“Everyone did it. All those late nights and stress...I had a couple of friends who had a source for just about everything. They were always telling me what they had and asking if I wanted any.”

Dar watched her profile and the motion of her jaw muscles as she chewed. “We had that a lot in college, too.”

“Mm.” Kerry exhaled. “I remember one night, I had this paper due in my writing class and a systems design due on the same day. I’d had a full schedule of classes that day, and I was totally wiped out. Just exhausted. Even double espressos weren’t doing a thing for me.”

“Mm,” Dar murmured encouragingly.

“Jane came over and saw how trashed I was. She offered me a handful of amphetamines and a shot of coke and told me it would get me through the two assignments, no problem.” Kerry took another bite thoughtfully. “I took the drugs from her.”

Dar bit into a cherry and skillfully separated the fruit from its pit.

“And?” She echoed Kerry’s earlier question.

“I came pretty close to taking them,” Kerry admitted honestly.

“And would you believe, it was my father that kept me from it?”

Dar’s eyes opened very wide. “Your father?”

Kerry laughed softly. “He had this speech he used to do about people needing crutches. You know, Dar, that old thing about liberal programs being a crutch for the poor that kept them from really going out and making a living?”

“That’s such a crock of shit,” Dar stated.

“Not the point. It reminded me that I’d chosen to take this double 222 Melissa Good major, and if I couldn’t handle it, I shouldn’t use an illegal substance as a crutch. Either do it, or don’t do it, but don’t fake it,” Kerry replied. “I wanted to do it on my own, so I could look back and say, yeah, I did that. No one helped me.”

“Hmm.” Dar depitted another cherry and took another bite of her banana nutbread. “Yeah, I see your point,” she admitted. “So, what did you do?”

Kerry thought back to that long night, with its aching struggle she’d spent alone. “I worked through it. I wrote the systems design first, because you need brain cells to do that, and the creative writing paper...” Now a smile crossed her face. “Dar, do you know I still don’t know what I put in that paper? It got me a B, but I have no idea what I wrote.”

Dar chuckled. “Whatever works.” She looked hopefully at the plate. “Any more of that bread?”

Kerry turned her head and eyed her. “What’s it worth to you?”

Dar poked out her lower lip.

“Ah. So you think that’s all it takes to get me to give up this really great tasting nut bread?” Kerry inquired.

Dar gave her a sad look.

“You’re such a brat.” Kerry handed it over. She peeled a banana and settled back as Chino put her chin down on her thigh hopefully.

“Oh no, madam. Last time we gave you fruit, you got sick, remember?”

The phone rang, and Kerry shot a look back at Dar, then she picked up the portable receiver and answered it. “Hello?”

“Ah...yes, is Dar there?”

“Yes, General. Just a minute.” Kerry handed the phone back and half turned, resting her chin on the couch as she listened.

Dar took a breath before she pressed the phone to her ear. “Gerry?”

There was a soft knock at the door. Kerry frowned, then scrambled to her feet and trotted over to it, peeking through the eyehole. “Uh-oh.”

She hesitated, then realized she really had no choice and opened the door. “Hi.”

“Howdy there, kumquat,” Andrew drawled. “Y’all going to let us inside there?”

Oh boy. Kerry slipped outside instead, closing the door behind her.

DAR GAVE THE condo door a curious look as she listened to the voice on the other end of the line. “Gerry, we’re not equipped for that.”

Dar closed her eyes against the throbbing she could feel growing in her neck. “I have security teams that can protect data, sure, but this is a damn Navy base.”

“I’m aware of that, Dar.” Gerry’s voice was uncharacteristically serious. “The trouble is, we can’t shake a team loose to go down there for at least forty-eight hours.”


Red Sky At Morning 223

By then, it would be too late. “Damn.”

“John Taylor from the JAG office is on a plane headed your way,”

General Easton stated. “He’ll handle the official part, but if there’s any way your people could protect the evidence—”

“Gerry, people could get hurt,” Dar said. “This isn’t the kind of thing we get involved in. Corporate double-dealing, yeah, but smuggling? I’m responsible for these people, and for their safety.” She paused. “And I don’t know how many bastards are implicated.”

Injudiciously, she shifted, and stifled a gasp. “Shit.”

“Dar?” Gerry spoke quickly. “Are you all right?”

Dar bit her inner lip for a long moment, then exhaled as the sharp pain receded. “Yeah, I’m fine. I just twisted something.”

