Heart Of Gold

09| Worlds Collide

Lorence had been a mastermind for all the years I'd known him, he'd carefully planned out everything he wanted to do from the very beginning and noticeably succeeded at it. He was able to avoid the police in so many situations and as far as I know, has never been caught doing anything illegal and courted for it. I mean, I'd give him a slow clap for being such an evil genius, but then again, I know all the horrible things he did and still does.

And as great as I am with aiming and shooting, I've never actually shot someone dead before. I mean, I would've if I had to, but to this very day, I've never been in a situation where I needed to shoot someone down, and hopefully, that day will never come.

I've seen Jack and the other guys and even Lorence shoot people dead before, but I never really did that. I mean, yeah, I've shot people who were after us in the shoulder or in the leg before to hold them back with no intention of killing them until we had enough time to escape, and I hated the feeling of doing that, but I never really used a gun to kill someone before, at least, not deliberately.

I don't know how Jack does it. I don't even know what goes through his mind when he does it. Is he chill with shooting people down? Does he regret it afterwards? I don't know, and I never will.

I pull the trigger, sending the eighth bullet towards the target and lowering my gun once again. I examine the target for a few seconds, seeing the medium-sized hole right in the middle whereas the rest of it isn't even the slightest bit scratched.

This should feel like an accomplishment to me, any guy my place would've been thrilled getting eight perfect shots in a row, but as much as I should feel proud of myself, I'm not. I don't know if it's because I feel like learning to hold a gun and shoot people is completely nonesense and inhumane or it's just the fact that I've done it so many times that it just doesn't matter to me anymore.

Suddenly, I feel a hand on my shoulder, causing me to turn my head to see who it belongs to. His dark eyes stare into mine and his mouth pulls into a smirk as looks down at me, being a few inches taller.

"Nice shot, kid." Lorence's words come out rough and low. I spare him a small, almost invisible smile as I look away from him. "Thanks." I mutter.

"Maybe Gilinsky here could learn a thing or two from you, Mendes. Right, Jack?" He yells over to him and Jack simply rolls his eyes and steadies his aim before pulling the trigger once more, scoring really close to the middle but not directly at it. "Shit!" He curses as he cocks the hammer, readying himself to shoot again.

Lorence turns his attention back to me a second later. "Anyways, I need to to run a few errands for me." He says and I nod quickly. "Of course. Whatever you want."

"Excellent," He smirks as he throws his arm over my shoulder and we walk across the facility towards the mansion, a very uncomfortable feeling settling down in my stomach at this.

"So," Lorence starts. "you've been practicing a lot, I see." He says and I nod. "And as far as I've observed, you're an excellent aim." He says and I look at him momentarily before looking back down at the dirt beneath my feet.

"Think you're ready to shoot someone in head?"

I snap my head up towards him as soon as we reach the back door, my eyes widening at his words. "W-what?" I manage to get out.

"You heard me, kid. I need you to go after someone." He tells me. "I felt like you were the perfect person for this. You know, since you're one of my best, and you're my right hand, after all."

He cocks his head to the side and peers down at me, suspicion evident in his features. "Unless of course, you're scared?"

My lips part slightly and I quickly shake my head. "N-no, sir. I... I'm not."