Page 76 of Trapped With the Secret Agent

Peter stepped around behind her and put his hands over hers. One thumb slid a stubby black button down. “This is the safety. I just turned it off. If you want to fire you have to do that first, understand?”

Georgia nodded, “yes.”

“Other than that, it’s just point and shoot. Squeeze the trigger, don’t pull it, and be ready for the gun to kick after you’ve fired.”

“Kick?”

“It’ll kind of jump up and back from the force of firing the bullet, so you have to hang on tight. Shoot at your target’s chest, and don’t look into their eyes. You’ll hesitate.”

Georgia nodded again. “Ok.”

Ok?Nausea rolled over her like a steamroller on hot pavement. She’d just had her first lesson in how to shoot another human being. She wasnotok.

Peter slid the safety back on and stepped away from her. “Can you pull your sleeve down far enough to hide it?”

Georgia let the chador droop over the tips of her fingers. “Yes.”

Whispered voices and footsteps became audible from the wine cellar.

Peter picked up the rifle, sighted down the barrel, and pulled off the magazine on the bottom to see how many bullets there were left. After signaling her to stay where she was at the corner, he walked to the doorway. A SEAL poked his head in, saw Peter and disappeared. A second later a man in a dusty suit climbed over and into the tunnel, followed by three women, another man, and two more women.

“Thank you, thank you,” the first man said to Peter. Heedless of the rifle, he grabbed Peter’s hand and shook it. “I don’t know who you people are, but you’ve saved our lives.”

“You’re welcome, sir, but we’re not out of danger yet. It’s very important that you keep quiet. Sound carries a long way down here.”

“Where are we?” one of the women asked, looking around wide-eyed at the tunnel.

“This is an escape tunnel. It was built a long time ago.” Peter stuck his head out the door, but the wind cellar was empty. “Follow me.”

He led them as far as Georgia, standing at the corner.

The freed hostages stared at her.

Chapter Sixteen

“Georgia? Is that you?” the woman asked. Her face fell and tears rolled down her cheeks. “We thought you’d been killed.”

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