“I see. Sounds…stimulating.”
Lauren blushed a little. “It’s a lot like playing cards; unless you’re a pro, it’s impossible to predict what you’ll be dealt or who plays what. At least, that’s how it was explained to me initially.”
Jade felt a slight internal giggle coming on. She was a professional—or at one time used to be.
“The target sequence also changes with each run,” Lauren went on. “But the constants, by definition, remain constant. One rifle and one pistol, two magazines for each, thirty rounds split between them, fifteen targets, two shots per target. Shoot in sequential order, fifteen being your last. It’s pretty straightforward, but the intent is to keep you on your toes.”
“Yeah, so I’m gathering,” said Jade. “I think I got it. At the very least, this’ll keep me from making an ass out of myself in front of all those fine young cannibals over there.”
Lauren leered over her shoulder at Woo Tang, Will and the others. “They’re good guys, and they mean well, for the most part. I’m sure if anything, they’ll offer encouragement, in some form or another.”
“Yeah, you’re forgetting I’m new here. I’ve been in situations like this before. What they want is for me to wander around in there like a lost puppy dog and make all the mistakes they made their first times.” Jade leaned closer to Lauren’s ear. “But what I prefer instead is to assassinate it and wipe those smug looks off their faces.”
Lauren backed away and gauged the look Jade was sending. It was conspiratorial, but playful, and there were no signs of malice. She could feel that Jade meant well and didn’t see the harm in having a little fun.
Lauren could only find one reason to disagree. “Okay, do that, but let me give you some background before you go too far or say something you shouldn’t. The original Gauntlet was the brainchild of Dave Graham, the unit’s CO. He designed and built it himself within a forty-yard, linear, in-ground tactical range at Point Blank Weapons Training Center, the facility where Dad and I used to train. For a while, it was deemed one of the most dynamic tactical ranges of its time, almost as legendary as its designer. He’s…highly regarded by his men and by me.”
Sincerity etched Jade’s features, but she withheld saying anything, opting to secure the Marauder and gesture away with a nod. The pair started off, and as they drew closer to Woo Tang and the group, the chattering lessened in volume and eventually silenced.
Jade handed her rifle and pistol off, allowing the men to insert magazines and chamber rounds while another slipped two reserve magazines into appropriate pouches on her belt’s left side.
Her weapons returned to her, Woo Tang said, “Jade Hensley, the Gauntlet is yours. You may assume the starting position at your leisure.”
Jade blew a puff of air into her bangs. “Sure. Let’s give it a whirl.” She nudged Lauren with an elbow. “Here goes nothing.”
Lauren nudged her back. “Stop. You got this.”
A brass whistle between his lips, Woo Tang held aloft an analog stopwatch. “On my signal, you may begin your run, but not before.”
Jade stood semirigid, one foot in front of the other. She held her rifle in a ready position, barrel angled outward, down and away. She waited, and as the seconds passed, every bit of merriment in her expression dissolved and an untamed ferocity emerged.
“Shooter ready?” Woo Tang asked.
Jade lowered her chin just enough to convey affirmation and, a few seconds after, heard the whistle. She sprang from the starting position, hotfooting it into the Gauntlet. She raised her rifle and fired almost immediately, engaging target number one and striking it center mass with two rounds as the steel resonated the hits. Pivoting one hundred eighty degrees, she locked on target number two and let fly with two more rounds, completing her second kill. She engaged and cancelled a third silhouette with poise, then moved on to the fourth.
Jade fired, and her rifle’s bolt locked backward, indicating an empty magazine before her follow-up attempt. She dumped it, transitioned to her sidearm and fired, scoring a head shot as the steel target pinged a clean hit.
Jade swung to engage target number five, only to find that her pistol’s slide was also locked back—an indication that only a single round had been loaded into her first magazine. She shook her head, angry at herself for not having realized this by the weight of the gun when she drew it. But it was too late for that; she had to keep moving.
Jade was down to one magazine for her rifle now, one for her pistol, but both weapons were empty, and that clusterfuck needed to be addressed on the double. She went to a knee, scooted behind cover, and sent the empty Glock magazine to the grass while palming a fresh one, but as she released it from its scabbard, she could feel that her spare hadn’t been loaded with a single round.
“Assholes!” Jade holstered her rendered-useless sidearm and tossed the empty magazine away as if skipping a stone. As it tumbled through the field grass, she reloaded her rifle in a flash and smiled, knowing that all the remaining rounds needed to complete the course were in one place. And with no transitions or reloads to worry about, she would be a spirited menace, an embedded thorn in the flesh.
Jade exploded to her feet and went to work, finishing off target number five. She flew through the course from there, accurately drilling each subsequent target with grace and intensity,
