“My machine won’t work,” the woman answered, a little more certainly.

“Okay. Is there anything on the screen?” the tech asked.

“No.”

“Okay, Are there any lights on the front of the screen?”

“No.”

“Okay. The screen is attached to a computer. Are there any lights on that?” The technician called up the customer account and checked their inventory.

“I don’t have a computer, I just have a screen,” the woman objected.

Kerry covered the mic. “She has to have one, doesn’t she?”

The tech nodded. “Okay, in the back of the screen there are some cables.

One of them goes to the wall, the other one goes to something else.

“Okay.” The woman’s voice was doubtful. “Okay, yes, I see it.”

“Where does the other one go to?”

“The foot warmer.” Now the woman sounded more confident again. “But it’s hot today, so I had to turn it off.”

“Okay, can we turn it on for a minute?” the tech requested patiently.

“But my feet aren’t cold,” the customer insisted.

“I know, but I’d like to try something. Can you just put it on for a minute?”

“Okay.” A sigh. “Oh, the screen just came on. Look at that.”

Kerry covered her eyes, silently mouthing, “I can’t believe it.”

The dark-haired woman chuckled noiselessly and shrugged. “Okay, what’s on the screen?” the tech asked, rapidly typing information into the screen.

“Some letters.”

“Okay, tell me when the green screen comes up.”

“Okay.” A little silence fell. “Okay, it’s up.”

“Can you login for me?” the technician added notes to the trouble ticket on the screen.

“What’s that?” The customer asked. “I never have this screen. My boss always puts it in the blue screen for me.”

“Okay, type in the word res for me.”

“Okay.”

“Now type it in again, but you won’t see it on the screen,” the tech patiently instructed.

“Okay, I…oh! There’s my blue screen!” The woman sounded delighted.

“You’re a genius!”

“Glad it’s working. Okay, now listen—you have to leave the foot warmer on, all right?” the technician told her, closing out the ticket.

“Oh. Well, okay, I guess I can just take my shoes off if my feet start Tropical Storm 277

getting hot,” the woman decided. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, ma’am. Have a nice day.” The tech hit the Release button, then turned her head and raised an eyebrow at Kerry.

Kerry simply patted her on the shoulder and stood up. “Where did you get this dart gun?”

“Toys R Us,” the tall man supplied helpfully. “They’ve got super-soakers there too, if you want to have some real fun.”

“Mmm.” Kerry turned back to the woman who had answered the call.

“Are they all like that?”

The tech chuckled. “No. You get a range, just like in everything else. But we get a fair share of that.” She turned as the phone rang and put her headset back on. “Yes?” A pause. “Can you ping them?” Another pause. “Shit. Okay, what’s the address?”

Kerry turned away, but not before noting the name on the identification tag next to the cubicle. “Okay. Well, that was informative,” she told Lisa.

“Shall we?”

There was an awkward little silence as they left the busy room. “Sorry about that, I should have…”

Kerry up put a hand. “Don’t worry about it. It’s better to release stress like that than on each other. Or the customers.” She paused. “Is there a Toys R

Us near here?”

She sat through the town halls, listening to the thoughts and concerns of the employees, not unlike the ones with which she was familiar: job stress, training, advancement, pay raises. They were caught in a paradox. Provide the techs the training they were asking for, and chances were they’d leave and go elsewhere, at higher pay. Don’t provide it, and you erode your skill sets and make the account less valuable. Kerry sighed. There really was no good answer. You tried to balance the training with the need and give enough other amenities so that people stayed because they were comfortable with the environment. Their benefits package was a good one, but…

She put the thought away for the moment and checked her watch as she stepped out of the building into the warm sunlight. It felt good after the chilly air conditioning, and she rubbed her arms, then glanced around as Lisa Andrews joined her. “Well, thanks for inviting me down. That was very interesting,” she told the account executive. “I appreciated seeing everything.”

“Anytime.” Lisa folded her arms. “You interested in lunch?”

“Well, I actually have to get back to the office, I’m a little late for a meeting.” Kerry glanced around. “Is there any place around here where I can just pick something up?”

“I TOLD YOU before, José, you can’t margin those circuits,” Dar stated flatly, leaning forward and pinning him with her pale eyes. “I’m not going to approve that.”

