Once she was on the street, four separate bar denizens glanced at Ariti, who nodded. They rose and headed for the door as well.
Ariti then stood and headed for the men’s room at the back of the bar.
But instead of going into the restroom on the left, he ducked into what the local cops sometimes called ‘the backmost back room’ on the right. There, a man awaited him.
“Here we go, Nick,” Adrian Mott said, producing his makeup kit, as soon as Ariti closed the door. “Saw you check for me over your shoulder when you left the Defense building.”
“Yeah. I spotted you, too. Only because I knew what to look for.”
“Good. Here, now. Let me get that mess of makeup and hair off you.”
“Thanks, Adrian,” Ariti said. “I’m sure Cally would prefer me as Nick Ashton, and not Nik Ariti. Did we get Conrad?”
Mott paused in his work removing the disguise from Ashton, as his face blanked for a moment, then his expression returned. “They’re still following, waiting for her to transfer the data so they can trace it...there it went. Okay, yeah, they got her.”
“Good. Make sure Daggert’s people follow up on the whole ‘family tree’ so we get the entire spy ring,” Ashton ordered.
“Oh, they’re all over that one,” Mott averred. “Let me finish this, so you can go home to Cally and that toddler of yours, and we’ll see what the Guard has for us in the morning.”
“Right.”
Moments later, Detective Dominick Ashton slipped out the back door of the Laughing Cat Pub, headed home.
Ashton slipped quietly inside the front door of his condo, closing the door firmly behind him. Before he could fully turn around, he was ambushed.
“DA-DEEE!” the cry came from somewhere around his knees, which were abruptly taken captive, even as soft arms went around his neck.
“Nick!” Cally cried. “Oh, you’re home safe, honey!”
“Yep. Same old, same old,” Nick murmured, as he hugged and kissed his wife, then scooped up his toddler son.
“Is it over yet? Please tell me it’s finally over,” Cally demanded then.
“Yes, please,” Linda Ames, Cally’s mother, said, as she stood in the kitchen door, a smudge of flour on her shirt. “It is rather nerve-wracking.”
“Hush, Linda,” Alexandre Ames said softly. “Nick has to do what he has to do. He’s keeping us all safe, in the long run. If those spies got hold of real plans instead of Nick’s faked ones, there’s no telling what the hell will happen. There’s already been those incidents in the Phalia and Garland star nations. People are dead.”
“That’s my point, Alex! We don’t want one of them to be Nick!”
“A lot more people could end up dead if he didn’t do this,” a grim Alexandre said. Linda sighed.
“I know,” she murmured.
“Hey, guys, hold on,” Nick said, holding up one of his hands; the other still held little Paul, who had tucked his face into Nick’s neck and snuggled in. “This phase is definitely over, yes, and Mercer, Armbrand, Peabody and Stone picked up ‘Miss Betty’ – who came onto me one last time. Damn. She may be blonde, but it’s obviously from a home bottle job. Ugh.” He rolled his eyes. “We won’t know until in the morning whether or not we have to go into a Phase Two. I’m really hoping not. Or that somebody else can handle it, if we do.”
“Didn’t Jim Carson volunteer to take the point, if it came to Phase 2?” Cally asked.
“Yeah, he did. Which is why I’m really hoping I won’t have to. Hell, I’m really hoping they can nail everybody after this, without needing to go further.”
“What does Daggert think?”
“Dunno. He was in the ‘crowd’ in the pub, along with Lee and Maia, Win, Stefan, Rog, Mercer, and Pete… and I’m forgetting some folks – hell, our people were half the pub crowd! Anyhow, ‘Ariti’ headed for the men’s room in the back, and promptly disappeared.”
“Oh, right. So you didn’t get to talk to him.”
“No.”
“Well, let’s all hope for the best, then,” Linda decided. “Good timing, Nick; dinner’s ready. Everybody, c’mon and let’s eat.”
That night, after everyone went to bed, Cally cuddled up to Nick and wrapped the covers around them both.
“Hey, honey, do you feel like talking for a minute, or are you too tired?”
“Sure, Cal. What’s up?”
“Well, you know, we’d discussed giving Paul a little sibling along about this age, and he was two last month…”
“Yeah, and from what I understand from fellow parent-colleagues, pretty damn well-behaved for the terrible twos.”
“I know. Which is good. He’s been an easygoing baby.”
“Yeah. But you’re right, we need to be thinking about providing him a sibling. I was an only, and so were you, and I dunno ‘bout you, but I always wanted a built-in playmate.”
“Yup. But Mom and Dad couldn’t. There were issues with just getting me here, from what they’ve told me.”
“Do you know why?”
“Something about an infection Mom had when she was younger, scarring the cervix and uterus, I had it to understand.”
“But you’re okay?”
“Yeah. The doctor confirms it.”
“Good. Okay, then what say let’s wait until we see how things shape up tomorrow? Then, if everything goes the way we hope, you can tell the nanites to ditch birth control, and we’ll start making a playmate for Paul tomorrow night…”
“That sounds good.” Cally leaned over and kissed him. “Meantime, feel like practicing?”
“Any time, sweetheart.”
“Hey, Nick,” Win Peabody greeted the Field and Investigative Lead as he entered IPD New Headquarters for the first time in weeks, clad spiffily in his dress uniform. “Damn, it’s good to see you in here again, buddy.”
“It’s good to be back in here, Win,” Ashton declared. “Never mind being able