The Face of Freedom. Benjamin Vance

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СКАЧАТЬ were interrupted by a young man who asked if he needed any ammunition for the shoot. He thanked him and asked how long the competition lasted. The young man smiled and said, "Usually until Mr. Lazenby wins!"

      The walker countered with, “Well, maybe we better bring supper today then! In any case no, I don't need any more ammo Son. Will there be a chance to get any more on the range if it's needed?”

      “Yes sir, as long as it's nine millimeter parabellum. We have a lot of it and reload all the time." We don't have that many people with forty fives and forties.”

      “Okay, I guess I'll have to shoot extra special today, thanks!”

      The young man bid him good luck and left him alone to enter his room. He retrieved his pistol and sixty rounds of .40 caliber ammunition in four magazines. If he needed more he would have to shoot someone else's weapon. He had more ammo, but could not leave himself short. He had special loads and they were not cheap. His first, fifth, tenth and fifteenth rounds were tracers; habit. He thought it made an impression, and it always indicated where he was on target. It was a bit of flare that he allowed himself, but was seldom seen because he normally practiced in private.

      It was about one thirty and he set his watch for three and decided to rest for about an hour. He had just laid down when he heard a scrape on the door. When he answered, the old hound came in as if he owned the place. He sniffed around a bit and then plopped down on an oval rug by the door as if guarding the entrance. He looked at the walker through hazy eyes as if to say, “You don't have anything to worry about, I've got your six.”

      With that, the walker and “Teddy” lay down for a snooze. His alarm sounded at three and he didn't remember dozing off. He certainly didn't dream. The old dog looked at him as he sat up. The walker said, “Thanks old timer.” Teddy simply beat his tail on the rug a few times and yawned.

      There were already about twenty people milling around at the range when he arrived with his chest holster, three extra clips and the old hound. Teddy wagged his tail at almost everybody. It seemed he enjoyed the notoriety. The walker didn't. He saw Julie leaning over the registration table. She was outfitted with all manner of shooting apparatus including amber shooters glasses. She really looked professional, and pretty. The look suited her. He walked up to the table without notice and watched for a few seconds. Then the conversation stopped and she and the young man she was having the conversation with looked up and their eyes caught him.

      He simply said, “Good afternoon. There are quite a few people here already!”

      Julie and the young man ... the one that had asked him earlier if he had enough ammo, smiled simultaneously. Julie introduced the man as “Simon Agee from around here.” The brown youngster exhibited a brilliant and genuine smile and asked if Mr. Walker would like to sign in for the shoot.

      The walker confirmed that he would and simply signed "Walker." Simon already had his weapon listed as “compensated Glock, .40 cal.”

      He supposed that Simon was the resident weapons expert and armorer. Julie confirmed that when she saw the question on the walker's face. He thought “What an intuitive and intelligent girl she is.” He wondered which side of the family it came from.

      His thoughts were interrupted by a murmur in the crowd and turned to see Mr. Lazenby and Isadora coming through crowd of apparent well-wishers and ass kissers. The Lazenby’s were slowly moving through the crowd with Ralph shaking the hand of nearly everyone and lingering a bit with each. The walker started to turn to away just as he caught Isadora's getup and caught his breath.

      Her breasts were practically falling out of her transparent red, jury-rigged blouse and bra, and her shorts were so tight that a camel toe was apparent from a hundred yards. He’d seen this before! He overheard Julie whisper to Simon that Ralph always brought his bait with him. She confirmed what the walker was thinking. Simon giggled like a kid caught with his hand in a cookie jar. Ralph used Isadora to distract. The walker wondered what else he used her for. He vowed to control his eyes and mouth. Lazenby's time would come, perhaps.

      By the time they got over to the table to register, Ralph was flexing his hand; a good sign. He offered his hand, but the walker addressed Isadora first and offered his hand to her. "Hello Mrs. Lazenby. I trust you're feeling well today?"

      Then without waiting for a reply, which would have taken minutes due to her surprise and dull demeanor, he stretched out his hand to Ralph, whose hand was slowly falling to his side while watching his wife. Lazenby recovered quickly and the smile he gave the walker demonstrated thoroughly that he understood the gaff. He wasn't used to being exposed so easily. Once Isadora understood what was happening, she beamed. They talked civilly for a while and then the game started.

      Julie slid up beside him and welcomed the Lazenby’s with her usual composure. The walker saw that look in Ralph's eyes again and noticed the lengthy handshake he gave her. It made him want to start the target practice with Ralph Lazenby's forehead. Julie seemed to shrug off the intimation and announced to the crowd the target shoot would start in about five minutes.

      The scorers and range master began to take their places. The range master was Simon. Once commo had been established between Simon and the scorers the shooters took their places. There were five scorers; the guys that slide the targets down, announce the score, then tape up the bullet holes and raise the targets again. They matched the five shooters; Julie Parker, Ralph Lazenby, the walker, Anderson Lynn; a nice guy and employee of Ralph's, Kitty Shermann; dressed almost like Julie and somehow appearing to be a close friend of Ralph's. The walker cleared his mind. He was assigned target three, the center one, between Ralph and Julie. Kitty was on position one, next to Ralph and Anderson was on number five.

      Simon announced, “There will be five; shooting rounds of ten shots each. The targets will be pulled and scored after each ten rounds. The targets are at 50 meters. You have one minute to get ten rounds down range. If there are any problems, announce them immediately. ‘Any questions?” No one asked. Then he announced, “Ready on the left ... ready on the right ... ready on the firing line?” After he saw everyone was ready he announced, “Commence firing!”

      The walker had not unholstered his weapon before Anderson got off his first shot. The walker inserted a 15-round magazine raised his weapon and sent the first tracer down range and into the ten-ring, almost dead center. His old baby was still dead on. He heard the murmur of acknowledgement from the crowd and heard Ralph laugh sarcastically and somewhat fearfully. Julie concentrated on a firing cadence that allowed a bullet down range every five seconds or so. He figured she would be a bad opponent shooter to be up against; very deliberate!

      Anderson and Kitty shot pretty methodically, but Ralph did not. It seemed he was shooting just for fun and not paying too much attention to the others or to hitting the target. When the walker's fifth round lit up the line Ralph called on Simon to stop the shooting. He complained that the tracers were distracting. After a “manly” discussion regarding tracers in combat Simon got Ralph to concede that after the tenth round, he would switch places with the walker so that he wouldn't see the tracers out of his right eye. That put the walker next to Julie.

      The scores were announced after the first round: Julie 90, Kitty 90, Anderson 100, Ralph 100, and Mr. Walker 90. Now he knew why Ralph wasn't really trying. He had a mole in the target lifting bunch. The walker asked that the scorers not be moved. Simon agreed and Ralph had no argument. The walker knew he had put all ten in the middle, but didn't ask for a recount. He also knew he had a mole working his target and would lose the match. There wasn't a thing he could do about winning, with Ralph's men down range, but he could help someone else win. He noticed Ralph's attention to Julie СКАЧАТЬ