Free Hurricane Watch - DK2 by Melissa Good Page B

cursed softly, and untangled one arm, reaching out and capturing the instrument. ”Yeah?”
    ”Dar, it’s Mark.” The MIS chief sounded pissed.
    ”What's up?” Dar answered, stifling a yawn. ”Meteor fall on Houston or something?”
    ”Worse. The overseas gateways are down. Exxon tanker dropped anchor in the wrong place going across the North Atlantic and snagged the cable. Took out three hundred pairs.”
    ”Ugh.” Dar winced. ”Jesus, can we reroute?” She felt Kerry stir against her, and she stroked the woman’s back lightly. ”Oh shit!
    They’ve got a transatlantic sales meeting with four new British clients this morning!”
    ”I know,” Mark replied, ”that’s why I’m calling. The shit’s going to hit the fan in so many directions, we might as well set up a freaking stand and sell fertilizer.” A soft sound of clicking keys came through the phone. ”One of the pairs that were cut was the admin line. They can’t tell who’s up and who’s down, and they can’t reroute until they get some diagnostics over the cable. It could take hours, maybe all day.”
    ”Can we buy transponder time and go via sat?” Kerry uttered, very softly.
    Dar considered that for a minute.
    ”Did you say something, Dar?” Mark inquired. ”Thought I heard something.”

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    Melissa Good
    T ell him? What the hell, he knows she logs on from here all the time .
    ”Kerry suggested a possibility. Switch it to a sat conference and rent uplink time.”
    ”Oh yeah? Uh, tell her I said hi.” Mark’s voice held a touch of triumphant amusement, despite the circumstances. ”That’s...well, they were going to do a multimedia real time. I’m not sure the sat can handle that kind of bandwidth, but it’s a thought. We’d have to reconfigure all the sets here, and there for the different network type. I’d have to put that on the fiber backbone.”
    ”Is there any other possibility? Other than the reroute, which we have no reasonable ETA on?” Dar inquired.
    ”Not that I can see, boss. That’s why I was calling you.” Mark replied. ”Got two for the price of one too. Kerry was next on my list of notifies.”
    ”Please don’t page me,” Kerry mumbled. ”I left it on vibrate and it’s on the dresser. It always scares the crap out of me when it goes off.”
    Dar muffled a laugh. ”Okay, contact Intelsat, see if we can get one, no, get two transponders, and bring some of your people in early to go up and reconfigure the presentation system in the big conference room.” She gave Kerry a hug. ”Good work.” she mouthed.
    Kerry shrugged modestly. ”I learned from the best,” she mouthed back, resting her chin on Dar’s breastbone with a contented sigh.
    ”Okay, will do.” Mark replied, amid another clatter of keys and a rumble of thunder. ”See ya in the office.”
    ”I’ll bring pastalitos,” Dar remarked wryly, ”and lots of Cuban coffee.” She hung up, then sighed as she regarded the dimly seen ceiling. ”So much for sleeping in.”
    Kerry didn’t let go of her. ”Why? Is there anything you can do in the next hour there?” she asked, reasonably. ”It’s going to take at least that long for Mark to get someone at Intelsat to answer him, considering they’re in California and it’s only quarter to six here.” She started a slow, teasing rubbing up and down Dar’s belly, running her fingers over the lightly rippled surface in little circles.
    Dar hesitated, torn between a natural urge to pounce on the situation, and her body’s insidious desire to remain right where she was, in this nice, warm cuddle, where she could almost feel the affection surrounding her in the circle of Kerry’s arms.
    Unsurprisingly, her body won out and she capitulated, resettling her hold around her lover’s body, and exhaling softly. ”You’re right. No sense in going in there just to pace around the carpet.” The gentle stroking was relaxing her and she felt her eyes flutter closed as she eased forward, finding