General Easton stated. “He’ll handle the official part, but if there’s any way your people could protect the evidence—”
“Gerry, people could get hurt,” Dar said. “This isn’t the kind of thing we get involved in. Corporate double-dealing, yeah, but smuggling? I’m responsible for these people, and for their safety.” She paused. “And I don’t know how many bastards are implicated.”
Injudiciously, she shifted, and stifled a gasp. “Shit.”
“Dar?” Gerry spoke quickly. “Are you all right?”
Dar bit her inner lip for a long moment, then exhaled as the sharp pain receded. “Yeah, I’m fine. I just twisted something.”
“Well, listen, my friend, I’ll find some other way of doing this,”
General Easton replied. “If nothing else, we’ll just round up the lot of them and start shaking.”
The unfairness of that, Dar acknowledged, was exactly what she’d been afraid of. “Hang on a minute, Gerry.” She put the phone down and let her head drop back on the pillow, thinking hard about her options.
Was it dangerous?
Be honest, Dar. Sure it is. Look what happened to you last night, and Chuck was a friend of yours. Dar rubbed her forehead. This was a military base, full of sailors and Marines, an unknown number of whom could be involved in criminal activity and react with violence.
But...
If she didn’t help, innocent people could and probably would get blamed, and the criminals would probably get away. Dar mulled that over. Question was, how could she help Gerry, help the base, protect the innocent, and keep her people safe at the same time? “Jesus, Paladar,” she murmured to herself. “What the hell do you think you are?”
Finally, she picked up the phone again. “Gerry?”
“What’s that? Oh, still here, Dar.”
“Let me see what I can do.” Dar heard herself say the words, and wondered how she was going to back them up. “Maybe I can get a small volunteer team inside.” Then an idea occurred to her. “With an escort.”
There was a momentary pause. “Dar, do me a favor, eh? Don’t take chances. I want to see your whole family this Christmas. Been waiting for that for a long while now.”
Dar evaded the question. “See if you can contact that JAG staffer, send him over to my office. We’ll get things moving here. Talk to you later, Gerry.” She disconnected and put the phone down on her belly, considering what to do next.
IT WAS A crowded doorstep. Kerry stood effectively blocking the entrance, despite her relatively small size. “Dar’s on the phone,” she 224 Melissa Good explained. “It’s business.”
“Uh-huh.” Andrew crossed his arms. “Not like we’d know one word in six she was using.” He eyed Kerry curiously. “Something bothering you, kumquat?”
“Me?” Kerry exhaled. “Uh, no, no. I’m fine.”
“How’s Dar?” Ceci asked casually.
Ah. “She’s... Why are you asking me that?” Kerry temporized.
Dar’s parents exchanged knowing looks. “All right, kumquat.
What’s going on?” Andrew asked. “I knew something wasn’t right.”
Oh boy. “It’s—”
“She get hurt last night?” The question snapped at her.
“Well—”
“That little half-assed bastard hurt my kid?”
“W...y...” Kerry sucked in a breath. “Yes, that’s what happened, but—”
“Son of a biscuit.” Andrew was visibly angry.
Kerry put both hands out in a calming gesture. “It’s not that bad.
We’ve already been to the doctor’s and had tests done. It’s more painful than anything else.”
“You got her to go to the doc’s?” Andrew had both fists planted on his hips. “I am going to whip her behind for not tellin’ us.”
“Dad.” Kerry gave him a pleading look.
Ceci ruffled her silvered-blonde hair. “Some things just never do change, do they?” she murmured. “Keep your BVDs on, Andy. I can remember many a time I had to drag you kicking and yelling to the base hospital.”
Her husband gave her a look. “That is not the point,” he replied with a scowl. “We are not talking about me.”
“No, no.” Ceci patted his arm. “We’re talking about your daughter.
Remember her? The tall, blue-eyed, dark-haired girl with an attitude and more guts than sense?”
“Hey. She’s got a lot of sense,” Kerry objected.
“Exactly,” Ceci remarked.
Andrew scowled harder. “If I’d a known that little—”
“Yes, which is why Dar didn’t tell you.” Ceci circled his arm with both hands. “Now, come on, let’s go in and see the poor kid. See if you can make her feel better instead of yelling at her, hmm?”
“Ah do not like Dar thinking she can’t tell us something like this,”
Andrew replied. “Ah do not like it one bit.” He nudged past Kerry and opened the door. “Son of a biscuit,” he muttered, leaving Kerry and Ceci behind to gaze at each other in amused sympathy.
“He’ll be nice,” Ceci told her. “He talks a good game, but the minute she looks up at him, he’s going to cave in like one of those marshmallows you toast over a Bunsen burner.”
“I know.” Kerry smiled. “I’ve been on the receiving end of those baby blues.” She sighed and opened the door. “But we’ve got a big Red Sky At Morning 225
problem. I’m sort of glad you’re here.” She followed Ceci inside. “Dar went looking for trouble down at that Navy base.”
Ceci stopped, watching Andrew kneel at Dar’s side. “And?”
“And she found it,” Kerry replied grimly.
DAR SAT ON the couch, watching her father pace. The brick of cocaine was on the coffee table, and her mother was sitting across from her, staring at it in bemused fascination.
Kerry entered and sat down next to her lover, absently slipping an arm around her back and gently rubbing it. “I know it seems bizarre,”
she stated. “We certainly never expected this.”
Andrew halted, and shook his grizzled head. “Ain’t that saying something.” He walked over and crouched down in front of Dar, putting a hand on her knee. “You know who done all this?”
Dar met his eyes, so very much like her own, and shook her head.
“I haven’t had time to analyze all the data we copied, and a lot of the structure is in the programming.”
“You think Jeff knows?”
Dar shook her head again. “I don’t know. I’d have to check the physical documentation, see what had his signature on it or what passed through his personal authorization.”
“What’s yer gut telling you?” Andrew persisted quietly.
That took some thought. Dar focused her mind inward, reviewing the facts she did know and the assumptions she’d made. She was vaguely aware of Kerry’s arm, warm against her back, and she could feel the slim fingers tracing a soft, irregular pattern against her skin.
It felt really good. She leaned against Kerry a little, and the blonde woman’s embrace tightened as Kerry rested her cheek against Dar’s shoulder.
Dar set the puzzle pieces out and examined them carefully. One, she had a situation that was obviously a long-term plan in progress—
the evidence she’d seen indicated it had been going on for quite some time. Jeff Ainsbright had only been in charge at the base for three months. Not enough time. Dar put a tick in that mental column.
Two, whoever was organizing the situation had technical skills beyond Jeff’s, and the general sense she got of the meticulous arrangements didn’t fit the commander’s personality. Dar put another tick in the column.
Three, with the number of people apparently involved, it would be damn near impossible for the base commander to be blind to the fact that something was going on. Dar put a tick in the opposing column.