Page 28 of Lethal Game

She took up a firing position, but this time Con kicked at her feet until they were shoulder-width apart and pressed down on her shoulders until her knees were slightly bent. She took aim, and he nodded at the improved stance.

She fired, giving herself a full second between shots to resettle her aim. This time her shots were all concentrated below the waist.

Con snorted at the holes in the target.

She grinned at him.

He had her reload her weapon and made more small corrections to her stance. “That’s it, slow and easy.” He had to shout, but it was better than pulling her out of position every time to suggest a correction. “Take your time and aim for mid-chest.”

She sucked in a breath at the same time she squeezed the trigger. The shot penetrated the target’s shoulder.

“Try breathing out and firing just as the air is all gone. There’s a moment then when you’re as still as you’re going to be.”

She nodded, her hair, tightly pulled back into a bun, brushing his cheek. She let the air out of her lungs and fired. It hit dead center.

She let out an excited yip, screwing up her next two shots, but then she settled down and began hitting the target mid-chest consistently again.

By the time they were done, it was lunchtime and Con was hot, bothered, and bad-tempered about it.

Sophia wore a huge grin on her face and preened as they made their way to the food court. As soon as she saw Eugene and Max she rushed over to tell them about her success in the shooting range.

“You’re not a sniper yet,” Con told her, nudging her shoulder with his. “But with some practice I think you’ll be a good shot.”

Eugene gave her a high five, and while Max attempted to look repressive, he also couldn’t hide his pleased smile when he said, “Excellent. Perhaps you could give Eugene and me a lesson or two as well.”

Sophia snorted. “You’d need a lot more than a couple of lessons, Max.” She turned to Con and said, “He doesn’t even hit the target most of the time. Eugene’s pretty good, though.”

“Sounds like you need an intensive refresher,” Con said to Max. “I’m not sure I have time for that.”

“He’s getting his own instructor in a few weeks,” Eugene put in. “But I’d like to ask a few questions about firearms.”

Yup, he was working with a bunch of geeks. And that was okay. They needed him just as much as he needed them.

“No problem, Gene. Do you want time on the range?”

“Not right now. Things are busy at the lab.” The way he said it, with a quick look at his boss, told Con things were moderately shitty at the lab, and were likely to get shittier.

“We can talk shop after lunch,” Con told him.

“Sounds good, Conman.”

Conman. The nickname his old team had given him.

Everything he’d just eaten turned to cold stone in his stomach as he was thrown back to the last happy moment before the blast. His best buddy was telling a joke and Con had interrupted to correct the punch line.

“Don’t you believe the Conman,”Wayne had said, laughing to everyone else.

All he remembered after that was noise, pain, and darkness.

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