched the truck out of the corner of her eye. "Uh, yeah, sure. We're about to tie th
ings up here but," she drew in a breath, "I've got a minute."
Michelle faced her. "Look, you're screwed."
The truck parked right across from where they were standing and the doors flew open, allowing two sweating men to jump out and run for the back. "What do you mean?" Kerry asked, edging over a little so Michelle was forced to turn her back completely to the truck in order to talk to her.
"C'mon, Kerry. You're not stupid. You were behind a day, and now with this--there's no guarantee when they'll let the ships back into port," Michelle said.
Kerry watched what appeared to be an entire football team worth of men pour out of the back of the truck dragging carts and a whole lot of other things out after them. "And?" She cocked her head slightly. "Forgive me, Michelle, but shouldn't you be kicking back a beer at that? Why talk to me about it."
Michelle sighed. "Look." She ran her fingers through her hair. "None of the other bidders are friends of yours."
"Ah, you are?" Both of Kerry's very blonde eyebrows lifted.
"No. But they aren't either. You don't get anything out of them getting the contract." Michelle said. "On the other hand, if we get it, and you help us get it, maybe you will get something."
The wind was fortunately blowing from behind them. It carried away the noise of the catering men setting up, and almost left them in a sound vacuum. Probably a good thing considering Kerry felt like her sense of moral outrage was caterwauling at the top of its imaginary lungs.
"What exactly are you offering here?" Kerry asked warily.
"This doesn't have to be a losing situation for you," Michelle said. "You know you can't win the bid, hell, I bet you can't even get all your systems working by Friday. It's not your fault."
"Michelle, please cut to the chase." Kerry spotted a line of perspiring caterers heading her way, pushing laden carts. "What exactly do you want from me?"
"Join with us," Michelle said. "You and Dar, and your team. Help us win the bid, and we'll cut a deal with you. There's enough business on this account for both of us."
Kerry looked over at the ships, then at Michelle. "From this guy? C'mon, Michelle. We both know there's something sourer than lemons about this whole thing."