Melissa Good - Tropical Storm

It was, Kerry realized very quickly, the heart of the company, and now she had a good idea why Dar sat in the privileged position she did. Nobody wanted to piss her off, because everyone depended on her to get their job done. She told Dar that as they ended up back in the executive’s office, and got a wry smile of acknowledgment in return.

“I knew I made the right decision,” Dar said quietly. “There are people who’ve been working here for years and haven’t yet figured that out.”

Kerry felt rather proud of herself, on her first day. She thought Dar was pleased with her also, if the smile she’d given Kerry was any indication, and from a shaky beginning, she was feeling pretty good about her new job. She realized something else. What Dar’s title was and what she did were two different things. She was in charge of Operations, yes, but what she really functioned as was the company’s top troubleshooter. If there was a fire, Dar got sent, because on the bottom line, she simply knew what to do, and just did it, without regards to anyone’s feelings, or protocol, or anything else.

No wonder everyone hated her. If you had Dar Roberts descend into your territory, it meant you had really screwed up, and she was there to bail you out. Not a nice feeling, Kerry realized, as she sat at her desk, reviewing the rest of her new projects. It also meant Dar was impossibly overworked, and Kerry suspected that was part of the cause of her reputation too—she simply didn’t have time to be nice. She had to get in, make a decision, and get out so she could move on to the next crisis.

Dar had said she’d given Kerry about ten percent of the current projects she, herself, was working on. There were twenty-two projects on Kerry’s work list now. Ten percent. How in the hell does that woman even have time to sleep? I guess I’ll find out.

DAR WATCHED THE stars come out over the ocean through her 100 Melissa Good window and leaned back, glad of a few moments peace at the end of a very long and very aggravating day. Which would have been longer and more aggravating if Kerry hadn’t worked her magic that morning and resolved Dar’s biggest problem, rendering everything else just bad and not disastrous.

Her purse slung over her shoulder, Maria came in to bid her good night.

“You’re late, Maria,” Dar said quietly.

“Ay, and what should I say for you?” the secretary answered, walking over and standing on the other side of her boss’s desk. “The secretaritas at your doctor’s office had only one slot open, that’s Thursday at two PM. I made that time, okay?”

Dar ignored the pounding in her head and smiled. “That’s fine. I think I have a meeting in the morning on Thursday, then a lunch with John D. and his team, so that leaves the afternoon free.” She could see the fatigue in Maria’s face. “Pretty bad day, huh?”

Maria perched on a corner of the desk. “That poor little new chiquita. She seems very nice, Dar.” Her face looked troubled. “I worry these people will eat her up.”

“Nah.” The dark-haired woman behind the desk shook her head. “She’s tough. Did you see Jack’s face when he barged in here and said the network mysteriously came back up? I had to check the logs to see what happened.

Telling him my brand-new, wet-behind-the-ears, inexperienced assistant solved the problem his techs had been working on for twelve hours…god.”

Dar laughed. “That made my day.”

Maria gazed at her, the lined face creasing into a faint, puzzled smile.

“You like her, this little chiquita?”

“I think she’s got a lot of talent and potential, yes,” Dar answered.

“Sure.”

“Ah ah ah.” Maria wagged a finger. “No, no…you like her.”

A moment of silence fell as the light outside faded and left Dar mostly in shadows. The executive seemed to be asking herself that very question. “On a personal level…” She hesitated. “Yes, yes, I do like her. Why?”

The older woman sighed. “I been working for you five years, and I’ve never seen anyone else who makes you smile so much.” She added, “Is good.”

Dar was mildly stunned by the observation, more so when she realized it was true. “I…I guess it’s just nice to have someone who’s bright enough to figure things out. Not like the last bunch I tried in that position.”

“Ay, right,” Maria agreed quietly, still watching her. “Is good. I hope she works out.” She waved. “Good night, Dar.”

The executive nodded absently. “Good night, Maria. I’ll see you in the morning.” She waited for the click as the door shut, then she turned around in her chair and leaned back, steepling her fingers and regarding the rising moon. It was huge and hung over the horizon like a summer lantern, sending a rippling river of light across the almost calm ocean. “I hope so, too, Maria…I really do.”

