Mandm

Broken Knee returns

Some months after Lillian had given birth, she, with Kyle and Milly, were on the top floor of the building when once again the alarm sounded. Midge's phone rang, she answered it immediately, everyone had stopped whatever they were doing to stare at Midge, though Lillian was trying to quieten her two babies who were crying from the sound of the alarm. Kitty got her phone out, and with a couple of taps the alarm stopped.

When Midge got off her phone, she said to Kitty "Everyone to the cave. That means everyone, including you, Chloe, and Pete. Molly and I will deal with this. No arguments from anyone." Then to Lillian, "Phone Dee, get him to take warm clothes for Milly, Kyle, and you, he's to meet you by Roy's. Now."

By the time Midge had finished, Kitty was using her phone to talk over the building's PA system. "Xanthe, whistle outside, wait two minutes for anyone outside to get to you, then dormitory. Everyone, exactly as we did before, dormitory, warm clothes, goods lift, this time we are definitely going into the cave, Security, that includes you, system in auto." As Kitty was talking, Midge had given Molly a two second stare, Molly nodded. Kitty had seen the very serious looks on Midge and Molly's faces, this time she wasn't going to suggest she and Chloe could help.

Meanwhile Pete had raced up the stairs, he went to Midge, "What is it?" Midge replied "Gun threat. A man with a pronounced limp, sounds like Broken Knee, holding some sort of hand gun. Pete, you are to go with the others into the cave, whatever happens don't let Lillian or her babies get hurt."

Then "Xanthe, why are you still here?" "I thought everyone was on the floor except for Security, I did a head count to confirm, they are." "Good girl."

Meanwhile Chloe had rung Roy, he was out in the grounds somewhere, Chloe told him to go to his cottage to meet the girls, he was to get them and Jane into the cave. Chloe then phoned Doc, as before told her to get to Roy's, "This time we are going straight into the cave."

All the girls queued to go down the stairs, Ann was making sure there was no panicking, keeping the queue flowing. Kitty and Chloe gave each of the twins a kiss and a "Please be careful", both were in tears as Midge and Molly went to the lift.

The twins sidled their way past the girls already going down the flight of stairs to the dormitory floor. Had anyone been watching the rest of the stairs, they would have seen the twins leaping down half a flight at a time, reaching the ground floor in seconds.

On the dormitory floor, Kitty and Chloe found a couple of girls standing at wardrobes handing out anoraks, another two were passing out pairs of walking shoes as each girl said her shoe size. For once the girls were being sensible, moving away as soon as they'd got theirs, not impeding those yet to get coats or shoes. Pete went to his apartment to get clothing for himself, then joined the others.

With everyone suitably dressed, Ann ushered them into the goods lift. Lillian was holding Milly, Kitty had taken Kyle from her. It was quite crowded with all of them inside the lift but the two were given sufficient space. Chloe was clinging to Kitty, wide‑eyed, sweating and shivering, she really didn't like being in lifts. But she didn't say anything. Once they were outside, Pete made sure the outer door was properly closed.

The grounds

Kitty and Lillian led the way to Roy's, the others followed on in total silence, with Chloe and Pete bringing up the rear (he'd seen her state and was trying to comfort her). Partway along, they met Dee, also Doc and Emma who were both carrying medical bags. Doc did question Chloe ‑ she'd recovered a bit by now ‑ "What's happening?" "Man with a gun. I hope the twins know what they're doing." Doc nodded, "I'm sure they can deal with it. Anyone phoned the police?" Chloe managed a smile, "The twins would rather handle it themselves." Doc nodded again.

While they were talking, they heard a loud crack that could only have been a gunshot. Everyone jumped, many of the girls stopped and looked round. Pete immediately called out "Keep moving." They started off again. Dee passed the shopping bag of clothes he was carrying to one of the other girls and took Kyle from Kitty. By the time they'd reached Roy's they'd heard two more shots, a pause, then some more. Once again Pete spoke, "They're okay or the shots would have stopped. Roy, Jane, please lead on."

With Lillian and Dee following immediately after Roy and Jane, the rest followed behind. Reaching the cave, Pete and Roy stayed outside while the others went in, last were Kitty and Chloe. Pete and Roy found a couple of broken branches, they used them to brush over where the ground had been trampled to try to disguise their passage as they backed into the cave. Pete and Kitty stayed near the entrance, the rest went a little deeper. Chloe, herself, wouldn't go more than a foot into the cave.

One or two had turned on phone torches, Kitty called out "Only a quick glance to orient yourselves, then torches off."

Even over the noise of the waterfall they could just hear several more gunshots, the last three were in rapid succession. Then there was silence for a short while (that seemed like hours) until Kitty's phone rang. She listened for a few seconds, a smile came over her face. As she put her phone away, she said loudly enough for everyone to hear, "They're all right." Immediate sounds of relief, cheering, and clapping. When she could be heard again, "Pete, they want you, Chloe, and me there, the rest of you can come out of the cave, but wait here. Roy, the usual, keep a lookout just in case, back into the cave if you see any strangers."

The three went out of the cave, they took off their anoraks, dropping them just outside the cave from where others would pick them up, they ran round to the front of the building. On the drive they found Midge and Molly standing by a man who was lying on his back, apparently shielding his face with his forearms. Otherwise he didn't look hurt in any way, just very, very frightened.

Midge was smiling, she was watching Molly who was casually tossing a pistol up into the air and catching it, each time she caught it by the grip, each time she pointed it at the man before tossing it up again.

Pete immediately said to her "You should never point a gun at someone, even if you know it to be unloaded, unless you want to shoot them." "Well", Molly replied, "I do want to shoot him but when I pull the trigger nothing happens." Even Pete smiled, he could see that her finger never went inside the trigger guard, and he thought he could see that the safety catch was on, though he couldn't be sure about that until Molly stopped her tossing and passed the gun to him, handgrip first.

Pete immediately checked to make sure the safety catch was on (it was), and that the gun was completely unloaded (it was). He held it with his fingers well away from the trigger, its barrel pointing down.

Midge asked the man "Why did you come back?" He answered "You lot hurt me. I wanted to hurt you." Midge said to him "As I recall, you hurt yourself when you missed my sister's head with your baseball bat." "She shouldn't have dodged. Then she made it hit my knee much harder than I ever could." "And now you've missed with your bullets. You're lucky they didn't hit you like your bat did."

Midge turned to Pete and the girls, "Any idea what we should do with him? Molly wanted to drown him when she found there were no bullets left."

"Typical Molly" from Chloe.

Pete, suppressing a smile, "We could hand him over to the police." "We don't want to do that, they'd ask to see our video, and we don't really want them to." "Not much else we can do."

Midge picked up a bit of broken tree branch that was lying close by, "Molly's second idea was that we break his other knee, I've got just the thing here."

The man screamed, "NO, PLEASE NO" "Well, how else are we going to convince you not to come here again?" "I WON'T. I WON'T!" Then "Can't do anything to you anyway, you're FUCKING DEMONS!"

Pete asked him "How did you get here?" "Car, it's parked down the lane." Pete then said "You'd best go to it while I try to hold these two off you. Now, scarper, but if you come back again I won't stop them doing what they want to."

"No chance" he said as he managed to get to his feet, and with a last glance at the twins (Molly by this time was holding Midge's tree branch and was repeatedly banging it hard onto the ground and glaring at him in a quite threatening manner), he turned and made off towards the gate as fast as his bad knee would let him. Pete followed him to the gate and watched him until he was out of sight.

When he got back to the four girls, the twins were being hugged by Kitty and Chloe who were obviously upset but relieved. The twins, meanwhile, were laughing. Pete suggested one of them should phone the others, "I think they'll be safe to return now." Kitty let go of the twins and got her phone out, she spoke quietly into it then put it away. "They're coming back, I said everyone should go to the top floor, they'll all want to know what happened." "Us too" from Chloe.

As they made their way back to the building, Pete asked "Molly, would you have hurt him if Midge hadn't stopped you?" Molly and Midge both just grinned, Chloe gave the answer, "We'll never know."

On the top floor, by the time all the others were settled there, Kitty and Chloe had made two large pots of tea, they filled mugs and brought them out of the kitchen on a trolly.

How Midge and Molly dealt with the intruder

Lillian and Dee sat on one settee with Milly and Kyle, Doc and Emma on another, Roy and Jane on a third. Most of the girls sat on mats where they could see the twins and a TV screen, a lot of quite excited chattering going on. Ann, Pete, Kitty and Chloe were standing, quietly talking. Midge and Molly were holding hands, standing by the TV screen, both were grinning.

When everyone was settled, Midge nodded to Kitty who used her phone to close the window blinds, and, after a bit of work on her phone, she got the security video on the TV paused at the moment when the intruder was just coming through the gate onto the drive. There was a hush, then between them, Midge and Molly started describing what they were seeing.

"Kitty's got him just as he was coming through the gate, Security clocked him almost immediately. You can see he's carrying the weapon, it's not obvious that it's a gun, but Security spotted what it was. Well done, girls. Okay, Kitty, roll it."

Kitty let the video play, it showed the man walking along the edge of the drive, he had a very pronounced limp, but he was moving much more slowly than he needed to. He seemed to be looking round, he would stop every so often and was clearly listening. While this was showing, Midge and Molly, like the rest, were just watching the screen.

