“That’s not what I heard,” her boss retorted. “I heard you were already hurt when you went down there and got knocked out by some jackass with a gun.”
Dar took a breath, then released it. “You told me to find a solution,” she said. “I found one.”
Alastair let out a gust of air. “What makes you think any solution or any problem is worth risking you? Why didn’t you tell me you were hurt, Dar? You think I give two shits about some half-assed piece of crap government contract?”
Dar was quiet for a moment. “Alastair?”
“What?” her boss bellowed.
“Thanks for caring.”
There was silence for a few heartbeats, then Alastair sighed. “Well, damn it all to hell, Dar.”
Time to take back control of this conversation, Dar’s more logical half asserted. “All right. Now that you’ve called, let me get this over with.”
She composed her thoughts. “We went down there trying to retain the data evidence. I told you that was the government’s concern, right?”
“Right,” Alastair exhaled.
“Well, I fucked up.” Dar had to pause slightly after saying that, so unusual was it for her to have to pronounce those words in reference to herself. “I didn’t find out what was going on first, and we walked right into both a military exercise and a setup.”
Alastair didn’t even say a word.
“Thank God my father was with us,” Dar went on in a quiet, unemotional voice. “They knew we were coming, and they were using the exercise to cover their tracks. With real bullets. If it hadn’t been for Dad, things would have been a lot worse.”
“So,” her boss’s voice sounded grim, “what’s your analysis?”
Dar watched Kerry’s profile as she sat moving her spoon around in her soup with her eyes on the television screen. “I was too close to the problem,” she said, watching Kerry’s movements still. “I should have backed out of it.”
“Ah.”
“We should have just dropped the results into the government’s lap and submitted our bill,” Dar went on. “Now we’re going to be involved in lawsuits at the very least.”
Alastair’s only comment was a sigh. “Anyone else get hurt?”
Dar remembered Jeff Ainsbright’s slumped form. “Not any of our people,” she replied. “I take full responsibility for this, Alastair.”
294 Melissa Good
“Mm,” her boss murmured. “You always do, Dar. I’ve never seen you do less.” He considered a moment. “Still and all, we did fulfill the contract, didn’t we? As far as that request for service?”
“Yes.”
“All right,” Alastair said. “Let’s keep things in perspective, Dar.”
“From a man who was yelling at the top of his lungs when I picked up the phone, that’s quite a statement,” Dar remarked dryly.
“Well, I was more concerned about you,” Alastair admitted. “The fact is, we achieved our goal, and we were just going above and beyond for the customer when things went badly.”
“Alastair,” Dar sighed.
“I’m not making excuses,” her boss snapped. “Easton took advantage of you when he asked you to intervene, and you know it, Dar. He was counting on your being personally involved, and he used that.”
Dar opened her mouth to refute the charge, then closed it again as her mind ran over what her boss had said. Had he? She looked up to see Kerry regarding her with a sympathetic look on her face.
“I don’t blame him for that,” Alastair continued hurriedly. “He was in a tight spot and saw a way out of it. I’d have done the same thing.”
Dar sighed. “Maybe.”
“So, take it easy, all right?”
“Alastair,” Dar replied, “you can tell me all day long I was within spec, but we both know I wasn’t.”
“Eh.” A verbal shrug came over the line. “We can talk about it later, Dar. How are you, anyway?”
Dar recognized a deliberate change of subject when she heard one, but didn’t have the energy to protest. “I’m all right,” she replied. “I had a concussion, and I messed up my shoulder a couple of days ago. It’s really no big deal.” Something occurred to her. “I do have to stay home for a few days, though. I’ll call in for the board meeting on Tuesday.”
“Great,” Alastair said. “Looks like the budget’s right on for the fourth quarter, and projections are up for next year, thanks to your network.”
Dar smiled. “Trying to cheer me up?”
A chuckle. “Is it working?”
Dar felt better for having told her boss what was going on. “Yeah.”
“Good.”
Dar held the phone against her ear and took a spoonful of soup.
“How’d you find out about me in the first place?” she asked, around a mouthful of shrimp.
“Your mother called me,” Alastair told her, a touch of smugness in his tone.
Dar stopped in mid-chew and almost snorted bisque out her nose.
“My mother?”
Kerry snickered. “Uh-oh.”
Red Sky At Morning 295
“I HAD TO do it,” Jeff Ainsbright stated for the tenth time. He was seated behind his desk, watching Andrew Roberts’s tall, burly form pace back and forth. “Andy, you don’t understand.”
“Hell I don’t,” Andrew snapped, turning to face him. “You had to sell your damn soul out? That what you’re saying?”
Ainsbright sighed and shook his head. “God damn it, Andy,” he said, “spare me your moralistic hogwash, will you? Maybe you never wanted to work your way out of that three-bedroom shack down the row, but I did.”
Andrew glowered at him. “Least what I had, I got honestly.”
“And what was that?” Jeff replied. “You couldn’t even afford to get your damn wife a new dress most of the time. You never had nothing, you never left her nothing; you couldn’t even send your kid to college.”
He stood up and poked a thumb at his own chest. “I wasn’t about to live like that. So yeah, when they offered me some good money to look the other way, you bet your ass I did.”
“Ah would not have, not for all the damn money in the US,”
Andrew stated flatly. “And what’d it get you?”
“A nice house,” Ainsbright answered. “A nice car. My wife’s a member of the country club and she loves it. My kid’s a ship captain.”
“You buy him that, too?” Andrew asked sarcastically.
“What’d you ever give your kid?” Jeff taunted. “A used tennis ball?”
“Care,” the ex-SEAL replied. “And knowin’ what was right and wrong.” He folded his arms. “I didn’t have to do nothing else. She made her own future without beggin’ me for handouts.”
Ainsbright rolled his eyes. “You’re a fool, Andrew. You always were.” He stood up. “All right, look.” A hand lifted. “Yeah, I knew about everything here. I knew about the shipments, and I knew they were covering them. But I never had anything directly to do with any of it, hear?”
Andrew studied him.
“I did what I did for my family,” Jeff stated. “To give them a better life.”“Now they ain’t gonna have nothing,” Andrew said. “With your ass in jail.”
Ainsbright snorted. “Not for bad record-keeping, Andy.” He managed a thin-lipped smile. “That’s all your brilliant little wunderkind is going to find now.”
Thoughtful blue eyes regarded him. “Think so?”
“I know it. I made sure of that personally,” Ainsbright snapped.
“Despite you getting your ass in the way, that is. I wasn’t after your damn kid.”
“You had a damn M16 with a scope.” Andrew closed on him again.
“Who were you after?”
“No one,” Ainsbright answered coolly. “It was all part of the 296 Melissa Good exercise.” He pointed at Andrew. “Which your daughter interrupted with an unauthorized breach of the base. If anything happened to her here, it’s her fault, not mine.” He paused. “For that matter, you better just hope I don’t bring you up on assault charges.”