"Ouch," Declan said quietly as the branch hit him. It was early on Saturday morning and he was following Tom Foss through the trees and small brush leading to the hidden clearing that they used as a target range. "I think you take a different route each time just to make getting there more challenging"
'I don't want to make an obvious path. I don't like being predictable," Foss said.
"I know, I'm just complaining," Declan said. "Actually, I've been looking forward to this all week. Practicing using my gun saying 'bang, bang' gets old."
"Drills are important," Foss said. "You know that from basketball."
"I know, but that doesn't make them fun." Declan caught the next branch.
They got to their usual clearing and Declan set the small duffle down.
"As I told you, we are going to be practicing my variation of the 'El Presidente' drill today, this time with live ammo. The new thing you are going to have to work on is not flinching when the gun actually fires and using the recoil as part of your positioning. If you are firing a second shot at the same target you have to counteract it, if you are moving to a new target, you can let the momentum be part of your adjustment."
"And, I'll have to try to actually hit the target," Declan added.
"That's part of the exercise," Foss agreed. "Put a clip in your Glock and two or three of them in your left pocket. You know the drill. I'll put up the targets. Turn around. I want the first positioning to be a surprise."
Foss went from tree to tree, putting up five targets, making sure that bullets that missed the tree would go into the hill behind them. When he had finished, he went to the bag and got out a couple of pairs of ear muffs. He put on one pair and handed the other to Declan. When Declan had donned them, he said, "Go."
Declan turned, pulling the Glock from his pocket. He smoothly chambered the first round as he brought the gun up to the first target. He fired, let the barrel drop back down and fired again. He guided the barrel to the next target and repeated, at the end he ejected a clip while pulling the next from his pocket and loaded it, chambering a round and repeating. When he finished, he looked at Foss for comments.
"The drills really helped, that was much smoother," Foss said. "Now, let's see if you hit anything." He went over and examined the targets. When he came back he advised, "You only hit three of five targets, the first one twice. You are going to have to work on blending motion with being stable when actually squeezing the trigger. Put in another clip and let's do it again."
They repeated the drill several times, with Foss moving the targets from time to time. Finally, Foss called a halt to the process. "I think that's probably enough for now, you hit all five targets, two of them twice. I think you are either having trouble waiting for the barrel to come down or are already looking for the next target."
"I think I'm getting ready for the next target," Declan put the gun back in his pocket. "What now?"
Foss pointed at his pocket, "You just put your gun away with an empty clip. Put a fresh clip in."
"I thought we were done with the drill," Declan looked puzzled.
"Part of what we are practicing out here is the feeling of knowing you have a loaded gun in your pocket." Foss pointed to a fallen tree at one side of the clearing, "Let's sit down. There is something I want to talk to you about."
Declan put a fresh clip in his gun and followed Foss over to the tree. They sat and Foss told him about Brian Taylor being back on the scene and about his warning that Jessi might be in danger.
"Do you think someone will really try to kill Jessi?" Declan asked, troubled.
"I don't know," Foss shrugged. "I do know that Kyle and Jessi are looking into things involving powerful and dangerous people. The idea of targeting Jessi would be a logical way of making them stop. Whether it's a real threat or if Grace Kingsley is using it to get Brian to try to stop them I don't know. Someone shot Adam Baylin while I was protecting him. I'm not letting that happen to Jessi. We have to take this seriously."
Declan's hand touched the pocket holding his gun, "So all this," he gestured to the shooting range and targets, "may turn out to be for real?"
"It always was," Foss said.
"So what do we do?" Declan asked. "How do we make sure that doesn't happen?"
"We keep watching them. Be alert for anything unusual. With the added threat you have to take anything unusual seriously," Foss said.
"That's great," Declan chuckled, "we have to watch Kyle and Jessi and look for anything unusual. When are they not doing something unusual?"
Foss grinned grimly at him and got up, "Let's go get packed up. I think we're done for the day here. As they approached the duffel bag, he suddenly commanded, "Now! Fire at the targets!"
Declan looked at him confused for a moment, then awkwardly pulled out his Glock and started shooting. He ran through the drill. When he was done, he shook his head, "You caught me of guard, there."
"If you have to do it for real," Foss admonished, "no one is go to say 'get ready, set, go'. It's just going to happen – and people will die. Try not to be one of them."