Play Pretend

4: New Recruit

4: New Recruit

Connor Rogers

The rest of the weekend flew by in a whirlwind of celebration and preparation, and before I knew it, Saturday was around the corner. I woke up to the birds twittering a morning call, and decided to start the day early.

The quiet streets of Miami had a new smell to it, as I drove past in my new car that Carrie had bought me. It felt refreshing, and had a new unknown scent to it that picked my excitement.

At ten sharp, I entered the building, only to be tackled into a hug by Jason.

“Congrats, dude!” He hollered, “here’s your uniform and badge.” He handed me the much-anticipated blue navy blue uniform with large white letters ‘FBI’ on the back, as well as a leather badge with a golden plate of the FBI logo inside.

“Come on, I’ll show you around,” he said after I had gotten change.

We went around the entire building, which was much larger than it looked from the outside. We passed the ordinary places like the offices, the criminal filing rooms, the lunch room; as well as more kickass places like the boxing centre, the gym, the shooting range and the stimulation grounds. We went back to one of the conference rooms and Jason told me to sit and wait while he went to fetch Aaron.

When the man entered the room, I was surprised that he didn’t come alone. He arrived along with two extra men, excluding Jason, and one woman.

“Connor,” Aaron and I exchanged brief handshakes and a hug, “nice to have you here.”

“Thank you, sir,” I returned, making sure I wasn’t staring at the three strangers that stood behind him.

“Let me introduce you to my team and from this day onwards, your teammates,” he gestured at Jason, “Jason, whom you already know. And Max, Leila and TJ.”

Max was tall, taller than even me, which was rare, since I was safe over six feet. He had dark hair that was gelled up into a quick, and his slender and fit body could easily be mistaken as a model’s. His lips quirked up into a smile when I looked at him.

Leila looked quite masculine for a girl. Her messy blonde hair was in a loose bun, and she stood aggressively with her arms on her hips. She was the shortest in the team, but the way she held her head up told me not to mess with her.

TJ hung back in the group, and he all but nodded at me when his name was mentioned. He wasn’t tall, like Max and I, but rather he was more built than the either of us. His dirty-blonde hair was all over the place, and his eyes were hidden behind ray bans, so I couldn’t really tell how his entire face was like.

“Hi,” I murmured, stiffening at the awkward silence.

“It talks,” Leila immediately responded with a smirk on her pouty lips, a drawn on brow quirking upwards.

“Welcome to the group, man,” Max said with a grin and a fist bump. TJ just nodded in response.

“Come, let’s get started on getting you a weapons license,” Aaron told us, before leading the way out of the room.

We entered the shooting range, which was empty since Aaron had booked it beforehand. He led us to one of the shooting booths, where there were different types of long and short guns. Some of them I immediately recognized as shotguns, stealth guns and rifles, others it took some time to remember. Aaron then told the rest of the team to each take a few rounds to test the guns, while he pulled me to another booth, where on the counter laid a single Beretta.

“So you hold your gun steady at shoulder level,” Aaron raised his arm and signalled me to follow his actions. “Nope, don’t bend your elbow, your arm must be straight,” he tugged at my forearm, and I straightened my arm.

“Your fingers just need to stay natural on the trigger,” he told me when he saw my hand gripping the gun a little too tightly, “just calm down.”

“Right, right,” I muttered, shifting my weight from leg to leg nervously and faced squarely at the board in front of me. I was squinting a little when Aaron told me off again.

“Stand sideways facing the board; it helps your control over the direction of the bullet,” he manoeuvred me to the right position, “and don’t squint. Keep both your eyes open, and just be natural.”

I took a deep, shaky breath, willing my hand not to quiver on the weapon. It was so hard to focus on all the little details when all I wanted to do was take shots like the rest of the team. But I had to be patient; I was holding a real gun after all. This was no game.

When Aaron finally approved of my standing position, he allowed me to take three shots at the board. I tried to line my eyesight up with the tip of the gun, and with another deep breath, my finger closed on the trigger.

I could feel the shock rocketing back through my entire arm, and on reflex I took a step back, my forearm reflecting upwards. The bullet cut through the air and hit the very side of the board, causing the wood to splint off. It started smouldering a little.

I tried not to gasp. The shock nearly knocked the wind out of me, and I stood gaping at the tiny bullet hole I made on the board.

“Pretty good for a starter,” Aaron then commented, clapping, “most of the times, beginners’ shots are way off course.”

“So you felt the shock through your arm right?” He said, which I answered to with a single nod, “good, so now you know that you have to stiffen your arm a little and stand your ground. Try again.”

I resumed my previous position, levelling my arm and staring on ahead. I gripped the gun a little harder and squared my shoulder. My muscles tensed on the trigger and another bang resonated across the room.

My eyes widened once more and I found a grin slowly blooming on my lips when I saw the smoking hole on the seventh circle. Wasn’t exactly bull’s eye, but it was satisfying for a beginner like me.

I turned around at the sound of thundering footsteps, and the next moment I found myself being tackled by Max, followed by a hard pat in the back from Leila, and TJ bringing up the rear. I laughed, half in shock, half in happiness, stumbling on the spot.

“We saw the shot, man! It was great!” Max literally bellowed in my ear, thumping my back once as a form of congratulations.

“T-Thanks, I guess,” I choked, subtly massaging my spine, my wind totally being knocked out of me now.

“You’re a natural, Con,” Leila smirked, nodding in approval.

“You’re not so bad yourself,” I returned the smile, glancing over at the target which she had been shooting at. The centre spot was dotted with bullet holes.

Yes, ‘not so bad’ would be an obvious understatement.

“It takes time to get it perfect,” Aaron explained, “but you’ll get it eventually. I’ll give you training time later on, but we have to move on. Loads to teach you.”

We nodded and each of us gathered some guns and helped place them back on the racks, before following Aaron off to the practical fields.

Guess this was going to be a long day after all.