“Hey, who is this?”

“Jeffrey, it’s Dar Roberts.”

“Oh. Oh, sorry, ma’am. Um…did you do something to Mark? He’s sitting here with this weird, weird look on his face.”

Dar sighed. “Just tell him I said I’d talk to him later.” She hung up the line and glanced at Kerry, who was chewing on her knuckle and giggling softly. “You think that’s funny, huh?” She reached over and tickled Kerry’s ribs and grinned as the smaller woman jerked and squealed. “Oh, I can see there’s something your profile didn’t mention, Ms. Stuart.” She tickled her again, and watched Kerry squirm away from her.

“Gah…stop that.” Kerry grabbed her hand and held on. “Poor Mark! And are you going to tell me what the plan is, or do I have to guess, too?” She cautiously released her tormentor’s fingers and was relieved when the attack wasn’t repeated.

Dar sat back and wrapped her hands around one knee. “Well, I have two people working on writing up a proposal that answers their request, with specific resources, that kind of thing. Usually I’d do it myself, but…” She shrugged. “It’s not that complicated. Anyway, since they have access to all the information, they’ll prep the document for us and send it over before the meeting.”

Kerry absorbed that. “And?”

Slowly, pale blue eyes looked over at her. “What do you mean, and?”

A shrewd glance studied her. “That’s what the other guys will be doing, too. If I read you right, you go over and above. So what’s the rest of the plan?”

Dar smiled, an open, genuine smile. “You’re right, but I don’t want to jinx it. Let me wait for Mark’s call tonight, then I’ll tell you all about it.”


Tropical Storm 195

As the bus pulled up in front of the park, Kerry chuckled in triumph, and she stood up, waiting for Dar to join her. “I don’t think they have Mongolian here, though. How about Italian?”

Dar stretched, feeling a little tightness in her shoulders from all the swimming. “How about Japanese?”

“Mmm.” Kerry’s brow contracted “Hard choice.”

They ended up in England, mostly because Kerry really wanted to see the fireworks, and Dar knew a little secret. So they were comfortably settled in an outside table at the English Pub right up against the lake as the crowds started to gather to watch the show.

There was a nice, cool night breeze blowing off the water, and Kerry was glad she’d opted for a sweatshirt, choosing a forest green one with a happy-looking Winnie the Pooh dancing over her left breast. She sipped her pint of ale gingerly as she watched Dar do the same, and glanced at the menu. “It’s all pretty safe, right?”

Dar chuckled. “Well, there are a lot of interesting influences in English cooking, especially from India, and the other former colonies, but on this menu—yeah, everything’s safe.” She glanced around, then settled the gray, beautifully woven sweater she’d purchased in a nearby shop over her shoulders. “Nice.”

Kerry reached over and fingered the soft as butter fabric. “That feels so wonderful.” She admired it. “And I have to stop in that tea shop again. I need to get some of those flavors to bring back to the office. I’m kinda tired of orange cinnamon and regular.”

“Hmm, that’s right, you do like tea, don’t you?” Dar settled back in her chair and put her feet up on the one opposite her. They placed their order with the perky waitress, and Dar nodded yes to refills of their drinks. The ale had tasted good after their full day of activity, and she was in the mood to relax just a little. The cool breeze pushed the hair off her forehead, and she let her head lean back and her eyes close.

Dar certainly is a different person outside of the office, Kerry decided, eyeing her surreptitiously. She had this…diabolical, mean, evil, nasty, mischievous streak that Kerry had found out about the hard way. Like when Dar kept her distracted while a large, bubble-headed green something-or-other had snuck up behind her and scared the crap out of her. Or being led into the Moroccan leather place where apparently curing hides wasn’t an acquired skill. Ugh. Or being given a small tumbler of something sweet and blue to drink, and not realizing until after she’d swallowed it that it was 200 proof.

To be fair, Dar had gotten taken in by the blue stuff too, which she admitted after getting Kerry some water to wash it down. And she had given her the little wax figurine the craftsman had made for her in front of the Chinese pavilion. Out of wax and sticks, he twirled and shaped the piece until it was a fanciful dragon shape with swirled wings. “Here.” Dar had shrugged as she handed it over. “I don’t collect stuff like this.”

