“No one,” Ainsbright answered coolly. “It was all part of the 296 Melissa Good exercise.” He pointed at Andrew. “Which your daughter interrupted with an unauthorized breach of the base. If anything happened to her here, it’s her fault, not mine.” He paused. “For that matter, you better just hope I don’t bring you up on assault charges.”

Andrew blinked. “You do that, and ah will make sure you’ll have been assaulted for it.”

“That a threat?” Jeff snorted. “Get out of here, Andy. You’re out of your league, and you don’t belong here anymore.”

Andrew turned and walked to the window, gazing out at the grassy space before the building. “Ain’t that the truest thing you done said here today,” he rumbled. “If you ain’t the one who’s running this show, Jeff, who is?” He turned and eyed the CO, who remained silent. “They pay you to take the fall for them?”

The base commander shook his head. “I’m not taking a fall, Andy. I told you that.”

“’Cause you think you out-thunk my kid, is that it?” A smile twisted Andrew’s face. “Better hope you’re right. I sure never could.”

Jeff snorted. “I’m smarter than you are, Andy. We both know that.”

A slow nod. “That may be true, Jeff. But you ain’t smarter than she is. So you better be damn sure you’ve got all your tracks covered, or it’s your ass what’s going to be run up that there flagpole outside.” He turned and pointed, then turned back and walked over to the base commander, stopping within a pace of him. “Because she will nail you.”

Their eyes locked. “I’m sure,” Jeff finally said. “I’ve got good people who made very, very sure of that.” He turned and straightened his jacket. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, Andrew, I’ve got a lunch date with my wife.” He gestured toward the door. “I’ll have you escorted to the gate.” He turned back toward his desk, then stopped dead.

The office was empty.

“Son of a bitch.” The base commander raced to the window and looked out, leaning out to look up and down. Then he pulled his head back in and searched the room with anxious eyes. “Where in the f—”

Cursing, he reached for the phone and lifted it, dialing a number quickly. “Security? This is the base commander. We’ve got an unauthorized entry. Send a security team to my office and put the base on alert.”


Chapter

Eighteen

THE ALARM WENT off before dawn, and Kerry reached over quickly to silence it. It stopped its low buzz, and she let her hand drop back down onto the pillow as she glanced over at Dar’s sleeping form.

Her lover didn’t stir, her body relaxed in slumber and her breathing slow and even. Good. Kerry sighed in relief. Obsessively, Dar had worked until after midnight on what data she had in her laptop, only surrendering when Kerry coaxed her off the couch and into the waterbed, where she’d fallen asleep almost in the middle of a protest.

Kerry spent a moment just watching Dar’s profile, outlined by the pale blue night-light in the bathroom. Then she rolled over and eased out of bed on the opposite side, twitching the down comforter back into place. She stifled a yawn with one hand as she made her way into the bathroom and closed the door quietly behind her before she flipped the light on.

“Ugh.” Kerry winced and closed her eyes, waiting for a moment before she reopened them and blinked at her reflection. A very disheveled, grumpy woman looked back at her, and she stuck her tongue out at the image.

She had such a damn busy day planned at work. First, she’d have to coordinate the recovery of whatever Mark had retained in that black box, assuming Dar remembered how to reassemble the puzzle pieces.

Then she’d have to assign a high security team to work with the database, reconstructing it meticulously and recording their steps line by line.

Then, since it was a Monday, she knew there would be at least five or six major disasters for her to handle, along with the usual running operations issues. Thank God, Kerry mused, as she splashed water on her face and lathered up some soap, that Dar’s new network had reduced her crisis calls by eighty percent, its flexibility and reliability making her life much more pleasant.

So she’d get some liquid breakfast, throw on her running gear, do her laps, then shower and head for the office. Kerry dried her face and nodded at her still scruffy, but more alert-looking reflection. “Right?”

She watched her lower lip poke out as though of its own volition.

Her brow creased. “Okay, what’s wrong?” The lip poked out 298 Melissa Good further in a pout. “Kerrison Stuart, you are not going to pout because Dar gets to stay home and you don’t, y’hear me?”

“Growf.” Chino hopped up and put her paws on the sink, peering up at Kerry as if wondering who her mom was talking to.

“Sure, that’s easy for you to say.” Kerry turned and tapped the end of her toothbrush on Chino’s nose. “You get to stay here with her.”