When he reached the first bend in the drive, Kitty switched to the next camera's view, it took her a couple of tries to get it to the right time (she muttered an apology), then she let it play on.

Now he was walking on the grass beside the drive, presumably to stop any noise from his feet on the drive's gravel (there was no sound for the watchers, the gate and drive cameras didn't have microphones). He was still walking slowly, and stopping periodically to listen.

The watchers of the video saw one of the twins before he did, she came into view walking along the centre of the drive, she had stopped and was just standing there by the time he did see her. Even though she had been been walking on the gravel he clearly hadn't heard her, they could see he was startled when he realised she was there.

When she came into view, Isha got very close to Zoe, Zoe put her arm round Isha, holding her tightly.

Someone called out "Where's Midge?" (There was something about the casual way the twin they could see was standing that identified her as Molly.) Kitty paused the video, Midge answered "You'll see me in a bit, two of us together would make a bigger target." She didn't mention the other reason they weren't close to each other, that would become apparent later.

Kitty resumed the video. The man, recovering from the shock of Molly appearing there without warning, looked down at his gun as if trying to make up his mind whether to use it. He looked up as if Molly had spoken to him ‑ it was just possible to see Molly's mouth moving as if she was saying something. Chloe, really to herself but audible to all in the total silence of the room, "You could get hurt playing with that." Kitty paused the video as Molly laughed, "How did you know that's what I said?" Midge muttered "We're too predictable." Kitty replied for Chloe, "Yes, we've heard you say that before, more than once."

Kitty resumed the video, there were several gasps from those seated as the man raised his gun and pointed it at Molly. The gun jerked in his hand, but Molly had moved sideways. The man just stood there as if in disbelief, then he noticed Midge had appeared level with Molly but right on the edge of the drive, so not close to her.

Now Isha was hiding behind Zoe, peering round to see the TV.

The man swung the gun towards Midge, again it jerked in his hand, again his target had moved sideways. He pointed it back towards Molly, the gun jerked, Molly wasn't where she had been. It then looked as if Molly said something to him, Chloe asked "What was that?" With the video paused and Midge just grinning, Molly replied "I just said 'You're going to die'." Midge added "Which was a bit of a fib, at least for now, but it got him rattled." "Even more rattled than he was."

With the video playing again, they watched as Midge and Molly walked slowly towards the man. He was shooting alternately at one then the other, at each shot his target moved to one side or the other. When they were getting close, Midge stopped walking while Molly kept going, now he just kept pointing at Molly, three more jerks of the gun then the watchers could see movement of his hand and arm as if trying to get more bullets out of the by now obviously empty gun. Molly stopped her dodging after the first two attempts, she and Midge walked right up to him.

Midge got hold of the wrist of his gun hand and lifted it towards Molly, who eased the gun out of his grip (not that he showed any sign of trying to hang on to it). Midge now quite forcefully twisted and moved his wrist so that he had no option other than to kneel (not easy with his bad leg) then lie down on his back.

"Nothing else of interest" said Midge. "Just told him to lie still for the moment." "He didn't move." The video was still playing, they saw the twins hug each other then kiss, after which Midge got out her phone.

Kitty stepped the video forward until she, Chloe and Pete showed up, then she backed up some and let it play, she'd noticed something during her stepping.

The watchers could see Midge walk into the woods to the side of the drive, she returned shortly after with a branch that looked as if she'd broken it off a tree, she held it so the man could see as Molly ripped off several smaller branches from it to leave a single piece of wood, a couple of inches in diameter and maybe three feet long. With Midge still holding it where he could see it, Molly said something to him, he could be seen covering his head with his hands. Midge told the watchers what she'd said, "This won't run out of bullets."

Midge added "Sorry, Roy, I couldn't immediately find a strong enough piece on the ground, so I broke that off one of your trees." Roy, smiling, replied "I think we can forgive you this time, the wood's plenty thick enough there anyway."

Kitty skipped the video forward again until the arrival of Pete, Chloe, and herself, she gave the commentary of what happened while they were there. She switched the video back to the gate view when the man, followed by Pete, went towards and out of the gate, she stopped it, leaving Pete standing at the gate.

A general hubbub started amongst all the girls on the mats, Isha got out from behind Zoe and ran to the twins, giving each of them a hug, then for good measure Kitty, Chloe and Pete. She ran back to her mat, just sat beside Zoe, holding her hand.

Anyone watching the TV could see that Kitty was going back to several of the occasions when one or other of the twins was dodging a bullet, she made the video play as slowly as she could. Whichever twin it was seemed to move between frames, or there was maybe one frame with a smear between the twin's two positions. Pete quietly commented to Kitty "That's why they didn't get close to each other, it would have been fatal if they couldn't move freely."

Pete then asked Midge "How did you know when to dodge? Even you couldn't react to the bullet leaving the gun." "No," from Midge, "one of us watched his eyes, the other his trigger finger. And we could see where the gun was pointing. After the first few shots he was trying to guess which way we would move." Molly: "Of course, we moved the other way." Pete knew there was no point asking how they could actually move so quickly, nor how each knew what the other twin saw of the man's trigger finger moving or his eyes giving whatever indication they were picking up on. They probably didn't know themselves.

Chloe asked "Molly, how come he didn't hear you walking on the gravel?" Midge, grinning, "When you can walk the rice paper and leave no trace, then your steps will not be heard." Puzzled looks from all round, most none the wiser after Kitty said, really to herself but everyone could hear it, "Paraphrased from Kung Fu, Master Kan to Caine."

When Kitty turned off the TV and opened the blinds, Midge called out "Could someone make some more tea, please? Mine's gone cold." From the mats a voice called out "Just as well, Kitty made this lot." Kitty immediately hurled herself onto the mat from which Xanthe had shouted, soon the punch‑up between Kitty and Xanthe had spread to become a general melee amongst all the girls on the mats.

Several minutes later the fighting died down, many nursing minor injuries and, of course, comparing them and bragging about them to anyone who would listen. As things quietened, Chloe and Ann went among the combatants to retrieve the empty mugs (most hadn't been drunk, all had been knocked over), they took them into the kitchen, they emerged several minutes later with full mugs of tea that they distributed round. No one seemed to mind wandering around with dresses very wet from the tea they'd been rolling around in as they fought.

Other reactions

Isha took her tea and went to Kitty, just held her hand and stared at the twins. When Chloe nudged Midge and nodded towards Isha, the twins went to her, Kitty took Isha's tea while she gave each of the twins another hug, Kitty could just hear Isha whisper "I'm really glad you weren't hurt." Each of the twins kissed her, then Isha took her tea from Kitty and wandered off to laugh at the unlikely explanations and tall stories that were being told about bruises and bite marks.

Doc came over to the twins, "Do you want us to do any repair work on your girls?" Midge smiled, "No, thank you, we'll deal with them in a bit." Doc nodded. Then "I'm glad none of those bullets struck their targets, I'm a bit out of practice with gunshot wounds." The twins alternated their reply, "We're quite glad as well." "But we thought we could get him to miss" "us, what we couldn't risk was anyone" "else getting" "hurt" ‑ the last word spoken together. With another nod, and a general "Goodbye, all", Doc and Emma picked up their bags and walked to the stairs.

Kitty returned to the twins, she pointed out Lillian, who was suckling Milly and Kyle, a vey concerned Dee's arm was round her. Although she was looking down at her babies, they could see she had tears streaming down her face. Kitty and the twins walked over to her, when Lillian noticed them, the first thing she said was "Kitty, do you think you could take over? I've gone dry." Kitty squeezed in beside Lillian, undoing the top of her dress as she sat. She took first Milly then Kyle, the two were soon sucking vigorously.

Lillian, tears still flowing down her face, stood up and hugged the twins together, "Lillian doesn't like seeing her Molly and her Midge getting hurt." Midge quietly said to her "Lill, we know, and we weren't." A glance between the twins, Molly put the tips of her fingers to Lillian's forehead, Midge whispered something into Lillian's ear. After some seconds Lillian stopped crying, blinked a few times then smiled and said "No you weren't." They helped Lillian back to the settee, where Dee once again put his arm round her, but she seemed much happier, straight away she was smiling at Milly and Kyle, who seemed to have had enough from Kitty, they were just sleeping in her arms.

As the twins moved away, Chloe went to them. "I've not seen you calm someone like that before." Midge replied "We've not done it before, it's something Elandra once talked to us about, we've never had the need. Though once or twice with Isha we've thought about doing it. But there's something going on inside her, we daren't do anything to her in case it went wrong and whatever it is explodes." What they didn't say was they'd wanted to do it to Chloe when she had been upset, but didn't dare for exactly the same reason.

Firearm disposal

That evening, Midge asked Pete what he thought they should do with the gun. He replied that he'd already thoroughly cleaned off any fingerprints and washed it with bleach to remove any DNA, at least from anywhere Midge, Molly or he might have touched.

He wanted to find a way of disposing of it anonymously with the police, without any possibility of a connection to the building. At worst he'd put it where only police could find it, but he'd have to be very sure it was done out of any sight of cameras.

Molly suggested "We could do that, we won't be seen in our black costumes at night. We could toss it over the wall into the police station grounds."

