"Uh huh." Dar rumbled softly.
"Wow. Bet you wanted to go right in there and smack 'em." Kerry mused. "I might have. How did you guess it was a trap? What if it wasn't? What if they're really that stupid?"
"Ker."
A sigh. "Yeah, I know. I just can't help it." Kerry flicked her fingernail against the monitor. "I can't even believe I'm suggesting that. I think my business ethics got chucked in the dumpster when it comes to those two f'ing bitches." She gazed down at her desktop. "Maybe that's why I'm all off balance on this thing, Dar."
"Mm." Dar glanced up as Kerry's intercom went off.
"Kerry?" Mayte's voice broke in. "I have that Michelle Graver person on line one." Though polite, Mayte's voice had a definite tinge of disapproval to it, much like the one her mother's had when necessary.
"Am I in?" Kerry swiveled around and laid down flat on her back, her legs dangling off the edge of her desk. "I have to ponder that for a minute. Tell Michelle to hold on." She turned her head and gazed at Dar.
"Sure." Mayte clicked off.
"Is it unprofessional of me to just want to keep her waiting for the hell of it?"
"No." Dar rested her elbows on the desk and leaned forward, tilting her head and gently exploring Kerry's lips with her own. "On the other hand..." She kissed her again, this time for a longer period. "Making her wait for this is highly unprofessional."
"Oh." Kerry folded her hands over her stomach and let her eyes flutter closed briefly as Dar continued her extremely unprofessional behavior. "If someone walks in right now, I think we'd both deserve to be fired," she finally said, with a small sigh.
"Probably." Dar agreed. "But I'd have to fly Alastair in to fire us, and by the time he got here, something would break and he'd just be asking us to come back."
Kerry's eyes twinkled, but she made a face as she reached across to hit the intercom. "Okay, put her through, Mayte."
"Okay." Mayte responded. "But are you sure? I think the music is very enjoyable for her.?"
Dar chuckled softly. "Mayte, you're sounding more and more like your mother every day." She added watching Kerry's eyes crinkle at the corners as she grinned.
"Thank you." Mayte said. "Mama will like that you said that, I am sure."
"Go ahead and connect her, Mayte," Kerry said. "I wouldn't condemn even Michelle to much more Muzak regurgitated "Nine Inch Nails"."
Mayte clicked off, then after a second, a soft buzz replaced her.
Kerry reached over and hit the answer button. "Operations, Stuart."
"Hello, Kerry." Michelle's voice was a mixture of cordiality and veiled frustration. "Sorry to disturb you."
Dar reached over and traced the edge of Kerry's ear, watching it turn pink after a few seconds.
"Ah, no problem. What can I do for you?" Kerry gamely replied. "Or are you just calling to insult me a little more? It's been a slow morning." She ignored the tiny mewing sounds from very close to her ear.
An audible sigh came through the phone. "Actually, I'm calling you to eat crow, which I know you'll enjoy, and ask how much you want for your blackmail circuit."
Kerry wiggled a little on her back, doing a small victory dance. "To be honest, Michelle--"
"Oh yes, I know you'll be that."
The mewling had altered, growing into a low growl. Kerry glanced at Dar, not surprised to see the pale blue eyes narrowed into slits. Experimentally, she reached over and touched Dar's lip, lifting it to inspect a well formed canine tooth just underneath.
Dar cocked an eyebrow at her, and stopped growling.
"Pass through cost plus five percent." Kerry said. "Take it or leave it." She drew a line up the center of Dar's nose, watching her eyes cross as she tried to follow it, and smiled as she imagined she could hear Michelle?s teeth grinding together on the other end of the phone.
"Fine." Michelle answered, clipping the word short. "What do you need to get it done?"
"A check and a circuit terminus." Kerry replied. "Just have someone see Mark Polenti at our office in Pier 10 tomorrow. He'll take care of it."
"Fine." Michelle said again. "Thanks. Bye."
The line went dead. Kerry exhaled. "Well, boss, we made almost four percent profit on that insurance policy. Not bad, huh?"
"Brilliant." Dar blew in her ear. "So brilliant, I'm going to leave this other little problem in your hands because when I backed out of that router I didn't want the CIO of ILS to be caught hacking. I remembered I put an industrial spy in Telegenic's camp. What happens if that comes out?"
Kerry eased herself upright, her back not particularly appreciating the hard surface of her desk. It gave her time to think about Dar's question, and consider the impact of it. "Well." She hopped off the desk and walked around in front of it. "How would it come out? It's not like he's not just doing a job, right?"
"Mm."
"Shari never met him, I guess, or she'd be a long squashed mango on I-95 by now." Kerry went on. "So unless he--"
"Hears them talking about us," Dar got up and ran a hand through her hair, "and behaves like he usually does, we're safe. Right?"
"Oh boy."
Dar headed for the back door to the hall that connected their offices. "Worry about it when it happens." She waved a hand at Kerry. "Meanwhile, I'm going to see if I can't find a way to turn the tables on our little bucket of chum."
Kerry sat down in her chair, the leather holding a hint of Dar's scent that surrounded her as she leaned back. What would really happen, she wondered, if Andy was found out? Would it be viewed as a scandalous criminal act, or just a smart piece of business? It wasn't as if, as she'd said to Dar, that Andrew had gotten the job on false pretenses.
He was qualified and more to do what they were paying him for. If he did the work, then what could anyone say, really?
Kerry felt the irony, though. She knew this was something her father would have done in a bare instant, and in fact, he'd readily approve of her tactics.
She grimaced.
That sure wasn't a nice feeling. Yet Andrew hadn't seemed to object to the task either. He'd agreed readily and seemed to think it was a good idea.
So where was the "right" in all this? Kerry opened her drawer and removed a piece of dried apricot from the bag there, putting it into her mouth and chewing it slowly. Was there any right?
Hmm.
KERRY EDGED THROUGH the construction zone in the middle of the ship, and looked around. She spotted ILS's senior electrical contractor near the other end of the space, and hastened to where he was standing surrounded by ship staff. "Jack.?"
The man turned and saw her. "Ah. Ms. Stuart. Glad you're here." He waited for her to join him. "We seem to have a problem here." Only here? Kerry allowed her public, diplomatic cloak to settle over her shoulders. "What seems to be the issue guys?"
"Are you in charge of all this?" One of the men standing around asked her. "I am hearing this person say he needs to turn off power to several decks of the ship."
Kerry eyed him thoughtfully. "Well, sure," she said. "He has to do that to put in more power, and the cabling we need for the new computer systems. He can't do that with the power on."
"What are we supposed to do?" The man asked. "We live here. Would you like to be in this damn heat with no power?"
"I was, just a little while ago, matter of fact," Kerry said. "No, it's not pleasant. But it's the only way we can get the job done, so what do you think we're supposed to do? I'm sure Jack will work with you and shut down a section at a time, not all the decks at once." She turned.
"Right?"
Jack hesitated, and then nodded. "Right."
"But we've got jobs to do too." The man continued arguing. "I have people to administer, services to fulfill. I can't be without power."