"I'll text you," Kerry promised. "It's a commuter plane. I'm sure we'll be fine. I just wish there was more room inside it."

Dar chuckled briefly. "Catching my claustrophobia?"

"Don't want to be that close to my mother," her partner said, succinctly. "Later hon."

"Later." Dar closed the phone, and smiled. "Well, that's good news at least."

Alastair stood up. "Sure is," he said. "Let me let you get some rest." He picked up his glass. "And let's hope that call tomorrow is just him wanting to catch up on you personally."

Dar blinked at him in surprise.

Her boss smiled wryly, lifting his glass in her direction then making his way to the door. "Nice fella, glad he's safe," he said, as he eased out. "But he's also a big customer," he reminded her, closing the door behind him.

True enough. Dar tossed back the rest of her whisky, grimacing as it burned its way down her throat and into her gut. Then she exhaled, puffing her dark hair up out of her eyes, and pulled her magazine back over. "Hope it's personal too." She opened the pages. "I'm not going to have time to call in any favors."

KERRY ZIPPED HER bag closed and set it on the floor, glancing around out of habit to make sure she hadn't forgotten anything. She'd left her share of travel alarm clocks, toothbrushes, and other sundries in hotels across the country and learned her lesson the hard way.

"Ker?" Angie stuck her head in the room. "You ready? I told Mom I'd take you down to the airport to meet her so we didn't have to swing back by the house."

"Yup." Kerry shouldered her overnight bag and picked up her laptop case. "Let's go," she said. "Am I safe letting Mike return the truck to the rental joint?"

Her sister chuckled.

"That's what I thought." Kerry sighed. "Oh well." She followed her sister out of the room. It was already dark outside, and the kids were tucked in bed in the half empty house already echoing with the impending move and a little sadder for it. "How much can one of those cost anyway?"

Angie led the way down the steps and over to the front door, picking up a handbag and slinging it over her shoulder and picking up her keys. "Marco, is the car ready?" she asked the man standing near the door.

"Yes, ma'am," Marco replied. "I filled the tank. Do you want me to drive you though? Roads are pretty dark."

Angie regarded her house manager with a smile. "Thanks, but I'll be okay," he said. "My brother's coming with us. He can keep me company on the way back."

Marco looked dubious at this proffered safety, and Kerry shifted her overnight back and reached up to scratch her nose.

Angie seemed to sense the unspoken doubt. "We'll be fine." She grabbed the strap of Kerry's bag and tugged her out the door. "We're in Saugatuck, for Pete's sake."

"Mm." Kerry followed without further comment, walking down the steps toward where Mike was waiting by her sister's big sedan as the cool air hit her face. She blinked into it, feeling the dryness against her eyeballs, and thought briefly of the sauna bath she lived in most of the year.

That had been hard to get used to. Now this was hard to get used to. Kerry shook her head as Angie opened the doors and went around to the driver's side.

"Here, gimme." Mike took her bag and tossed it in the back seat, sliding in after it.

Kerry got in the front passenger side and closed the door, glad enough to relax into the leather seat for the relatively short drive to the regional airport. "Think Mom's still pissed off?" she asked. "My shoulder's killing me where I hit that table."

Angie started the car and gave her sibling a wry look. "Your shoulder's killing you? Remember you bounced into me after you broke the furniture. I feel like I was hit by a truck."

"I was just glad it wasn't me for a change," Mike commented from the back seat. "It was worth it to see Mom's face when she came around that corner and saw you sitting there with all that broken china around you holding that stupid leg."

"I felt like I was six," Kerry admitted. "But it was funny."

"It was freaking hilarious," Mike said. "I mean after that whole lousy day it felt great to just be stupid and laugh and not worry about what building was falling down or if a plane was going to crash on my head."

They were all momentarily quiet. "Yeah,"Angie finally said. "It sure was a horrible day." She looked at Kerry from the corner of her eye. "I think you and Mom are crazy to be flying tonight. I can't even believe they're letting you."

"I know," Kerry said. "But this is different. It's a private plane."

"A crappy, tiny commuter," Mike said. "I've seen the inside of it. I'd rather drive."

"I should have gotten a van, like that guy of yours did, Kerry, and thrown the kids in there and we could have all taken a road trip," Angie said. "Even Mom."

