Chapter 3 - THE CHALLENGE AND THE STEP OUTSIDE
Ryan Cole stared down at the cracked optic resting inches from his hands, then looked back up at Elena, his brow furrowing in genuine disbelief.
"You’re shooting without the optic?" Ryan asked, his voice losing its confident, performative cadence. He gestured toward the discarded scope. "The qualification line is three hundred meters out. The wind is gusting fifteen knots out of the east. You can't even see the silhouette targets without magnification on an old iron-sight system like that."
Elena ignored his tactical assessment entirely. She reached down to the side of the wooden stock, unbuckling the stiff, faded leather sling. With two quick, expert twists of her wrist, she wrapped the heavy leather strap around her left forearm, creating a tight, mechanical tension loop—a classic, marksmanship-grade sling lock that stabilized the weapon against her shoulder without relying on arm strength.
"You heard me," Elena replied, her tone as calm as if she were acknowledging a routine weather report.
Derek Hayes let out a harsh breath, stepping back and shaking his head in anger at her refusal to play the victim. He looked around at the other soldiers, trying to reignite the room's former teasing dynamic.
"This is going to be painful," Derek barked, looking directly at Elena with a hard, aggressive stare.
Elena stood up smoothly from the briefing table.
She held the heavy wooden-stock rifle casually at her side, the muzzle pointed safely toward the floor at a precise forty-five-degree angle. Her posture was perfectly balanced, her weight evenly distributed on her tan combat boots.
She turned her body toward the heavy double doors leading out to the outdoor firing line. She stopped for a brief second, looking over her shoulder at Derek and Ryan.
"For who?" Elena asked.
Before either officer could formulate a response, Elena pushed through the crash bar of the double doors.
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A bright, harsh flood of North Carolina daylight poured into the dim briefing room, accompanied by the sudden, sweeping rush of dry outdoor wind and the distant, rhythmic THUD... THUD... THUD of heavy caliber fire from adjacent shooting ranges.
Elena stepped out into the sunlight, her shadow trailing behind her as the door swung closed, leaving Ryan, Derek, and the rest of the soldiers standing in a tense, bewildered group inside.
