“Your six month evaluation is coming up.”

Ah. “I know.”

The Personnel VP considered a moment, sucking on her lower lip.

“Usually, the person who does that is your direct supervisor.”

Kerry nodded, folding her hands. “I don’t see any need to deviate from that,” she told the woman calmly.

“Kerry,” Maríana lowered her voice, “the purpose is to get an objective report on your professional qualifications.”

“And Dar can be very objective,” she responded. “She always has been. Right from the start. When I do things right, I get commended.

When I do things wrong, and I have, I get reprimanded, just like everyone else.”

The older woman looked surprised. “Really?”

“Really. I’ve gotten called on the carpet several times and believe me, it hurts,” Kerry admitted. “But it’s never personal, Mari. It’s all very

‘you did this, you should have done that, this is what happened, don’t let it happen again kind of stuff.’” She shrugged. “Just like everyone else.”

“Hmm.”

“The only difference is, after a day when that happens, I get to go home and get a big hug.” Kerry’s lips pressed into a thin smile. “And I try not to let it happen very often. So, no. I’m pretty sure I’ll get an objective report, as objective as anyone else would give, at any rate.” She paused.

“At least I’ll know she’s not holding the fact that I’m sleeping with my boss against me.”

Maríana winced.

“I trust her,” Kerry added, very softly.

“All right.” Mari held up a hand. “You’ve made good points. Let me go drop off the forms in her office. Mind if I use your back way?”

She sighed. “Go ahead. But she’s not in yet. I don’t think.”

“Really? Something wrong? You guys all right?” Concerned hazel eyes studied her.

Kerry threw up her hands. “We were trying to be inconspicuous for a week while that board member’s here. Instead, I think the most talked about thing in the lunchroom’s going to be the fact we didn’t drive in together.”

Maríana stared at her, then laughed. “Oh, my god. That is so true,”


112 Melissa Good she admitted, lifting her hands with the geranium and all, and letting them drop. “Apologies, Kerry. It’s just that you get used to a routine around here and when it changes, people notice.” She held up the plant.

“This, for instance. I gave it to Duks, because he was moaning that his office has no color.”

“Yeah?”

“Mmm. Except he’s had to explain a dozen times to people why he’s suddenly showing an interest in horticulture. He gave up and made me take it back. Said he’d just go out and get a couple of beer steins instead or put a stuffed fish on the wall.”

Kerry laughed.

“All right, Kerry. I’ll send Mayte over when she gets done with her paperwork. Hopefully that’ll be before our guest shows up.” She waved her geranium and walked out, leaving behind a scent of earth, flowers, and Chanel.

Kerry sighed and shook her head, then turned and opened up her mail program, watching the inbox fill to bursting with lots of little exclamation points indicating urgent messages. “Happy Monday.”


Chapter

Thirteen

“DAR.”

The tall woman looked back from her worktable where she studied a new set of bandwidth reports. “Yes?” she called out, knowing the intercom would pick her voice up.

“Mr. Ankow is here.”

Yippee. “Thank you. Show him in, please.” Dar allowed her voice to ooze with mock charm. She expelled a breath, and glanced at her pager noting the time. Well, the storm had bought them a few hours, at least, and trapped Ankow in an airplane for the same length of time.

The door opened and María came in, allowing the tall man to enter behind her and giving both him and her boss a polite smile. “Dar, they have canceled your conference call at eleven. They will reschedule for later this week.”

“Thanks, María.” Dar turned and faced her unwelcome guest.

“Morning. Hear you had a rough flight coming in.”

Ankow was dressed in an impeccable dark gray suit and expensive looking midnight blue silk tie with very thin maroon stripes. “A waste of my time. Let’s stop compounding that, Roberts.” He walked across the floor and sat down in one of her chairs, peering out at the rain. “Now that you’ve had your little fun sending Carmen Miranda after me, you can just assign me to whatever blonde bimbo with the brains of a pencil you have planned and let me get on my way.”

Dar finished making a note on her notepad, then took her time meandering around to her desk chair and sitting down in it. She leaned back and crossed an ankle over her knee, very aware of her comfortable cotton shirt and khakis contrast to his formal wear. “Carmen who?” She put a faint smile on her face. “You mean Consuelo?”