Kerry covered her eyes with silent eloquence.

"Ang, you're a retard," Mike said. "That didn't work when we were ten."

"Shut up," Angie said. "We're adults now. We could have made it work."

Mike slid around and extended his legs behind Kerry's seat. "Ah, maybe," he conceded. "I looked up that thing Kerry's guy got, it's not a van. It's an RV. It's pretty cool," he said. "It's got a kitchen and a bathroom and everything."

"It's a long trip from Miami," Kerry said. "I'm glad they found something comfortable. Last thing I'd want is for them to zonk out on the ride and have an accident. It takes--I think ten or twelve hours just to get out of the state."

"Have you driven that?" Angie asked.

Kerry shook her head. "Just to Orlando with Dar," she said. "But Dar has driven up the East Coast. She says unless you take the scenic route through the mountains it's a snore." Her eyes flicked to the dark countryside they were passing through.

"You staying with Mom?" Her sister asked. "Hotels must be crazy there."

"No." Kerry shook her head. "Dar made me reservations on the edge of town. I can pick up a car or have the office pick me up in the morning, then maybe stay out there after that." She let her head rest against the back of the seat. "I haven't told her yet. I think she assumes I'm going to the townhouse."

"She does," Mike supplied. "She was telling some dude over there to get a room ready, like you care what the view is."

"Sometimes I do," Kerry objected mildly. "But then again--" She pondered. "Usually I'm with Dar so the view inside the room is better anyway." She chuckled under her breath as her siblings both groaned. "I hope her flight goes okay tomorrow."

"She's flying into Mexico?" Mike asked. "I heard on the news that it's nuts there, the airports are crammed," he said. "Hope they don't give her a hard time coming back in the country."

Kerry extended her legs out and crossed her ankles. "I hope not," she said. "I can imagine they'll be pretty freaked out, and Dar does get touchy sometimes about official stuff. She gives the airport people grief when they want her to start up her laptop."

"Glad I don't travel much," Angie sighed, as she turned onto the access road for the small local airport. "Especially now. I'd be scared to death to get on an airplane."

Kerry thought about that. She remembered thinking once that you had no idea, really, who you were going to share a plane with, who was sitting next to you, what their motives were, or even what viruses they were going to gift the rest of the passengers with.

Scary. Now, it was a lot scarier. She imagined being on those planes that had taken off, and finding out that passenger sitting next to you was a killer.

Ugh.

Her flight, and Dar's, would at least be private this time. But the next? Kerry sighed, hoping that the domestic flights wouldn't start flying so soon that Dar needed to hop on the first one available to come out to meet her. Much as she wanted to see her partner, and she certainly did, she'd rather her be safe.

Was there a train from Texas to Washington? Kerry drummed her fingers on the armrest. Hmm. Dar might like a train ride.

"Wow, look at those lights," Angie interrupted her musing, "at the gate."

Kerry peered through the windshield to see the entrance to the field approaching, bracketed by a line of emergency vehicles with their flashing lights on. "What's that all about?" she wondered.

"Maybe mom's limo crahed into the guardhouse," Mike suggested.

"Michael," Angie scoled him. "That's not funny."

"Why?" he retorted. "That thing's built like a brick. I'd feel sorry for the guy in the guardhouse not anyone in that tank."

Angie slowed the car as they approached. Shadowy figures emerged from the vehicles blocking the entrance. "Oh. Wow."

"Guns," Kerry observed. "I hope it's the Michigan National Guard."

"Me too," Mike agreed, in a far meeker voice. "I don't like guns." He slid back against the back of the seat, moving over to Kerry's side of the car. "Bet Dar does."

"Bet she doesn't." Kerry watched as Angie rolled the window down. "I'm the registered gun owner in the family."

"This airport is closed, ma'am." The man was dressed in a guard uniform and sounded very stern, but polite. "Please turn around and go back the way you came."

Kerry heard a sound behind her. She glanced through the window and saw three more soldiers, standing with their rifles pointed not quite at the car, but not quite at the ground. "Oh boy." She fished for her identification in her briefcase.

"Thank you officer," Angie replied in her most polite voice. "I know the airport is closed. My mother, Senator Stuart, asked us to join her here. I am dropping my sister off to accompany her to Washington."