"That would work, just don't get caught or even seen, some of them know you, they might suspect it was you if they see your Ninja moves."

Roy spent a couple of days with a metal detector searching for the bullets. Kitty, from the videos, had counted seventeen shots, Roy eventually recovered all seventeen bullets and the same number of casings (the casings were relatively easy to find, being concentrated as they were about the drive), so all were accounted for. Pete cleaned them as he had the gun.

On the next moonless night, one o'clock in the morning, the twins, dressed in their black bodysuits, gloves and trainers, ran from the building into town. They were very wary of traffic (they were essentially invisible) ‑ not that there was much around at that time. In town they kept as far as possible out of the view of cameras, always in shadow, running as fast as only they could do. Their route looped past the police station, round, then back out of town, returning to the building.

The next day the pistol and the bullets were discovered in the police station car park. In spite of very careful viewing of surveillance camera recordings, the police never discovered how they got there. Pete found this all out a little later, he'd always kept friendly with several of the police, he overheard conversations amongst some of them at a leaving do he'd been invited to.

The pistol was never connected to the building or its occupants.

Kitty wants to shoot

A few weeks after the visit by Broken Knee, Chloe mentioned to Midge that Kitty and Pete seemed to be having some serious conversations, and that Kitty seemed to be spending even more time than usual sat at her computer.

The next day after breakfast, Molly, in her usual blunt manner, asked Kitty "What are you and Pete dreaming up?" Kitty gave a slightly embarrassed smile, then "I want to try shooting." This had Midge, Molly and Chloe somewhat surprised, Kitty being one of the gentlest people they knew, she would never normally want to hurt anyone. Unless they criticised her cooking or called her a witch, of course.

After several seconds, Midge asked "Is it because of Broken Knee? Do you want to start shooting people?" "Oh, no" came Kitty's immediate reply, "I don't want to shoot anyone. It's just that his visit got me wondering about how bullets travel through the air, what affects their flight path, how difficult it is to hit a target."

Molly told her "You just point the thing where you want the bullet to go, then pull the trigger." Kitty smiled, "That may work at close range, but for longer distances …" she tailed off. Chloe frowned, "Well, I suppose the bullet will drop a bit if it takes time to reach its target, Mr Newton will do that." Kitty nodded, "Yes, the bullet doesn't fly, it falls. Then …" She tailed off again. "Then what?" from Molly. "Wind. It gets blown off course by any wind." She seemed to get more into her enthusiasm. "Air pressure and humidity have an influence, and at very long range" - she paused - "Coriolis effect." The other three looked at each other. After a couple of seconds, Midge and Molly alternated "What in" "the blue" "blazes is" "Coriolis effect?" - the last two words spoken together.

Kitty smiled at their way of talking. "The Earth's rotation. Think of a spinning disc, maybe an old fashioned record player with a piece of paper on it. Draw a line towards you from the centre to the edge, the line you draw will be curved on the paper.

"Then, of course, there's spin drift." She explained to the open mouths in front of her, "The bullet is spinning as it leaves the barrel. The effect of air drag on that spin makes the bullet turn a little to one side as it travels. Mind you, that's very small compared with the effects of wind."

A stunned silence. Finally Chloe asked "And that's what you've been doing with Pete all this while?" Kitty grinned, "Well, that's not quite all we've been doing. But yes, he knows a lot. He has contacts with some sort of military organisation, he's going to see if he can find me somewhere to have a go."

Chloe, more to herself than to the others, "Pete's really not told us his real story." Midge replied "I don't think he's going to. He said he was a special constable. I think special forces is more likely."

The range

Only a week later, Pete drove the four of them to a military compound about an hour away. He stopped at the entrance barrier where the guard obviously recognised him, but he still carefully checked the paper Pete handed him, then looked at the four giggling passengers with a slightly puzzled expression. Meanwhile two other soldiers were using mirrors on sticks to examine the underside of the car, also to check in the boot and under the bonnet that Pete had popped open without being asked. Their inspections having satisfied him, the guard made a phone call before saying to Pete "Building 2 C. They're waiting for you."

Pete clearly knew his way around, he drove past several buildings before parking. As the car came to rest, he said "Please keep together, stay with me. We will be escorted the whole time we are here. You'll probably find a more relaxed attitude than you might expect on a normal military establishment, but they are very strict on security. You obey any order you are given without question, particularly on the range. I hope that's clear." He paused for a moment before adding "Especially you, Molly." He got a grin in acknowledgement, followed by a possibly reluctant nod.

They got out of the car to find a man wearing military fatigues, he shook Pete's hand, but he was looking at the girls. "You didn't say your friends were young ladies" he said. Pete replied "You might not have taken it seriously if I had." "Probably not. So, names please." The girls said their names in turn, “Chloe”, "Kitty", "Midge or Molly", "Molly or Midge."

A double take looking at the twins, the only difference he could see between them was one had untidier hair and was standing slightly crookedly, one foot hooked behind the other. "Hmm. All right. Just call me Sergeant. Or Sarge as you're friends of Pete. Which one of you is the marksman, then?" Kitty, somewhat hesitantly, said "It's me who asked to shoot, but …" She tailed off. Molly completed "She's never actually shot anything before." Sarge looked at Pete who smiled. "Same as their being young ladies, but they're here now. I think she may surprise you." Kitty looked at Pete, frowning, apparently puzzled by his words, but she didn't say anything.

"Hmm. Come on, then, let's get this over with." He led them to a military vehicle, two seats in the front, the back had bench seats set either side. He got in behind the wheel, Pete beside him, the girls piled into the back. They drove some way on a road, then onto a track. Pete had a suspicion that Sarge was deliberately choosing to make it a fairly rough ride, not avoiding bumps and potholes. When Pete glanced in the back, he saw the girls weren't on the seats, they were in a heap on the floor. He didn't say anything, just smiled to himself as he held onto the side of the vehicle for support. From the back were coming a series of yelps and cries that were making Sarge smile.

His smile changed to a look of surprise after they'd stopped and got out, the girls were howling with laughter as they compared bruises, ignoring everyone around them. Pete went to them, "Come on girls, we're guests here." The girls looked round, they were behind a series of shooting positions, some with several men and one woman lying prone with rifles in front of them.

Down the lanes were targets, outlines of the head and torso of men, arranged at various distances from the firing positions. There were some men behind the shooting line with spotting telescopes mounted to look down the range at the targets.

Everyone there were looking at the new arrivals with various expressions ranging from disbelief, curiosity, through to ogling. A sergeant came up to them, greeted Pete and shook his hand, but he, too, was looking at the girls, who were looking around, trying to take everything in.

Sarge introduced the girls to the sergeant, "This is the range sergeant, Sergeant Miller. These two are Midge and Molly, they won't say which is which, this is Chloe and this one Kitty. It's Kitty who is our shooter." Sarge gave Pete a sideways glance, then said to Sergeant Miller "If it was anyone other than Pete requesting this, it wouldn't be happening, but the colonel has okay'd it."

Sergeant Miller frowned, but nodded. "Okay, Kitty, what have you shot before?" His frown deepened when she replied "Nothing, sir, but I'd like to try, please." He shook his head in disbelief, but something about Kitty's demeanour, polite and serious, also the way Pete and the other girls all had confident expressions on their faces, turned his frown into a somewhat incredulous smile, he nodded.

"What do you know about shooting?" Kitty replied "Well, sir, Pete has drummed into me about safety, about range discipline, how to behave when holding a gun. I've read up extensively about shooting, I think I know what is needed to handle a gun, how to aim at a target, how to shoot."

"All right. We'll go to the end lane, meanwhile …" He went to a parked lorry, went into the back, came out carrying a rifle, a metal box, and over his arm several pairs of ear defenders. He led them to the lane at the far end of the row, put the box and the defenders down, checked the rifle, making sure it wasn't loaded. He moved its bolt action a couple of times, pointed it down range and checked the trigger pull. He pointed the gun upwards and approached Kitty. "Let's see how you handle this." He proffered it to Kitty. She looked at it, then took it from him with two hands, keeping it pointing straight up. She examined it, turned it round, then spoke, more to herself than those around her.

"Lee Enfield L42A1. Ammunition: seven point six two. Good reliable sniper rifle. No longer in service. Superseded by the L96A1 around 1985." As she was saying this, she checked the safety catch but did nothing else.

L42A1

All the military personnel that had heard Kitty were looking at her in surprise. After a few seconds, Sarge asked Kitty "How did you know that?" "As I said" she replied, "I've read about shooting and things." Pete was smiling to himself as were Midge and Molly. Chloe told the listeners "She remembers everything."

Sergeant Miller beckoned Kitty to follow him to the shooting position. "All right, show me how you think you should position yourself. You others, keep back."

Kitty first laid the rifle down pointing down the range, its barrel resting on sandbags. There was a mat arranged on the ground, she lowered herself onto her front, moved around a bit, carefully lifted the rifle and held it to her shoulder. She muttered something under her breath, put the rifle down and moved herself a little, her body and right leg in line with the rifle and the range, her left leg a little to the side. She wriggled a bit then gave herself a nod.

