Chapter 9 - Hot Target

By the time Cate finished teaching, it was 1630, or 4:30 p.m. to the “civilians.” That marked the end of the normal duty day for students and staff. Cate came to the booth to get Jon, and he complimented her on her teaching. Cate was humble and attempted to brush off his remarks, but Jon could tell she was flattered by his praise.

Cate and Jon went back to her office and collected their range bags, then walked back over to the firearms range. Cate explained to Jon that all instructors had to qualify with every type of weapon and on every course of fire once per month to retain their certification. Today was “range day” for the instructors. It was one day of the month everybody looked forward to because they could focus on their own performance and not that of students.

When they arrived at the range, Cate introduced Jon to a couple more instructors he hadn’t yet met: Eric, Cliff, Matt, and Brandon. Danny, George, Steve, Bobby, Troy, and Floyd were there as well.

“So, Jon, how are you enjoyin’ your experience with Cate so far?” Floyd asked. “She treatin’ you alright?”

Cate felt herself blush.Shit, Floyd, if you only knew….

Jon laughed and gave Cate a wink. “I’m having a great time. Cate is amazing.” Jon looked directly at Cate for a pause, then continued. “Today I watched her Basic Firearms Safety and Familiarization Class for three hours—she was phenomenal. She has a real gift for teaching.”

"That’s our Catie.” Floyd beamed. “Tough as nails and sweet as honey.”

"Shut up, Floyd.” Cate mumbled. “I am NOT sweet.”

“And don’t call her Catie, if you wanna keep your balls where they are.” added Danny, walking over and handing Cate a box of ammo. “Only Floyd can get away with that. Right, Slick?”

Jon grinned. “I can’t call you Catie?” he teased. Cate shot Jon a wicked look, and he threw up his hands. “Okay! I won’t!” He looked at Danny. “What’s this ‘Slick’ thing, though? You both have the same nickname?”

Cate rolled her eyes. “Well…..” started Danny. “Did you ever see the movie ‘Tequila Sunrise’? Came out in the late 80s?”

“Yeah, the one with Mel Gibson and Michelle Pfeiffer?” asked Jon. “That was a hot movie.”

Danny grinned. “Yeah. Remember the scene where Michelle Pfeiffer went to Mel Gibson’s house because the kid called her to come take care of him? Mel came home and she confronted him about having her picture on his nightstand, and she went storming out of the kitchen? He yelled after her ‘Thanks for the Bullshit, Slick!’ She came back and said ‘did you call me Slick?’ Then they argued some more and she ended up with ‘And DON’T call me SLICK!” He paused and took a breath. “Well, Cate and got into it about something and I called her ‘Slick.’ She came right back with that line. So, even after we made up, the nickname stuck. So now, 20 years later, here we are – still ‘Slick and Slick’.”

Jon gave Danny an amused look. “That’s crazy…. and strange.”

“Yeah, well you had to be there.” Cate said. She was grateful that Danny hadn’t revealed that the nickname actually came more from the fact that they had made up after that argument with steamy hot tub sex, a la Mel and Michelle in the movie. Thankfully he still had the propriety to keep some things just between the two of them. Secrets to the grave.

"Awright, ya’ll, let’s burn some brass.” Floyd headed for a post on the firing line.

Cate turned to Jon. “Jon, here’s what I want you to do. We’re gonna fire several different weapons, and I want you to watch how we handle each. Think about the range safety and procedure lecture from today and apply what I covered there. Pick an instructor and watch him through a couple courses of fire – they are all excellent, and you’ll pick up a lot from just watching.”

Jon smiled. He knew who he would be watching.

“Also, I want you to use your training Glock from earlier this afternoon and stand on the line with us when we fire the basic course,” Cate continued. “Practice the draw and trigger pull like I showed you today, then the clear and recovery, along with us. Even though you won’t be actually firing it will help your mechanics for tomorrow.”

Cate put on her shooting glasses and ear defenders, and Jon did the same. He watched her quietly as she quickly loaded eight magazines and stowed them on her belt and in the pockets of her cargo pants. Cate took position 12 on the line and directed Jon to stand at position 14, so he was on the end of the line of instructors with an empty position between him and her. Danny was next to Cate, on her left at position 11.

