She gave her name at the security desk and waited while the agent there looked on a list, then smiled at her. “Ms. Stuart, can you please come with me?


90 Melissa Good We need to badge you.”

“Okay,” Kerry said amiably as she followed the short, husky man around the corner and into a small suite of rooms. There were banks of monitors along one wall, with a slim, blonde-haired girl watching them. The girl turned as they entered and gave Kerry a polite smile, which she returned.

She got her picture and fingerprints taken, then stood while the agent assembled a security badge much like she’d seen Dar carry the night they’d come back here. The man attached an electronic scan card to the badge, then handed it over to her. “Thank you.” She examined the surface. “Wow, you even take nice pictures.” She gave him a grin.

He grinned right back. “Depends entirely on the subject, ma’am.”

Kerry blushed. “Thanks, may I go up now?”

“It’s the fourteenth floor, Ms. Stuart—up that first bank of elevators, then when you get off, turn left, and it’s the second door on your right.”

Remembering from her previous visit, Kerry nodded. “Yes, thank you.”

She slipped out of the security offices and headed towards the elevator, glancing up through the atrium and smiling. It was even more impressive in the daylight, with the sun pouring down through it and catching on the various crystal sculptures which lined the steep walls. It was also busier now, of course, and she dodged several hurrying people as she got into the elevator and punched the button for the fourteenth floor.

That got a side glance from two of the other occupants, and Kerry noticed them looking over, trying to inconspicuously read her name badge. She stuck out her hand instead. “Hi. I’m Kerry Stuart. Nice to meet you.”

The first woman shook her hand, then the second. “Enid Perspects,” the taller of the two said, hesitantly. “I work in Purchasing.”

“Sally Cruz,” the second, a shorter, darker woman, added. “In Marketing.

Are you Dar Roberts’ new assistant?”

“That’s me,” Kerry replied with a grin.

They looked at her as though she had two heads. “Well, good luck,” Enid mumbled, as the door opened, and she and her friend escaped. “You’re gonna need it.”

That was under her breath, but Kerry heard it anyway. The door slid shut, leaving her with a stocky, dark-haired man of middling height, about her own age. He studied her for a moment, then held out his hand. “So, you’re the infamous Kerry Stuart.”

Kerry sighed and shook his hand. “Infamous? I hope not. I just got here.”

She gave him a wary look. “And you are?”

He laughed. “Relax. I’m Mark Polenti, head of MIS and security.” He paused. “I’m a friend of Dar’s.”

Kerry gave him a friendlier look. “Really? To hear people talk, she doesn’t have any of those.”

“Nah, she does. Not many, that’s true, but the right ones, in the right places, if you know what I mean.” The stocky man smiled. “As long as you know your shit, you’re all right with Dar. If you don’t, you’re toast.” His eyes met hers. “You must know yours.”

“Guess we’ll find out.” Kerry relaxed a little, then turned as the doors opened onto the floor she’d requested. She and Mark exited, then both headed Tropical Storm 91

down the same corridor. Kerry could hear raised voices as she reached the double doors which lead into Dar’s office, and she glanced sideways at Mark.

“Sounds like a fight.”

“Sounds like a Monday.” He sighed, and held the door for her. “C’mon, might as well get used to it.”

The inside of Dar’s outer office was very different in the daytime. Several people were waiting, facing a desk behind which sat a short, round, gray-haired woman, who was pressing the phone against her ear with one hand and covering her other ear with the second. Two of the people waiting were arguing, one waving a set of printouts.

“There is no way we can complete that account, Larry. It’s not going to work, so go find another way to do it!” the shorter of the two men shouted.

“We’ve got no choice, Scott. The account team promised a full support center, and now they’re holding us to it!” the other man replied, throwing up his hands. “I hope to hell Dar can figure out how to pull us out of this mess.

I’m going to beat the crap out of Sue Kingston on the account team for pulling this crap again!”

Two other women, carrying reams of paper, were trying to get the secretary’s attention. She was on the phone with two lines blinking and talking on a third. Barely audible, a buzzer sounded. The secretary put her caller on hold and punched it. “Yes, Dar.”

“I’ve got half the goddamn domestic network down, three mainframes whose loads were screwed by mids last night, and ILIPC won’t answer their phones. Get me someone in Illinois who doesn’t have their heads up their asses, right now!”

