'Let me see it.'
Feroandez came around the barrier, holding the .38 Special snubbie on
his palm, cylinder latch up.
Howard looked at the weapon. Stainless steel, two-inch barrel, plain
ramp-and-notch sight, nonadjustable. The grips were black plastic,
boot-style, cut small so as not to reveal a concealed weapon under a
thin jacket. The Chief was basically a smaller version of his
revolver, a J-frame to his K-frame, a five-shooter instead of a
six-honker. In the hands of an expert, this gun could certainly put
the bullets on target, but the short barrel and minimal sights made
such a thing difficult on a good day without a lot of practice. Julio
shouldn't be able to do it right out of the box.
'Satisfied?' He started to pull his hand away.
Howard grabbed the revolver and turned it over. When he did, he
noticed the little bulge at the top of the other grip panel. At the
same time, he felt the small button on the inside of the grip, under
his middle finger.
'And just what is this?' He pointed the gun downrange and squeezed the
grips.
A hundred meters away, a bright red spot appeared all the way out on
the back wall.
There' was a laser built into the grips.
'You cheating bastard. You set me up.'
Julio laughed.
'Gunny showed it to me before you got here. It's from somebody called
Crimson Trace--cool, ain't it? You adjust it with a tiny little Alien
wrench, right there, and up there, and it fits inside a regular
holster.
Doesn't add any appreciable mass or weight, and unlike a dot scope, you
don't even have to bring the weapon up to eye level, you can hip-shoot.
Gets a couple thousand rounds per set of batteries, and you can carry a
spare set in the other grip panel. They make 'em for K-frames, too, so
you could get them for the Medusa or the Smith.'
'You work for these people, too, Julio?'
Julio laughed again and pointed at the dancing dot.
'Old guys like us, we need some advantages. You can see that sucker a
couple hundred meters away in the dark and, according to Gunny, it
shows up okay at handgun combat range even in daylight. Wherever the
red spot is, that's where the bullet hits. If it's foggy or you're
worried about giving away your position, you can use the regular
sights, 'cause the laser don't get in the way. Gunny says they make
these for a whole bunch of guns, including my
Beretta. I'm gonna get one before Joanna has our kid and we have to
start putting away every penny for his college education.'
'God hates a cheater more than he does a sore loser.'
'No second-place winner in a gunfight, John. You know that. What do
you think about the Medusa?'
It wouldn't do to admit to Julio how much he liked it, so he said, 'I
can force myself to use it until Gunny gets the Smith back online.'
