Page 35 of Over the Top

He yanked the pistol up at the last possible second, shocked that it didn’t actually fire. He released the trigger carefully and made sure the weapon was safe before he lowered it. He couldn’t say the same for his heart. It pounded like a jackhammer in his chest as he straightened in disgust and moved into the living room.

“I almost shot you,” he bit out.

Chas set down several bags of groceries on the counter and turned, staring at the weapon gripped in his fist. “I thought you might want something to eat when you woke up. The only restaurant around here is the one up at the main lodge, and I figured you wouldn’t want to be seen there, particularly not with me and Poppy.”

Gunner sighed and shrugged into his shoulder holster. When he’d buckled the leather harness in place, he stuck the gun in it.

Chas started unpacking groceries and asked, “Don’t you worry about shooting your own ass with your gun tucked in your pants like that?”

“It has a safety. I wouldn’t stick a gun in my pants if it didn’t. Some of the Sig Sauer models don’t come with safeties, for example. You always use a holster with one of them. Otherwise you do risk shooting off some important body part.”

“How would I know if the safety was on or off if I looked at your gun?”

Gunner moved over to the kitchen counter and drew the weapon. “Some weapons have a grip safety or a decocker, but mine has a simple thumb safety. See this little lever here? If it’s pointed down, like this, the weapon is safe. If I flip it up, like this, pointing down the barrel, it’s off. You can remember it by thinking of it pointing in the direction a bullet would travel if the trigger were pulled. It would stay down in the clip if the safety is pointing down, but would travel down the barrel and fire if the safety is pointing forward.”

“I’m still stuck on what a decocker might be,” Chas murmured.

Gunner snorted in humor.

“Is Poppy still asleep?” Chas asked.

“Jesus. I haven’t checked on her. I woke up when your car drove up and headed straight out here.”

“To kill me.”

“Well, to kill the intruder I thought you were.”

“Why not try to apprehend one of the bad guys? Make him talk? Find out what they want with Poppy and me?”

Gunner shrugged. “We could. But it’s not as easy or pretty as it is on TV to get a prisoner to spill their guts. You have to be prepared to do some bad things to break a really determined prisoner, or you have to be super patient and prepared to take your time earning their trust. Either way, it’s messy and time-consuming.”

“That’s disappointing,” Chas replied.

Gunner moved swiftly to the second bedroom, which had come with a crib, and checked on Poppy, who was sprawled on her stomach with her face mashed against the mattress. She clutched the stuffed elephant and drooled a little in her sleep.

“She’s passed out like a cheap drunk,” he announced, returning to Chas’s side.

“She’s not a cheap drunk,” Chas declared. “Well, she probably would be at this age, but don’t ever give her alcohol, okay?”

“Never,” Gunner agreed. “Watchya got in the bags?” His stomach was growling something fierce.

“Nothing fancy. This place doesn’t have much by way of cooking equipment. When we get back to my place in Misty Falls, I’ll cook you a dinner that’ll make you weep with joy. But for now, you’re getting hamburgers.”

“I’ll take ’em.”

They worked together for the next few minutes, Gunner mashing hamburger into patties and frying them while Chas thin-sliced potatoes and fried them. When he pulled the fries out of the pot, he sprinkled them expertly with some sort of spice combination.

“You some kind of gourmet chef these days?” Gunner asked in surprise.

“I don’t know about being a gourmet, but I do like to cook, and I know what kind of wine to serve with what food.”

“I probably shouldn’t tell you about eating bugs, then, should I?”

“Why on earth would you do that?” Chas responded in horror.

“When you’ve got no food, you make do.”

“You always have the means to hunt or fish or something, don’t you?”

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