Chapter 6 - ASK HER WHY
Without saying another word to Brett, Castellin walked over to the wooden staging bench. He picked up the beginner rifle with one hand, sweeping the cheap foam earplugs and basic safety glasses into a plastic bin, clearing the bench completely in five seconds flat.
He turned and gestured toward the far end of the facility—past the standard ten-yard pistol bays, past the twenty-five-yard sight-in benches, all the way down to the restricted, long-range precision lanes that stretched eight hundred yards out into the open valley.
"Lane One," Castellin called out to his assistant behind the counter. "Unlock the heavy steel targets at six hundred and eight hundred yards."
He turned back to face the two of them, his broad frame blocking the path to the novice bays. He looked directly into Brett’s eyes, his expression turning cold, sharp, and intensely serious.
"Ask her why they called her Hollow Point," Castellin said softly, his voice carrying the weight of a man who knew the dark, legendary stories that circulated through military sniper communities.
Brett turned his head sharply toward Grace. His confident, patronizing demeanor had completely crumbled, replaced by a deep, unsettling uncertainty. He looked at her fitted olive shirt, her practical ponytail, and her calm, unbothered posture, realizing for the first time that he knew absolutely nothing about the woman sitting across from him at family dinners for the last four years.
"Grace..." Brett rasped, his voice barely a whisper. "What is he talking about?"
Grace gave him no answer. She didn't offer a dramatic speech, boasting story, or military anecdote. She simply looked him in the eye for two quiet seconds, her expression completely steady.
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Without a word, Grace reached down, picked up her high-end electronic hearing protection, and walked past both men toward the long-range precision lanes.
As Brett watched her walk with fluid, disciplined steps toward the distant eight-hundred-yard targets, his mind raced, the cold realization settling into his chest that he had just tried to teach a master sniper how to pull a trigger.