She picked up the rifle again and put it to her shoulder, one hand positioned on the grip, her forefinger with the others, not attempting to find the trigger. Her other hand was in front holding the front stock, elbow on the ground. She was sighting through the telescopic sight. Without looking up, Kitty asked "The gun is unloaded, may I try the bolt action and pull the trigger?" After a pause, Sergeant Miller replied "Permission granted."

Kitty took her time. Even though the gun was unloaded, she was treating this as if she was actually firing, a dummy run. She operated the bolt that would eject any previous cartridge and put a round into the firing position, then the watchers could see her breathing becoming slower and more regular. Other than the slight rise and fall of her breathing, her body was completely still. She moved her thumb and released the safety catch, her forefinger went firstly to feel the trigger guard, then found its way to the trigger. Everyone watching was now totally silent, many of the military were showing signs of surprise, even slight nods of approval.

Kitty took two more even breaths, the second she breathed half way out and held it, another pause, her finger slowly squeezed the trigger. In the total silence a click could be heard as the firing mechanism operated. Kitty remained exactly as she was for another two seconds before continuing to breath. She thumbed the safety catch, then looked round at the silent faces staring at her.

She went red in the face, carefully putting the rifle down. She stood up, "Is something the matter? Have I done something wrong?" Sarge was the first to speak, "Nothing wrong. That was … perfect." He turned towards Sergeant Miller who was nodding his agreement. Sergeant Miller then asked Kitty "Would you like to try it live?" Kitty, a look of relief and perhaps just a little excitement on her face, "Yes, please, but please remember, I've never done anything like this before."

Sergeant Miller went to the metal box he'd put down earlier. Picking up the ear defenders, he passed one to each of the visitors, including Kitty. "Please put these on." Next he opened the metal box and took out an ammunition clip. "There are five rounds" he said as he passed it to her. "Get back into position, load the weapon, but don't do anything else."

Kitty did as she was asked, positioned herself as before, not lying down into her final position until she'd examined the clip, turned it to insert it into the rifle. She lay down fully, placed her hands as before and put an eye to look through the rifle's telescopic sight. Sergeant Miller crouched down beside her, moved the rifle slightly to the side from where Kitty had positioned it, "Can you see that target? Fifty metres." Kitty just said "Yes" as she held her concentration.

"Do exactly as in your practice, one round, fire when ready." Without moving, Kitty asked "What's it zeroed at?" Sergeant Miller replied "A hundred metres." It was only after he'd answered that he remembered not many civilians knew what that meant, Chloe demonstrating that by quietly asking Pete "What's she mean? Zeroed?" Pete explained "The sight is set to how far the bullet will have dropped at that range." Chloe nodded, "So she'll have to aim below where she wants it to hit at fifty metres?" Pete's turn to nod, "Maybe a few centimetres at this range".

Kitty repositioned her body slightly to get perfect alignment with where the rifle was now pointing, once again her breathing slowed. Pete quietly said to the other girls "She's doing as she does in self defence, she's in the zone, only she's modified it with the controlled breathing." Kitty repeated what she'd done, safety catch off, she operated the bolt action to feed a bullet into the firing chamber, then her controlled breathing, finger round the trigger, breath half out, a pause, then a sharp crack as the rifle fired. Apart from the reaction to the recoil against her shoulder, Kitty remained completely still for the next two seconds, before continuing to breath and putting the safety catch on.

Meanwhile the spotter had been looking at the target, "Centre mass" he called out, a surprised edge to his voice. "Dead centre." After another couple of seconds, someone called out "Lucky shot." Having seen Kitty's technique, Sergeant Miller looked round to the soldier who had shouted. "I'm not so sure."

Then back to Kitty, "Would you like to try the rest of the magazine? Four more shots, same target?" Kitty, still looking through the telescopic sight, "Yes please." "Permission to shoot, four rounds, fire when ready."

By now, Kitty had quite an audience, though she seemed unaware of the onlookers, many of whom had their phones out taking photos or videos of Kitty.

Even Molly had become so absorbed in what Kitty was doing that she could be mistaken for a Midge.

Kitty repositioned herself from the first round's recoil movement, then repeated what she'd done before. After the second shot, she no longer needed to correct her position after the recoil, she'd learnt to absorb it without her position moving. Between each shot she took about twenty seconds to prepare, never deviating from her process, totally ignoring a few shouts of disbelief, amazement, some of encouragement.

After the last shot, she thumbed the safety catch, ejected the now empty ammunition clip, and laid the rifle down. She stood up, unable to contain the grin on her face, she'd seen the result through her 'scope. The spotter, without trying to hide his surprise, "Dead centre. All five in a one point five inch group."

Sergeant Miller knew he was seeing something a bit special. Trying to hide his surprise, he asked Kitty "Would you like to try the one hundred metre target?" Kitty grinned, "Oh, yes please." By the time he'd returned with another ammunition clip, Kitty was down again, her position slightly altered to allow for the different angle to the further target. She took the proffered ammunition and inserted it.

"One hundred metre target, five rounds, fire when ready."

Again, Kitty took her time before taking the first shot, the rest followed with the same rhythm as for her first target. The spotter called out "Five hits, dead centre." Then with something of an air of disbelief, "One inch group." Kitty, once again grinning, "I learnt something from the first lot."

Before she'd had a chance to get up, Sergeant Miller asked "Five hundred metres?" Kitty turned her head to look at him, "That's getting more difficult, there's a bit of a wind, and it's gusting." "What makes you say that?" "Those flags you've got along the side, I've seen the way they're moving. Shouldn't I try the two hundred one first?" Sergeant Miller smiled, then "You'll eat the two hundred, waste of ammunition. Go on, I'd like you to try the five hundred. No expectations, this isn't a competition, just exploration, we can go back if needed." "All right then, but please don't laugh at me." He once again squatted down and quietly said "No one is going to laugh at you, what you've already shown has silenced any doubters."

He stood up, got another clip and passed it to Kitty. "Five hundred metre target, five rounds, fire when ready."

With Molly's hair now somehow as tidy as her sister's, there were definitely two Midges intently watching with the others.

Kitty prepared herself as she had done for the previous shots, but this time those who understood long range marksmanship could see she had an eye on the wind flags. She chose her moment, the first shot rang out. Kitty stayed still for her customary two seconds, thumbed the safety catch on, and turned to the spotter. "Did I hit it?" He was still looking through his telescope, and in a surprised voice "Hit it? Centre mass, maybe two inches below dead centre."

Kitty nodded, then started to prepare for her second shot, but before she'd settled, Sergeant Miller said to her "Don't compensate, go for the group. Fire when ready."

It took Kitty maybe two full minutes before she took the second shot. Everyone at the range was watching her or looking through spotting telescopes at her target, but no one showed any sign of impatience, they were all professionals, they all knew why Kitty was taking her time.

Another minute's wait before the third shot, but while preparing for the fourth, one Midge transformed into a Molly, she moved to where a soldier had positioned himself behind Kitty, his phone held close to the ground and aimed to photograph Kitty from behind. Reaching him, she grabbed the wrist of the soldier's phone hand, he yelped and dropped it. Pete turned, it only took him half a second to take in what was happening. "Molly, no long term injury." Molly looked at him, she nodded, perhaps a look of disappointment on her face. Turning her attention back to the man, she twisted his wrist further until he was flat on the ground, she'd manoeuvred him so his face was six inches from his fallen phone. She raised her foot and stamped her heel down hard on the phone, shattering it. With a glance towards Pete, she let go of the soldier's wrist and stepped back from him.

The soldier's yelp had caused many to look towards the now prone soldier. Sergeant Miller told Sarge "Check that out." Sarge moved quickly to where Molly was standing, still looking down at the soldier, "What was that about?" Molly replied "I don't allow anyone to hurt any of my friends. Up‑skirting Kitty comes under that heading." Sarge turned to the soldier, he'd risen to his knees, but was holding his wrist to his chest with his other hand. Sarge barked "Private, is that true?" He looked for a moment as if he might deny it, but then he saw Molly glaring at him. "Yes, sergeant. I think she's broken my wrist." Molly smiled, "Not broken, but you'll need medical attention to put it right."

The confrontation was interrupted by a crack as Kitty took her fourth shot, apparently unaware of the commotion going on behind her.

Sarge said to the soldier "Wait there." He went to the parked lorry, returned shortly, saying "The MPs will be here in a minute." He turned his attention back to Molly, "What did you do to him?" "Oh, just squeezed and wriggled my fingers a bit. Nothing broken, just bones a bit out of place." Other soldiers around were looking at what was happening, one said "Whatever she did, I think it was one handed. No strike, she just gripped it." "Well" said Sarge, "the surveillance will show it."

Crack - Kitty's fifth shot. As she had before, after her usual two seconds holding her position, she safetied the rifle and ejected the empty cartridge. She got to her feet, to find the concentration of those around split between the spotter and what was happening behind her. Before she could say anything, the spotter called out "Perfect group, maybe inch and a quarter or inch and a half." After a brief pause, he added "Unbelievable."

Ignoring the injured soldier who'd got to his feet and was staring at Molly with an expression on his face somewhere between disbelief and fear, Sarge returned his attention to the shooting. Not being sure he'd heard the spotter correctly, he asked "Inch and a half?" Sergeant Miller nodded to him, then called out "Safety the range, retrieve targets." Immediately all who had been shooting went to their positions, removed any ammunition from their weapons, laid them down and stepped back.

