Nobody likes You
7:30 AM
Sam pulled into the police parking lot. He was 1 hour early. Taking a smoke from the glove box, he lit it and closed his eyes taking a deep drag. The weekend had gone fast, a bit too fast. He was now back at the 15.
Another day in hell.
He opened his eyes, tock another drag, and tossed the smoke out of the window. Before getting out he looked in the mirror and said to the jagged reflection of himself ;
'nobody likes you, everybody hates you. Your gonna lose'
He looked down feeling alone, tired, betrayed and hurting like never before. A knot formed in his heart, and memories of her flooded to the front of his mind. Taking a deep breath, he looked up in to the mirror.
'smile you fuck'
Sam smiled into the mirror. A weak tired smile, but a smile never the less.
With that he went to work.
He got his bag and went in. He always arrived early so he could change in peace, without the looks and glares. Once he was changed he went out back to have a smoke. On his way Jerry saw him and nodded, walked a few feet and stopped and called out his name.
'Sam'
"Yeah Jerry, whats up'
Sam looked at Jerry. He looked embraced.
'The rookies are having their pistol re-qualifying test today, first thing'.
'So?'
'Best wants you there'
Sam Sighed, this is not what he needed right now.
'Ok, who am I testing?'
'Your not, Shaw is the supervisor'
Jerry bit his lip before adding ' your re-qualifying;
Sam looked at him in disbelief. So Best really didn't trust him. Jerry rushed away after uttering 'good luck'.
Sam stood there, not sure what to do. He tock a breath and went to the range. Arriving all the rookies where there, including Andy. Andy was 3 rows down, after Nash, Dov and Chris. She turned to him and had a worried look on her face. She began to walk towards him when Shaw came up to him and laid a hand on his shoulder as if to say sorry, but Sam shot back with a look that could kill.
Shaw nodded feeling a ping of guilt for his old friend. Andy couldn't stop looking at him. She just stared at him as if waiting to say something. This bothered him. Was she ok, did she need his help. He had tried to push her away, but who was he kidding, he was there for her, and always will be, no matter how much it hurt him.
The first drill was pretty simple. Shot the bad the guy. When Shaw shouted the 'make ready' order, Sam did what he had been practicing for the past 3 months at the range. Putting the Glock 17 into his workspace, he loaded the gun, power stroked the slide and did a press check, and hit the back of the slide to make sure it was in batter, all in one smooth flow. The rookies and Shaw noticed this and also noticed how Sam had relaxed in the last few seconds. Over the past few months everyone had seen Sam with draw from the group. Even Andy had seen it, and she had tried to speak to him, but she was unsure what to say to him. According to Luke he had killed 2 people in cold blood. On a few occasions she had driven over to his place but had not gone in. She was confused. Yes Luke had saved her, but her feelings for Sam had not gone away.
Shaw called the first shot command. Sam drew, fired 2 from the low ready and 2 from the high ready. He then pulled back doing a search and assess. All 4 bullets when where they were meant to. When he was happy that he was clear he did a press check and hostler up. It tock him a moment to realize that everyone was staring at him. No one fired a round expect for him. Shaw looked at him and asked him matter of fact
'what the hell was that ?'
Sam responded confidently
' 2 to the body, 2 to the head, job done'
and motioned towards the target. All the rookies looked at the target and saw that indeed 2 shots, close, millimeters apart where in the body and 2, again millimeters apart where in the head. Shaw looked impressed, if a little scared. Andy just stared at Sam. After all the months apart she looked at him like she didn't even know him, but she needed to speak to him, badly.
Shaw continued
'OK, next drill, unload your weapons and give me 15 press ups.
Sam thought to himself 'Shaw you never change'. While a few of the rookies sighed he just got on with it, dropping to the ground and doing the press ups as fast as he could. He got up loaded his issue Glock 17 and again fired 2 to the hear 2 to the body and then jumped about 1/2 foot back and fired 6 to the head, in the same hole.
Andy was still on the floor and because of the shots she had fumbled and slipped. He holstered up and walked over, held out his hand to her. She tock it and pulled her self up, with him supporting her weight as she did. She rose and looked into his eyes. This was the closest that they had been since the the shooting, not that she would know it. He looked down and tock a deep breath.
She was millimeters away and wanted nothing more than to hold him, than to kiss him, tell him that everything was going to be ok. That she had figured it out. Shaw then shouted to Sam
'OK, I think your done here, well done, now get to parade'
Sam looked at him dead on, but Shaw was not able to meet his look. Sam looked down at Andy and then at her hand which was still holding his. His thumb went other her hand ran across her and. He was expecting her to pul back, but she didn't, she just looked down at his hand and looked back at him. He relished the feel of her skin and she was on tip toes. It had been so long since he had touched her, or even spoken to her. He looked up and met her eyes. For a second he though he saw care, compassion, understanding but he knew that she couldn't, how could she. What had happened was closed, know to the many, understood by a few and she was not one of them.
He tock a breath and let go, turned, square at the at the target, did a tactical reload and then walk out of the rang, not looking back.
Shaw just looked at him, walking out. He had witnessed the whole thing, as had all the rookies. He walked up to Andy and saw that a tears were staring to form. He looked at her. He was unsure of what was going on, but he knew, like everyone else that Sam loved her and that she loved him. What he was trying to figure out was who was that guy. It wasn't Sammy for sure. Andy looked at Shaw and he knew what he had to do. With a calm voice he told her that she was done, good job and she was free to go.
INDEX -
The shooting system that Sam uses in this chapter is know as counter axis re-lock, or CAR. It is designed for closer quarter battles and is used by special forces units the world over, but is never used by police officers due level of skill it takes to employ it properly. The 'low ready' position is where the gun is drawn and sits against your stomach, enabling you to get good accurate body shots very quickly. The high ready is when your bring the gun up, but it is within readying distance of your eye and your using your weak eye to aim (right hand, left eye/ left hand right eye)