Page 69 of Hidden Depths

“So let me get this straight. If a bad guy threatens me, I pull out the gun from who knows where and slide the top part back to load the weapon, hold it like this, then as he’s standing there patiently waiting for me to get my grip right, I pull the trigger once we’re all ready.”

“It’s not ideal.”

“No kidding.”

“But your only other option is for me to load it now. Then you’d be carrying around a loaded weapon with no safety except your finger.”

“What if I drop it?”

“You won’t.”

“But what if I do? What if I load it, then I drop it? I could shoot an innocent bystander.”

“The gun won’t fire unless you pull the trigger.”

“Are you sure? It’s never happened?”

“This is a newer gun. It’s safe. I promise.”

“Let’s say for argument’s sake that you load it now. Wouldn’t that be better?”

“That depends.”

“On what?”

“You’ll keep it in your bag. When you pull it out, can you avoid accidentally pulling the trigger? Because if you’re confident you can, we can go that way.”

“Oh. I don’t know. I don’t know if I can do this at all.”

“We’ve got to work with what we have.” He took the gun back and replaced the magazine. “There are only two rounds left, so you’ll have to make them count.”

“This gets better and better.”

“The second round will load automatically once you fire the first, so you don’t have to worry about racking the slide after the first time.”

She closed her eyes and cleared her mind. It was being overloaded by fear.God, please help me. I don’t know what to do.

“You okay?” Tom said.

“Yeah. I will be once this is all over.” Then, when she let out a slow breath, the anxiety went with it. “All right. I’ll take the gun.”

“I’m sure you won’t need to use it. It’s really more for my peace of mind. By the time anyone knows you’re still alive, you’ll be gone.”

“Assuming there’s a bus I can jump on.”

“We’ll deal with that when we have to.” He handed her back the weapon. “Put it in your bag, and keep your bag close. Don’t let it out of your sight.”

“You don’t have to worry about that.”

He gripped her arms. “You can do this. I know you can.”

“At least one of us thinks so.”

“Everything will be fine. You’ll see.”

“Well…I guess I can focus on that until I know differently. Thank you. Again. For everything.”

He tucked her hair behind her ear, then stepped back before he did anything else. “We need to go. Balthazar and Dodd, if he’s involved, will be waiting for a report from Dutch.”

---