Assassination Game Page 21

  “What did you think, Kirk?” said Lartal. “We’re not animals.”

  “Well, Bones,” Kirk said after they’d left Lartal and his mate. “This is one for our memoirs.”

  “Yeah,” McCoy said. “I think I’ll call this chapter ‘Heartbreak at Cavallo Point.’”

  “Still torn up about Nadja, Bones? Don’t be. She wasn’t the right girl for you. You know how I could tell?”

  “No.”

  “She stole your access code, tried to frame you for attempted murder, and then shot you.”

  “Thanks,” McCoy told him. “I’ll watch out for that in the future. In fact, I’ll lead with that next time. ‘Say, you don’t happen to be interested in me only because I have Level Two med-lab clearance and I’m a sucker for a pretty face, do you?’”

  “Aw, come on, Bones. You just need to find the right girl. As a matter of fact, me and Braxxy and a couple of the guys were thinking about hitting the Warp Core tonight….”

  “Oh no,” McCoy said. “I’m done with women for the foreseeable future. As in the next century.”

  They hopped a streetcar for Golden Gate and made their way to a pair of empty seats at the back.

  “Got your lab work to keep you warm, is that it?” Kirk said.

  “I’ll manage,” McCoy replied. “A lot better without women than with.”

  They sat down and found themselves staring into the eyes of the most beautiful girl Leonard McCoy had ever seen. She was curvy and petite, with short black hair the color of licorice and eyes the color of a New Orleans morning.

  “Hey,” Kirk said to the girl. “Aren’t you in my Interspecies Protocol class?”

  She smiled, her dimples forming little quasars of cute in her cheeks. “Yeah. I’m Amy Westin.”

  “Jim Kirk. This here’s Leonard McCoy. Say hello, Leonard.”

  “Huh? What?” McCoy said. He hadn’t been listening.

  He was head over heels in love.