Chapter 8 - Gun-Toting 101

Cate sank back against the wall at the other end of the room. Holy Hell, what just happened???? As her head cleared she began to feel the rush of emotions – excitement, embarrassment, fear, doubt, lust... This is nuts. There is no way someone like HIM could be attracted to someone like ME.

Cate shook her head angrily and willed herself to push the thoughts out of her consciousness. Her self-discipline slowly returned, and she worked to center her mind and focus her thoughts on what had to happen now. Mission first.

Cate pushed away from the wall and stepped to the shelving unit. She dug through the pile of protective vests, referring to the smudged ink on her left hand. After about five minutes she found a vest that was close to Jon’s measurements and pulled it from the shelf. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, then squared her shoulders and walked toward the other end of the room.

When she stepped out from behind the shelves, she found Jon sitting quietly on a stool near the door, flipping through one of the binders she had given him. He had put his t-shirt back on, and had obviously gotten himself back under control.

“Here you go. I think this one will work,” she said evenly. Jon looked up at Cate’s voice and gave her a slight smile. She crossed the room and handed the vest to him. “You don’t need to try it on right now – you won’t need it for a couple days.” Cate didn’t think she would survive helping fit the vest on Jon right now.

“Thanks.” Jon dropped the vest onto the pile of t-shirts. He looked at Cate for a long moment, and she gazed silently back. He could see that she had closed herself off again – her eyes were gray and her expression and body language were carefully controlled. But her voice was softer, more gentle. That was something. “Cate…” he began.

“We need to get going.” Cate cut him off. “I’m doing a firearms safety and familiarization lecture for a new class this afternoon. You can watch from the controller booth – we have a camera set up in the classroom and the lectures can be monitored from various locations on the Center. Big Brother, you know.” Cate gave Jon another slight smile. “At the end of the training day all the instructors are going to do our monthly qualification. You can watch us shoot, get a sense for what you’ll be doing tomorrow night.”

“Sounds good.” Jon could see that Cate didn’t want to talk about what had just happened, and he wasn’t going to push her. He didn’t want to scare her off. Besides, he had a better idea of how to learn more about her.

Jon stood and gathered up all the items Cate had given him, donning the baseball cap and looping the body armor over his arm. Cate held the door open as he passed through, then led him back down the hall to her office, telling him to dump his gear on her couch.

While Jon did that, Cate went to the break room and grabbed two cans of Diet Coke from the fridge. She lingered for a long moment in front of the open fridge, letting the chilled air wash over her body. She needed to cool down from the encounter in the supply room. If she didn’t get herself under control soon it as going to be a long, difficult two weeks.

*****

Jon spent the afternoon watching Cate teach a brand-new class of Basic Agent Trainees (or BATs, as the instructors called them) how to handle the duty weapon. As Floyd had said, Cate was a fantastic teacher, and Jon found himself impressed with her ability to hold her students’ attention and engage each of them in the lesson.

Cate first gave a 30-minute lecture on basic firearms safety and range policy. Jon had chuckled at the “Number One Rule of Gun-Toting,” as Cate called it: Never aim at something you don’t intend to shoot. Pretty simple, and it made sense. Jon wondered how many times students forgot that rule.

After the lecture and a short break, each student was issued a 9mm Glock 17 handgun and taught how to take it apart, to identify the various parts, and to reassemble the weapon. Cate led the class in breaking down and reassembling the weapon five times, then turned on a timer and had the class do it without guidance. Most of the students did fine, but there were a couple who were obviously nervous and uncomfortable in the task. Jon guessed they had never handled a gun before.

After going through the familiarization portion of the training, Cate had all the students stand and move the tables against the walls of the classroom. She then demonstrated the proper stance and technique for drawing the weapon from the holster, aiming, firing, clearing, and recovering from fire. She had the students all practice the movements together following her lead, then she evaluated each of them in turn.

Cate had given Jon one of the Center’s Glocks before she went to teach, and he followed along with her instruction. He had handled weapons before, but only for movie roles and an occasional recreational trip to the firing range; certainly not with enough regularity that he felt comfortable breaking down and reassembling one himself without some guidance. He was considerably more confident in his stance and handling technique, but he found he learned some new things in those areas as well.

Jon was glad Cate had given him the chance to watch her instructing the other students. Not only did he learn a lot and enjoy her teaching method, but the distance ensured he wouldn’t be distracted by her touch, her gaze, her scent. Jon shook his head to himself and smiled grimly. Man, you’re gonna have to figure out how to get her out of your head when you’re working. He knew it wouldn’t be easy. It would take all the focus and self-discipline he could muster.

Jon imagined Cate was in the same boat, judging from her reaction after their encounter in the supply room. Hell, she seemed to be almost as driven and controlling as he was. Things were definitely going to be interesting. She couldn’t teach him everything via CCTV – and he didn’t want her to.