“There!” he yelled in Spanish.
Oh goody.
“Okay,” I muttered, lifting the gun with all the confidence of someone who had never wanted to shoot anyone in her life.
My heart was beating so fast, I could feel it in my throat. Fuck, I could not mess this up. This was precisely the reason why Sasha had wanted me to learn to defend myself.
“This feels like a terrible decision, but when in Rome.”
One of the intruders fired wildly. The bullet shattered the stone fountain beside me, spraying water across the courtyard and I flinched.
“Rude!”
Misha shouted something furious somewhere behind me, prompting the three men to start running towards me. Without thinking, I squeezed the trigger.
The gun kicked violently in my hands, followed by a sharp yelp. One of the men let out a sound I was pretty sure only dolphins and severely injured humans could produce and collapsed instantly, clutching himself and screaming.
I blinked in shock. “… Oh.”
Oh my God.
Oh my God! I just shot someone.
The other two skidded to a halt and stared down at their friend, who was now rolling across the stone tiles in agonizing pain.
“Oh my God,” I whispered, horrified. “I did not mean to do that. I am SO sorry!”
The other two attackers gaped at each other, then at me. Then back at him, still writhing and groaning on the ground.
“I didnotmean to do that,” I called across the courtyard. “That was absolutely not the intended target.”
“You shot him in the balls!” one of the other intruders yelled, pointing accusingly.
“I wasn’t aiming for the balls!”
I wasn’t aiming at all.
The injured man curled up on the floor, making a noise like a slowly deflating balloon.
“You shot my friend’s testicles!” another guy shouted.
“I KNOW. I panicked!” I shouted defensively.
Because I was panicking. Because I wasstillpanicking.
The guards fired again, dropping one of the strangers, but another came around the side of the house. Bullets struck the stone pillar near my shoulder with sharp cracks, chipping off a piece of marble and sending it skidding across the ground.
Someone grabbed my arm roughly.
“Don’t shoot!” a voice barked near my ear.
“I’m not!” I squeaked. A hand grasped my wrist, wrenching the gun out of my grip. Why hadn’t we covered “How not to immediately get disarmed” in mygoddamn lessons? Before I could even get one word out, a dark hood dropped over my head.
“Seriously?” I snapped through the fabric.
My breath caught immediately as darkness engulfed me all too quickly.
“Shut up!” someone hissed furiously.