Once the Range Master saw that everyone was ready, he led the instructors through the qualification course of fire. All being professionals and expert shots, they moved quickly. In just under ten minutes they fired 60 rounds at targets at various distances and from standing, kneeling, prone, and over-barrier positions.

Jon was impressed by their efficiency and precision, and he quickly discovered he had a lot to learn. When Cate’s target returned to her along the track, Jon’s mouth fell open as he saw the perfect, tight grouping of bullet holes in the dead center of the silhouette. In fact, it looked like one big bullet hole instead of 60 small ones. Cate saw his expression and gave him a small smile and a shrug.

After they finished with the basic qualification course, the instructors completed another, more difficult course called the Practical Pistol Course. In the PPC, they had to fire and reload one-handed and shoot in Z-patterns with multiple shots to the silhouette’s head, torso, and hips, and from various body positions. Again, Cate scored perfectly.

Then it was time for the “big guns.” Jon sat on the concrete floor behind the firing line, back against the wall, and watched as the instructors fired shotguns, the Uzi submachine gun, and the M-5 and M-16 semiautomatic rifles. As he watched, Jon became excited to fire these weapons himself over the coming days. This was definitely one fun assignment.

Cate was In The Zone. She always enjoyed shooting – it was a great way to relieve stress and tension. And God knows, she had built up some tension today! But in such a good way….

Cate was cruising along on her favorite course of fire with the M-16, taking satisfaction in the small tink of each bullet casing ejecting from the chamber as the round hurtled down the range to the target.

She glanced over at Danny, and saw that he was deep in concentration, focusing on his sights. This was the over-barrier part of the course, where he really excelled. She loved firing the M-16, but Danny was a master at it. He had gone through sniper training in his military days, before deciding to work in counterterrorism instead. He always scored better than Cate did with the semiauto rifles, though they both shot expert.

Cate turned her attention back to her sights, stilled her breathing, and was about to gently squeeze the trigger when she felt a trail of fire down her chest, searing her breasts.

“FUCK!” Cate yelped, jerking upright and quickly dropping her rifle to the ground. She clawed at her shirt, knowing exactly what had happened. The hot brass casing ejected from Danny’s rifle had fallen right down the front of her shirt as she leaned forward to rest her own weapon on the barrier. Her position had caused a slight gap between the collar of her polo shirt and her neck, and the casing had ejected in just the right trajectory to go straight down her shirt and into her sports bra.

“Fuck, Fuck, FUCK!” she howled, dancing backward away from the line and stripping her shirt off, revealing her navy racer-back sports bra. She shoved her hand down the front of her bra and swept out the piece of scorching metal, knocking it across the concrete floor toward Jon. It rolled to a stop near his foot.

Cate ripped her protective glasses off her face and looked down the front of her bra, seeing several small, angry red burn marks on her chest and the tops of her breasts. “GodDAMNIT!” she swore.

It all happened so fast that Jon wasn’t sure what he was seeing. He saw Cate spring upward from her post, drop her rifle, and dance backwards. In a flash she whipped her shirt off over her head. Jon sucked in his breath when he saw her uncovered torso, for her physique was impressive.

Her upper arms were toned and her deltoids were smooth and taut. The t-back of her sports bra cut between shapely trapezius muscles, and as she clawed at her chest he could see the muscles of her back ripple. He glimpsed a dark mark on her lower back, to the right of her spine and just above her belt, but he couldn’t tell what it was as Cate spun around. As she turned toward him Jon admired her trim waist and taut abs. And just above her belt buckle sat her navel, pierced with a small silver stud.

Cate expelled the piece of brass from her bra and it rolled toward Jon, clattering on the concrete. She turned her back to the men at the firing line, looking down her bra at the burn marks on her breasts. Jon swallowed hard as Cate stretched the u-neckline down almost to her nipples, forgetting she was facing him straight on. He could see several small red marks on her full breasts. Cate touched them carefully as she swore.

Then Jon saw it, and it stopped him cold. There, peeking out from under the left strap of Cate’s sports bra, was a tattoo. One that was instantly familiar to him, for he had seen it a million times. It was the Bon Jovi heart and dagger logo.

Holy Hell! As shocked as he was to see his brand on Cate’s body, Jon felt something else. He was dazed by the intensity of the emotions – pride, possessiveness, desire. His reaction validated what he had felt back in the supply room mere hours ago. He had gazed into her sapphire eyes and swore he could touch her soul. And now he knew why.

Because he already had.