Several soldiers walked down the lanes, they removed paper overlays from the metal boards they were clipped to, replacing them with new.

When the one dealing with Kitty's lane returned, he handed them to Sergeant Miller who took them to a trestle table nearby and laid them out. He took a pen, on each he wrote the date, the approximate time each was used, and Kitty's name - the lane number and distances were already written on them. He also wrote the rifle's type and its serial number.

Then he studied the groupings. "Kitty, that is impressive, it's as good as many of our trained snipers. Not the best, but damned good. How on earth did you judge the drop on the five hundred metre one?" Kitty smiled, "I cheated. I sort of guesstimated the first one and saw where the cross-hairs were on the hill behind, I aimed at that. Then I only had to worry about the wind."

"That was some guesstimate. And how did you judge the wind, it was gusting from nothing to ten or twelve miles an hour." Kitty smiled again, "Your flags only react as the wind changes over the range but you don't know how long a lull will last for. But I could follow the wind by looking at the grass to the side, I waited until the end of a gust, then from the grass I could see when I'd got a few seconds of calm before the next gust. That's when I fired, so there was no wind. Cheating again."

"Not cheating, definitely not. Using the environment to help judge the shot, that's not cheating, that's good marksmanship."

Someone called out "A thousand. Try her at a thousand." The voice wasn't challenging, it was questioning. Sarge looked at Sergeant Miller who nodded, but said "Not with that rifle. Kitty, are you up for it?" Kitty looked a little doubtful, maybe worried, she started to shake her head. Chloe immediately went to her, whispered something in her ear, held her in a hug for a few seconds. A brief kiss, and Chloe moved back to the others. Kitty smiled, then, in a very definite tone, "Yes please, I'd like to try." Midge took Chloe's hand and mouthed 'Well done'.

Sergeant Miller took the rifle Kitty had been using back to the lorry, he returned moments later holding a long metal box. He laid it on the trestle table and opened it to reveal a rifle split into its component parts. Kitty stared at it, a look of maybe wonder on her face. He was about to take it out when Chloe called out "Bet she can put it together without help." Sergeant Miller paused, looked across at Chloe and the twins who were all grinning. Then he looked at Pete, who gave him a nod and said "She certainly won't damage it."

Sergeant Miller turned to Kitty, "See what you can do with this." Kitty glanced at him, looked around at all the soldiers who were watching what was happening, then across to the other girls, all nodding to her. "All right," she said, "but it won't be very quick." "We've got time" was Sergeant Miller's response.

Kitty looked back to the dissembled rifle, just examining it in its case. Then: "L115A3. Long range sniper rifle. Currently used in all branches of the UK military. Modified to take point three three eight Lapua Magnum cartridges. Longest confirmed kill just less than two thousand five hundred metres, two hits out of ten shots." She stopped, her face clouded over, "I don't want to kill anybody."

Pete was the first to react, he went to Kitty, put a hand on each shoulder, stared into her face. He quietly said "No one is asking you to hurt anyone. In service, these are only used to hurt people who would be responsible for the deaths of others. Snipers are not only trained on how to shoot, but also when not to shoot. It's only used in the defence of others, as you yourself did when we had those intruders who were out to hurt us.

"This is just an exercise, like we did in the gym practising self defence." Kitty thought for a moment, brightened up and nodded. Pete looked around at the onlookers, "Kitty is the gentlest, kindest person I know." He paused, then with a grin, "Quite the opposite of you lot." He walked back to the other three girls to the sound of laughter and some ribbing, none of it directed at Kitty. She had clearly earned the respect of them all.

Kitty turned back to the rifle in its case, she stared at all the parts in their protective foam, then she took each piece out in turn, turned it over in her hands, examining it all round, then put it back. After another look over all the parts in the case, she started putting it together, taking each piece, fastening it to the assemblage. There was no hesitation, she seemed to know exactly what to do. Finally she placed the assembled rifle on the table, its front supported on its bipod rest.

She looked at Sergeant Miller, then after a couple of seconds Kitty asked "Is that wrong?" He'd been shaking his head, but it was in disbelief. Recovering himself, he picked the weapon up, checked everything, and put it down.

L115A3

"Bloody hell, you did that more quickly than most of ours can do it. And got it right. How …" He tailed off, lost for words. Kitty, into the dead silence of her audience, "It could only go together one way." Then, with something of a cheeky grin, "Can I try it now, please?"

"Right," Sergeant Miller said, I'll zero the 'scope for one thousand." He pulled what looked like a ruggedised calculator from a pocket, he called out asking for air pressure, temperature and humidity, made several entries from the shouted replies, looked at the result, then nodded to himself. "There's some Coriolis compensation needed, not much, but only fair to put that in as well." A few more entries, another nod. "I'm not allowing anything for windage, just do what you did before."

He picked the rifle up, took it to Kitty's lane, got down into a shooting position, then checked the bolt action and trigger pull. He looked through the 'scope then called Kitty to him, he stayed down but moved to the side so that she could lie down behind the rifle.

"Can you see the target, just at the base of the hill?" "That tiny white thing?" "Yes, that's it. Set the 'scope to minimum zoom, find it in that, focus, then zoom in until you're happy with it, you may need to refocus as you zoom. Then try the bolt action and trigger pull."

Kitty checked the gun was unloaded, she made sure she could use the safety catch. She looked through the 'scope, adjusted her position slightly, "Weapon unloaded. Safety off." She operated the bolt action, then squeezed the trigger - click. Now she altered the 'scope's zoom and focus, repeated the bolt action and trigger operation. Seemingly satisfied, she operated the safety catch, but stayed staring through the 'scope.

Sergeant Miller was looking at how she was holding the rifle, he frowned momentarily, then "Let's get the rifle to fit you a bit better." He adjusted the shoulder stock and the cheek pad, getting Kitty to return to her shooting position between adjustments. "That's as good as we can get it, it was never intended for someone as small as you. Better?" Kitty was staring through the 'scope, she quietly replied "I think so." "Don't worry, relax, pretend it's only one hundred metres, easy." Kitty grinned, "Okay."

"Wait one" from Sergeant Miller as he got up, returning shortly with an ammunition magazine. He passed it to Kitty and laid down beside her again. He called out "Range is hot." Then "One thousand metres, five rounds, fire when ready." And, quietly so that probably only Kitty could hear, "Take your time. Shoot just as you did before. Good luck, but I don't think you need luck."

It took about quarter of an hour for Kitty to complete her five shots. Around her there were some whispered comments amongst the onlookers, several were using sighting telescopes to look at her target. One of them was perhaps more vocal than the others, after Kitty's first shot he could be heard saying "Yes." After the second, "Bloody hell." The third: "Unbelievable." He was silent for the last two.

After Kitty had ejected the last cartridge and safetied the gun, she got up, Sergeant Miller getting up as well. "How did I do?" she asked. The spotter who was designated to her lane walked over to Kitty and Sergeant Miller, he said "It's a good group. Need to confirm."

"Safety the range, retrieve the target." In response, a vehicle that looked like a military version of a golf cart with two soldiers on board drove down the range. While it was gone, a grinning Kitty went to Pete and the other three girls, Pete just stayed smiling, the other three held Kitty in a hug. When the buggy returned a few minutes later, the passenger got off and took the paper target to Sergeant Miller.

He took one look, then held it up over his head and slowly turned so that all the onlookers could see, the five holes clearly visible, four in a three inch group right in the centre of the target's chest, one outlier, a few inches to the side of the four.

There was immediate applause, every soldier clapping, shouts of praise, soon a crowd was round Kitty and the other girls. Kitty had gone red in the face, she didn't know how to deal with the attention, tears started to flow. Molly clapped her hands, it was as loud as Kitty's gunshots. That brought silence, into which Pete spoke "She thanks you all, but as well as being the kindest person, she's also the shyest that I know, perhaps that's enough applause? It is appreciated, though."

Sergeant Miller called out "Okay, entertainment's over. Back to your practice." He turned to Kitty, I think that's all we can let you do, we're getting a bit behind schedule." Kitty nodded, "I can't thank you enough, that was brilliant." As she was finishing, another soldier came up to Sergeant Miller, "Yes, corporal?" "Sergeant, the colonel wants to see you and all involved as soon as." "All right corporal, can you take over here?" "Yessir."

Five minutes later, they were driving back to the base. Sarge was driving, Sergeant Miller beside him, he was holding Kitty's targets in a roll. Pete was on one of the bench seats, the four girls on the other, they were holding hands, all with big smiles on their faces.

Meeting Colonel Morrison

When they arrived back, the two sergeants led them into a building, along a corridor, and to an office door. Sarge opened it, a uniformed woman behind the desk looked up and said "The briefing room, the colonel's waiting for you." They backtracked, at another door Sarge knocked, there was an immediate "Come in", Sarge opened the door and led the others in. Sat at one end of the central table was a man in a crisp uniform, clearly the colonel, beside him an adjutant with a laptop in front of him.