“Ay, I’m trying, believe me,” the harried secretary replied.

“I can’t have trying, Maria, I need those people!”

Dar’s voice was rough with frustration, and Kerry moved towards it compulsively, easing around and between the throng and ignoring the startled looks. She found herself at the secretary’s desk, and gave her a wry smile as the woman looked up. “Hi,” she said softly. “Looks like a busy morning, huh?”

The older woman interrupted her boss’s further ranting. “Dar?”

“What?” the executive growled.

“Ms. Stuart is here.” Maria gazed at the slim blonde appraisingly.

Silence for a moment. “Oh, good. Send her in.” Dar’s voice had dropped an octave and sounded almost cheerful. “Hello, Kerry. Welcome to Hell.”

For a moment, everyone fell silent, watching her. The only sound was the buzzing of Maria’s phone. “Thanks,” Kerry managed to get out weakly. “I think.”

Dar chuckled. Kerry gave the rest of the people in the room a brief smile as she backed away from the desk. “Hello, excuse me.” She darted for the door and slipped through it, aware of the avidly watching eyes following her.

“C’mon in.”

The door closed behind her, and Kerry was surprised at the silence inside. “Whew.” The noise from outside was gone, and she let out a breath as she moved across the carpeted floor towards Dar’s desk. The executive was sitting on top of it with her phone, with its blinking lights near the edge, and 92 Melissa Good her arms crossed over her chest. She was wearing a gray silk skirt and jacket, with a forest green shirt and looked casually elegant.

Of course. The look was somewhat offset by the random disorder of her hair, which looked like she’d been running her hands through it. Kerry mentally paused, wondering what that would feel like. She rubbed her fingertips together and dismissed the thought as she continued forward.

“Busy morning?”

“They all are,” her new boss acknowledged. “Glad you’re here.”

“Me too.” Kerry could see the frustration in the lines of her body, but Dar managed a smile for her. “So, this is Hell, huh?” Kerry made a show of looking around. “Nice décor.”

Dar sighed and lifted a hand to rub one temple. “It’s been quite a morning.” She ran her fingers through her hair, confirming Kerry’s guess, and then let her arm drop. “Not sure where I start explaining.”

“So I see,” Kerry replied, feeling a little awkward. “Is there…um, stupid question, but is there something I can do to help?”

Dar visibly tried to relax a little. “Lots of things. But first, I think I need to get you settled in a place to sit and all that.” She stood. “So, c’mon.” She got up off the desk and paused to strip off her jacket, laying it over the back of her chair. “Gonna be one of those days.”

Kerry caught the scent of silk and spice as Dar moved past her, rolling up her sleeves as she walked. “Are there a lot of those days?”

Dar snorted, laughing and shaking her head as she motioned Kerry to follow her. “C’mon.”

Curious, Kerry followed her toward a small, nondescript door she hadn’t even noticed the other night and watched as Dar opened it, then gestured her to go forward. “Go on—believe me, it’s faster this way. If I go out in that hallway, it’ll take me eight hours to get from this office to the one I picked out for you.”

Picked out for me? Kerry entered, finding herself in a narrow, bare hallway with unmarked doors on one side and blank walls on the other. She moved down it uncertainly, until she felt a warm hand on her back. Dar guided her forward about fifty feet, until she came to another unmarked door, which the executive motioned her to open. She pushed the handle down and emerged into a second office.

It was roughly square, with a worktable surrounded by chairs on one side and a wide, woodgrain desk on the other. The carpet and wall coverings were in burgundy, and behind the desk, was a floor to ceiling window sporting the same view as Dar’s.

Wow. Kerry took a moment to drink in the seascape, the light winds outside blowing the waves with frosting-like whitecaps. Reluctantly, she turned to view the rest of the room.

On the desk was a computer, a phone, and nothing else, and the office was bare of adornment, so much so that it was apparent that it had never been used. “It’s, um…”

Dar leaned back against the door and gave Kerry an apologetic look.

“Kinda empty, I know, but it’s got the essentials.”

Kerry blinked at the desk and at the furniture. “It’s great.” She turned Tropical Storm 93

and looked at the window. “With this view, you could have given me a cardboard box and a tin can on a string, and I’d be happy.” She put her briefcase down on the desk. “Look, I know you’re up to your neck in problems in there. I’ll get settled and logged in, and see if I can find my way around, okay?”