“Mark,” Kerry tried hard to keep her voice steady, “come here.” She reached for the doorknob and heard a creak. A hand touched her back and she yelped, then scrambled for the door.

Suddenly, the entire ops center came alive in a shocking blast of fluorescent light. Kerry slammed herself backward, knocking Mark flat on his ass behind her, and swung the door shut with startling violence.

She threw the deadbolt on the door and got back away from it, not trusting even the reinforced steel. “Shit.”

Mark had crawled out of her way and ducked behind the desk.

“You know, they never mentioned this in MIS 101,” he muttered. “Let’s call the cops.”

“Good idea.” Kerry joined him behind the desk and pulled out her cell phone.

They heard a sound on the other side of the door and froze, staring in horror at the lock.

It started to turn, a low rasping sound that ended in a distinct, harsh click as the bolt retracted.


330 Melissa Good The door opened. They ducked behind the desk. A voice split the silence.

“What in the hell are you two doing?”

Kerry lifted her head and peeked over the desk, her body almost dissolving in relief as she recognized the powerful tones. “Oh.” She managed a wan smile at her lover. “Hi, Dar.”

Mark started laughing in nervous relief. “Shit.”

Dar entered the room and pushed the door open, crossing over to them and taking a seat on the desk. “Do I want to know what just happened?”

Kerry got up and dusted herself off. “Overactive imaginations,” she admitted with a sheepish grin. “We started wondering if...well, anyway, there was a noise outside, and I looked, and I saw something I didn’t recognize...” She walked to the doorway and peeked out cautiously.

“Ah.” Her eyes found her threatening intruder, now masquerading as an innocent, if covered overhead projector nestled in the corner. “Sorry.

I was about to come wake you up.”

“Mm.” Dar was amused. She watched Mark stand up and brush himself off. “If we’re done playing Miami Vice, can we run the test now?” She’d woken a short time earlier and had spent a few moments splashing water on her face in the bathroom, resulting in a state of reasonable alertness.

Mark blushed, then started up the interface. “All yours, boss.” He rubbed his butt cautiously. “Damn, you’ve got a hearty forward block on you there, Kerry. Ever think of trying rugby?”

Kerry just laughed. “Sorry. I just wanted to get the door closed.”

Dar stepped around the desk and sat down, flexing her hands a little before she accessed the program files and started the analysis running. She reviewed her command line, then hit enter and folded her hands together calmly, watching the screen.

Not much was going on. A little asterisk in the corner spun. Lights on the black box indicated it was being accessed by the mainframe.

“How long should this take?” Kerry asked quietly.

“Depends,” Dar said. “It’s a fairly complicated structure.” She watched the screen tensely. “A lot of things could have gone wrong.

One glitch in the line during transfer and the entire matrix can get thrown off. Without every key in place, the whole thing—” Dar stopped and stared at the console, which was now blinking a result at her.

“Damn.”

Structure Valid.

Mark let out a whoop. “Hot damn is right.” He slapped the desk, making both of them jump a little. “Boss, you rock!”

Dar was frankly very surprised. She cocked her head at the screen as though not quite believing what it said. Given the complexity and her own state of scattered concentration, she’d had her doubts as to whether she’d gotten all the sequencing right. It had seemed more and more Red Sky At Morning 331

likely, as the night wore on and she’d had to redo her actions more frequently, that she’d made a mistake and would have to start all over again. In fact, she’d been pretty damn sure of it.

Well, apparently she wasn’t as decrepit as she’d imagined. “That’s good news,” she remarked calmly. “Now the hard part starts.” She rapped her head with her knuckles, then assembled what she wanted to do and typed in a second command to her system. “Go.”

The asterisk returned, but this time Dar slumped back in her chair and relaxed.

“Now we wait, right?” Kerry perched on the corner of the desk. “To see if we have anything.”

“Right,” Dar agreed. “We wait.” She paused and looked around the office. “Listen, no sense in all of us sticking around.”

“No,” Kerry agreed. “Mark said he’d stay and watch.”

Dar had opened her mouth to continue and now she closed it, giving them both a dour look, realizing she’d been outflanked. “If I didn’t know better, I’d suspect I’m being coddled.”

“Nope,” Mark jumped in. “I figured once this sucker runs and barfs up the results, you’re the one who gets to figure out what it means,” he said. “So the least I could do is watch the pretty lights flash for ya.”