Sarge, Sergeant Miller and Pete all stood to attention. The two sergeants saluted, being out of uniform Pete didn't salute, he held his hands stiffly to his sides. Sergeant Miller spoke, "Colonel Morrison sir, shooting party reporting as ordered." "At ease, gentlemen. And you, lady." Pete and the two sergeants turned to see Molly standing stiffly at attention and holding a salute, mimicking what the sergeants had done. The other girls were grinning at her. Pete immediately said "Molly, stop it, that is disrespectful." Molly's turn to grin, she put her hand down and relaxed her stance. Pete turned to the colonel "I'm sorry, sir. I'm afraid all of them can be a bit mischievous, Molly is the worst, the concept of discipline has no meaning for her."

Colonel Morrison smiled, "That's okay. Please sit down, all of you." They positioned themselves round the table and sat down, the girls having been given another telling off by Pete for arguing over who sat where. When they were settled, Pete gave the colonel the names of the girls. "It's Chloe beside me, then the twins Midge and Molly, and Kitty, our marksman." As he said their names, they each raised a hand, though Midge and Molly raised and lowered theirs together.

"Pleased to meet you all." A brief pause, and looking at Molly, "Well, most of you." Molly gave him a big smile, the colonel shook his head, trying to suppress his own grin.

Then he got serious. "Let's deal with the soldier and his actions. Was it Molly who dealt with him?" "Probably" said Pete. The colonel frowned, "Don't you know?" Pete replied "No one can tell the two apart, they can switch characteristics at any time."

After momentarily looking at each of the twins, the colonel said "All right. I've reviewed the surveillance video, what he did was totally unacceptable. Kitty, will you want to press criminal charges?" Kitty was looking puzzled, "What …" Pete interrupted, "She doesn't know what happened." The colonel said to his adjutant "Find the video, play that part." A minute later, a display screen on the wall showed a picture showing Kitty lying in position. Pete explained to the girls "This is normally used to critique a shooter's technique. "Yes" said the colonel, "We'll come onto technique in a bit. All right, let it play.

The screen showed a video in which could be seen the soldier lowering his phone behind Kitty, Molly's sudden appearance and her treatment of him. The adjutant stopped the video with Molly's heel on the phone.

Kitty's reaction perhaps wasn't quite what the colonel expected. She actually smiled. "He won't do it again. No, no charges from me." The colonel looked a little surprised, but nodded. To his adjutant he said "Make a note, victim doesn't want to press charges." It's unlikely anyone other than the twins would have noticed Kitty gently squeezing the hand of the twin beside her as a gesture of thanks.

"Next, Molly, you seemed to simply appear into view, no sign of you running, how did that happen?" Molly replied "Perhaps there's a bit missing from the tape?" The adjutant shook his head, "No, the timestamps are embedded and checked, nothing missing." "Well, I suppose I can move quickly when I have to." "And where did you learn your martial arts? That hold, well, I've never seen anything so simple yet so effective. What was it, a pressure point, a nerve hold?" "It wasn't what you'd call a hold in the martial arts sense. I just gripped his wrist, wriggled my fingers a bit."

Sarge spoke, "Something else, Pete told you not to give any long term injury. What could you have done?" Chloe answered, the first time she'd said anything. "She might have broken his arm. She could have ripped his arm right off, but I expect she'd have needed both hands to do that." "But I didn't" from Molly.

The colonel frowned. He looked at each of his visitors' faces, all had matter-of-fact expressions, no sign that Chloe was joking or exaggerating. He was very used to reading when someone was lying or being evasive, but something about Molly, and, indeed the others, made him realise he's never get fully satisfactory answers from them. In any case, he had no jurisdiction over a civilian unless they were a danger to his facility. The soldier's injury would heal given treatment and time according to the medical report he's received, and in the colonel's view it was a perfectly justifiable action on Molly's part.

"All right. Now, before I authorised your visit, for security reasons I had them do a standard background check." He stopped, Pete and the girls were all looking seriously at him, Kitty and Chloe a little worried. "Yes, I can see you are uncomfortable with that. Briefly then, we didn't find out anything about Kitty and Chloe before you went to secondary school, a convent?"

No one answered him.

"And it closed in unusual circumstances, you set up your own school for the displaced pupils."

Again, no response.

"After that, you somehow turned into a club, but we couldn't find out anything about it, other than Pete joined you at some stage."

Now Pete did say something. "Yes, sir, it was these two" - he indicated Midge and Molly - "who saved me from the yobs who knifed me, there's no doubt I would be dead if it wasn't for them. And they looked after me during my weeks of recovery." The colonel nodded, then asked "Pete, how come they could attack you like that? You were one of our best close-combat practitioners."

"A couple of reasons, I suppose. I was in what would normally be a zero threat location, secondly the attack was completely without warning. I still can't remember it, but the security cameras there showed nothing to indicate any danger, no apparent hostility or threat, just a knife suddenly produced and thrust into my stomach." He smiled, "Also I was probably distracted by the sight of these two on the other side of the road."

The colonel also smiled, "I can understand that. So, how come you've stayed there?" "I'm employed as head of Security. Probably the best job I could wish for after my military career was stymied." The colonel nodded. "I can see you don't want to talk about your club, I won't probe. Anyway, there's nothing to indicate a security risk.

"Now, much more interesting. Kitty, where did you learn to shoot like that? It was remarkable by any standards." Kitty's turn to smile, "I've never shot before, sir. I was watching a video of someone using a gun, it got me thinking about how bullets move through the air, I suppose ballistics in general, so I read up on it."

"Explain your positioning." "Well, sir, my body and right leg are in line with the rifle, this gives least likelihood of pulling to the side. The other leg being moved to the side gives stability. Hands, arms and elbows hold the rifle stably, I'd describe it as relaxed and balanced."

“And firing technique?” "Breathing slowly and controlled, helps slow the heart. To actually fire, breath out part way, hold, then slowly squeeze straight back on the trigger. After it's fired, hold still for two seconds before continuing breathing or any other movement. It avoids any anticipatory movement before the bullet has left the barrel, I suppose a bit like the follow‑through in combat that Pete taught us. Doing that avoids altering the strike before it's completed."

"Sergeant, you have her targets? I'd like to see for myself." Sergeant Miller placed the roll he'd been carrying on the table, as he was doing so, he said "Sir, her range safety was exemplary, I didn't have to say a single thing to her on that score." He opened the roll to lay the targets flat in a pile, they were arranged in order, the fifty metre target on the top. The colonel stood up, picked up the top one and placed it separately on the table to make the holes more visible. He studied it for a few seconds, then "That rifle is usually zeroed at one hundred metres." Before any one else spoke, Kitty replied "Yes, that's what I was told when I asked. I allowed for it as best I could." "How did you judge that?" "I assumed the bullet's velocity and worked out its rise for fifty metres, a simple parabolic function."

Chloe spoke again, "She's good at sums and stuff. That's about the only thing she is good …" Pete cut her off, "No, Chloe, this isn't the time." Seeing the colonel's frown, Pete told him "Chloe wants to start a fight." "Aren't they friends?" "Best of friends, sir. Call it bonding."

The colonel shook his head again, then went back to Kitty's targets. The next one was the one hundred metre one, he looked at it then back to the fifty. "Better grouping on the second. Any reason for that?" "Yes" replied Kitty, "I was learning how to hold the rifle more steadily during the first five shots."

He nodded, then picked up the third. "No two hundred? That would be the normal progression." Sergeant Miller answered him, "After the first two I took the decision that we'd learn nothing from the two hundred, and we did have a time restriction. In all honesty, I never expected her to be able to to do anything useful at one hundred, but after that performance I decided to go straight to the five hundred, test her."

Looking at the five hundred target, the colonel said "Yes, good decision. Kitty, this is remarkable. Just a little low, but excellent grouping." Sergeant Miller spoke again, "I told her not to correct for the height after the first, though I figured she could have got it spot on. I decided the grouping was more instructive. Though how she judged the height that well in the first place beats me." Kitty tried to explain, "I calculated what angle I needed by extrapolating the parabola of the bullet. Either I didn't allow enough for the bullet slowing or I misjudged the angle I was holding the rifle." She grinned, "Probably got them both wrong in opposite directions, just got lucky."

Then the colonel looked at the one thousand metre target. "This is phenomenal, you could do this after only fifteen shots previously, and using a different rifle, cold bore." Seeing their puzzled looks, Pete explained to the other girls "Cold bore, no practice shots with the rifle before the target ones."

Then, somewhat tongue in cheek, the colonel asked "What happened to that stray?" - he was pointing to the one a little away from the other four. Kitty took the question seriously, "I think that was my first, I didn't time when the trigger fired to my heart beat. I got it better on the other four."

Midge asked "Heart?" "Yes" from Sergeant Miller, "even a heart beat can move the rifle, so you want the rifle to fire between beats." "Can't be that" from Molly. "Kitty's heartless, witches don't have hearts." In an instant, Kitty and Molly's chairs were knocked back, the two were wrestling on the floor. Pete went to them, grabbed each by their hair, using it to separate them and haul them to their feet. Letting go, he picked up their chairs and pretty much slammed the two grinning girls back into them.

Pete, his face flushed with anger and embarrassment, turned to the colonel, "I'm really sorry, their behaviour is totally unacceptable. I'll take them away." The colonel shook his head, "No, that's all right. I think they're a little excited, though Kitty, how do you dare attack Molly? We've seen what she's capable of." "Oh, she won't hurt me, she's my friend." Then, rubbing a shoulder, "Well, not too badly."

