Cally considered the matter, and finally agreed. The next night, she climbed into the other side of the big bed.
They both slept like the dead, and woke rested – more than usual, since each had been subconsciously aware of the other nearby.
And Peterson and Gorski, after a private discussion, decided to keep Ashton inside the headquarters precinct until they felt he was healed enough to risk another encounter.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t on a case that Ashton had his next encounter.
Ashton and Cally were headed over to her apartment together after work, with plans for Cally to make another of her gourmet French meals for Nick.
“But I think I wanna get something different for the wine,” she told him. “And my usual shop doesn’t carry what I want. So I want to try a new liquor store, about a block off the route home, in the next arcade over. Is that okay?”
“I guess so,” Nick decided. “I don’t see a reason why not, really.”
“Okay, let’s go.”
Cally found the wine she wanted to serve with dinner, and the pair exited the liquor store, turned right…
…And nearly ran into Stanley Gorecki.
“Well, well, look who we got here,” Gorecki sneered. “Looks like Ashton finally got himself another girlfriend. Hey, cutie-pie. Don’t worry, you’ll have a real man for a boyfriend, here, in about five minutes.”
“I’m afraid you have a case of mistaken identity,” Cally said, setting down her package and taking a half-step forward. Nick caught her arm, but she shook it off.
“I don’t think so, sugar,” Gorecki said, taking a step toward Nick as he smacked one fist into the other palm. “I know Dominick Ashton, and that’s Dominick Ashton.”
“I wasn’t talking about him. You obviously don’t recognize a bodyguard when you see one. Back up, please.”
“Ha! You? You’re just a little thing. I can–”
And suddenly Cally Ames showed off her top-of-her-class skills in martial arts. A chambered punch to Gorecki’s solar plexus with the full momentum of her body weight was followed by a knee to the groin. The doubled-over reaction that began in Gorecki’s body at the gut punch intensified with the impact to his privates. Cally took advantage of the fact, delivering an uppercut to Gorecki’s jaw, snapping his head back. A quick, sweeping kick to the back of his knees, and Gorecki was on his back on the pavement, gasping.
“Shit, Cal,” Nick murmured, grabbing up the bag with the wine in one hand, and her arm in the other. “Come on! While he’s still seeing stars, let’s get outta here!”
They ran around the corner, up a flight of fire-escape stairs to street level, and ducked into an alley, then cut across the mews between the buildings, and into a maintenance hatch.
Two minutes later, Gorecki caught his breath and sat up, cursing. He looked around, but Ashton and his “bodyguard” were nowhere to be seen. Only the odd pedestrian wandered into this or that store front.
“Dammit to hell,” he snarled, getting to his feet and rubbing his jaw where Ames had hit him. “That little she-cat is next on my list after Ashton and Carter!”
He limped down the street, trying not to walk funny.
In a recessed shop doorway behind him, a shopper looked after him, stifled a snort, then headed in the opposite direction.
Cally was cooking, and Nick was setting the table, when the buzzer went off at her front door. They looked at each other, and Cally shook her head – No, I’m not expecting anyone – when they both got an alert in VR.
“Guys, it’s Adrian,” came the VR message, “and I’m alone. Just wanted to check on you two.”
Nick headed for the door and let him into the apartment. He glanced both directions down the hall, but saw no one, and closed the door quickly.
“What’s up?” Nick asked.
“And do you want to stay for dinner?” Cally added. “There’s enough here for three.”
“It’s good, believe me,” Nick continued. Adrian Mott laughed.
“Don’t tempt me,” he said. “It smells delicious. But I just came by to make sure you two made it away okay, and that Gorecki didn’t have anyone waiting.”
“No, we got away clean,” Nick said. “Judging from the way he reacted, I think we caught him as much by surprise as he did us.”
“I’d agree to that,” Cally called from the kitchen. “C’mon in here, guys, so I don’t have to yell.”
“Good plan,” Adrian agreed, and followed Nick into the kitchen. “Oh damn, it smells even better in here!”
“So I take it you saw the altercation earlier?” Cally asked, making a quick, subtle gesture to Nick, who fished out an extra place setting from her cabinet and adjusted the placement on her little dining table, allowing for three people to dine.
“Yeah, I did,” Adrian admitted. “I know you guys know that the rest of us have been taking turns watching out for you two, while Nick was recovering from getting shot, and tonight was my turn. I was just shadowing the two of you, and saw the whole thing go down. I was actually maneuvering to take him down from behind when Cally lit into him like the proverbial buzz saw.”
“She did good,” Nick said with a wry grin.
“She did. Gorecki didn’t expect that!”
“I wasn’t expecting it, either!”
“It also accomplished another thing,” Cally pointed out.
“Yeah. It changed Gorecki’s thinking from ‘girlfriend’ to ‘bodyguard,’” Adrian observed. “So he’s not gonna go looking for a girlfriend to hit up.”
“Oh, he probably will still go looking for Cally, at some point,” Nick said with a sigh. “Which is exactly what I didn’t want. But yeah, she wounded his pride. He’s not gonna let that go.”
“True,” Cally said, continuing to finish off the various dishes, and beginning to plate them. “But we’ve all got each other’s
