Witness in the Dark (Love Under Fire #1)(30)

The gun hit her in the shoulder with the force of dynamite.

“Holy hell!” she yelled, and looked down to make sure her arm was still attached to her body. Her ears were ringing as she blinked a few times. This was definitely no BB gun.

She shook it off, and peered through the scope at the target. At the very top right-hand corner, there was a hole smaller than she would have expected after experiencing the force of the gun.

“I hit the target,” she said proudly. “Barely, but I hit it.”

Garrett appeared vaguely pleased. “Maybe they didn’t give those marksman awards out to all the kids,” he said. From a drawer in the table he produced something similar to a pair of headphones and handed it to her. “Always wear ear protection. I let you take that first shot without, just so you’d know how loud it is and wouldn’t be taken by surprise in an emergency.”

She took the headgear. “Okay.”

“Come get me when you get at least five shots in the center circle, or you run out of bullets, whichever comes first.” He walked away.

She sighed and fiddled with the knob until the bolt came back and discharged the empty shell casing. She didn’t know how many shells were in the gun, but the box held twenty rounds.

She slid on the ear protection, repositioned herself, and concentrated.

“Breathe out right before you shoot,” he called over his shoulder.

She did as he suggested, and got the hole an inch closer to the innermost circle.

An hour later, she’d finished rest of the box, and had eight holes in the center of the target. If five was good, eight was better. Right?

Her shoulder ached like a bitch and her arm was tingling from the repeated shots as she carried the gun up the slope and into the house. She was going to be black and blue for a week. Not that she was complaining. It was a small price to pay for feeling a lot safer.

Garrett was on his computer when she walked up, showing off the target.

“Nice,” was all he said. Then he handed her a handgun, a box of rounds, and a new target. “Nine millimeter. Come back when you have ten in the center.”

When she sighed, he raised a brow, waiting for her to protest.

Not a chance.

“Remember to keep your entire thumb away from the slide. It can take it right off.”

With a curt nod, she turned and left the house to go back down to the range.

Pissing him off was not an option. He was the only person she could trust at the moment, and she wasn’t going to lose him simply because she couldn’t check her attitude and follow instructions.

She pinned the new target to the fence and stood holding the smaller gun like she’d seen in cop movies, remembering his warning about her thumb.

The gun didn’t kick as much as the rifle, but it took her a few tries hit the target.

Finally, she had ten in the center with only two bullets to go.

She walked into the house with the empty box, the gun, and the target. She didn’t expect him to be impressed, so she wasn’t too disappointed when he glanced over the target quickly.

“Here.” He handed her the rifle. “I cleaned it. Take it back. When you get home, I’ll make dinner.” He said it as if the task would be as easy as retrieving the mail from the mailbox.

“It’s dark,” she said, glancing over at the window. Not to mention she was already starving. It had been a long day. “Can I take a flashlight?”

He bent and looked up through the large windows. “The moon’s nearly full. You won’t need a flashlight. Hurry up, I’m hungry.”

She swallowed nervously as he handed her the rifle. Okay, then. Instead of begging him to reconsider, she turned and strode out the door.

She could do this.





Chapter Twenty


As Garrett had said, the moon was almost full. But it only made the woods more frightening. The moonlight cast strange and eerie shadows across the already menacing terrain.

Everything looked like something else. Something drooling and snarling…

Sam understood irrational fear. But that didn’t make it any easier to picture a showdown with a snake or a bear…or to take a stroll through the woods at night while carrying a loaded rifle.

“Get it together, girl,” she told herself sternly. “There’s nothing out here. And you have a frickin’ gun.”

With that, she climbed over the railing and scurried up the side of the hill onto the flat section of trail.

“Turn left at the arrow. Turn left at the arrow,” she murmured.

The moonlight was shining toward her, illuminating the opposite sides of the trees. So damned helpful. It took about six passes before she finally felt her way to the arrow, groping every damned tree along the way.

When she turned off the path and into the woods for real, she froze. There were sounds. Things were moving. Wolves? Bears?

Howe’s henchmen?

She ducked behind a tree and listened. And listened.

Nothing. Just the leaves rustling, and a few crickets. And her vivid imagination.

She got up and continued. She found the tree that was down. Up close, she noticed that it hadn’t fallen from natural causes. It was clear someone had deliberately chopped it down with an ax and left it lying there.

Backing up, she turned about ten yards from the tree, and went downhill. In daylight, she would have been able to see the big tree where she would make an abrupt right and keep going until she saw the shack. But now, in the dark, she couldn’t see a blessed thing.