"More seriously, would you mind us using the video of you to demonstrate good shooting posture to trainees? They might actually want to watch it when they see you." Kitty looked questioningly at the twins, Midge gave her a slight nod. Kitty answered, "Yes that's fine, but not the bit with the phone or Molly doing what she did." "Goes without saying. That, together with your targets would give a huge incentive, we can make use of the inevitable 'Can't be beaten by a girl' culture which I regret still prevails. It will teach them that girls can shoot as well as any man." "Better in a lot of cases" from Sergeant Miller, "the ladies tend to have more natural patience to wait for the right moment, most men have to be taught it."

Chloe asked "There was one lady there, is she as good as the men?" Sergeant Miller replied "That's a private, Elena. Yes, better than most, just as I said."

There was silence for a few seconds, then the adjutant quietly said "The competition."

"Ah, yes. There's an inter-base shooting competition in a few weeks time. Kitty, would you be interested in taking part? I'd have to get special permission to have a civilian in the team, but I think you would be a credit to yourself and to our base." Then, "Sergeants, would there be any objection from our own entrants?" Sergeant Miller answered "I don't think so sir. The shooters there were all very impressed. Maybe I should ask around, though, it could be bad for their morale if they weren't happy." "Yes, do that, sergeant, let me know. Though I'd be tempted to put her in regardless of their feelings." "But, sir" Sergeant Miller continued, "I think she should compete with the others to get into the team, maybe even be a little unfair to her, she should be at least fourth. For her to be the bottom to get in could cause significant resentment for the one just knocked out by her."

While the colonel and the sergeants were conversing, the four girls were quietly talking amongst themselves, when the colonel looked back to Kitty for her answer, it was Midge who spoke. "Colonel, Kitty would very much like to, not that she wants to beat anyone, just the experience. But she does have commitments, when would it be?" The adjutant replied "The Saturday, four weeks time." Midge nodded, "A Saturday is fine. Now, Kitty, you look as if you have some doubts."

"Yes, when I took the one thousand metre shots, Sergeant Miller zeroed the rifle for me. It's my understanding that the entrants in a shooting competition would have to do that for themselves." The colonel looked at Sergeant Miller expectantly, he answered Kitty "Yes, quite right. But, as you saw, I used a computer to do the calculations, we can show you how to use it, all entrants are told latitude and longitude and range orientation, barometric pressure, humidity, and wind speed and direction, you just type them into the computer, it tells you how to adjust the 'scope." "Yes, wind" from Kitty. "I was able to fire when there was none, I'm unlikely to be so lucky next time." "You know there's a wind adjustment on the 'scope given the values, then it's a matter of judgement at the time. I've a feeling you will find the right moment by instinct."

"What range would it be?" "It's done in heats, one hundred metres, two hundred, five hundred, one thousand, fifteen hundred and two thousand. It's a knock-out competition, only the best from each heat go though to the next round. The targets are as you've used, but with target rings on them for scoring."

"What about the rifle? I liked the one I used for the one thousand, but it's only quoted to fifteen hundred meters." "Remember that record shot? Over two thousand four hundred. Takes care, but you've demonstrated you have that."

"I'd have to have these with me" indicating the other three girls and Pete. Sarge answered that, "You can have Pete with you as a second, Pete, can you wear your uniform?" Pete nodded, he said "I do have one, but it's without insignia." Sarge continued "That's fine. But your three friends would have to be back with the observers, even that would require a bit of persuading?" he directed this to the colonel, who replied "Yes. Well, if I can swing Kitty taking part, I think having the other three there will be easy. In any case, family members of competitors are allowed." From the twins: "We did all have the same legal guardians when we were younger …" "… so we are family."

The colonel continued "Kitty, we will have to ask you to compete against our other shooters. We enter five participants into the competition, we choose them on merit here first. But we need you to be fourth or better to avoid any resentment." Kitty hesitated, frowning. The colonel asked "Is that unacceptable to you?" Kitty shook her head, "No, I understand, it's just that …" she tailed off. Midge completed for her, "Kitty wouldn't want to take anyone else's place, she thinks it would be unfair." Sergeant Miller looked at the colonel, "Sir, may I answer that?" After the colonel's nod, he continued "Kitty, your taking part will be a huge incentive to all to prove they are better than you. From the military's point of view, regardless of anything else, all will force themselves to be as good as they possibly can be." Sarge added "And it will save those who are not so good from the embarrassment of being knocked out in the competition after the first round."

This seemed to satisfy Kitty, though she did add "But if they don't want me there, I don't want to be there."

Over the next couple of weeks, Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays, Pete drove the girls to the shooting range, where Kitty would practice over the two hundred, five hundred and one thousand metre distances. Unfortunately there weren't fifteen hundred or two thousand metre targets available. For these it was organised that Sarge would drive them to the range where the competition would take place. There would be others practicing there.

On the first occasion there, the girls got admiring looks that turned to doubt when it was Kitty who took to a shooting lane rather than perhaps Sarge or Pete. Sarge helped Kitty in every aspect. Her initial shot missed the fifteen hundred metre target completely, a few sniggers and derogatory comments could be heard from one or two who were watching her. Sarge simply told her "Don't worry about them, whatever you do don't get upset with yourself."

Kitty's third shot knicked the edge of the target low down, but it was enough to help Kitty believe she could do it. The fourth missed, the fifth just caught the target's shoulder.

By the tenth, she was consistently at least hitting the target until it began to cool in the afternoon and some breezes started circulating, her shots scattered more. Sarge told her to keep watching the surroundings for wind indications, but what really seemed to help was when he said to her "You're relying too much on the figures for wind. The adjustments your computer calculates for you are merely a starting point. You have good natural instincts, try visualising the bullet's path on its way to the target, even become the bullet, judge how your path is disturbed by what you see and feel around you as you fly, see where you hit the target, adjust your aim accordingly."

By the twentieth shot, Kitty was always hitting the target near its centre. She'd gathered a group watching her, her times between shots had dropped from the initial five minutes or so down to a few tens of seconds. Onlookers no longer had any doubts about her ability.

When Sarge said to her "Last five rounds", Kitty nodded, then within one minute she had taken her five shots. Sarge, looking up from the spotting telescope and shaking his head, "Bloody hell, all five dead centre, three inch group".

When her by now quite big audience realised she'd finished, she got an extended round of clapping and shouts of "That's some shooting", "Well done", "Damned good". So concentrated was she on her shooting that Kitty had had no idea she was being watched, she went red in the face and tried to hide behind Pete and the girls. Molly called out the audience "Not bad, is she? Afraid she's very shy, but your applause is appreciated."

On the second week's practice at the competition range, Sarge moved her to the two thousand metre target. Kitty's first five shots all hit the target, but, again, they were scattered all over it. Sarge had a quiet word with her, "Kitty, you're tense. Relax. Take a bit more time. Pretend it's the two hundred metre target, just a bit smaller.

After this, Kitty did take more time over each shot, some several minutes, and her grouping improved. As happened before, others at the range were watching her, any earlier scepticism turning to aproval.

The next week, her last chance to practice at the long distances before the qualification, Kitty continued to get good scores, though perhaps not as good as she would have liked.

Qualification

They did the qualification rounds on the Wednesday before the competition. It was all at the range where she'd started, some twenty or so of the soldiers there were taking part.

None of them mocked the small girl using the rifle that seemed too big and heavy for her small frame. They'd all seen her shoot at this range, all had heard her results from her practice at the competition range.

For these qualification rounds, the targets had scoring rings on them. They started at one hundred metres, each took five shots. All scored well, most got five in the centre X‑ring, Some, including Kitty, dropped a couple into the nine ring. But all their scores were good enough to go on to the two hundred metre target.

They proceeded to longer range targets. Most scored less well as the distances increased, but Kitty was getting similar scores on each target. It was as if her shooting was actually improving at the longer ranges.

By the time they got to this range's furthest target, one thousand metres, they were down to ten shooters. Their order was chosen by lots, they were given a time constraint of five minutes for their five shots after they were in position.

At the end, their scores were added up. The scoring worked by first counting how many were in, or at least clipping, the central X‑ring, then any with the same number had their remaining scores added to separate them. The highest was Elena, the lady private Chloe had remarked on before, she had 5X, Kitty and another shooter tied at 4X‑9, fourth and fifth were both 3X‑18.

The competition

On the Saturday of the competition, Pete and the girls drove to join the other soldiers who had qualified. There were some family members and supporters of the other shooters, and of course Sarge. All were issued with identity tags to hang round their necks, different colours indicating shooters including Kitty, their immediate helpers including Pete and Sarge, and supporters including the three other girls. They were loaded into a coach with double seats down each side, the twins sitting together, somehow Chloe manoeuvred herself to sit with Elena. Kitty sat with Pete.

Arriving at the competition range, the people dismounting from coaches were being separated according to their passes, Kitty managed a brief hug with Chloe and the twins before the supporters were directed behind a barrier well back from the shooting positions. There were large display screens set up for the supporters, currently showing the insignia of the host facility.