No, you don’t. Kerry thought, as she studied the angular profile. She leaned back, feeling a pleasant buzz from the ale, glad they’d managed to munch their way around the world at various snack stands before she’d started drinking. The Mexican stop was good. She could still taste the spices 196 Melissa Good on her tongue from the tiny tacos, and she’d enjoyed the tidbits of bratwurst and smoked cheeses in Germany along with the tiny glass of sweet white wine. “Just our luck to visit during the International Food and Wine expo, huh?”

“Mmm.” Dar smiled and lazily opened an eye. “That’s a nice idea, have all the different countries put out samples of their kinds of food and drink.

Different. I liked it.” She took a sip of her fresh glass of ale. “Small enough portions so you can try a lot of them, and it’s a good chance for the different cultures to show off.” She took another sip. “Something like the festivals we have down in Miami—the Art festival, and the heritage festivals—when you can have a ton of the different nationalities down there put up stalls and have different stuff, though we tend to be Caribbean and Hispanic heavy. This is nice, because you get all the continental countries represented too.”

A blonde brow edged up. Drinking makes her more talkative. Write that down in the PDA, Ker. It could be useful sometime. “I haven’t gotten a chance to go to one of those. They dragged me to the Scottish festival last year, but I almost got hit in the head with one of those logs and someone tried to get me to eat haggis.”

Dar laughed. “Nah, try the Cajun thing. It’s more fun, and you get to scarf down lots of spicy mud bugs.” She glanced up and smiled as the waitress brought their food, putting her glass down and picking up her silverware.

Kerry thanked the woman and nodded when she looked questioningly at their glasses. One more couldn’t hurt, and besides, I’m succeeding in my quest to get Dar to relax. Maria would be proud of me.

“I THINK I’M a little drunk,” Dar admitted as they strolled towards the exit, past the lighted fountains whose water danced to the background music.

“Not that anyone could tell,” Kerry assured her, observing Dar intently.

“You walk straight, you don’t slur your words, and you haven’t kissed any of the wandering characters.”

Dar considered that. “That’s true.” She jumped a little when her cell phone rang, then let out a short laugh and reached for it. “Yes?”

“You owe me a picture, Big D.” Mark’s voice sounded very, very satisfied. “Did you get to see a firework or two?”

Dar turned around and walked backwards, watching the lasers bounce off the huge geosphere. “Yeah, I got to see one or two.” She straightened back up. “Good work. Can you set up the link for tomorrow morning? I’ll need to dial in via the cell.”

“Already done. Where’s my picture?” Mark nudged. “You don’t know what an inspiration that was, I did things tonight the likes of which Babbage never imagined.”

“All right, all right.” Dar laughed helplessly. “I’ll have Kerry take one, okay? Tomorrow.”

“She there? Put her on,” Mark requested. “Hey, Kerry?”

“Right here.” She covered her other ear with one hand.

“Did you actually manage to get her out of the damn hotel for an hour?”

the MIS chief whispered.


Tropical Storm 197

Kerry glanced over to where Dar had climbed over a railing and was inspecting a bush cut in the shape of Figment the Imagination dragon. “Oh yeah. In fact, I got her to go to one of the parks tonight.”

“You rock!” he praised. “Damn woman hasn’t had a vacation in ten years.” He sighed. “You having fun?”

“It’s been…” Kerry smiled to herself, “…very educational. I’ve learned a lot, and I hope things work out for the bid. This is a very interesting account.”

“Ain’t what I asked,” Mark chided.

“Yes, we’re having fun. Thanks for asking.” She looked up to find Dar watching her, the dark-haired woman’s body relaxed against the railing.

“Whoops, gotta go. Talk to you later, Mark.”

They walked off toward the shuttle stop, amiably bumping shoulders as they maneuvered through the thinning crowds.

SHE WAS YAWNING by the time they got back to the hotel, their monorail depositing them neatly in the lobby. Like a puppy, Kerry followed Dar to the elevator, resisting the impulse to latch onto the back of her shirt to keep up, and she had to take a minute to blink her eyes clear before she could open her room door. It was quiet and mostly dark inside, and she really wanted nothing more than to curl up in her already turned-down bed, dressed as she was, and just conk out. Instead, she changed into her nightshirt, wincing where the pink skin around her bathing suit marks stung, then she turned and noticed her message light flashing. Perplexed, she lifted the receiver and dialed the front desk. “Hello? Yes, I have a message?”

“Oh, yes, Ms. Stuart,” the voice on the phone answered promptly. “It’s from a Colleen. She said it was urgent, and could you please call her.”