Chapter 3
The soldiers behind Emily froze.
No one breathed.
No one laughed.
The range officer lowered his binoculars.
Then lifted them again, as if his eyes had betrayed him.
Emily kept her rifle steady.
She did not smile.
She did not celebrate.
She simply waited.
Because the shot was not impossible.
Only inconvenient.
Briggs grabbed the binoculars from the range officer and stared downrange.
His face drained of color.
“That target was wrong,” he barked.
The range officer frowned.
“Sergeant, it’s dead center.”
Briggs turned on him.
“I said the target was wrong.”
Emily slowly lowered her rifle.
“Check the system,” she said.
Briggs snapped his head toward her.
“What did you say?”
Emily looked him straight in the eye.
“Check the system.”
Something about her voice made the other soldiers shift.
It was not loud.
It was not disrespectful.
It was certain.
Briggs stepped closer and lowered his voice.
“You think one lucky shot changes anything?”
Emily’s eyes flicked to the score sheet.
“No,” she said. “But the last six weeks might.”
For half a second, Briggs froze.
May you like
And that was when Captain Laura Bennett arrived.
Read Part 4 to see what the Captain found hidden in Emily’s scores.