Chino’s tail wagged.

“Yeah, yeah. Rufh min fin,” Kerry spoke through a mouthful of toothpaste.

IT WAS A beautiful morning. Kerry took a deep breath of the cool, salt-tinged air as she walked down the path to the beach, enjoying the lack of humidity that made their running uncomfortable, bordering on brutal during the summer months. When she reached the winding path that led around the island, she paused to stretch out her muscles, as a few seagulls drifted by to watch.

It was quiet at this hour, the soft clanks from the marina and the birds’ curious squawks the only sounds that broke the dawn hush.

Kerry finished her warm-up and started down the path at a slow jog, waiting for her body to wake up and get into sync before she picked her pace up and settled into her run.

She’d finally gotten used to this. Kerry watched a small tug move past the south side of the island as she headed around the marina. In fact, she’d come to look forward to the time she and Dar set aside for their joint morning exercise, because it was a great way to start the day with some peace and quiet.

Okay. Kerry smiled as she rounded the island’s northern side for the first time. And some companionable togetherness. They’d started debating current events the past few weeks, and she found herself missing the company this morning.

How had Dar stood it all those years alone? The thought intruded itself. Then another thought made her almost stop in her tracks. How did you stand it all those years alone, Kerry?

Wow. Kerry tried to remember what her life had been like before she’d met Dar. It had been—well, all right, she guessed. She’d had fun with her friends at work and with Colleen. She hadn’t been lonely, had she?

Second lap already? Kerry sighed and nibbled her lower lip. No, she really hadn’t been lonely. She’d been more like...waiting. That was it.

She nodded to herself. She’d always had the feeling that just around the bend, just around that next corner, she’d find someone special.

Okay, so it wasn’t around a corner, and the person had barged into her office intent on firing her, but she’d found it. Kerry smiled and leaned forward a little, picking up her pace. Faster I go, faster I get back.


Red Sky At Morning 299

DAR KEPT HER eyes closed, aware of the fact that she was alone in bed. This didn’t make her very happy. The waterbed was comfortable, but it was a lot warmer and more comfortable if it was full of a certain blonde woman she knew, who tended to drape nice smelling and cutely shaped parts of herself all over Dar.

On the other hand, Dar reasoned, she could also smell cinnamon and the scent of fresh coffee, which meant she was trading off waking up chilly and grumpy for sticky buns and a cup of Santa’s White Christmas in her big blue mug.

Hmm.

She heard soft clinks from the kitchen, then the light scuff of bare feet against tile heading in her direction. It was strange, but she could actually feel Kerry’s presence as her lover entered the room, bringing the nice smells closer and combining them with apricot skin scrub and the clean cotton T-shirt that covered Kerry’s freshly showered body.

Mm. Dar briefly wondered if she could just suck on Kerry and forgo the sticky bun. She opened one eye. “Morning.”

“Hi there, cute stuff.” Kerry set the small tray down on their bedside table. On it was the anticipated blue mug and a plate with two buns. “How do you feel?”

Dar closed her fingers on the knee conveniently close by and squeezed. “Mm, not bad,” she joked wryly. “Like crap, honestly,” she then admitted. “I feel like I’ll never get rid of this headache, and my arm’s killing me. I think I slept wrong.”

Kerry rattled the small bottle on the tray. “I came prepared.” She removed a small glass from next to the mug. “Here.” She handed Dar some juice and three tablets.

Dar finished the juice and handed the glass back. “Thanks,” she said. “You better get dressed.”

“Oh.” Kerry plucked at her shirt, which had an almost life-size Dilbert sprawled across its surface. “You mean I can’t go to work like this? C’mon, Dar.”

Dar cocked her head slightly. “Well, okay, hon, but don’t stand with your back to the light, okay? It’s a little translucent.”

Kerry looked down. “It is?” she asked in surprise. “Where?”

A finger reached out and tickled a very sensitive spot.

“Yeak!” A snorting laugh escaped Kerry. “Okay, okay. I see your point.” She gazed fondly at Dar. “Let me go get into my monkey suit.”

Dar tangled her fingers in the soft cotton and tugged. “Thanks for breakfast,” she said. “And you can go to work dressed casual today if you want. It won’t kill anyone.”