Crossfire (Book 1) (The Omega Group) by Andrea Domanski Read Free Book Online Page B

than stellar
performance on the pull-up bar. Special Forces guys had an optimum goal of
twenty-five and she had just missed it.
    “Not bad,” he said, “but we have some work to do.” He
clearly didn’t see any need to compliment her on her performance. “Go on into
the house and get ready for breakfast.”
    Now that was something she was actually looking forward to.
    After an amazing breakfast with the Baxters of pancakes,
eggs, and sausage, of which Mirissa ate more than her fair share, it was off to
the barn for some target practice.
    The firing range had three lanes measuring twenty-five yards
long. At the front of each lane was a waist high counter for laying your weapon
and ammunition down. Mirissa followed Greco to a small room in front of the
range and waited for him to enter a code into the electronic lock on the door.
When the lock disengaged, she went inside to choose her weapon.
    Mirissa grabbed her favored FN 5.7 pistol. It was expensive
and, yes, the ammunition was expensive and harder to find, but it was a
beautiful weapon. First, it was unbelievably light, weighing less than a pound
and a half unloaded. Second, it had almost no recoil, so it was incredibly
accurate and allowed for much quicker shooting. Third, it was the only pistol
that shot rifle bullets that could pierce a Kevlar vest. Fourth, it had a
twenty round magazine and, obviously, more bullets are just better, period.
That was why it was the weapon that Secret Service agents carried.
    Greco was waiting for her at the middle lane and, after they
both donned ear protection, Mirissa fired off eight rounds at the target
suspended twenty-five yards away. When Greco pushed the button to bring the
target to where they stood, he couldn’t hide his satisfaction. The black
silhouette had five holes dead center in the chest and three in the head. Her
dad deserved more credit than Greco had given him, and Mirissa enjoyed proving
that.
    The rest of the morning they spent firing, dismantling, and
cleaning each of the pistols in the lock-up. Although she enjoyed the rush she
felt when firing a weapon, Mirissa was relieved when Laura called them in for
lunch. It was her brain, more so than her body that needed a break.
    Lunch was, as she had come to expect, delicious. The table
was covered with platters full of breads, lunchmeats, cheeses, and a variety of
garnishes. Mirissa made a mile-high sandwich and scarfed it down in record
time, thanking the Baxters, again, for their hospitality.
    When she’d had enough to eat, they were out in the barn
again, this time in the gym. The treadmill held no interest for Mirissa after
their long run this morning, so she opted for strength training, heading
straight for the racks of free weights and starting her routine.
    Once she felt she had given her muscles a good workout, she
did her stretching to ensure flexibility and flush out some of the lactic acid
build-up that happens during training. Grabbing another bottle of water from
the fridge, Mirissa sat and waited for Greco to finish his workout. She figured
she’d done pretty well for her first day and was ready for it to be over.
    “One more run and you can call it a day.”
    “Fantastic, just what I was going to suggest.”
    After only five miles this time, Greco officially called an
end to their first day of training and Mirissa couldn’t have been happier—until
the next day when he put her through even more, adding in swimming laps in the
pond, and classwork about Kakodaemons and Amazons.
    Every day for the next three months, Mirissa pushed herself,
both physically and mentally, further than even she thought she could. Every
week Greco would test her abilities to ensure that she was improving. If she
didn’t improve enough for his liking, he would push her harder.
    Her only reprieve was the amazing meals Laura cooked three
times each day, and her nightly telephone calls with her father. Without those
things, Mirissa was sure she would have lost it within