When all participants had arrived, the shooters and their helpers were led to an area where they were briefed by the range safety officer, a grizzled, no‑nonsense sergeant. He'd been told about Kitty's practice performance, but hadn't seen it for himself, he took her and Pete to one side and grilled Kitty on range safety, she more than satisfied him with her answers.

The competition was similar to Kitty's qualification. For the early rounds, five shooters went together. At each stage, lots decided the order of the competitors and which lane they would use.

When Kitty's turn came in the first round, one hundred metres, she settled, lifted her head to look back at the other girls to see a thumbs up from Molly which made her smile. She settled, calmed herself, then took her five shots in a controlled rhythm that surprised many of those who hadn't seen her shoot before.

When finished, she stayed down until the other four had all finished. When the five's targets were examined by the three judges, they found that four of the five had close groupings right in the centre of the X‑ring. But Kitty's were different, one shot right in the centre, the other four were all within the X‑ring, but arranged in as the corners of a square, so looking something like the five‑spot face of a die.

Kitty was grinning as she first went to Pete, who asked "That wasn't as good as you can do, what happened?" Kitty's reply "No, the square isn't perfect." She turned from him and ran, laughing, towards the other girls.

All of the shooters went through to the next round, two hundred metres. Once again, Kitty's target didn't show a good group, there was one right in the centre and four arranged underneath in a curve. When she went to Pete, he said "You're playing, aren't you?" "Well, maybe. I wanted a smiley face, but I needed two more for the eyes." Pete nodded. "Perhaps take the next more seriously?" Kitty's turn to nod, "Yes, probably for the best."

For the five hundred metre target, Kitty managed a perfect 5X score, but quite a few shooters dropped out. From Kitty's group, one had gone, leaving Kitty, Elena and two men.

At one thousand metres, once again Kitty got a perfect score, as did Elena and one other of their team, all of them got through, though two more dropped out from other units.

For the fifteen hundred metre target, the shooters took their shots individually, the order, as always, decided by lots. Kitty's score was 4X‑8. When Sarge asked her if she'd had a problem, she said "The computer got it wrong on my first. I did the sums myself for the last four." Sarge was taken aback, but didn't have time to question her further, she'd run off to the other girls.

Kitty was through to the final, along with Elena, there were five other men from other facilities, a total of seven.

Kitty drew fourth to shoot for the final two thousand metre stage. As the three shooting before her took their shots, Kitty studied them, apparently watching the trajectory of each bullet on its something like three second journey, just visible because of the condensation trail it created. Difficult to follow, but it could give a useful indication of varying air currents. The others yet to take their turns were doing the same.

When her turn came, and for the first time, when settling into her shooting position Kitty seemed to have some trouble getting herself comfortable. The girls, of course, were watching her closely. Chloe remarked "There's something wrong, she's not happy."

Kitty typed the conditions of temperature, air pressure and prevailing wind into Sarge's computer as they were called out, as they had been for each contestant. The girls could see her shaking her head, presumably at its indications for the sighting 'scope, as she adjusted the settings

Kitty took her first shot. After those interminable nearly three second that the bullet took to travel its two thousand metre journey, the target indication showed a miss. Kitty's head dropped, then she looked round at the other girls. This time Chloe said "She's crying."

The twins didn't hesitate. Against all the rules, they vaulted over the barrier. Molly ran towards Kitty, dodging past anyone who tried to stop her, Midge went to where the officer in overall charge was sitting at a table, by now blowing a whistle.

Sarge was about to move towards Kitty and Molly, but Pete put a restraining hand on his arm, "Please, let them do what they want to."

Molly lay down beside Kitty and started talking to her. After a few seconds, Molly put the fingertips of one hand onto Kitty's forehead and started whispering into her ear.

Meanwhile several soldiers who were there to maintain security started running towards Kitty and Molly. After glancing between themselves, the other shooters from this final round went to position themselves to try to stop the security personnel from reaching the prone girls. Then other shooters who had been eliminated in earlier rounds joined the barrier, forming a semicircle around Kitty and Molly. They clearly wanted to protect Kitty, even if they didn't know exactly what was happening.

Midge had gone straight to the officer in charge, he was now standing, shouting orders, trying to establish order. Midge reached up with one hand, and like Molly with Kitty, she placed her fingertips onto his forehead. After two seconds, he went silent, then sat down. Midge could now talk quietly into his ear, after ten seconds Midge took her fingers away. He shook his head as if trying to clear it, then shouted out "It's all right, special dispensation, leave them." He seemed unaware of Midge beside him.

The security soldiers, already stopped because they weren't sure how to deal with the solid wall of contestants surrounding Kitty and Molly, moved back, looking at each other, obviously confused by this unprecedented situation.

A few seconds later, Molly moved away from Kitty, she squeezed through the wall of soldiers, looking back to call out "Thank you." She ran back to the barrier where Chloe was still waiting, Midge arriving at the same time. Together they vaulted back over and had a three‑way hug with Chloe.

Kitty settled back down, she looked across questioningly at the sergeant who was monitoring the environmental conditions, he called out temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, and the indicated wind speed and direction. Kitty didn't use Sarge's computer, she simply mouthed something to herself for a few seconds then made careful adjustments to her rifle's 'scope.

Over the next few minutes, Kitty took her four remaining shots. As each reached the target, the result was visible on the large display screens and was also called out, all four were within the X‑ring, incredibly good by any standards.

When all competitors had completed their rounds, the range was cleared of weapons, Kitty's rifle and those of the others from their group were take by Sarge and locked away in their coach. Now the barriers were opened, friends and families could mingle with the shooters.

Over the next fifteen minutes, scoring judges checked and rechecked the targets. During this time, Kitty seemed to be getting all the attention, probably because she was the only civilian in the final three rounds, or maybe something about her demeanour, not a sign of bragging. Indeed, she went to the two who were fourth and fifth (they obviously knew the results from the scores before they were officially announced) and apologised to them. Neither showed any sign of resentment, they simply added their congratulations.

When the officials were satisfied, the officer in charge gave a short blow on his whistle to get everyone's attention.

The finalists were brought together, then the results were officially announced. Kitty was placed third with her score of 4X‑0, second was a soldier from another unit with 4X‑7, first was Elena, the private from their group, her score was 4X‑9. As each was presented with a medal, they got applause from the onlookers, of the three, Kitty's was the loudest and longest.

The ceremony over, a mobile canteen started serving tea, coffee, sandwiches and snacks. The twins and Chloe were trying to protect Kitty from the crowd that had gathered round her, everyone seeming to want to congratulate her, or ask her about how she learnt to shoot. Kitty, of course, didn't like the attention, she started to cry, clinging to Chloe.

Molly clapped her hands which silenced all those around, Midge made a statement to the gathering.

"Thank you all for applauding Kitty, she appreciates it. As you can see, she's very shy, and really doesn't like the attention.

"I'll tell you a little about Kitty and her shooting. I know most of you won't believe this, but five weeks ago Kitty had never held a gun of any sort.

"An event occurred which sparked her interest in ballistic trajectories. Once her interest is piqued in anything, she will learn all she can about the subject. She wanted to put what she'd learnt into practice, more to see if she'd understood the theory rather than to find out if she was a good shot.

"We are very fortunate to have a contact who could arrange for Kitty to try out firing a rifle at a military base. She seems to have a natural aptitude. It was the base commander who persuaded her to take part in this competition.

"I would add that Kitty has no desire to prove she is better than anyone else, she would be equally happy to be last in the competition, so long as she understood why her results were whatever they were.

"Those of us who know Kitty are not overly surprised at her achievements, once she sets her mind to do something, she will generally do it to a very high standard."

Molly, standing beside Midge, shouted out "Except …" She stopped, now grinning. After a brief moment, someone called out "Except what?" "Cooking. She's terrible at cooking."

Kitty, who'd been standing a little way away with Chloe and Pete, forced her way through the crowd and threw herself at Molly pushing her over, the two continued fighting on the ground until Pete managed to reach them and once again used their hair to pull them apart and stand them up. Then they simply hugged each other, both laughing.

Now Kitty seemed much happier and relaxed with the people crowding round, trying to answer questions about her shooting, though she wouldn't answer anything about her personal life. Midge and Molly tried to keep order, picking out individuals to ask a question, rather than everyone shouting out at once.

It was another hour before they got into the coach for the journey back to the base. Once there, the participants were asked to go to see the colonel again.

Roy's comments

The next day, Roy and Jane went into the building where they found the four girls with Pete on the top floor. He beckoned them to a quiet corner, then spoke.

"Kitty, I heard what you did, amazing shooting. I thought you might like to know, snipers have saved my life and that of other members of patrols I was in on more than one occasion. I can't tell you where or when, it's classified, but I wouldn't be here without their services." He paused, swallowed, then "And one of them gave his life to save ours"

It looked as if he was getting emotional as he turned away and started walking rapidly towards the stairs. Jane told them "He's never talked about his service days, that's the most I've ever heard from him." She turned and hurried after Roy.

As they left, Pete said to the girls "I've always suspected Roy of being ex‑military, something about his bearing and the way he goes about doing things. And many who have served won't talk about their experiences."

"Including you?" asked Midge. Pete laughed, "Anything I might or might not have done would have been classified as well."