“You wouldn’t shoot me, Nicky-baby,” she smirked, confident. She ignored his addendum entirely. “I’m your first love, your true love.”
“The hell you say. You’re nothing to me but a heartless, manipulating bitch. I had girlfriends in school, so you’re not my first love. And my true love carries my child.”
Tabby grew infuriated.
“Not for long, damn you!”
Koch raised the airgun, swinging toward Ames, but Ashton fired first – just as another shot came from the far side of the mews. One bullet caught Koch in the center of mass, the other in the head. She was dead before she hit the pavement.
Cally ran to Nick and flung herself into his arms, beginning to cry.
“Oh Nick! I’m so sorry! I’m so sorry! I was just trying to be nice! She seemed depressed – she convinced me she was – and that she just needed a friend. She said you were nice, and if I was married to you, she thought I’d be nice, and then maybe she could have two friends, when she didn’t have anybody else left… and I believed her! I’m such a numbskull! And with Maia and everybody trying to tell me!”
“Hush, honey, hush,” Nick murmured, holding her close. “Are you hurt? Is the baby all right?”
“I’m fine, and the baby was bouncing up and down until she grabbed me and shoved that damn airgun in my kidney,” Ames sobbed. “Then he got real still… until I saw you. And I swear, I thought he was gonna pop right out, he jumped so hard.”
Just then, a light hand laid itself on Ashton’s shoulder. He flinched, but before he could spin around, the voice attached to the hand said, “It’s me, lad. It’s Gene. I’ve just pinged Maia, who linked up with Lee, and they say to take Cally on home. And stay there yourself. And if you need to take tomorrow off, either of you, do it.”
“Weapons were fired, Gene,” Ashton said with a sigh. “There’s reports to write, and there’ll be an internal investigation…”
“I’m sorry,” Ames whimpered again.
“Hush, there, Cally,” Peabody said. “I think I’ve got that taken care of, Nick.”
“Huh? How, Win?”
“Remember how Carter set me up to infiltrate and record the conspiracy meetings through my VR nanites a while back?”
“Yeah?”
“I’ve still got that set up,” Peabody said with a grin. “I triggered it when I got close enough to see and hear, and it recorded the whole thing. Which means that it saw Koch draw down on Cally, and you – and me – fire on her to stop Koch murdering her… and your baby.”
“Aha,” Stefan Gorski, now one of the two inspectors for ICPD, along with Eugene Demetrius, said with a wide grin. “And that’s proof beyond a shadow of a doubt that there was no wrongdoing by any officers.”
“Exactly,” Peabody said, “and I’ve already pushed it to Director Carter. Protecting innocents. It’s what we do.”
“Go home,” Demetrius reiterated with emphasis to Ashton.
They went.
Once the pair returned to Temporary New Headquarters, Stone and Peabody told the whole story to The Gang, as well as Director Carter and quite a few of the available beat cops, step by step.
“And I’ve already seen the video, Peabody, and sent it on to the Imperial Guard’s Internal Investigations bureau, over in the Palace complex, as per instructions from the Emperor, via the Empress and Consul Saaret,” Carter noted, when they were finished. “They want us to have external oversight, and I think that’s a great idea – so from now on, they review us, and we review them, whenever it’s necessary. The Guard has already reviewed the video as well as myself, and are already in agreement with me that both you and Ashton were justified in taking the shots.”
“Good, and thank you, sir,” Peabody said, tapping his temple with his right index finger; it was the agreed-upon substitute for a full salute that his working group had come up with, and Carter had approved.
“By the way, do you know which of you hit the head, and which the center of mass?” Carter continued. “Because the head would have been the more immediate killing shot…”
“As a matter of fact, yes, sir,” Peabody said, solemn. “I aimed for center of mass.”
“Which means Ashton killed her,” Stone murmured. “Damn. He used to be really gone on her.”
“Until he found the love of his life,” Carter pointed out. “And the bitch threatened, not only that love, but the child of that love. And Nick Ashton refused to stand for it.”
One Up
The next morning, after everybody checked in with Ashton to make sure all was okay with Cally and the baby, Carter called Ashton and Peabody into his office. Once they were inside, he closed the door and said, “Grab a seat, gentlemen,” as he moved behind the desk and took his own chair. Once they were seated, he continued. “Mr. Peabody, thank you for the video of the confrontation – I’ve already watched all of it, twice – and thank you and Stone for being there for Nick and Cally. That was an excellent job you both did, backing up Mr. Ashton and helping him rescue his wife from Kershaw’s niece.”
“Thank you, sir,” Peabody responded, flushing slightly. “It needed doing. That girl had some crazy ideas about things, and she was all wrong about most of ‘em. And always was.”
“That would be the Kershaw traits coming out, I think,” Carter sighed.
“Judging by the smell of alcohol on the body,
