“Oh my God. That was amazing.” The accuracy. The insane delay. It’s one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen.
Tommy grumbles something, and I have to take off my headgear and ask him to repeat himself. “Didn’t even hit the damn thing,” he says again, starting a new round of tweaks on the gun.
“Yes, you did! I saw it.”
“I hit the paper, but I was aiming for his head.”
“Considering how far away we are, I’d say you got damn close.”
“Once my sight is properly calibrated, I’ll be nearly one hundred percent from this distance.” He gives me a wicked glance from the side of his eye.
My jaw hangs wide open. “Are you serious? That’s nuts!”
“I am, but she hasn’t been properly calibrated since I moved back to the States.”
“She?” I ask in a playful tone.
“Yup, the only other woman I’ll ever have in my life.” He brings his eye back to the scope while I preen like a schoolgirl. “Headgear.” The single-word warning tells me he’s ready to shoot. I replace my headset and lift the binoculars. This time when the gun goes off, a patch of pale tree trunk is visible behind the new hole right in the middle of the silhouette’s head.
Damn, he really is good.
I continue to watch as he performs several more practice shots. Once he’s comfortable with his calibrations, he begins to disassemble the weapon.
“Hey, Tommy?”
“Yeah?”
“Have you killed many people?” I’m not sure what possesses me to ask. I probably don’t want to know the answer, but I can’t hide from it either. We’re married. I need to own the choices I’ve made.
“I suppose that depends on your definition of many. The count isn’t all that high, but it doesn’t take many to create a reputation, especially as efficient as I am. My targets go down before they ever know what hit them.”
And that’s what he plans to do to The Reaper. A man he knows nothing about. I’m not crazy about the idea, but I understand the necessity, and I’ve heard the things Reaper has done.
“Dani, look at me,” Tommy orders softly. “You’ve heard that the attorney general of New York is being prosecuted, right?”
I nod, not sure where he’s going with this.
“Companies put deadly chemicals in products. Clergymen abuse children in their congregations. Husbands beat their wives. Scammers steal people’s life savings without a second thought. That’s life. We’re not as civilized as we pretend to be.”
I chew the side of my cheek while I ponder what he’s said. He’s definitely on Gran’s team, and maybe they’re right. People really are the worst.
But they’re also the best.
For every act of violence or hatred, just as many acts are made in the name of hope and charity and love and forgiveness. If it’s up to me to decide how I see the world, I choose to focus on the best attributes of humankind. Dwelling on the ugly will only add another soul to the dark side.
I giggle to myself.
“What?” Tommy asks, brow heavily furrowed.
“Just thinking I choose to be on the side of the Jedi, that’s all.” And Biba is definitely Darth Vader. Does that make Tommy Han Solo? I giggle again.
He shakes his head and laughs. “I have no clue how that relates, but whatever works.”
Yeah, he’d make a decent Han. The antihero. He’s shown me in so many ways that the difference between good and bad is a broad spectrum, and people are forever sliding from one end to the other. If I had to choose between Tommy and the moral high ground, I’d choose Tommy ten times out of ten.
“The call istonight at seven. Can you make it?” Renzo’s voice fills the car over the speakers as we’re reentering the city. Tommy said he and his brother fought, so I’m curious about what this means.
“You sure about that?” Tommy’s words are uncertain, and his posture behind the steering wheel has gone from casual to rigid.
