“Does he live at the halfway house, or under our hedges?” Kerry asked. “He kinda does need to come in with relatively clean clothes and all that Dar. Not fair to the rest of them otherwise.”
“He has a room at the church house, but he doesn't like going there.” Dar came over and sat down on the bench behind Kerry, leaning forward and resting her elbows on her knees. “He says maybe after some paychecks he can get his own place, but I had an idea.”
“Of course you did.” Kerry reached out and gently ruffled her partner's dark hair.
“I threw in a membership for that little gym around the corner.” Dar said. “It's got showers and all that. Told him until he got everything sorted out, he could go there in the morning, and get ready for work.”
Kerry thought about that, honestly impressed by the suggestion. “So it's not like charity.” She hazarded. “You could have offered to get him a place.”
“Didn't want that.” Dar shook her head decisively. “He's tired of begging for handouts and getting the government runaround. He wants to try and make it himself.”
“You like him.”
Dar smiled briefly. “I could have ended up just like him.”
“No, never. Your parents would never have left you to live on the streets, Paladar Katherine Roberts.” Kerry put her fingertip on Dar's nose. “There is nothing in the world you can say that would make me believe that.”
“When you met me, I could have been living on the streets and they would have never known.” Dar gently refuted her. “Don't color my childhood in rainbow snow cones, hon. There was a time, after we thought Dad was gone, that I was just as alone as this guy is, even more so since at least he thinks he has friends.”
“Hm.” Kerry grunted softly after a long pause unable to refute that because she knew it was true.
“So anyway.” Dar went on. “We'll have to put up with his ratty clothes until he gets his first paycheck. Mark checked him out and he says he'll be okay on the tech side.”
“Good enough for me.”
Dar nodded, and glanced around before lowering her voice. “Now on another subject.”
“Uh oh.”
A soft knock interrupted them. “Yes?” Kerry projected her voice towards the door. “C'mon in.”
Zoe poked her head in. “Miss Kerry, your ten am appointment is here.”
Kerry sighed. “Rats. Yeah. Can you get them a cup of coffee and give me five minutes?”
The junior admin nodded positively and backed out, closing the door behind her.
Kerry turned in her chair and scooted closer to Dar “So.”
“Mark talked to his buddy today. They're on the verge of doing something idiotic.” Dar said, quietly. “I don't think they're going to call me.”
“Good.” Kerry said, seriously.
Dar nodded. “But I feel for those guys. I don't think it would be a good idea to contact them.”
“Good.” Kerry said, again, with a faint smile. “So far, we're in one hundred percent agreement.”
“Here's the deal. You know that network forum I mess around in sometimes?” Dar asked. “The one where people post questions and all that crap?”
Kerry frowned. “No, I.. .oh. “ Then she nodded. “Yeah, you showed me that once. Nerdfest.”
“Nerdfest.” Her partner agreed. “Everyone posts there, engineers, and nerds, and wannabe nerds, and trolls and interested onlookers I don't post often, and not under my real name, but every once in a while I throw a hat in.”
“Ah. I am beginning to see the light.”
“So I told Mark, if his buddy wanted to, post a few questions in that forum, and if I can answer them, I will. He doesn't have to give his name, and I don't, and he can make them general enough not to identify ILS.”
Kerry was silent for a moment, thinking. “Will it stay anonymous, though?” She asked. “Dar, I really think they'll use any excuse they can find no matter what it is to make you responsible for whatever bad's going on there.”
Now it was Dar's turn to be quiet for a bit. “I don't know.” She answered finally. “But it's the only way I can think of to give them help if they want it, without causing a riot.” She said. “I don't necessarily know who this guy is, and I do occasionally give answers on there.”
Kerry watched the planes of Dar's face shift, as she looked briefly away, then back at Kerry. “You really are a crusader, you know that?” She smiled, leaning forward to touch her head to her partner's. “Be careful, Dar.”
“I will be. And anyway, the guy might not want to go that route. It's a risk for him too, maybe he just wants to wait it out and see what happens.”
That was true. “Okay.” Kerry patted Dar's knee. “But you might want to..”
“Go through a proxy, so they can't track the IP back here?” Dar's eyes twinkled. “Good idea.”
They both laughed, then Dar got up and sauntered back to her office, turning to give Kerry a wink before she disappeared.
Kerry pressed the intercom button. “Zoe, please bring my visitor in.” She released the button and shook her head. “Crusader Dar. Boy did that woman nail her.”
**
“All right Roberts.” Bridges voice sounded bemused. “So remember that conversation we had about smoke and mirrors?”
Dar leaned back in her chair. “I do.”
“Senate Intelligence Committee wants to see this thing before we go any further with it.” The president's advisor said. “Now, understand this doesn't change anything between us and you. It's going forward regardless.”
“Uh huh.”
“But we have to show these mental midgets something so they'll shut their yaps up and go mess with something else, like voting themselves a raise.”
Dar pondered that. “When?”
“Soon as you can.”
She sighed. “I can mock up a prototype by next week. That soon enough?”
There was a brief silence, then Bridges chuckled. “That'll do. Will it show them what they expect to see?”
“Will they understand what I show them?” Dar countered. “I'll lay out for them how it's going to work, and what the agents on the other end will see when they make a query.”
“No Internet snooping? By the way.” Bridges said. “You nailed that with George.”
“It'll be rough.” Dar warned. “Just command line. But it should be enough to give them an idea.”
“Good.” He responded firmly. “Now, a completely different subject. Your old friends are screwing things up.”
Dar looked at her phone with a puzzled expression. “What?” She said. “Are they still making waves about the contract?”
“Hell no. Somethings screwed up over there, and things aren't working, according to what I hear from the Pentagon. Got a bunch of pissed off medal pushers out there yelling about it.”
“Ah.”
“Know anything?”
Dar drummed her fingers. “I had heard some vague rumors there was some kind of incident.” She answered carefully. “But I don't' know any details about it.”
“They haven[t called you?”
“No.” Dar said. “I don't expect them to.”
“Idiots.”
She smiled in reflex. “Last thing they want is to have to call me in to fix something.” She said. “Embarrassing all the way around.”
Bridges cleared his throat. “Might not have a choice. If you catch my drift.”
Dar grimaced. “Don't do that. Not good for them, and not for me.”
“No offense, Roberts, but we don't really care if it's good for you, or for them, because it's screwing up stuff for us.” Bridges said, bluntly. “Know what I mean?”
Dar sighed again. “Yeah.”
“Anyway if you hear from them, grudgingly, might be because someone here told them to get their heads our of their asses and get some real help.” He said. “Or, alternatively, you might get a call from someone at that rock pile wanting you to take over the contracts.”