Chapter 6 - The Second Shot
Commander Ellis looked at Amanda.
“Would you like to demonstrate?”
Harris’s face tightened.
Amanda picked up the pistol again, checked it calmly, and stepped back into position. The weapon remained downrange. The range safety officer watched every movement and nodded once.
No speech.
No lecture.
Just process.
Amanda fired again.
The target snapped back.
Another center hit.
Not through the exact same hole, but close enough that nobody needed the spotting scope to understand.
Harris swallowed.
Commander Ellis turned toward the trainees.
“How many of you have been told your misses were weakness before your fundamentals were corrected?”
No one moved at first.
Then one hand rose.
Then three.
Then nine.
Harris stared at them like they had personally betrayed him.
Amanda lowered the pistol safely.
“This is a competition range,” she said. “Pressure belongs here. Humiliation does not. Pressure reveals training. Humiliation replaces it.”
Commander Ellis nodded once.
“Lieutenant Harris, you are removed from today’s firing-line instruction pending review.”
“Sir—”
“Now.”
Harris closed his mouth.
May you like
For the first time since Amanda arrived, his uniform did not make him look powerful.
It made him look accountable.
