The Assassin's Daughter

Shooting Duel

My brother collects all his targets, bringing them in so I can look at them while smiling.

I point to one of them, "Really, brother, a starfish?"

He shrugs his shoulder "Hey, got to keep things interesting, right?"

Dominic looks at me. "So, how do you want to do this?"

"Why don't we mix it up a bit?" tapping the table with my polished nail. "Let's do the first one, all bulls-eye, the second one a circle just inside the first circle here, but the third is your own creation."

"So you're saying the third one basically is the best pattern we can come up with?" looking out at the range.

"Yes," clarifying what we will be doing, "So how many shots are in your clips? I have fifteen."

"Our clips have eighteen, so I will take three out of each clip so that we will be even," he says as his finger hits the button, dropping the clip out of his gun.

He looks over at Raymond. "Choose which gun you want out of the lot you just fired. My gift to you."

"Greasing the wheels, huh?" he says with a smirk.

"Does it help?" he says with a twinkle in his eye.

"Maybe," he answers smugly.

I look between both of them. "What are you guys talking about?"

Ray walks up to me, whispering, "Nothing, sis. Beat his ass."

We step in, putting the clips on the three ranges we are going to be shooting at. Dominic steps back, winks at me, then throws a finger up, signaling his brother to start the targets. The buzzer goes off where we grab our clip from the station unloading it into the first target. I drop my clip onto the shelf, step to the second, grabbing the next clip slamming it into my gun. I unload in a circle, dropping that clip onto the shelf before moving to the final station. I grab the last clip, quickly slamming it into the gun to start my design. I drop my last clip taking a step back as he finishes just a few seconds after me.

He gives me a sideways glance "Your fast. Let's see about your accuracy."

"Pfft," I scoff, "Don't insult me like that. We will also see what yours looks like being a little slower."

We remove the targets heading inside to the table. I lay my first one down while we look at the results. All of mine are a perfect bulls-eye, but he has the same results as we look over at his.

"Ok, we both aced that one, I see," he says as he sets them off to the side.

We lay our second ones down with the circle. Mine is on point, along with being perfect. I look at his seeing it matches mine perfectly.

"Wow, you are a sharpshooter also, huh," I say in a light tone.

"Yeah," he grins, "Years of practice just like you."

We lay our third one down. I look at his, seeing he did a perfect heart.

"Hey, that's good," I'm pointing at his target.

He looks at mine, where his eyes go wide.

"How the hell did you pull that off with just fifteen bullets," he asks as his eyes hover over my target.

My dad steps up. "I told you, she's one of the best."

They look at mine, seeing where my bullets did the Eiffel Tower. My father smiles, kissing my cheek as he holds the target up to look at it with the light coming through it.

"Perfect love," he says as he examines it, "I see you liked the last present I brought you."

"Yes, I did," I say as I break my gun down. "That's why I did this one. I loved it so much where it was fresh on my mind."