Free Stormy Waters: Book 10 in The Dar & Kerry Series by Melissa Good Page B

Mongolian cluster fuck." She replied, crossing her arms. "No matter how we do it there isn't enough space." She ticked off a finger. "Enough cableways..." She ticked another finger. "Or enough patience in my body to deal with all these frustrated sea dogs who make my father look liberal."
    "Hmm? Kerry joined her at the rail and looked over. The salt water lapped gently at the rusting metal, making little swirling sucking noises as it curled around a jagged edge. "So. What are you saying that we don't do it?"
    Dar exhaled heavily.
    "Dar, nothing says everything we do has to be easy." Kerry poked her gently. "It's a challenge. Isn't that what you told me sometime forever ago?"
    "Yeah, I know." Dar grimaced wryly. "C'mon. Let's go home."
    Kerry followed her as Dar led the way around the back of the ship toward the gangway. It was dark on the exterior with only a few of the windows lit from within here on the upper decks.
    A cruise ship moved past in the channel and the ship rocked slightly in its wake. The creaks and groans from the old structure were not in any way comforting, and Kerry wondered in her heart if Dar wasn't really right after all.
    Was there a point to all this? Could Quest really be meaning to take these old hulks and put them back in service with modern customers that are used to every sophistication?
    Kerry turned her head and regarded the passing modern cruise liner. It was all glass and shiny metal, as far from their poor, rusting hull as could be. Four or five decks taller, and half again the width of the ship she was on, the differences were so striking she had to wonder in truth what the hell they were thinking.
    She shook her head a little as they walked off the ship giving the guard a nod as they traded the gentle motion of the ship for the stillness of the concrete walkway. "I don't know." Kerry pointed at the cracks she'd noticed on the way in. "I think that ship's in better shape than this pier."
    Dar inspected the cracks, then walked to the railing and jumped up and down several times experimentally.
    "Dar!" Kerry squawked.
    Dar chuckled, and moved on. "Relax," she said. "There's rebar all in there. It's not going..." Dar paused, and went to the rail again, leaning against it as she watched the pier below. "Ah."
    Kerry went to her side and peered past her shoulder. "Oh ho." She recognized Shari's form pacing on the concrete outside their ship. "Should we say something?"
    "Nu uh." Dar drew back into the shadows of the walkway and pulled Kerry with her. They stood in silence as their nemesis strolled along the side of the ship examining it.
    "Dar?" Kerry whispered.
    "Mm?" Dar put an arm around her, resting her cheek against Kerry's head.
    "Does the fact I want to shove her in front of Majesty of the Seas over there mean I'm going to hell?" Kerry wondered. "What's she up to, just checking the boat out?"
    "Ship," Dar said. "Yeah, not much else she can do from down there. Hatch is closed." She pointed at the hull. "Maybe she's seeing what we got versus what they got?"
    As if to confirm it, Shari reached the end of the pier, then she turned and wandered back, apparently losing interest in the vessel. Dar and Kerry turned and walked along even with her unseen in the shadows until Shari passed the end of the ship and they were at the end of the walkway.
    Shari stopped and looked back, putting her hands on her hips before shaking her head and continuing on down the pier toward the ship Telegenics had been assigned. By freak chance, it was in the slip right behind theirs, and Dar wondered suddenly if they hadn't been spotted on the aft deck while they were talking.
    But why would Shari bother to come out on the docks for that? Dar dismissed the idea, and steered Kerry back through the doors toward the escalator. It still wasn't working so they plodded down it in amiable silence, their footsteps alerting the guard stationed at the office below.
    "Hello?" The guard came out into the area at the end of the