Today's Reading
CHAPTER ONE
The slide of the Smith & Wesson was drawn back and released in one motion, allowing it to snap back, producing a subtle jerk inside the man's hand that firmly gripped the worn black polymer handle. The motion was smooth. Familiar. Natural. As though the weapon were part of him. An extension of his right hand and arm. A motion that had become so instinctive, and his senses so sensitive, that he could detect the shift in balance as the bullet was chambered within the stainless-steel barrel.
"I'm nervous."
He glanced briefly at the younger man in the truck's passenger seat before turning to gaze back outside. "We have the right place, don't we?"
The passenger nodded apprehensively. It didn't help his nervousness. If anything, it made it worse.
It had taken months to track down the location. A small A-frame cabin hidden within the tree-lined hills outside Ogden, Utah. A plot of several acres accessible by a shared gravel road winding up the west side of a small hillside like a gray, meandering snake.
From inside the vehicle, both could see the dark outline of the cabin below. At least most of it. Peering down through dozens of pine trees parked on a largely forgotten side road.
After a long silence, he spoke again, attempting to allay the younger man's fears. "Don't worry. I'll take care of it."
His passenger gulped, attempting to slow his racing heartbeat. He was not a soldier or a mercenary, and he was afraid of violence. "We're not going to hurt anybody, right?"
There was no response from the older man. He remained gazing through the driver's side window into the blackness.
"Right?"
"Quiet," the older man shot back. Squinting further down the mountainside. Noting a distant pair of headlights. Slowly and methodically, winding their way up the numerous switchbacks. "This may be us."
Beside him, the younger man closed his eyes and swallowed.
The headlights slowed and turned into the cabin's driveway before traveling another fifty feet and stopping in front of the shadowed structure.
For a long time, the car remained in front of the A-frame, awash in the brilliant glow of the headlights. The vehicle sat motionless until the purring engine suddenly switched off.
With the low beams still on, the driver's door opened, producing a brief reflection as it swung out, then once again when the door was pushed shut.
From their position above, the older man noted the absence of the car's interior light and focused on the silhouette as the figure moved through the bright glare on their way toward the cabin's front door.
The driver tilted his head toward the other, who was also watching. "Well?"
"I'm not sure," he said. "I can't tell from here."
The older man grinned. "Close enough for me."
They waited until the automatic headlights went off, plunging the exterior back into night, replaced almost immediately by dimmer lights illuminating within the cabin before the older man reached for his door handle. Opening it slowly and stepping out, he carefully eased the door closed with a faint click.
He then watched as his passenger did the same, just as instructed. Slowly and softly.
He quietly motioned the younger man toward him and pointed down the hill.
"Why not take the road?"
"Dirt's quieter than gravel. Go slow. And step exactly where I step."
...
