Dar cursed softly, and untangled one arm, reaching out and capturing the instrument. ”Yeah?”

”Dar, it’s Mark.” The MIS chief sounded pissed.

”What's up?” Dar answered, stifling a yawn. ”Meteor fall on Houston or something?”

”Worse. The overseas gateways are down. Exxon tanker dropped anchor in the wrong place going across the North Atlantic and snagged the cable. Took out three hundred pairs.”

”Ugh.” Dar winced. ”Jesus, can we reroute?” She felt Kerry stir against her, and she stroked the woman’s back lightly. ”Oh shit!

They’ve got a transatlantic sales meeting with four new British clients this morning!”

”I know,” Mark replied, ”that’s why I’m calling. The shit’s going to hit the fan in so many directions, we might as well set up a freaking stand and sell fertilizer.” A soft sound of clicking keys came through the phone. ”One of the pairs that were cut was the admin line. They can’t tell who’s up and who’s down, and they can’t reroute until they get some diagnostics over the cable. It could take hours, maybe all day.”

”Can we buy transponder time and go via sat?” Kerry uttered, very softly.

Dar considered that for a minute.

”Did you say something, Dar?” Mark inquired. ”Thought I heard something.”


42

Melissa Good

T ell him? What the hell, he knows she logs on from here all the time.

”Kerry suggested a possibility. Switch it to a sat conference and rent uplink time.”

”Oh yeah? Uh, tell her I said hi.” Mark’s voice held a touch of triumphant amusement, despite the circumstances. ”That’s...well, they were going to do a multimedia real time. I’m not sure the sat can handle that kind of bandwidth, but it’s a thought. We’d have to reconfigure all the sets here, and there for the different network type. I’d have to put that on the fiber backbone.”

”Is there any other possibility? Other than the reroute, which we have no reasonable ETA on?” Dar inquired.

”Not that I can see, boss. That’s why I was calling you.” Mark replied. ”Got two for the price of one too. Kerry was next on my list of notifies.”

”Please don’t page me,” Kerry mumbled. ”I left it on vibrate and it’s on the dresser. It always scares the crap out of me when it goes off.”

Dar muffled a laugh. ”Okay, contact Intelsat, see if we can get one, no, get two transponders, and bring some of your people in early to go up and reconfigure the presentation system in the big conference room.” She gave Kerry a hug. ”Good work.” she mouthed.

Kerry shrugged modestly. ”I learned from the best,” she mouthed back, resting her chin on Dar’s breastbone with a contented sigh.

”Okay, will do.” Mark replied, amid another clatter of keys and a rumble of thunder. ”See ya in the office.”

”I’ll bring pastalitos,” Dar remarked wryly, ”and lots of Cuban coffee.” She hung up, then sighed as she regarded the dimly seen ceiling. ”So much for sleeping in.”

Kerry didn’t let go of her. ”Why? Is there anything you can do in the next hour there?” she asked, reasonably. ”It’s going to take at least that long for Mark to get someone at Intelsat to answer him, considering they’re in California and it’s only quarter to six here.” She started a slow, teasing rubbing up and down Dar’s belly, running her fingers over the lightly rippled surface in little circles.

Dar hesitated, torn between a natural urge to pounce on the situation, and her body’s insidious desire to remain right where she was, in this nice, warm cuddle, where she could almost feel the affection surrounding her in the circle of Kerry’s arms.

Unsurprisingly, her body won out and she capitulated, resettling her hold around her lover’s body, and exhaling softly. ”You’re right. No sense in going in there just to pace around the carpet.” The gentle stroking was relaxing her and she felt her eyes flutter closed as she eased forward, finding Kerry’s lips waiting for her.

They were both too sleepy to go too far, but they spent a very pleasant half an hour in nibbling and touching each other, until the reluctant gray light warned them of the growing dawn. Dar stretched and rolled out of bed, offering a hand down to her languidly watching Hurricane Watch

43

lover. ”I’m gonna go take a shower. The coffee should be ready.”

”Y’know...” Kerry hopped out of the waterbed. ”It would save time if we showered together.”

Dar’s dark brow lifted. ”Oh it would, would it?” She laughed. ”And save water, too, maybe,” she agreed. ”All right, let’s go.” She lead the way into the bathroom, flipping on the light and ducking into the free standing stall shower to start the water running.

”Mm.” Kerry curled an arm around her, and nipped her waistline.