The stocky sales executive stood up and threw out his hands. “Then you give me a goddamn way to get twenty percent new sales this year.”

“That’s not my job.”


278 Melissa Good

“It is your damn job, because you won’t let me do mine,” José retorted.

“He’s right, Dar. You’re strangling our marketing efforts,” Eleanor interjected smoothly. “How can we compete if we can’t project capability?”

“You mean, how can you get contracts if you can’t lie?” Dar snapped.

“You’re not projecting capability—you know perfectly well what the growth curve is for infrastructure—you just want to promise clients services we can’t fulfill.” She stood up and faced them, putting her fingertips on the table and leaning over it. “I’m not buying it.”

“Then you’d better start pushing infrastructure, because otherwise, that’s who’s going to have this crap laid on their doorstep. They’re not keeping up with our needs,” José stated triumphantly.

“They’re not budging, José. You know better,” Dar growled. “You need to get more creative and stop relying on your old fishing buddies in order to get new contracts.”

“Dar, that’s not fair,” Eleanor interrupted, putting up a meticulously manicured finger. “You’re failing to provide us the tools we need to properly sell this company.”

“No.” The knives came out. “You just couldn’t market your way out of a paper bag,” Dar told her. “And you’d better change that, because I’m not approving any bid that overreaches our capability.” She slammed the papers down on the table. “Now, if we’re done with this crap, I have productive work I could be doing.” She gathered up her pad and pens and pushed her chair back, stalking out of the room and slamming the door behind her. She paused to listen to the loud voices starting behind her and grinned, then she exited the flashy offices that housed the Sales department and headed back toward her own domain. It was lunchtime, but she knew she didn’t really have time to go downstairs before the one o’clock conference call. With a sigh, she pushed open her outer office door and gave Maria a smile. “Any disasters I should know about?”

Maria glanced up. “Mmm. Nothing since you left, Dar. You have three messages. I left them on your desk, and I was supposed to remind you of the Government division cocktail party tonight.”

Dar blew out a breath. Damn. I’d forgotten that. “All right, thanks.” She entered her office and closed the door, then crossed the room and seated herself at her desk. A moment later, a soft knock came on her inner door.

“C’mon in.” She felt a smile coming onto her face even as the wooden panel opened, and Kerry’s blonde head poked itself inside. “Hey.” God, it feels good to see her. Kerry was dressed in a dark blue skirt suit and pale blue shirt, and she looked slightly mussed and, to Dar’s eyes, very sexy. Her annoyance with José ebbed away. “Hey.”

A flash of white as Kerry returned the smile, then the blonde woman came in, holding up a bag. “Did you get a chance to have lunch? I brought something back for you.”

“No, and thank you,” Dar replied, leaning back in her chair. “I just got out of a really annoying meeting.”

Kerry settled on the edge of the desk and opened the bag, spreading out a napkin, then setting out a container of Chinese food. “They have a limited selection around there, and I didn’t think you’d appreciate Taco Bell.”


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Dar peeked inside the container and grinned. “Good choice.” She sniffed the sweet and spicy chicken appreciatively. “I was in the mood for this today.

How’d you guess?”

“I think I just got lucky.” Kerry chuckled and handed her a pair of chopsticks. “Oh, and, um…” She overturned her cupped hand and poured a trickle of silver-wrapped Hershey’s kisses on the desk. “Dessert.”

“Heh.” Dar immediately abandoned the chicken and pounced on the chocolate. “Listen, be careful in that meeting you’ve got with Eleanor this afternoon. I just offended her pretty badly.” She happily munched a kiss. “On top of it, I have to be nice to her at a cocktail party tonight.”

Kerry grimaced. “Thanks for warning me. Tonight’s my skating night with Colleen. I’ll be ready to let out some frustration by the time I get done with them, I bet.” She paused, seeming to want to go on, but fell silent.

“We still on for tomorrow night?” Dar asked, watching her face. “If you want, we can go back to my place afterward. Maybe take a swim in the pool?”

Sea green eyes warmed. “I’d like that.”

Dar silently unwrapped one of the kisses and handed it to her, eyes twinkling.

The opening door surprised both of them and they jumped a little. Maria entered, giving them a glance, then smiling. “Ah, Kerrisita, I have mail for you.”