He took a second suppressor from the holdall and attached it to Thompson’s weapon.
‘And they don’t affect the accuracy?’ asked Kettering.
‘Not so you’d notice,’ said Shepherd. He looked at Sharpe. ‘Do you want to set up the target, yeah?’
‘Okay, just make sure no one gets trigger happy while I’m doing it. How far?’
‘A hundred metres should do it,’ said Shepherd.
Sean was looking at the suppressors and frowning. ‘Where did you get them from?’ he asked.
‘That’s for me to know, mate,’ said Shepherd.
‘That’s pretty specialised kit.’
‘And we’re pretty specialised suppliers,’ said Shepherd.
‘You get them made here? Or overseas?’
‘Sean, mate, that’s need-to-know and you don’t need to know.’
Sharpe paced out a hundred steps and then stood the target up. He looked around, picked up a few large rocks and used them to weigh down the bottom of the target. He waved at Shepherd. ‘Okay!’
‘Why don’t you put an apple on your head and we’ll do that William Tell thing?’ shouted Shepherd.
‘Yeah, and why don’t I bend over and let you kiss my hairy Scottish arse?’ shouted Sharpe as he walked back. ‘And tell then to keep those things pointing at the ground until I’m out of the way.’
‘Jeez, I shoot him in the leg once and trust just goes out of the window,’ said Shepherd.
‘Are you serious?’ asked Thompson.
‘Of course he isn’t,’ said Kettering.
‘He has a point, though,’ said Shepherd. ‘Keep the safeties on, fingers out of the trigger guards and barrels down at the ground. We did have a prick down in London who let rip with a Mac-10 by mistake a few months back. Geordie guy. Could hardly understand a word he said but he looked like he knew about guns so we gave him a bit of leeway. Next thing we know he pulls the trigger on full automatic and twenty rounds go everywhere.’ He nodded at Sharpe. ‘Almost blew his nuts off.’
‘What about the Mac-10?’ asked Kettering as he looked at the AK-47.
‘Pray and spray,’ said Shepherd. ‘Very short barrel so the accuracy is shit. Gang bangers like them because they see them in the movies and because they’re easy to hide. They use them a lot in drive-bys — they shove them through an open window and pull the trigger until the magazine’s empty. But nine times out of ten you won’t hit the target.’ He pointed at the AK-47. ‘That’s a lot more accurate because you can put it to your shoulder and use the sights. If you need something a bit more compact you can get a folding stock. Of course, if you want Mac-10s I can get you Mac-10s. The customer’s always right.’ He looked at Sean. ‘What do you think?’
Sean nodded in agreement. ‘Yeah, wouldn’t touch a Mac-10 with a barge pole. The Yugo’s way better.’
Kettering laughed. ‘That’s good to hear,’ he said. He turned to face the target. ‘So, safety off, right?’
‘You got it,’ said Shepherd.
Kettering flicked the safety off, put the stock against his shoulder and looked through the sights.
‘It’s set for single fire,’ said Shepherd. ‘Don’t want you to blow the target apart the first go.’
Kettering aimed and pulled the trigger. There was a bang, muffled but loud, but the target seemed to be unscathed.
‘You went high,’ said Shepherd. ‘Grip tighter with your left hand.’
Kettering did as he was told and fired again. This time a small hole appeared dead centre of the chest.
‘Nice,’ said Shepherd.
‘Killed him stone dead,’ said Thompson.
‘Not bad,’ agreed Sean, standing with his hands on his hips.
Kettering fired off the rest of the clip and most of them hit the target. The grouping wasn’t impressive but Shepherd knew that the size of the AK-47’s bullet meant that any shot to the chest at that range was pretty much guaranteed to be fatal.
When he’d finished, Shepherd checked that the weapon was safe before allowing Thompson to fire at the target. Thompson was far less proficient with the weapon and his first six shots all went wide.
‘The bloody sights are off,’ said Thompson.
‘Try sighting with your other eye,’ said Shepherd. ‘Generally one eye’s better than the other. And just because you’re right-handed doesn’t mean you’ll aim better with your right eye.’
Thompson changed eyes and his next shot hit the target right between the eyes. Thompson whooped like an excited kid. ‘Now we’re talking,’ he said, and he fired off another half-dozen shots; all but one went high.
‘Squeeze the trigger, don’t pull it,’ said Shepherd. ‘And you’re anticipating the recoil.’
‘What does that mean?’ asked Thompson, looking through the sights.
‘You know it’s going to kick so you pull against it but that just makes it worse. You need to be stable with a firm grip, and squeeze slowly.’
‘Okay, okay, I’ve got it,’ said Thompson and he fired off the rest of the clip. He got another shot into the head of the target, one to the chest and two to the groin. Shepherd realised it would take hours on the range to get the man anywhere near proficient with the weapon.
‘How about letting Sean have a go?’ asked Kettering.
‘No problem,’ said Shepherd. He slotted in a fresh magazine and handed the weapon to Sean.
Sean brought the weapon up smoothly, sighted on the target and in the space of three seconds put six shots into the heart. He nodded appreciatively at Shepherd. ‘Nice,’ he said. He sighted again, took a couple of seconds to steady himself and put another six shots into the head of the target.
‘Fucking show-off,’ said Roger. ‘Sign of a misspent youth, that is.’
‘Do you want a go?’ asked Sean.
‘I can’t shoot for shit,’ said Roger. ‘I’m a lover, not a fighter.’
They all laughed as Sean emptied the magazine into the target.
When he’d finished Shepherd took the weapon from him, pulled out the magazine, checked that the breech was clear and handed it to Sharpe, who put it back in the Range Rover.
‘See, if you were firing Mac-10s you wouldn’t get a single shot in the target from this range,’ Shepherd said to Kettering. ‘And they have a tendency to jam. It’s horses for courses. But, like I said, the customer is always right.’
‘These suppressor things, how much are they?’ asked Kettering.
‘Negotiable,’ said Shepherd. ‘There isn’t much call for them, frankly.’
‘What if we wanted one for each gun?’
‘You want forty suppressors?’ asked Sharpe.
‘If the price is right, yeah,’ said Kettering.
Shepherd rubbed his chin. ‘That might take time,’ he said. ‘There’s not a huge call for them so they’re made to order. Usually a hundred.’
‘A hundred quid?’ said Kettering.
‘There’s no production line and it’s not as if they can be subcontracted out to China or India,’ said Shepherd. ‘But if you order forty we can maybe do the lot for two grand. I’ll have to check.’
‘Two grand is more like it,’ said Kettering. He looked at Sean. ‘What do you think?’
‘It’s specialist kit, no question about that,’ he said. ‘And it does the business. Cuts the noise right down.’
‘If you don’t mind me asking, why do you need suppressors for all of them?’ said Shepherd. He held out his hands and Kettering passed him the weapon.
Kettering shrugged as Shepherd pulled the magazine out and made the gun safe. ‘Just thought they’d be a good idea. Easier to. .’ He shrugged again.
‘We just want them,’ said Thompson. ‘Not a problem, is it?’
Shepherd grinned and put the gun into the crate. ‘Nothing’s a problem so long as you’ve got the readies.’
‘Can you deliver the suppressors when you deliver the guns?’
Shepherd looked across at Sharpe. ‘What do you think?’
Sharpe wrinkled his nose. ‘We might have to kick them up the arse, but yeah, we should be able to manage that.’
Shepherd turned back to Kettering. ‘Seems like we’ve got a deal, right?’