”You know, Dar, I think the thought of not being able to touch you for two and a half days is making me...um...” She hesitated.

”Horny,” Dar supplied, giving her a quick kiss. ”That’s all right.”

She smiled at the dull red flush that covered Kerry’s neck and face.

”C’mere.” She drew Kerry into the shower, and let the warm, pulsing water cascade over both of them. Then she picked up a natural sponge, added some liquid soap to it, and started scrubbing Kerry’s body.

”Mmm.” Kerry swayed a little, then captured her own bit of sponge and returned the service, rubbing the soft surface against Dar’s tanned skin. She’d gotten halfway around her ribcage before she found herself sliding closer and replacing the sponge with her lips, unable to deny her body’s cravings.

Dar responded, dropping soap slick hands down over Kerry’s hips, pulling her forward and into the intense flow from the shower head.

She let herself forget the time as Kerry’s hands slid up her thigh and then allowed a spiral of passion to take them over, building to a fiery intensity. It left them both shaking as Dar leaned back against the water warmed shower tile and managed to keep her legs from collapsing under her. ”Whoa.”

Kerry sucked in a breath that was half heated skin, and half chlorine tinted water, with the soft tang of their soap on the peripheries.

”Oh...” She caught her breath, and bumped her head against Dar’s arm.

”Guess we’re skipping breakfast this morning.”

Dar chuckled, on an uneven breath. ”Thought that was breakfast.”

They finished showering and got out, wrapping towels around each other and easing into the living room. They could hear faint whines as Chino heard them moving.

”Okay,” Dar sighed, running her fingers through her damp hair.

”Onward to Hell.” She gave Kerry’s blonde head one last kiss. ”Oh Eleanor, you wish you had as much of a life as I do.”


Chapter

Five

KERRY REACHED OVER and flicked her computer on as she sat down at her desk. She glanced at her inbox and took a sip of fragrant, steaming coffee. Leaning back in her comfortable leather chair and smiling a little, she rested her head against the soft surface as she waited for her computer to finish booting up.

It did, and she was logging in when her phone rang. She punched the button. ”Kerry Stuart.”

”Hi, Kerry? It’s John Brown in Charlotte.” The man’s voice sounded harried but friendly. He was a supervisor in the networking office, she recalled.

”Good morning, John. What can I do for you?” She answered cordially.

”Well, um, I got a request from your office, and I just wanted to check it out with someone. I don’t want to do something then get my ass nailed, if you know what I mean. I tried Ms. Robert’s office first, but she’s not there.”

”She’s just down the hall in Ops, but what’s the problem?” Kerry inquired curiously. ”What did we ask for?”

”It’s the fractional T1 we use for the insurance division’s data transfer. We got a request to turn their link off and reroute network traffic from your office to the London conference center,” John replied.

”They’re gonna go bonkershits if we do that, so… ”

Kerry's brow creased. ”We asked for that? Wait, no, I mean, I know we’ve got a problem with the overseas links, but we found a way around that. Who made the request?”

Ruffle of papers. ”Someone named Fab…Fabarini or something,”

he muttered. ”I didn’t get the spelling. One of my guys took the call and he gave it to me to check out.” A pause. ”You want me to go ahead?”

Kerry drummed her fingers on her desk. ”No,” she replied evenly.

”In fact, don’t do anything from this office unless you get it from Dar, Mark, or me.”

A long pause. ”Uh, okay,” John replied, obviously confused. ”I mean, usually I wouldn’t question stuff like that. I mean you guys ask for shuffling all the time, but this seemed a little drastic, you know?”

That stupid piece of… ”Yes, I know, but, as a favor to me, just clear everything through Operations here first, okay?”


Hurricane Watch

45

”Sure.” John agreed amiably. ”Better for me that way so I don’t get my ass nailed from Insurance and Banking when they find out their pipe got taken down.” He rattled a few keys. ”Thanks, Kerry.”

”No problem,” Kerry responded, and hung up. She stewed for a moment, then she stood, about to head out the door to find Dar. The phone rang before she could move, though, and she punched the button again. ”Kerry Stuart.”

”This is José.” The VP's voice sounded flustered. ”We’re having a meeting here. Come down. I can’t find Dar.”

Green eyes regarded the phone. ”Sure,” Kerry replied. ”Be right there.” She circled her desk and strode out of her office, heading for the large conference room at the end of the hall. She opened the door, seeing a group of six or seven people inside, and walked on in.