Dar checked her watch. "Quarter to nine? Sure. Mine is anyway. What do you need?"

"Can you get one of the big portfolios headed this way?" her boss asked. "The one that shows all the lines of business?"

"Sure." Dar opened her phone and dialed her office number. "Excuse me." She apologized to John.

"No problem." John turned to his plate, which had just been delivered, complete with a selection from the sideboard. "Ahh--now that's the thing."

"Hey, Maria. Good morning."

"Ah, good morning Jefa," Maria replied. "How are you? How is the England?"

"So far, very interesting and successful," Dar said.

"Need a favor."

"Of course."

Dar paused, as her PDA buzzed. "Hang on a second." She opened it and glanced at the screen. "Hm. Hey Maria, can you ask Mark to check out what's going on over near Boston? One of the supplemental links just came up and they're using some unusual bandwidth for the links."

"Surely," Maria said. "Is that all, Dar? How is Kerrisita? Is she having a good time with her familia?

Dar closed the PDA. "She's fine, and her speech went great," she told her assistant. "Alastair needs one of the circus tent displays sent over here, can you get that in the works?"

"I will call over to the Sales right away, Dar," Maria said. "Oh, and Senora Mariana has delivered some packages to the office here for you and Kerrisita. I think they are your softball costumes."

"What color are they?" Dar chuckled. "Please don't tell me they're either yellow or purple."

"No, no, it is a pretty blue," Maria said. "And the pants are white. Mayte was showing me hers last night, and they are very, very cute." She paused. "The shoes were very strange. They had nails in the bottom. Is that right, Dar?"

Her boss chuckled, and then glanced down as her PDA buzzed again. She opened it, and after a minute, her brows creased. "What the hell?"

"Como?"

"Maria, can you conference Mark on? I'm getting pages that aren't making any sense. I think the monitor's gone whacky again." Dar paged through the messages.

"Surely. Hold on for one moment, Dar." Maria put her on hold.

"Something wrong?" John asked.

"Ah." Dar shook her head a little. "I think it's just--"

Maria came back on the phone. "I have Mark, Dar, but--"

"Hey! Boss!" Mark's voice echoed through the phone, sharp with excitement. "Holy crap!"

Dar felt a surge of adrenaline, but she wasn't entirely sure why. "What's up?"

"A freaking plane just hit the side of the freaking World Trade Center!"

"Jesu!" Maria gasped. "Madre di Dios!"

Dar absorbed that in silence for a minute. "What? How in the hell did that happen? Someone get lost looking for LaGuardia?"

"I have no friggen clue," Mark said. "But they just put it up on CNN and it's crazy! Smoke all over the place! People freaking out! There's a hole in the side of that thing the size of the space shuttle!"

Dar pressed the mute button, and leaned over, touching Alastair on the sleeve. "Alastair."

Her boss turned and looked at her, his gaze sharpening immediately when he saw her expression. "What's up?"

"We need to find a television. Something's going on in New York."


Chapter Eight

KERRY STROLLED THROUGH the big atrium and paused, looking around and remembering the last time she'd spent time in this space. Her father's funeral reception. It was much quieter now; even the echoes of that tumultuous time were gone along with his presence.

She suppressed a smile, and continued on into the formal dining room where the rest of her family were gathered, getting ready to sit down to the promised brunch.

Kerry regarded the trays of salad and light sandwiches with a polite interest, since their early morning breakfast escapade had resulted in a visit to Pumpernickels, and an English Scramble that both satisfied her salute to where her partner was, and adequately satisfied her appetite before their visit.

"Well, Kerrison, I hear your speech went very well." Her mother took her customary seat, and the rest of them joined her. "Did you enjoy yourself?"

Kerry picked up her glass of orange juice and sipped it, her brows hiking as she realized there was champagne in the mix. "Mimosas, Mother?" She put the glass down. "I had a lot more fun at the pub afterward, but I think it went well."

"Well, I thought it would be festive," her mother said. "After all, it's a lovely occasion, having all of you here." She took a sip of her own beverage. "It seemed to me to be a good chance for a little celebration," she added. "Even at 9:00 a.m."

Kerry had to smile. She set her glass down, and then almost jumped as her cell phone buzzed against her side. "Yow." She unclipped it and glanced at the caller ID, her smile broadening. "Excuse me a minute." She answered the phone. "Hey hon."

