“Will do,” Mark replied, then hung up.
“Ahm going to get me some coffee,” Andrew said. “You want some, Dardar?”
“No.” Dar shook her head. “Dr. Steve said to stay away from that for a couple of days.” Awareness of her injury nibbled uncomfortably at her. “Thanks for the offer.”
Her father left, and Dar became aware of her mother’s pale eyes glancing her way curiously. She lifted a hand and indicated the room with wry irony. “What do you think?”
Thus invited, Ceci obligingly got up and toured the room, ending up next to Dar’s desk. “It’s...um...”
“Pretentious?” Dar dryly supplied.
“No, actually it has very pleasant proportions,” Ceci disagreed gravely. “Nice view, lot of open space, clean...” Her eyes and Dar’s met, and she hesitated, a teasing remark on her tongue she wasn’t sure she should utter.
Dar’s cool gaze gentled slightly. “What am I doing in here, right?”
A hint of a smile warmed her features.
Ceci returned the smile. “Nah. I think you fit right in here,” she disagreed. “I especially like the blue jeans; they go well with the teak paneling.”
That got an actual chuckle out of Dar, who plucked at the denim fabric covering her knee. “It’s not how I usually dress here,” she admitted. “Wish it was. Those damn business suits drive me nuts.”
Her mother studied the faded jeans and untucked cotton shirt Dar was wearing, the easiest things she could manage with her arm in a sling. “That strap’s twisted,” she gestured. “Want it fixed?”
For a moment, there was a flash of wary uncertainty in Dar’s eyes.
Ceci merely waited, wishing for the thousandth time she’d made some Red Sky At Morning 233
different choices years back. She was almost sure Dar would politely decline the offer, when her daughter shifted and leaned forward slightly.
“Sure,” Dar said. “Felt a little weird.”
Ceci unbuckled the strap and straightened it, tucking the cotton fabric under Dar’s collar and refastening the buckle. She had to move a bit of thick, dark hair out of the way to do so. “I always wondered what Andy would have looked like with long hair.”
Dar slowly turned her head and both eyebrows arched almost to her hairline. “Dad?”
“Mm.” Ceci nodded, giving Dar’s shoulder a light pat. “There you go.”
“I don’t think he’s ever had it even covering his ears, much less his neck.” Dar relaxed a little, settling back in her chair as Ceci stepped away.
“Nope, he sure hasn’t.” Ceci shook her head. “But when he was your current age, his hair was just like yours, same texture and everything. I remember he let it grow...oh, all of two inches over one summer before he had it buzzed again.” She studied Dar’s angular face and smiled. “I can almost imagine it, now.” It was nice, a wistful thought intruded, to be able to see her husband so clearly in their child, and have it not hurt.
She wondered if Dar realized that. They’d both changed so much, it was hard to say what went on behind those very familiar eyes anymore.
Ah well. “How’s your shoulder doing?” Ceci changed the subject.
“Lousy,” Dar answered, with surprising honesty. “Sorry I didn’t mention it the other day.”
“I’m not,” Ceci replied, with equal honesty, seeing the quickly shuttered wariness in Dar’s eyes. “Don’t get me wrong, Dar. What happens to you matters to me, and I’m sorry you got hurt by that a—”
She paused. “By Chuck, but we both know it was better for him and Andy for your father not to know.”
“Mm.” The door opened and Andrew reentered the room, carrying two cups. Dar and her mother exchanged glances, then Dar smiled.
“Thanks, Mom. Glad I made the right choice.”
Well. Ceci accepted the cup of coffee, feeling pleased, if a touch bemused, by the reaction. I think that was almost a Kodak moment.
She liked it. Ceci moved off toward the window and studied the view, half listening to her husband and Dar in the background talking about the base.
DAR HAD MOVED the strategy meeting into the big conference room down the hall from her office. Kerry had gotten in ahead of her and clipped the network diagrams to the big presentation board, and now she watched as the operations team filed in and took seats.
234 Melissa Good Mark, of course, was in the lead, carrying the backpack Kerry knew held the big network analyzer and its cables. He set it down on the floor and took a seat as the rest of the group settled around him. Kerry’s eyebrows rose as she recognized Brent among the group, but she refrained from commenting as Dar entered from the back door.
The JAG officer and Andrew were with her, and they took chairs near the other end of the conference table as Dar circled it and headed toward the podium. Ceci had seated herself near the window and was watching quietly, her eyes flicking between the charts and her daughter, and occasionally crossing gazes with Kerry herself.
“All right.” Dar’s low, vibrant voice cut through the quiet. She put a sheaf of papers on the podium and drew in a breath, letting her eyes run over her audience. Kerry could almost see the subtle shift as her lover assumed her professional demeanor, and she sharpened her own attention as she listened.
Even in casual clothing, and with her arm in its white cotton sling, Dar still managed to capture the room, the normal intensity of her attitude only slightly blunted by all the medication she was on. Kerry could tell it was an effort, though. There was a persistent crease in Dar’s forehead, she was blinking more than usual, and there was an uncharacteristic slump to her posture that was easily visible to her watching partner.
“We’ve gotten an unusual request from the government.” Dar started her speech. “As most of you know, we were contracted to perform detailed structure and performance analysis on a number of military bases.”
The techs were glued to her every word. They nodded almost in concert, which almost made Dar laugh. “As part of that investigation, information was obtained detailing irregularities in their data, which could extend from minor theft to felonious activities.”
Mark shook his head and let out a sigh. “I was thinking that, boss.
That stuff you sent down stank to hell.”
Dar nodded. “With good reason.” She turned to the whiteboard.
“Normally, I’d have just turned this over to the government at this point.” She spared a glance for the JAG man. “In fact, that’s what was originally intended. However, due to logistics, they can’t get a security team here for at least twenty-four hours, and we have reason to think data destruction would occur before that time.
“Mark, we’re going to need to put the scope in here.” Dar ran a hand over the diagram. “The three critical mainframes are here, here, and here, and we’ll need to pull the drive arrays from all three.”
Mark was scribbling . “We just going to walk in there, DR?”
This was the tricky part. “No.” Dar folded her hands on the podium. “Kerry and I are going in first.” All heads jerked her way. “The guards are used to seeing me, and they won’t react.” At least, I hope they won’t. “Two of you are going to ride with us and duck down in the back Red Sky At Morning 235
seat as we go through the gates.”
“Check.” Mark made a note. “How ’bout the rest of them?”
Dar felt a smile twitching at her lips at Mark’s claiming of his spot.
“A volunteer who’s familiar with the base is going to pay a visit.
Everyone else will go with him.”