“No, she did not.” Andrew tried hard to hide a dazzlingly proud smile, and failed completely.
“Figures.” Kerry took him by the arm and led him out of the office.
“C’mon, we’ll get my new buggy, then I’ll treat you to dinner. How’s that?”
Andrew allowed himself to be escorted to the elevator, shrugging his hood up into place as Kerry hit the button to call it. “I do believe I can do any of that there treating that’s required, young lady,” he replied, following her into the elevator.
“We’ll see about that,” Kerry teased as the doors closed.
Interested eyes watched the empty space for a few seconds, then footsteps retreated back down the hallway, disappearing behind the solid sound of a wooden door closing.
THE BAR WAS old, and mostly wood, and featured an honest-to-goodness jukebox that was currently droning out something from the country western side of the record catalog. Dar tipped back in her chair and took a sip of her beer, gazing across the table’s surface at the five men gathered around it.
Damn, it’s been a long time. Dar let her eyes linger on her old friends.
They were all the same age, more or less, as she was, and some things hadn’t changed much. Mike and Ricardo still looked like GI Joe dolls, complete with buzz cuts and bodybuilder physiques. Duds and John were still inseparable, two lanky, spare men with straight blond-brown hair and Southern drawls.
And Chuckie, of course. Dar let a faint smile cross her face. Chuckie had actually gotten better looking over the years. He’d left the gawkiness of his late teens behind and grown into a six-foot-plus body with nice, broad shoulders and an athletic waistline. Tucked into his Navy captain’s uniform, he cut a very impressive figure and Dar had no problem cheerfully acknowledging that to herself.
118 Melissa Good
“So, now what is it you’re doing, Dar?” Chuckie turned and leaned on his chair arm, gazing into her eyes with his twinkling gray ones. “I hear you’re turning the base upside down.”
“Making trouble, like usual,” Dar replied, with a chuckle. “The Pentagon hired me to go tell the Navy how to do its job better.”
“Ooh.” The five men chorused a groan. “No shit?” Chuckie laughed. “They didn’t, did they?”
“They did.” Dar lifted her beer and took a sip. “Mother of ironies, huh?”
“Son of a bitch.” Mike rocked back and forth on uneven chair legs.
“The brass on base must be ready to have a heart attack.” He poked a finger at Dar. “I still remember the day you redone the base telecom and sent all them private notes of the CO’s to the staff fax machine.”
Heh. Dar snickered. “I remember that, too. Guy was an idiot to be using base mail to send love notes to that girl he picked up in Chicago.”
“Yep. You were a hell raiser, for sure,” Mike chuckled. “Bet you still are.”
“That’s what they say,” Dar demurred. “Only now they pay me for it,” she added.
Chuckie cocked his head curiously. “You’re still working for ILS, right?” He waited for Dar to nod. “So, what kind of money do they pay for what you do?” He noticed Dar’s lifted eyebrow. “Round numbers, I mean. We always figured you’d do all right, because you got more brains than half the earth, but for real, Dar...did you end up kicking ass?”
Dar glanced around the weather-beaten bar and caught the interested looks from her old pals. They’d all done well in the Navy, and all of them, even Mike, had grudgingly admitted to being career sailors. “Well,” she took a swig of beer and rolled the beverage around in her mouth before swallowing. “I’m the chief information officer of the largest IS company in the world. My base is seven figures, if that’s what you’re asking.”
They all looked at each other, then back at her. There was a moment of stunned silence.
“Well.” Chuckie rubbed his jaw. “God damn.”
Dar smiled. “So I guess I’m buying then, huh?” she remarked dryly.
“See? You shoulda dragged me out to someplace nicer.”
“Son of a bitch.” Mike started laughing. “Son of a bitch. You’re actually one of them corporate big shots?”
“’Fraid so,” Dar agreed solemnly. “Got me a big office, floor-to-ceiling glass windows, teakwood desk, the whole nine yards,” she told them. “Everyone running around scared to death of me, you name it.”
“Wow.” Chuckie shook his head. “I can believe the last part, ’cause you can be a scary individual when you wanna be, old buddy, but thinking of you in an ivory tower’s givin’ me a headache.” He slapped Dar’s knee lightly, then poked the spot. “You don’t spend all your time behind that desk though, d’ya? You don’t look much like a cream puff.”
Red Sky At Morning 119
“No more than you do.” Dar let a mildly evil grin touch her lips as she curled a foot around the leg of his chair and jerked hard, nearly sending him sprawling backward. “Spending your time sitting in that nice comfy chair on the bridge.”
“Uh-oh...here we go.” Mike burst into laughter. “I knew it was just a matter of time. The two of you ain’t changed for shit.”
“You—” Chuckie grabbed for the edge of the table to keep from tipping over, but the surface moved, sending the two mugs of beer on it flying. “Yow...sonofa—”
“Hey!” Mike yelped and leaped to his feet, only barely avoiding being soaked. “Cut that out, bilgebrain.” He pointed a finger at Chuckie. “Don’t you start, either. You never have gotten over getting your ass kicked in that obstacle course the night we all graduated.”
Chuckie snorted. “Get out of here. I don’t even remember that.”
“I do,” Dar drawled, with an even more evil grin. “But since I was the one doing the kicking, I guess that’s natural.” Oh, she certainly did remember that night. They’d had a beer or two way too many, and she’d been just at the very top edge of her best physical conditioning, seriously intent on getting herself into BUDS training and only too happy to prove that to any other Navy brat who questioned her. Twenty of them had straggled out of their graduation party, and bets had started flying.
“That was then,” Chuckie reminded her pointedly.
The words came out before she had a chance to think about them.
“C’mon, Chuckie, I could still kick your ass on that course.”
Now he grinned. “Oh yeah? How much you wanna bet?”
Mike groaned. “Oh no...not again. For Pete’s sake, you two! You’re furking adults now!”
“Hundred bucks!” Chuckie leaned forward eagerly. “C’mon.”
She was out of her mind, Dar dimly realized as she watched herself rise to the challenge, almost as though seeing someone else do it. “How about a thousand?” she drawled softly. “C’mon, tough guy. See if you can lift anything but binoculars now.” A tiny voice cleared its throat internally. Hope you know what you’re doing, big shot, or you’re gonna be picking splinters out of your ass for a week. “How about it, Chuckie?”
His eyes glinted and his well-shaped nostrils flared. “You got it.
Let’s go. I got a lot of things I could do with a thousand bucks.”
Dar set her bottle down and stood. “After you?” She held a hand up and pointed to the door. She gave the rest of the group, who were muttering and shaking their heads, a smile. “C’mon, guys. After this, I’ll treat for dinner. How ’bout it?”
“You ain’t gonna be in any condition to treat anyone,” Chuckie warned with a big grin.
“Save your breath.” Dar booted him in the butt before he could move, then booted him again when he tried to evade her. “You’re gonna need it.”