33. Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-One
Noah
Smitty, TJ, Derby, and I head out to the gun range. I know Tripline was going to teach me, but since they’re off on a mission, Derby said she’d show me the basics. Smitty also said he needed a refresher course. Some of the prospects followed us so they could practice.
Derby comes out with a smile on her face carrying two cases. One looks like a guitar case and the other one looks like it could hold a laptop. I smooth my hands down my sweatpants as I’m a little nervous. My father never wanted us to use guns because that is what his security team was for and why we pay for police.
“I brought you a couple of handguns so you can get the feel of them and then I brought one of Smitty’s favorite. It’s the sniper rifle. He’s going to show you how to use the scope and all the fancy things. I’m more of a handgun and knife girl myself.” Derby pulls out her purple butterfly knife. I raise my eyebrow. “Just because it gets bloody doesn’t mean I can’t have some fun with it, lawyer boy.” She teases me. In the time since moving here, Derby and I have this fun brother and sister banter. We tease each other but know we got each other’s backs no matter what.
“Pretty knife got it. Just don’t go for my dick. Medusa seems to like it.” I wink at her. I hear a gag from the doorway. TJ is standing there. “Oops.” Derby giggles. “All right, let's get this party started.” I wiggle my eyebrows as Derby rolls her eyes at me. TJ comes to stand with us with his own gun case.
“Please remember it’s my sister you are talking about. I don’t need to know this shit.” TJ gags making all of us laugh. Derby runs me through loading and unloading a gun, putting the bullet in the chamber, and the safety on and off. She shows me how to use the sights to aim at the target.
“Now just breathe and when you get ready to shoot, breathe out, and pull the trigger. Easy peasy.” Derby, I don’t think I can ever call her Ruby again, shows me how to stand. I put the outer ear protection on and pull the trigger as I breathe out.
“Damn, you have skill.” I take off my protective gear as Smitty stands behind me. “You got the fucker right through the throat.”
“Not bad for beginner’s luck.” I shrug. TJ and Derby are talking about something. “Should I keep shooting?” I motion with my head toward the two talking.
“Yeah. Keep shooting and if you have any questions, I’m here. Once you’re good on these handguns then we will move on to the sniper rifle.” I spend the next hour shooting the different handguns Derby brought for me as there are a lot of bullets for me to use. I’m enjoying the feel of the gun in my hand. Smitty gives me pointers. “I also want to get you into a Scenario Based Training course so you can learn to dynamically shoot while in motion. It’s better to be prepared for battle than you being a target.”
“How did you get to know all of this?” I ask him.
“My past. One night over some whiskey I’ll tell you how I met Amelia. It’s a doozy of a story.” He smiles but his eyes are vacant. There’s something bad that happened and I’m afraid to find out how fucked this group really is and if I can protect my girl. I shake my head to get out of my thoughts and back into the present. Smitty is ready to teach me the sniper rifle. “In my opinion, this will be your specialty. You have great accuracy and precision with handguns.” I smile at him. I want to make this man proud of me, and I’ve only known him for about six months.
“Let’s do this then.”