Chapter 54 Learning to Kill
The cold light stopped blinding her.
Veyra blinked. Her eyes adjusted. And then she gasped.
The room was not a room. It was a vault. A fortress. A cathedral of weapons.
Three walls stretched from floor to ceiling, lined with racks and shelves and glass cases. Guns of every shape and size. Pistols. Revolvers. Submachine guns. Assault rifles. Shotguns. Things she could not name and had never seen before.
The fourth wall was dominated by a long metal table. And on that table, resting on foam padding like a museum exhibit, was a sniper rifle.
It was black. Sleek. Deadly. The scope was long. The barrel was longer. It looked like something out of a movie.
Veyra’s mouth fell open.
"This is an armory," she whispered.
Li Wei stood beside her, his arms crossed, his face calm. "Yes."
"This is not a collection. This is an arsenal."
"The Thorne family takes security seriously."
Veyra shook her head. She walked to the nearest wall. Her fingers hovered over the glass case. Inside was a row of gleaming pistols. Silver. Black. Compact. Large.
"How many guns are in here?"
"I don’t know the exact number. Over a hundred."
Veyra turned to stare at him. "A hundred?"
"The bodyguards need weapons for rotation and training. Plus backups. Plus specialty weapons for specific situations." Li Wei shrugged. "A hundred is enough for daily needs."
Veyra’s brain could not process the number. She had grown up in apartments where the most dangerous thing in the house was a kitchen knife. And now she was standing in a room with enough firepower to start a small war.
She followed Li Wei further into the room.
The walls seemed to close in around her.
Not in a bad way. In an overwhelming way. Everywhere she looked, there were guns. Racks of rifles. Shelves of ammunition. Glass cases displaying pistols like jewelry.
"You said over a hundred bodyguards," Veyra said. "That’s enough for rotation and training?"
Li Wei nodded. "The estate has three shifts of guards. Day shift. Evening shift. Night shift. Each shift needs weapons. Plus training weapons for the range. Plus backups in case of malfunction."
"That’s... a lot of guns."
"It’s a lot of responsibility."
Veyra looked at him. His face was serious. He was not showing off. He was explaining. Teaching.
She followed him to the long table in the center of the room.
The sniper rifle lay there. Silent. Deadly. The black metal seemed to absorb the light.
Veyra stared at it. Her fingers itched to touch it.
Li Wei gestured to the walls. "For self-defense, I recommend focusing on pistols and submachine pistols. They’re compact. Easy to carry. Effective at close range."
Veyra nodded. But her eyes kept drifting back to the sniper rifle.
She had seen Dorian with one. At the lake. He had been ready to take the shot. To end the kidnapper from two hundred meters away.
She wanted to learn how to do that.
"What about sniping?" she asked.
Li Wei’s eyebrows rose. "Sniping?"
"I want to learn."
Li Wei was quiet for a moment. Then he said, "Sniping has a very high skill ceiling. It requires years of practice. Patience. Discipline. It’s not something you learn in a few sessions."
He paused.
"Also, sniping is designed for killing. Not for self-defense. You can’t carry a sniper rifle in your purse."
Veyra frowned. "I know that. But I still want to learn."
Li Wei shook his head. "Mrs. Thorne—"
"Just the basics. I’m not asking to become an assassin. I just want to understand how it works. How to aim. How to account for wind and distance."
Li Wei studied her face. He seemed to be looking for something. Determination, maybe. Or foolishness.
"Mr. Thorne would not approve," he said.
"Mr. Thorne doesn’t have to know."
Li Wei’s jaw tightened. He did not respond.
Veyra turned back to the sniper rifle. She ran her finger along the edge of the table. She did not touch the gun. But she wanted to.
She made a secret resolution. She would learn how to shoot a sniper rifle. Someday. Somehow.
Li Wei cleared his throat.
"Before you start planning your career as a sniper, you need to learn the basics." He gestured to the glass cases on the wall. "Choose a handgun. One that suits you."
Veyra blinked. "How do I choose?"
"What do you need it for?"
"Self-defense. Protection. I want something I can carry easily. Something that’s not too heavy or too big."
Li Wei nodded. "Follow me."
He walked to a glass case on the far wall. He pressed his thumb to a scanner. The lock clicked. He opened the case and carefully removed three handguns. He carried them to the long table and set them down in a row.
