"Uhhh--hi ma'am."

Kerry smiled. "Hang on." She held the phone out to the soldier. "Here. Want to say hello?"

The man stared at her, and then reached out for the phone, his eyes wide. "Are you kidding me?" He put the phone to his ear. "Hello?" He paused. "Josh, is that you? Yeah! Yeah it's Mike! I can't believe you're on the phone! Jesus Christ, bro, mama's about sick to death with you!"

Kerry leaned on her seat arm, a big grin on her face, very satisfied to have pulled this particular undeserved rabbit out of her navel in typical coincidental fashion. Across the aisle, her mother was also smiling as she listened, and behind them she caught the flash of a camera capturing it all.

"No, no man, I'm guarding the airport here." Mike was saying. "I saw that lady from your company come in and so I came and asked her what was up--what? Where are you? Buffalo?" He paused. "Well go have some damned chicken wings then!"

Kerry chuckled. "Mm," she said. "I love chicken wings." She saw her mother's eyebrows hike.

"Okay, okay, listen," Mike said. "Call mama. She's crying, man! Okay? Yeah, you used to make fun of me for being in the Guard, and look who was nearer the hard stuff, huh?" He glanced around. "Listen, I gotta go. I'm holding these people up here. You call mama, okay? Bye!" He hung up the phone and turned to face Kerry.

"Feel better?" She took the phone.

"Man that was cool," he said. "That was great. I can't believe you just called up and found him. We have been trying and trying all day long. We were so scared cause he was supposed to be downtown today." He wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. "Wow."

Kerry reached over and patted his arm. "I'm really glad we found him," she said. "It was really great timing that you asked right after he called us."

He grinned at her. "Sometimes you gotta have some luck," he said. "After a crappy day like this, man, that was just cool." He looked over at the Senator. "Thanks for letting me on the plane, ma'am."

"Oh! Of course," Senator Stuart said. "I'm so glad, so very glad it was good news, and my daughter could help. It's fabulous. Simply fabulous," she told him. "Worth every moment of the delay, without question."

The soldier stood up and carefully lifted his rifle so it didn't smack Kerry in the head. "I can go out there with a light heart now," he said. "You want everyone to be safe, but when it's family--man, that's just different, you know?"

"I do know." Kerry also stood up. "We had a lot of people in harm's way, and we care about all the people who work for us. It's not exactly like family, but it is close," she said. "I hope you have a quiet night after this."

"Me too," the soldier said. "Thanks again, ma'am. I really, really appreciate what you did," he said. "Let me get out of your way now." He edged into the aisle and headed for the door, ducking past the television camera and the man holding it with a third person ahead of them with a microphone. "Man that was the best."

Kerry tucked her cell phone back on its clip. "That was pretty awesome," she commented. "We have so many people unaccounted for in New York. I'm glad his brother wasn't one of them."

Her mother stood up and twitched her jacked sleeve straight. "Well, I shall go talk to the press," she said. "They might want to speak with you," she warned. "I believe they are looking for any bit of news in our area about this."

"Well." Kerry eyed the reporter. "They could also want to talk to me about a lot of other things. But that's fine." She put her hands on her denim clad hips. "I'm up for it if they want to." She took a deep breath, feeling the finely knit wool of her sweater tighten around her body.

"That is another lovely sweater," Cynthia remarked. "Just lovely. What are those designs--are they animals?"

"Beavers." Kerry's lips twitched as she muffled a grin. "Dar gave it to me."

"Ah," her mother said. "Is she a supporter of wildlife?"

"Yes," her daughter answered. "She loves wildlife. And beavers."

Her mother merely nodded, and then turned and walked down the narrow aisle to where the reporter was waiting. The television light went on immediately and the aides closed in on either side, blocking Kerry's view.

Which was fine. She sat back down in her seat and picked up her magazine, glancing at her watch again. "Should have kidnapped Angie and drove." She shook her head and started reading.


Chapter Twelve

DAR WOKE UP in complete darkness disoriented and not entirely sure of where she was. The smells and sounds were wrong for home, and she remembered light pouring in her window from the street in her London hotel.

