hear with their earplugs in.
A volley of gunfire exploded. Sleep and Eyes were the quickest to fire, their shots almost identical. Chad was only a fraction of a second behind them. Green and Smoke were much more methodical. Their shots rang out, and fragmented pieces of paper fell to the ground in a crazed pattern that mimicked butterflies being flung around in a hurricane.
It was all over in about ten seconds, each person calling out clear as they set their handguns down. Eyes was the last to yell clear, then everyone removed their earpieces while bringing their targets forward. Eyes pushed the button where their scores lit up on the screen Brackish had installed.
“Shit,” Smoke muttered as Sleep’s name appeared on top with two points.
“I want a rifle competition,” Green said, grumbling as he looked at his paper with a frown.
“I refuse to do those with you anymore, unless you give me at least a thirty-point head start,” Smoke told him. None of them could compete with Green with a rifle, especially past the four-hundred-yard mark. They’d only gone out to a long range twice but his score each time was better than the rest of them combined.
“Let’s get back at it, girls,” Chad said with a laugh.
They kept going, the next seven innings bringing lots of jabs and mountains of confetti. They were within five points of each other by the bottom of the eighth, Chad and Sleep at the top. The ninth inning ended with Chad and Sleep tied. Green was one shot behind, Eyes three shots behind, and Smoke fuming in last place at six points behind, his worst performance so far.
“Okay, it’s one shot at the bullseye to determine the winner,” Sleep said.
“Let’s do this,” Chad replied, his adrenaline pumping.
Chad and Sleep got into position at their stations, then waited for Eyes to give them the green light. They fired within half a second of each other, set down their guns and pushed the buttons to send the targets back to them.
The papers came back, and it was a tough call. But Chad knew who the winner was before the score flashed on the screen. He let out a laugh.
“That was fun. Good job,” Chad said as he patted Sleep on the back. There wasn’t even a sliver of red showing in Sleep’s bullseye. He was the clear winner. The score flashed up on the screen, and Sleep beat him by one single point.
“Oh yeah, I love taking your money,” Sleep said. “It feels so much better than an honest day’s work.” There were several groans from the men as Eyes pulled the funds from the lockbox and reluctantly handed it over to a gloating Sleep. “I might go to the spa with this.”
“You would, you girl,” Smoke said.
Sleep didn’t even reply, just made a fan out of the hundred-dollar bills and waved them in the air, earning him a few rolls of the eyes.
“That was a good start to the day,” Chad said. “Now Eyes and Mr. Moneybags, let’s get going. We have access to the veteran’s center, and I need to get in and out by 1400 hours. That’ll give us about four hours on site.”
“Sounds good. I’ll go change, grab a car, and meet you out front,” Eyes said.
It didn’t take long to get out of there and arrive at the veteran’s center. Their IDs were at the security checkpoint and the guard let them in. They drove inside and parked, then walked from the parking area to the man-made lake in the middle of the center.
“So, this is where it all began,” Eyes said, looking humbled to be at the lake.
Chad stopped in his tracks and looked at Eyes. “What are you talking about?” he asked.
Eyes smiled. “Did you honestly believe we wouldn’t figure out where our team began?” he asked with a laugh.
“You weren’t told anything about our benefactors,” Chad pointed out.
Sleep laughed. “Come on, Chug, we have Brackish on our team. We knew the first week who’d funded this operation, how much was put into it, and why it began. When you sent us on the assignment to Pike Place Market to follow the Andersons we knew exactly what we were doing. We just thought we’d let you think it was all secret.”
Chad chuckled. “You guys are good,” he admitted. “This situation rocked the entire family, me included. I love Joseph and Katherine. They’re good souls and I’m grateful to be married to Bree. It’s been life changing, that’s for