Saturday night

The House

I was feeling very depressed and at that moment the last person that I wanted to see was Mindy.

Dad was downstairs talking to Damon and I was in my room, sulking. Mindy, though, looked unhappy – which was a surprise. I was expecting Mindy to gloat and take the piss out of me, as she often did when I screwed something up!

"Dave, I'm sorry it didn't go according to plan," Mindy said morosely.

"What have you to be unhappy about?" I asked.

"If you couldn't do it, then what chance in hell do I have?"

"Oh!" Was all that I could say in reply.

"What did your Dad say?"

"Nothing much, just said that I'd get it the next time."

"You will – I know you will," Mindy said with one of her sweet smiles.

"Thanks, Mindy."

Mindy always had faith in my abilities.

Four weeks later
Friday night

This time our Dad's weren't taking any chances!

We were all but strip-searched before we went out; so no cell phone and no additional candy. Never mind, we would manage. Mindy, though, moaned the whole damn way in the car! We had nothing but what we were wearing, which was not exactly much.

A bonus was that it would not be dark for another hour or so. Mindy and I therefore got ourselves sorted out and found a good place to spend the night. I then let Mindy start a fire and we settled down to talk, as it got dark.

After a couple of hours of telling jokes – Mindy knew some really dirty ones – we fell asleep.

Mindy screamed.

I awoke with a start and looked over to see Mindy being dragged off by a large man. Unlike the last time, the man was not Damon, nor was it my Dad!

"Mindy!"

"Dave – help me!" Mindy screamed, as she was dragged further into the wood.

I had to think quickly.

Dad had left me a small pack that he said should only be used in an emergency – this was an emergency. I grabbed the pack and ran after the man and Mindy. I could not see much in the darkness, but I could hear Mindy's screams. I stopped and unzipped the pack and found several items, one of which I recognised as a Walther P22 pistol. I grabbed it, and after a brief check, found it to have a full magazine. I reinserted the magazine and chambered a round.

Once I had swung the pack onto my back, I continued through the darkened woods and came across a small clearing. Mindy was lying on the ground and the man was aiming a pistol at her head.

"Shut up, bitch or I will fucking shoot ya!" The man snarled.

Mindy was no longer screaming, but she was crying. It was very rare for Mindy to cry nowadays, unless she hurt herself. She was also well aware that tears got her nowhere, with any of us – not since that day that I slapped her.

I had to do something. I had to help Mindy. But what could I do? I looked down at the pistol that I was holding with both hands. Could I do it? Could I do it to save Mindy's life?

I moved forwards and got closer to the clearing. The man was busy securing Mindy's hands behind her back. I raised the pistol and aimed it at the man's chest.

"Dave – save me – please!" Mindy screamed, when she saw me.

The man span around and fumbled for his pistol.

I took a deep breath, thumbed off the safety and squeezed the trigger five times. The man fell backwards, blood spilling from the holes in his chest. I then ran forward and put three more rounds into the man's face.

He was well and truly, dead!

Mindy looked so happy to see me and completely ignored the freshly killed man beside her. I pulled the pack off my back, dived into it, and pulled out a knife. I then cut Mindy's bindings and set her free.

Mindy grabbed me around the waist and hugged me tightly.

"Thanks Dave, I love you!"

"I love you, too, Mindy!"

After several minutes Mindy let go of me and we started walking back to our little campsite.

"Dave, please don't tell Daddy – but – I peed myself," Mindy said apologetically.

"No problem – our secret."

Eighty yards away, I breathed a sigh of relief.

I gently laid down the sniper rifle that was fitted with a night scope and smiled. Damon and I had watched every movement that the man had made. If he made a single wrong move, one of us would have dropped him. At least one of us always had a line of sight on the man's head. The kids were never in any mortal danger. Danger, yes, but not mortal danger – there was a difference.

Ten minutes later Damon laid down beside me with his own rifle.

"Damn good, James – your boy was perfect!"

"It was a nice tight grouping on the man's chest – perfect marksmanship!" I replied.

Neither of us gave a shit about the dead man that we had persuaded to kidnap Mindy. Not that it had taken much persuasion – Mindy was, apparently and more than a little disturbingly, just his type!

We would call in the dead body, after the kids were safely back home in the morning and after the pistol had been safely disposed of.

Damon took the first watch, while I fell asleep where I lay.

The following morning
Saturday

Damon had picked us up soon after dawn.

I had helped Mindy get changed into dry clothes before she had gone back to sleep. She had insisted on cuddling into me though for the rest of the night though.

Damon asked how things had been.

"Nothing major," I replied sarcastically. "Mindy got kidnapped and I shot a guy!"

"Oh right!" Damon said with a smirk.

Mindy looked at me, a little confused. I smelt a setup!

"Where's Dad?" I asked.

"Busy – we're gonna go get some breakfast," Damon replied.

Mindy scowled.

I sensed that she could tell that something was amiss, too.

Safehouse A

After breakfast we did not go home – we went to the safehouse.

There, I found Dad and he was grinning from ear to ear.

"Well done Dave!" Dad said. "You did brilliantly!"

"It was a setup?" I asked, although I thought that I knew the answer.

"Kind of, yes..." Dad replied.

"You've made your first kill, boy," Damon said. "Don't feel bad – that man deserved every goddamn round!"

I smiled at the compliments – unware of exactly what was happening. Dad then moved me over to the large table, on which was a white sheet. Something was underneath the sheet and that something was green and yellow.