Chapter 126: Fire on Wheels
The first crack of rifle fire came just after dawn.
It wasn’t loud enough to wake the camp—the JLTV engines had already seen to that. But to the recruits now seated inside the vehicles, it was the beginning of their next lesson. The day of mounted drills had arrived.
Inigo stood beside one of the JLTVs, motioning for the others to gather.
"You’ve learned to drive," he said, his voice cutting clearly through the crisp morning air. "Some better than others. But driving isn’t enough."
He patted the reinforced side of the vehicle. "These are not just for movement. They’re firing platforms. They move. You shoot. At the same time."
Several of the recruits exchanged uneasy glances.
Sark, rubbing his shoulder from yesterday’s bumpy ride, grinned. "So we shoot while flying over bumps? Sounds fun."
Inigo didn’t smile. "Sounds like how people lose fingers if they don’t listen."
He turned to the wooden crates arranged neatly by the edge of the field. Lyra had helped set them up just an hour ago—one filled with magazines, the others stacked with paper dummies and padded training targets shaped like humanoids. The targets were set on tall stakes and arranged along a winding dirt path marked with rope. Some were standing still. Others, tied to pivots, would spin when hit. It was a moving gauntlet.
"You’ll be in pairs," Inigo said. "One driver. One gunner. Your job is to move through the course and eliminate every target. You will not stop. You will not fire unless your seatbelt is on and your barrel is steady."
Lyra stepped forward, holding up a slate board. "We’ll be scoring each pair. Accuracy. Movement. Control. Communication."