Here, just darkness, and lots of quiet.

After a second of confusion, she remembered, and her tensed body relaxed back onto the goose down topper on the bed's mattress.

Sir Melthon's estate was set back from the road and surrounded by hedges and land, and thick gates. Far enough from the city sounds to be silent, much like it was in her condo back in Miami.

But no ocean sounds. If she concentrated, she could hear crickets though.

"Sheesh." Dar rolled over and lifted up her watch, pressing the side button and checking the digital display. "Ngh." She set it back down. "Four in the morning." She counted back, then reached over and picked up her PDA to check for messages.

Sure enough. Dar clicked contentedly and opened it.

Made it. Slept most of the way. Mother won't hear of my getting a cab this late so she's sending me in the car to the hotel once we drop her off at the townhouse. Lesser of two evils. I will end up being on the local late news in Michigan though. There was a press bunch that cornered us at the airport. Interview wasn't bad. They were too busy with all the disaster news to ask me stupid questions about my sex life. Mom likes my sweater by the way. She thinks you have good taste if a rather odd fixation on small mammals. Love you. K.

Dar started laughing, the motion waking her up enough to make going back to sleep immediately out of the question. The tone of Kerry's note was a little resigned, but amused, so she figured things weren't going along too badly.

She sat up and crossed her legs up under her and leaning her elbows on her knees as she removed her stylus and started an answer.

Hey Ker--

I've commissioned a knitted pullover for you with the Gopher from my program in poses guaranteed to get you thrown out of Wal-Mart. Tell her that. Glad you made it okay. Hope everything is calm in the city. Mother or no mother I'd have rather you go directly to the border and not stay near anything white and colonnaded just in case. I know that sounds callous and obnoxious but I am sometimes.

Dar could almost hear Kerry's objection to that, but it was true, and she knew it.

Send me a note when you get to the hotel. I have no doubt the Mandarin Oriental will have a room ready for you, but I'd sleep better if I knew you were in it.

DD.

Dar clicked send and lay back down, letting the PDA rest on her chest. Aside from the early waking, she'd slept pretty well, the quiet and comfort of the room allowing her to get more rest than she'd really expected to.

She wasn't really tired. She didn't want to spend hours lying in bed staring at the ceiling either. After a moment more of it, she sat up and swung her feet off the bed, reaching over to turn the lamp on. A soft, golden light filled the room and she took a moment to stand and shake her body out before she walked over to retrieve her laptop.

It was quiet enough that the zipper of the case sounded loud, and she glanced around a trifle guiltily, though she knew full well the sound wouldn't penetrate the walls.

At least she hoped it wouldn't. She removed the machine and its cable from the case and took it back with her to the bed, laying it down and then returning to the sideboard where there was a tray resting with cups and several bottles.

Reviewing her options, she poured a cup of still warm milk out of a very efficient thermal carafe and brought it back to the bed with her. She set it on the bedside table and sat down, opening the lid of the machine and pressing the power button.

Her PDA was blinking.

Dar smiled and opened it, bending her head slightly to read the message.

I would wear Gopher Dar on my chest any time, honey. But telling my mother that here in front of her little aides is not going to make this road trip any shorter if you catch my drift.

"Probably not," Dar had to agree. "And you'd have to explain it anyway."

And I'd have to explain it anyway. You know I would.

Dar started laughing.

Why are you up? It's four in the morning there. But if you are, after we drop Mom off, can I call you? I want to try and get through, and it would be nice to talk for a few minutes before all the crazy stuff starts up all over again. I'm sure tomorrow's going to be worse than today. I think everyone-the business people I mean-are in shock. Tomorrow it'll be--well, okay, but when will I be back up?

Dar nodded in agreement. "Yup."

It's so quiet here in the city. I know it's sort of late, but there's hardly a car on the street. It's almost spooky it's so quiet, and I realized just earlier how funny it was to not hear airplanes. You never think of that, but we have them all the time at home flying over head. I've been here a couple hours and not one except for fighters. So strange.

There are lots of soldiers around. It almost feels like we're at war. Are we?