Ferret Girl Ch. 02

Out in the garage, Kate watched the way that he stopped to stare a little at the two armoured cars for a moment. She waited and said nothing while he walked around them looking. Finally, he stopped and looked down as he shook his head a little.

"What is it?" she asked and he looked over at her with a wide grin, "I heard that these had been hired and that they were on the way. The rumors move the way that they always move through a group of people anywhere, and so, I listened at every step, of course. Then they were here, but no one had seen one."

He turned, "I have always liked these. But I only ever saw them in a museum once, and they were a lower mark than these. You have worked a miracle if you were the one who kept them going."

Kate nodded, taking the compliment at full value, "I did have help, Jürgen, but I can say that if it comes down to who did the most, then I have to take the credit there. The one on the left belongs to the museum that I work for. The one on the right is mine."

He tried not to stare when he'd heard that, but he did turn to give Fanny another once-over and he turned back then, grinning and pointing at the Ferret Girl motif on the side of the turret.

She asked him and he laughed in admiration.

"Do you like it?" she asked and he laughed again with a nod, "Ja naturlich, I mean uh, yes, naturally."

She showed him to the long crates and they got started. He had the lids off the crates in no time and just set to it after asking her if she had the mountain of rags that the job would require. As he worked, she made a few trips back into the house to keep up with their combined need of caffeine.

He kept up a simple running monologue as he instructed her. When he was done with the first, he looked around and chuckled, finding that the other gun had come with a bipod. It was still covered in grease, but that was no trouble to clean off and then he sat back on his heels and admire the machine gun as it sat on the floor of the shop.

They looked at each other and he smiled.

Kate looked at the weapon and then back at Jürgen, "This one's for me to do, right?"

He shook his head, "No, I will do that one too."

But his expression changed to one of surprise a moment later as Kate set to it. She knew what a look like his had said. Her watching him had been a bit of a test to see if he could do this. Now he was setting her an unspoken test as well. She didn't mind.

"I may need you for a little help in case I've forgotten anything," she said with a smile that intrigued him, "this sort of thing requires repetition to really learn well, and I've only seen it once, haven't I?"

He nodded and got to his feet for a clean rag to wipe his hands better. He watched her intently as he walked around to get a better look now and then while he sipped his coffee.

"I need more coffee," she said from her kneeling position with the thing spread out now cleaned and ready to be assembled. Jürgen brought her the mug and a rag for her hands. She shook her head a little.

"No, just hold it for me while I sip it, if you wouldn't mind, Jürgen. I'm afraid that I'll forget something important if I stop now."

With a nod, he fed her sips of coffee whenever she asked and twice he had to grin when she raised her face to look at him with a drop of coffee on her chin. He got it with the rag each time and she thanked him.

She almost had it the first try. Jürgen was astounded.

"Stop there," he advised, "that pin is reversed. Like that, it will fire only once and then jam." He showed her where she'd gone wrong, and she nodded.

"Really well done," he grinned, "I was at it for more than an hour my first time with this type. I had the book and everything – and I also reversed that pin."

"Thank you," she smiled, knowing the compliment was genuine, "I wanted to try now because if I'm in charge. I'm supposed to be able to – "

He held up his hand, still smiling, "Of course. I understand," he said.

She corrected her error and it went like butter after that. They locked up the weapons and she led him back inside the cottage.