“Well, listen, my friend, I’ll find some other way of doing this,”

General Easton replied. “If nothing else, we’ll just round up the lot of them and start shaking.”

The unfairness of that, Dar acknowledged, was exactly what she’d been afraid of. “Hang on a minute, Gerry.” She put the phone down and let her head drop back on the pillow, thinking hard about her options.

Was it dangerous?

Be honest, Dar. Sure it is. Look what happened to you last night, and Chuck was a friend of yours. Dar rubbed her forehead. This was a military base, full of sailors and Marines, an unknown number of whom could be involved in criminal activity and react with violence.

But...

If she didn’t help, innocent people could and probably would get blamed, and the criminals would probably get away. Dar mulled that over. Question was, how could she help Gerry, help the base, protect the innocent, and keep her people safe at the same time? “Jesus, Paladar,” she murmured to herself. “What the hell do you think you are?”

Finally, she picked up the phone again. “Gerry?”

“What’s that? Oh, still here, Dar.”

“Let me see what I can do.” Dar heard herself say the words, and wondered how she was going to back them up. “Maybe I can get a small volunteer team inside.” Then an idea occurred to her. “With an escort.”

There was a momentary pause. “Dar, do me a favor, eh? Don’t take chances. I want to see your whole family this Christmas. Been waiting for that for a long while now.”

Dar evaded the question. “See if you can contact that JAG staffer, send him over to my office. We’ll get things moving here. Talk to you later, Gerry.” She disconnected and put the phone down on her belly, considering what to do next.

IT WAS A crowded doorstep. Kerry stood effectively blocking the entrance, despite her relatively small size. “Dar’s on the phone,” she 224 Melissa Good explained. “It’s business.”

“Uh-huh.” Andrew crossed his arms. “Not like we’d know one word in six she was using.” He eyed Kerry curiously. “Something bothering you, kumquat?”

“Me?” Kerry exhaled. “Uh, no, no. I’m fine.”

“How’s Dar?” Ceci asked casually.

Ah. “She’s... Why are you asking me that?” Kerry temporized.

Dar’s parents exchanged knowing looks. “All right, kumquat.

What’s going on?” Andrew asked. “I knew something wasn’t right.”

Oh boy. “It’s—”

“She get hurt last night?” The question snapped at her.

“Well—”

“That little half-assed bastard hurt my kid?”

“W...y...” Kerry sucked in a breath. “Yes, that’s what happened, but—”

“Son of a biscuit.” Andrew was visibly angry.

Kerry put both hands out in a calming gesture. “It’s not that bad.

We’ve already been to the doctor’s and had tests done. It’s more painful than anything else.”

“You got her to go to the doc’s?” Andrew had both fists planted on his hips. “I am going to whip her behind for not tellin’ us.”

“Dad.” Kerry gave him a pleading look.

Ceci ruffled her silvered-blonde hair. “Some things just never do change, do they?” she murmured. “Keep your BVDs on, Andy. I can remember many a time I had to drag you kicking and yelling to the base hospital.”

Her husband gave her a look. “That is not the point,” he replied with a scowl. “We are not talking about me.”

“No, no.” Ceci patted his arm. “We’re talking about your daughter.

Remember her? The tall, blue-eyed, dark-haired girl with an attitude and more guts than sense?”

“Hey. She’s got a lot of sense,” Kerry objected.

“Exactly,” Ceci remarked.

Andrew scowled harder. “If I’d a known that little—”

“Yes, which is why Dar didn’t tell you.” Ceci circled his arm with both hands. “Now, come on, let’s go in and see the poor kid. See if you can make her feel better instead of yelling at her, hmm?”

“Ah do not like Dar thinking she can’t tell us something like this,”

Andrew replied. “Ah do not like it one bit.” He nudged past Kerry and opened the door. “Son of a biscuit,” he muttered, leaving Kerry and Ceci behind to gaze at each other in amused sympathy.

“He’ll be nice,” Ceci told her. “He talks a good game, but the minute she looks up at him, he’s going to cave in like one of those marshmallows you toast over a Bunsen burner.”

“I know.” Kerry smiled. “I’ve been on the receiving end of those baby blues.” She sighed and opened the door. “But we’ve got a big Red Sky At Morning 225

problem. I’m sort of glad you’re here.” She followed Ceci inside. “Dar went looking for trouble down at that Navy base.”

Ceci stopped, watching Andrew kneel at Dar’s side. “And?”