“The dancer you thought you’d distract me with.” He smiled right back. “She’s not my type.”

“Ah.” Dar rubbed her cheek. “Consuelo González is our top marketing strategist. She’s got three bachelor’s degrees, a masters in business, and she’s working on her doctorate in finance and applied statistics…and all you noticed was her body?” Dar clucked. “We thought you’d want to ask her questions about how we do business. Must have been an interesting ride from the airport.”


114 Melissa Good He glared at her.

Dar smiled charmingly. “We don’t keep bimbos on staff.” She pressed a button on her intercom and a quiet voice answered. “C’mon over.”

Ankow decided to ignore her win over Consuelo. “I want access to everything.”

“With the exception of the ladies room, you’ve got it,” Dar dead-panned. “Just don’t touch anything. I don’t want to spend half the day reprogramming mainframes.”

He gazed at her. “Enjoy the jokes while you can,” he remarked mildly. “I would guess you’ve got about a month, until the stockholder’s meeting. After that, if you’re in this office, I’ll be very surprised.”

Dar didn’t react. “You seem to think that worries me.”

The inner door opened and Kerry entered giving Ankow a quick, almost invisible once over. “Morning,” she greeted both of them politely.

“Morning,” Dar replied. “Kerry, this is David Ankow, a member of the board of directors. He’s here to review operations.”

“Sir.” Kerry inclined her head graciously. Certainly, she fit the blonde part of Ankow’s assumptions, but Kerry’s well bred air and quiet intelligence should have clued him otherwise.

“This is Kerrison Stuart, our Director of Operations.” Dar circled her knee with both hands and interlaced the fingers. “She’ll be your contact while you’re here. If you have any questions, she can answer them.”

“Great.” Ankow stood up. “First thing you can show me is a cup of coffee. Is that starting off simply enough for you?”

“Regular or espresso?” Kerry inquired, as she followed him to the door. “Or would you like to try café con leche, the local specialty?” She managed to get to the knob before he did and opened the door for him.

“Out, and to your left.” She spared a glance behind her for her boss, who made a sympathetic face before she closed the door.

“SO. WHAT IS it you do here, exactly, Ms. uh...Stuart, was it?”

Ankow inquired, as they left the break room. “I’m not sure what an operations director does.”

“Good question,” Kerry replied. “It depends, unfortunately, on what day of the week it is and what time of the month.” She passed by her office and caught Mayte, installed in her new office, peeking out at her.

She smiled and rolled her eyes outside of Ankow’s field of vision, and the girl smiled back, then went back to checking some reports Kerry had left her.

“Oh, really.”

“Really. I mostly handle day to day operational problems, like outages, customer contact issues, utilization…those areas. But I also structure and organize the consolidation of new acquisitions and make decisions on integration when we buy into companies or join with them as part of a common effort.” Kerry motioned down the hall. “Our main Eye of the Storm 115

operations center is down here.”

“You do, huh?” Ankow seemed either bemused or amused, Kerry couldn’t tell. “How long have you been doing this?”

“About six months,” she answered, scanning her ID card through the large security door. “I was working for Associated Synergenics when they were acquired, as the manager of operations there, and when a position opened up, I applied for it and was hired.”

“This position?’ Ankow inquired.

“No.” Kerry slid her card through a second door and opened it for him. “But then, you already know that, Mr. Ankow, since you requested my personnel file.” She smiled and stood back. “This way, please. I was hired as Dar Roberts’ assistant and moved into my current role when she took on the responsibilities of CIO.”

“She is your boss, then.” Ankow stopped and watched her face intently.

“Yes.”

“Just wanted to clarify that.” He smiled and walked on into the brightly light expanse and low key activity of the operations center.

KERRY INDICATED THE door ahead of her, exhaling a little as they approached the cafeteria. It had been hours of pointed questions and the acceptance of her answers with an air of smugness that was frankly, getting on her nerves.

The smell of arroz con pollo hit her as the door opened, and she entered the line just behind her guest and debated on whether to stick to her usual chef salad or go for one of her favorites.

“Do they have anything American here?” Ankow asked, giving the dish a distasteful look.