"These are suitable for your needs," he said. "Try them. See how they feel."
The first gun was silver. Compact. Sleek. The grip was textured. The barrel was short.
The second gun was black. Larger. Heavier. The grip was thicker. The barrel was longer.
The third gun was also black. But smaller. Lighter. The grip fit perfectly in her palm.
Veyra picked up the third gun. She wrapped her fingers around the grip. The weight was comfortable. Not too heavy. Not too light. The texture was rough but not uncomfortable.
She raised it. Aimed at the far wall. The sight lined up naturally.
"This one," she said.
Li Wei looked at the gun in her hand. He nodded.
"That’s a good choice."
Veyra turned the gun over. She looked at the slide. The trigger guard. The magazine release. Everything about it felt right.
"What’s it called?" she asked.
Li Wei took the gun from her. He pressed a button. The magazine dropped into his palm. He cleared the chamber. Then he handed it back.
"Nightblade," he said.
Veyra’s eyes widened. "Nightblade?"
"Balanced performance. Compact. Reliable. Easy to conceal. Suitable for self-defense."
She held the gun again. The name suited it. Dark. Sleek. Deadly.
"I love it," she said.
Li Wei smiled. Just a little. "I thought you would."
Veyra turned the gun over in her hands. The black metal gleamed under the fluorescent lights. She imagined carrying it. Concealed. Ready.
She felt safer already.
"What’s the magazine capacity?" she asked.
"Fifteen rounds. Plus one in the chamber."
"That’s a lot of bullets."
"Fifteen rounds can go fast in a crisis. Better to have them and not need them than need them and not have them."
Veyra nodded. She set the gun down on the table. But she kept her hand on it. She did not want to let go.
Li Wei picked up the Nightblade. He ejected the magazine again. He cleared the chamber again. He set it down.
"Now," he said, "you need to learn how to use it."
Veyra nodded eagerly. "When do we start?"
"Right now."
He reached into his pocket. He pulled out his own pistol. It was similar to the Nightblade. Same size. Same shape. Slightly different grip.
"We’ll start with disassembly and assembly," Li Wei said. "You need to know how your weapon works. How to clean it. How to fix it if something goes wrong."
Veyra watched as Li Wei held up his pistol.
"Watch carefully," he said.
She watched.
Li Wei’s hands moved.
That was all Veyra saw. A blur of motion. His fingers danced across the pistol. There was a click. Then another click. Then the slide came off. Then the barrel. Then the spring. Then the trigger assembly.
In less than ten seconds, the pistol was a pile of parts on the table.
Veyra stared.
Her mouth was open. She did not close it.
Li Wei looked at her. "Did you follow that?"
She shook her head.
He smiled. "I’ll go slower."
He reassembled the pistol. His hands moved again. But slower this time.
He showed her how to lock the slide back. How to remove the takedown lever. How to slide the barrel out. How to remove the recoil spring.
Then he showed her how to put it back together. The spring first. Then the barrel. Then the slide. Then the takedown lever. A click. And it was whole again.
"Your turn," he said.
Veyra swallowed hard. She picked up the Nightblade.
Her hands were shaking. Not from fear but from excitement.
She locked the slide back. She removed the takedown lever. The slide came off. The barrel came out. The spring came out.
She looked at the pile of parts on the table.
She had done it.
It had taken her thirty seconds. Not ten. But she had done it.
Li Wei nodded. "Good. Now put it back together."
She put it back together. The spring. The barrel. The slide. The takedown lever.
She pulled the slide. It clicked into place.
She looked at Li Wei. Her heart was pounding.
"How was that?" she asked.
"Not bad for a first try."
She grinned. She could not help it.
She was holding a gun. A real gun. And she had taken it apart and put it back together.
She felt powerful.
"Again," Li Wei said.
She disassembled the gun. Reassembled it. Disassembled it. Reassembled it.
Each time, she got faster. Twenty-five seconds. Twenty seconds. Eighteen seconds.
She was not at Li Wei’s level. But she was getting there.
"Good," Li Wei said. "Now let’s move to the range."
Veyra’s eyes lit up. "The shooting range?"
Li Wei nodded. "It’s time to see how you handle live ammunition."
Veyra grabbed the Nightblade. She followed Li Wei out of the armory.
Her heart was pounding. Her hands were steady.
She was ready.