Unintended, but she could almost imagine the grimace her mother was hiding.

"Where are you?" Dar's tone, however, wasn't what she'd expected.

"My mother's." Kerry said. "What's up?"

"Is she acting like anything's going on?"

Kerry's brow creased, and she looked across at her mother, who peered back at her with a puzzled expression. "No. Is there something?"

"A jet flew into the North Tower of the World Trade Center," Dar said. "There's a lot of confusion going on, and I've got some traffic alerts on our net up there."

"Oh no!" Kerry gasped. "That's horrible! Did it lose an engine, or--" She glanced up, finding her family now quiet, and listening to her. "There's been an accident in New York," she explained. "A plane hit the World Trade Center."

"Dear God!" Her mother straightened, her eyes widening. "How incredible!"

The doors opened, and one of her aides rushed in. "Senator." He got out. "Come quickly. Please." He indicated the door. Visibly confused, Cynthia stood and started toward him.

Instinctively Kerry got up, her body reacting to the sudden tension in the room and the edge in Dar's voice. She followed her mother as they crowded through the double doors and into the media room where a large screen television was on. "Oh, wow."

"Are you watching it now?" Dar asked. "We're all here at the client site. Alastair is trying to get hold of Bob."

"Our guy in Manhattan?" Kerry asked, her eyes studying the horror on the screen. "My god, Dar. Look at that hole!"

"He was supposed to be at a client meeting there at eight thirty."

"Good heavens," Cynthia Stuart finally spluttered. "How on earth could they have allowed a plane to hit that building? What was the pilot thinking? Why didn't they stop it?"

"Oh no," Kerry exhaled. "Hope he's okay--" She stopped speaking.

Everyone stopped speaking. There was a shocked moment of silence before Mike grabbed the back of a chair and leaned forward. "Holy shit!" he said. "There's another one!"

"Fuck." Dar's voice echoed softly down the line. "That's no accident."

Kerry was stunned. She was watching the screen. She'd seen a second plane appear and crash into the other tower. Her mind was unable to grasp what she was seeing, however, as she struggled to make sense of the smoke, and the fire, and the sound of screaming and sirens coming from the television's speakers.

"Oh my god," she finally said. She could hear exclamations in strange accents from Dar's end of the conversation and it reminded her suddenly of where her partner was. "I don't think we're going to see the Alps, Dar."

Dar exhaled. "Not this week. No."

"Oh my god," Kerry repeated. "Dar we've got people all over that area." She finally forced her mind into a different gear. "What are we going to do?"

"I don't know," Dar answered. "I've got to call my parents."

"I'll get my laptop. I'll call you back," Kerry said. "I'll call you back in ten minutes. "

"Okay," Dar said. "No, let me call my Dad, and then I'll call you back. See if you can get on net," she said.

"Talk to you in a few," Kerry said. "Tell Mom and Dad I love them."

"I will," Dar's said. "I don't know where this is going, Ker. It could get worse. Talk to you in a few." She hung up.

Worse? Kerry folded her phone shut, only to have it ring again immediately, the caller ID showing the distinctive number at her operations desk. "Mother, do you have an internet connection in the house?"

Her mother turned her eyes wide and staring. "W--what?" she said. "What do you mean?"

Kerry shook her head. "Never mind, I'll find it." She turned and started out of the room as she answered the phone. "Stuart." She paused as she passed Angie. "I'm going to get my briefcase."

"Okay," her sister answered softly. "Kerry, what's going on? What's happening there?"

Kerry looked at her. "People are flying airplanes into buildings, Angie," she said. "On purpose." She eased past her sister and headed for the door, putting the phone back to her ear. "Go on."

Angie watched her go, then turned around to look at the television again. "Why?" she asked. "Why would anyone want to do that?"

DAR HELD ONE hand over her free ear as she waited for the line to be answered. Behind her, the room was raucous with all the consternation over what they were watching; only Alastair wasn't joining in as he was still, as was Dar, on the phone.

The line picked up. "Hello?"

"Mom?" Dar said.

"Well. That's one checkbox off my list." Ceci sighed in relief. "By the Goddess, this world has gone completely insane."

For once, Dar found herself in complete and total agreement with her mother. "How's Dad?"