the target to the right, barely on the edge.
Two.
'Don't feel bad,' Ventura said.
'Trained cops miss at this range. Ever see the video of the state cops
who stopped a couple of guys in a truck for an expired license?
Guys were guilty of other crimes, so they came out with guns. The
truck passenger and one cop faced each other from twelve feet, each
fired five or six times, nobody hit anything. If somebody is pointing
a gun at you, it's a lot worse than shooting at a target that won't
shoot back.
Adrenaline makes your hand muscles twitch funny.'
Morrison shook his head.
'Try this one. Smith and Wesson Model 317, an Air-light.'
He handed the gun to Morrison.
'It's not very heavy.'
'Aluminum, mostly. Just under ten ounces. Holds eight rounds of .22
caliber.'
Morrison took another deep breath, indexed the little gun, pulled the
trigger, one, two} The revolver jumped a little, but not much, and when
he looked at the target, there were two small holes in the center, no
more than an inch or two apart. Hey!
'Again. This time, keep pulling the trigger until the gun stops
shooting.'
Morrison obeyed.
This time, he was able to see the holes as they appeared in the
cardboard. They weren't very big, but all of them were clustered in
the center, except for one, and it was only a few inches above the
others. The clicking of the hammer on empty came as a surprise.
'Very good. This is your weapon,' Ventura said.
'It's light, simple to operate, almost no recoil. It doesn't have any
real stopping power, but a solid hit from a small-caliber round is a
lot better than a miss from a hand cannon.'
Morrison looked at the gun.
'Here is how to reload it, though I don't expect you'll get that far if
you need it. If it's one guy, point and shoot until he falls down or
goes away. If it's more than one, give them two rounds each, then
repeat. We'll practice that, double-taps.'
But they didn't get to double-tap practice. The sound of Morrison's
cell phone ringing was clearly audible through the electronic sound
suppressors.
That would be the Chinese calling.
Morrison removed the earphones and thumbed the receive button on the
phone.
'Hello,' he said.
'Hey, Pat! What say we take that car of yours for a test drive? I
know just the place.'
As Morrison listened to Wu, Ventura reloaded the Air-light, then handed
it to him. With a cell phone in one hand and a gun in the other, it
suddenly seemed to Morrison that the summer evening's warmth had just
