Free Thicker Than Water - DK5 by Melissa Good Page B

responded forcefully.
    “There’s more at stake here than one measly base, Dar. This could rock the entire Navy. Do you want that? Do you want everything your father fought for dragged through every inch of muck Thicker Than Water 47
    between Key Largo and DC?”
    Dar stared at the phone. “The people in that report,” she took a breath, “deserve that.”
    “I don’t give a damn about them,” Easton shot back. “It’s the Navy I care about. I’m not going to let something like this make us the laughingstock of the damn country. Of every other country.
    I’m just not going to do it, Dar!”
    Dar settled into her chair, folded her hands carefully on the desk, and leaned forward. “If you don’t,” she enunciated the words very, very carefully, “I will.”
    For a moment, dead silence reigned. Dar waited, anger puls-ing through her veins and making her nostrils flare as her breathing deepened and her heartbeat slowed. Her hands twitched, as though sensing an impending battle.
    “You wouldn’t do that,” Easton said quietly. “I know you, Paladar.”
    The very faintest hint of a wry smile appeared on Dar’s face.
    “You only think you do,” she growled softly, reveling in the tension. “I will do it, Gerald.” She paused. “I have to.”
    A final parry was inevitable. “Think of your father, Dar.
    Don’t you care what he thinks, how he’ll feel if you do this? You know how he loves the Navy.”
    A sense of peace settled over Dar. “I am thinking of him. He’d whup the tar out of me if I did any less, Gerry, and we both know that.”
    Another silence stretched between them. “Well, damn it.”
    Easton sounded more than frustrated. “I’m calling that boss of yours in here tomorrow and I’ll see if I can talk sense to him then, if I can’t get through your thick skull!” He slammed the phone down, leaving a ringing in Dar’s ears.
    Damn it.
    She took a deep breath, surprised to find herself shaking a little. “Damn.” She lowered her head into her hands and closed her eyes, thinking about what she’d said. Did Easton have a point?
    Would the report do irreparable damage to the service? “Guess I better warn Alastair.”
    “DAR.”
    Dar jumped almost a foot in her chair and whirled, shocked to see her father standing just inside the door that led down the back hall to Kerry’s office. She stared at him, then relaxed back into her seat. “Dad.”
    Andrew Roberts removed his hands from the pockets of his pullover, walked around the desk to her, and looked down, his 48 Melissa Good face quiet and very serious.
    Dar knew a moment of self-doubt. Gerald Easton had been right in one thing, she knew her father’s love and loyalty to the service ran very deep and very strong. She looked up into those pale blue eyes so like her own and wondered, Is the general right?
    Is this too big a sacrifice? “Guess you heard all that.”
    “Yeap.” Andy cupped Dar’s cheek in rare, gentle touch. “I ain’t never whupped you, Paladar.”
    She gave a faint, mildly embarrassed shrug. “Sounded good.”
    Dar looked down, then back up. “Was I wrong?”
    A grin remarkably like her own appeared. “Hell no, you weren’t wrong.” Andy eyed the phone. “But that there’s gonna be a hell of a problem.”
    Dar nodded.
    “Heard about Kerry’s pop.” Andy’s expression sobered.
    “Don’t rain but it pours, don’t it?”
    Dar nodded again, tiredly. “Yeap.” She thought about what Alastair would say and winced.
    Trouble. Oh yeah.
    “I was about to head home,” Dar said. “Been a long day.”
    “C’mon.” Andy offered her a hand up. “Got me some dog hairs I need to give back over by your place.” He put an arm around Dar’s shoulders as they walked to the door.
    IT WAS ALMOST like looking at a stranger. Kerry curled her fingers around the cold metal bars and gazed at her father’s face, half-hidden by the tubes and machinery keeping him alive. His eyes were taped closed and there was no