Gunfire: The Target

It was not a technically challenging shot to make, not in comparison to some others. A stationary firing position, to a stationary target. Wind conditions were calm, and I had calculated yardage well in advance. That the target was nearly third of a mile distant did not concern me unduly.

I had every confidence in my equipment and my self. Tonight, what troubled me was that for the first time, I would be firing at a fellow countryman.

The Minister for Foreign Relations, to be precise, who was meeting fellow traitors to the crown for dinner tonight. I expected him to exit onto the balcony for a cigar any moment now, whereupon I would simultaneously destroy the head of the snake and teach the body a lesson.

The door to the balcony opened, and he stepped out. A handful of men I did not recognise, and the target.

Accompanied by his wife.

And two children.

My finger, already taking up the slack on the trigger, froze.