“I THINK THAT will work, but can we use that processor for something else in slack hours?” Kerry asked as she played with a pencil, pushing it against the surface of her desk and turning it over. “I know the banking group is looking for extra timeslices during their mids. Can we use it there?” She listened to the answer, then smiled and made a note on her pad. “Good, then I’m going to call them and let them know they can count on you for that.” She paused a moment and then continued, “Sure, the chargeback will go towards your budget.” A pleased sound came from the phone. “Nice working with you, too … Yes, that’s right, Stuart, from Operations … Well, thanks. I do try … Good bye.”

Kerry sat back as she cut the phone off. “Well, there’s another one off the list.” She picked up her cup, strawberry-scented steam wafting from it, and took a sip. “Making a dent.”

A soft knock came at her door, and she turned as Dar entered, giving her a wry grin as she came over to perch on a corner of Kerry’s desk. She does that, Kerry thought, because it puts us more at a level. Dar was so tall, she towered over Kerry anyway, and when she was sitting down, it just made it all the worse. It’s a nice touch, she thought. “Hi. How’s it going over there?”

Dar half shrugged. “Like it usually is.” She rested her hands on her knee.

“Let’s talk about Denver.”

Kerry felt a little nervous. “Okay.”

“Two DS3s?” Dar’s brows lifted.

God, I hate butterflies in my stomach. Kerry collected herself. “They just signed the banking account up there.”

“And?”

She hated her palms sweating even more than the butterflies, but she kept herself from wiping them. “They’re central. If we have dual pipes up there, we can use that as a third leg for the backbone in case of primary failure.” Dar studied her in silence. “And I heard a rumor they’re close to re-signing the big retail contract and they’re going international,” Kerry finished. “I didn’t want us to get cut short.”

Finally, Dar smiled. “Three out of three,” she said. “Good decision, Kerry.

What you didn’t know is that they’ve been hiding a capacity problem up there from me for two months and that just solved it.” She winked. “Nice work.”

Kerry exhaled slowly, trying to hide the relief making her knees shiver.

“Thanks, I was a little nervous after that screw-up I did in Phoenix.”

Dar leaned on the desk. “It’s all right. At least you screwed up on the 102 Melissa Good conservative side. Much as I hate to pay for bandwidth we don’t use, not having enough is a much bigger bitch for me to deal with.”

Whew. Kerry hesitated, then looked up at Dar. “I just don’t want to disappoint you, that’s all.”

Dar’s expression gentled. “No chance.” She cleared her throat. “Listen, I’ve got an appointment this afternoon, so I’m taking off. “

“Anything you need me to cover for you on?”

Dar exhaled and reached up to rub the back of her neck. “The Asia office might call. I’ve been arguing with them all week about getting new mainframes in there. See if you can reason with them.”

She looks tired, Kerry realized. “Okay. Oh, listen…um, who can I talk to here about a bank transfer problem?” she asked. “It’s mine. I mean, I think my EFT got messed up.”

Dar stood up. “Why? Didn’t it show up?” Her brow creased in concern as she regarded Kerry. “That’s not very damn funny if it’s true.”

“N-no. It did, last night, but it was…I think maybe because I transitioned, it got sent twice. Is that possible?”

Dar’s expression turned impish, just for an instant. “It’s possible,” she agreed. “But it’s far more likely you actually got paid what you were worth this time.” She headed for the door, pausing as she opened it and turned. “The position,” she indicated Kerry’s office, “came with a raise. Sorry I forgot to mention it.”

Kerry stared at the door until it closed. “Son of a gun!” she finally sputtered after a moment’s silence. “Dar, you…” She exhaled, feeling a surge of relief and surprise and something she wasn’t quite sure she could identify flood through her. “You’re something else.” Something else.

She clicked on her menu and went into the personnel program, typing in her codes and bringing up her own records. She propped her chin on her fist as she looked at the screen, not quite knowing whether to be proud or apprehensive at the amount showing.

Am I worth it? “Dar seems to think so.” She closed the program and leaned back. “I think I’m going nerd-shopping tonight. I’m tired of that old desktop.” With a slight laugh that lengthened into a more joyous one, she turned back to her project list and called up the next one, smiling all the while.