Part 57 (1/2)

”So you got mad.”

Dar nodded. ”I saw red,” she admitted. ”Or blue, or whatever it is you're supposed to see when you're so mad that you lose your mind.”

Kerry laid back down. ”So we have something in common.” She lifted one hand and examined the knuckles, the bruises vivid against her skin. ”Does that feel ugly to you, Dar?”

Dar looked into the eyes of her soul and smiled. ”No.”

Kerry nibbled on her cookie thoughtfully. ”Really?”

Dar considered pretending otherwise. She decided she was just too d.a.m.n tired. ”Really,” she repeated. ”I guess it should, but he was a b.a.s.t.a.r.d and he was trying to kill me.” She put her hands behind her head and winced as her shoulder popped into place. ”I guess it's that old 'fight or flight' thing.”

Kerry studied the ceiling. ”Have you ever run from anything in your life, Dar?”

Her partner remained silent for a very long moment. ”No,” she finally said, a note of surprise in her voice. ”I almost ran from love once.” Her eyes s.h.i.+fted to Kerry's profile. ”But you tripped me up 338*

in time.”

”Did I?” In her exhaustion, Kerry felt a willingness to take the conversation to something more comfortable.

”Yeah.” Dar seemed equally willing. ”I remember sitting at home one night and thinking to myself how much better it would be for both of us if I...if we kept our relations.h.i.+p just business.”

Kerry rolled over onto her side and looked at her partner.

”And...” Dar paused. ”And I could almost... I could feel, sort of, how that would make you feel if I did that, if I told you to forget it.”

”My G.o.d.” Kerry rested her head against the cover. ”That would have killed me.”

Dar was silent again, for a few breaths. ”Yeah. I think it would have killed me too,” she replied. ”Anyway, I couldn't. I was in too deep and I knew it.” She reached over and put her hand on Kerry's, folding her fingers over her partner's smaller ones and gently squeezing them. ”But I was scared.”

”I wasn't,” Kerry admitted with a wry note in her voice. ”It was like a dream I never knew I had coming true.” She lifted Dar's hand to her lips and kissed it. ”I never looked back.”

”I know.” Dar felt a huge wave of exhaustion beginning to settle over her. ”Lucky me.”

”Mm.” The blonde leaned her head against Dar's shoulder. ”I think you're right about DeSalliers,” she said, gently changing the subject back. ”I know it's late, but I have to tell you this; I have to.”

Dar looked at her.

”I saw...someone. Down there. Under where you were,” Kerry expanded hesitantly. ”I was terrified for a minute, and then you grabbed me.”

”Ah.”

They lay there together for a few minutes, deep in thought.

Kerry drew in a deeper breath at last and looked at Dar. ”No one deserves to die,” she murmured. ”But I can't feel bad about it.”

”Except that he did get what he wanted,” Dar reminded her wryly.

”No, he didn't.” Kerry reached over to her bedside table, picked something up and tossed it onto Dar's chest. ”d.a.m.ned if I was going to let him get away with this.” She eased up onto her elbow and reached for her mug.

Dar stared at the laminated sheet laying on the center of her chest. ”Son of a b.i.t.c.h.”

”Daughter of a b.a.s.t.a.r.d, actually,” Kerry corrected. ”One of the things you and I don't have in common.” She took a sip of her rum and swallowed it, then leaned against Dar. ”So.”

”So,” Dar repeated, turning the sheet over in her fingers.

”Death is a high price to pay for stupidity,” Kerry said. ”And*339 I...hate to have that on my conscience. Is there any way we can help them...the rest of them, I mean?” she asked in a serious tone.

Dar's lips twitched. ”I called the Coast Guard for them on the way in,” she admitted. ”So yeah, I don't give a d.a.m.n that they sank, but I wasn't about to disregard a maritime law I had drummed into me from the age of four.”

Kerry pulled herself up and gave Dar a kiss. She licked her lips as they parted and gazed into her lover's eyes. ”I feel...really strange about what we did tonight, Dar,” she said. ”Part of me is freaking out, but part of me-”

”Liked fighting for the greater good?” Dar replied in a casual tone.

A little silence fell. Kerry dropped back against the pillows without taking her eyes off Dar. She inhaled sharply. ”Greater good.” The words felt interesting in her mouth and she played with them a little, tasting their meaning. ”Is that what we did?”

Dar shrugged. ”I don't know. It's something my father used to talk about all the time-doing things for other people, or acting when it's not in your best interests just because it's the right thing to do.” She reached over and combed through Kerry's disheveled hair with her fingers. ”It's what the folks in the military do, if you think about it.”

”Depending on who's defining 'right' this year,” Kerry replied with a touch of wry skepticism. ”But I know what you mean.” She put her arms around Dar. ”Did you like doing that?”

Dar returned the embrace as they listened to the wind howl.

”I'm not very good at it,” she said. ”I'd much rather take care of my own best interests than anyone else's.”

Both eyebrows raised, Kerry leaned up on her elbow and looked at her partner. ”Dar, that is such a lie,” she stated flatly.

”You put yourself on the line for me after we'd barely even met.”

Dar put a fingertip on Kerry's nose. ”That's because you are my best interest.”

Wasn't really much she could say to that. Kerry curled up next to Dar and shook her head. The wind was getting stronger outside, and she heard a loud bang as something hit the building. She put thoughts of the greater good out of her mind for the moment. ”Are you scared?”

”Of the storm?”

Kerry shook her head. ”Of what might happen. I mean...we were involved in a lot of not so legal things last night.”

”No,” Dar replied. ”I'm not afraid.”

”Really?”

”Really.” Dar closed her eyes. ”I'm too tired to be afraid.”

Kerry took the hint and pulled the covers up over Dar's long frame, tucking them in around the two of them. She put her arms 340*

around Dar and laid her head on her partner's shoulder, feeling Dar's muscles relax almost immediately despite the raging noise outside. The heartbeat under her ear evened out and slowed, and she concentrated on counting its rhythm.

They would weather the storm; they always had, a muzzy internal voice reminded her. Kerry thought about that, losing herself in the flicker of the nearby candle as the winds blew around them.

THE HOTEL WAS warm and clammy inside as Kerry ventured into the lobby. The power was still out, but the staff had risen to the challenge and put out a table full of relatively tasty-looking foods for the guests to pick through. Her eyes roamed the room, and stopped as she spotted Andrew seated on the porch, his hand curled around a cup. ”Ah.” Kerry grabbed a m.u.f.fin and walked out to join him. ”Hi, Dad.”

Andrew looked up at her. ”Morning, there, k.u.mquat,” he greeted, as his eyes drifted past her shoulder. ”Where's mah kid?”