Would Dar be able to find her? Kerry set her glass down and opened her cell, then cursed softly as the battery indicator bleeped reproachfully at her and the device shut down. “Damn it.” She tapped the cell against her chin, then put it back in its case. “Guess I’ll wait another fifteen, then go see if I can find her.”
The lights flickered briefly, then steadied, causing a momentary hush in the room before the conversation picked back up again, not without wary looks toward the ceiling.
“Great.” Kerry muttered. “Just make it harder, why don’t you?”
She was facing away from the entrance to the club, looking out the plate-glass windows at the busy terminal on the level below. Suddenly her senses prickled and she felt a tingling sensation between her shoulder blades. Instinctively, she turned in her chair and looked up, startled at the sudden feeling.
And there was Dar, her tall frame outlined in leather and denim, walking toward her through the crowd. Kerry put down her glass and untangled herself, nearly tripping as she stood up and reached for Dar’s already outstretched arms. “Oof.” Off balance, she landed in an embrace that fairly lifted her off her feet anyway. “Oh, boy, am I glad to 36 Melissa Good see you.”
Dar simply hugged her in silence.
“They just brought my bag up,” Kerry murmured.
“So I see.” Dar eyed the leather overnighter. She sniffed curiously.
“What was in the glass?”
Kerry licked her lips. “Cognac,” she admitted. “I was tied up in knots from that damn landing.”
Dar rubbed her back. “Did it work?”
“No.” Kerry peeked up. “But you did. I feel great now.” She smiled.
“Thanks for coming after me. I realized after we hung up I could have just taken a cab to your hotel.” She reluctantly released Dar. “Then I realized you would never know where I was and tried to call you back, but my cell’s dead”
“Bah.” Dar picked up Kerry’s bag. “And had me miss a ride with a prize New York cab driver? C’mon.” She put her arm over Kerry’s shoulders as Kerry retrieved her briefcase. “Let’s get out of here.”
Kerry blew out a breath. “I guess I can keep tabs on the flights from the hotel, right? So I know when I have to come back here.”
Dar glanced at her. “Uh-huh. Let’s worry about that later.” She steered Kerry toward the door, ignoring the envious looks from those obviously destined to spend the night right where they were.
THE STORM HAD settled in overhead by the time they pushed the doors open to the outside of the airport, and Dar blinked as wind driven rain dusted her face. She tugged her zipper up a little and then shaded her eyes from the rain, peering around for her cabbie friend. “Figures.”
“What?” Kerry was buttoning her own jacket. “Here, I can get that.” She reached for her overnighter, only to find it held up out of her reach. “Dar!”
“Leave it.” Dar sighed, watching the jam-up of cars on the ramp, a solid block of traffic honking and blaring their horns. “Lost our cab.”
Kerry glanced around. “Well…” She peered down the slope nearby.
“Hey, there’s a cab stand down there. Let’s go for it.”
Dar abandoned searching and resigned herself to a wet walk, putting her arm around Kerry as they emerged from the overhang, and the cold rain spattered over them.
They left the crowd behind quickly, no one else apparently willing to brave the weather in return for a shorter wait for a ride. The slope led them down toward a set of bus shelters, where a broken down city bus was standing with several people around it.
“Yeesh.” Kerry turned her collar up. The combination of the cognac and her recent experience had her knees feeling a little unsteady, and the long slope downward didn’t make that any better. She wrapped her arms around Dar for support and sighed.
“Did you get dinner on the plane?” Dar asked.
Red Sky At Morning 37
“No.” Kerry paused. “Wait, yes I did,” she corrected herself. “But even if I hadn’t, this headache’s making me sick to my stomach. I’d settle for a cup of hot milk and you.” She wiped the rain out of her eyes.
“How did your dinner with what’s-his-name go?”
Dar guided them both around a group of men standing under the bus shelter, catching a whiff of long stale urine and marijuana coming from it as they passed. “Nice.”
“What?” Kerry eyed her in puzzled bemusement. “After all that doubting?”
“Um…dinner was fine.” Dar cleared her throat. “We grabbed some sandwiches. He wanted to take me some place underground but I wasn’t going for that.” She hesitated. “Didn’t last long.”
“I bet.” Kerry glanced around at their darkened surroundings and began to regret not waiting up at the top of the ramp. The cab station, which had seemed so close from up there, now was across a dark stretch of underpass and the rain had started to come down harder. “This wasn’t the best idea, apparently.”
“Eh.” Dar was glad enough to change the subject. “I’ll take your cup of milk and raise you a blob of chocolate syrup in it.”
Her partner chuckled a bit, but then a soft sound behind them made Kerry glance back. Of the group near the bus, two had separated, and were strolling casually behind them, their faces hidden in hoods they had up against the weather.
She looked ahead again, then she looked up at Dar. Her partner was walking with her eyes on the ground in front of them, a faintly troubled expression on her face. “Dar?”
“Mm?”
“Is it totally WASPy for me to think that just because two guys are following us, we could be in trouble? Or has it just been that bad a day?”
Dar looked behind them. “Maybe they’re heading for the cab stand too,” she reasoned. “Bus’s broke down.”
“Mm.”
Dar abruptly changed direction, taking them into the street as she headed across it toward the sidewalk on the other side of the road. She felt her heartbeat increase as she heard footsteps on the tarmac behind them, and felt a lump in her throat as she realized her lover’s instincts were probably correct. “Got your cell?”
“Batteries dead,” Kerry muttered back. “They following us?”
“Yes.”
“Got yours?”
“Yeah, but it’s in my pocket can you…”
“Hey, babes, where ya going?”
“Shit.” Kerry felt an unreasoning wave of anxiety. “Let me get your phone and I’ll call 911.”
Dar handed her the overnight bag as she released her arm and 38 Melissa Good started to turn. “Hold this. Let me see what the hell these idiots want.”
She slowed and swiveled her body, as the two men following them came up behind them. “What do you want?”
“Hey, that any way to talk to a man?” the nearer one said. “Chill your jets, baby.” He had his hands in his jacket pockets and now one emerged with a dark solid block in it. “Now you and little blondie just dump your wallets on the ground, quick!”
The other man got between them, and the crowd left around the bus, blocking their view. “That’s right. Hurry up! We ain’t got time to mess around here!”
Kerry’s heart almost stopped as she recognized the shape of a gun pointed at Dar’s chest. She took a breath to stammer a reply and reached for her wallet, but froze when Dar stepped in front of her and squared her shoulders defiantly. “Dar!”
“What the hell do you think you’re going to do with that, you little jackass.” Dar answered him. “You think you’re gonna shoot me? You’re not near a man enough to do that.”
“Hey!” The gun wielder shoved the weapon forward. “Shut the fuck up! Put your wallet down or I’m gonna kill you, you stupid bitch!”