Dar looked at him, then at Kerry, who looked back at her with a gentle smile. “Okay.” She dropped her hands onto the chair arms and pushed herself to her feet. “C’mon, Kerry, let’s get a couple hours’

sleep.” She turned toward Mark. “Want me to double lock the doors?”

she teased with a rakish grin. “I think I heard some phantom chicken men outside.”

Mark cleared his throat. “Nah, I’m fine. G’wan.”

Dar nodded. “Thanks.” She lifted a hand in a half wave. “Call me if anything doesn’t look like it’s going right.”

“Will do.” Mark settled in the chair Dar had just vacated, and leaned back. The door closed behind them, leaving him in peaceful silence.

BEING HOME FELT good. Kerry scrubbed her teeth industriously, turning as she felt a warm body nearby. “Hfero, Chirf,” she greeted her pet, who was standing up on her hind legs, peering into the mirror with Kerry.

“Argorf,” Chino barked, very glad to have her family home.

“What are you guys doing?” Dar wandered into the bathroom behind her and snuggled up, putting her arms around Kerry’s stomach.

“Giving her pointers, Chino?”

Kerry spit out her mouthful of toothpaste. “No, she’s showing me you didn’t quite get all the blackberry sauce off her face.” She pointed at the mirror. “How on earth did she get into the refrigerator, Dar?”

“Opposable paws.” Dar picked up one of the Labrador’s feet and 332 Melissa Good examined it, getting a kiss for her pains. “Glad you didn’t leave that container of pasta sauce on the bottom shelf.” They’d come home to find purplish blobs everywhere and a suspiciously meek-looking dog trying very hard to appear innocent with a face covered in jam.

“Bad girl,” Kerry scolded their pet. Chino cupped her ears and folded them downward in an expression only a Labrador could come up with, looking soulfully at Kerry all the while. “Ooh...you think you have me so fooled, don’cha?” She had to laugh at the hopeful tail wag.

“Spoiled brat.”

Dar chuckled and rested her chin on the top of Kerry’s head, hugging her and swaying a little. “Mm...bedtime for nerds?”

Kerry spent a moment just absorbing how wonderful it felt to have Dar hugging her. Then she turned around in her lover’s arms and the sensation trebled as she slid closer and returned the hug. “Mm.” She took a breath filled with the scent of clean cotton and Dar’s distinctive smell. “Definitely bedtime for nerds.” She took a step forward and guided Dar toward the waterbed, tumbling onto it with a sense of exquisite relief.

Dar immediately curled around her, capturing her in a net of long arms and longer legs, creating a warm nest she snuggled into, letting out a pleased murmur of contentment.

Dar reached over and turned the light off, ignoring the clock, which reminded her it was after four. Then she resettled her arm over Kerry, who squiggled closer and sighed, warming Dar’s chest with a minty scented breath. The still-nagging aches faded, and she closed her eyes as her body relaxed at last.

What would the analysis come up with? she wondered drowsily. She’d thrown the dice on capturing the data she had, hoping it would deliver to her the mechanism they’d been using to move around the funds that she’d seen in the accounts. But what if it didn’t? Dar felt Kerry’s breathing even out and slow, becoming deep and regular as her partner fell asleep. Curiously, she found herself unconsciously trying to match it.

She thought about that for a moment, then returned her attention to their problem. Or at least, that’s what she’d intended to do. But sleep snuck up on her, ambushing her best intentions and taking her out before she could form another thought.


Chapter

Twenty

“MORNING.” KERRY GAVE Mayte an apologetic look as she entered, closing the outer door behind her. “Sorry I’m late.” She shifted her laptop case to her other shoulder. “Anything blowing up that I should know about?”

Mayte smiled at her. “There is nothing that I know of. Mamá said there have been some messages for la jefe, but it is nothing too serious.”

“Good.” Kerry opened the door to her office and went inside, circling her desk and dropping her briefcase behind it. She collapsed into her leather chair and nudged the switch on her PC, leaning back and watching as it booted.

Late or not, she hadn’t gotten nearly enough sleep. Her eyes were sore, and she could feel a heaviness in her head that made her hope she wasn’t coming down with something.

Her phone rang. With a sigh, Kerry sat forward and answered it.

“Yes?”