been there before. At the bottom of the stairs there was a metal door with one of the opaque white door knobs. ‘We’ve given you access to this room,’ Raf told him. ‘You can come down here to train any time you want.’
‘Train in what?’
‘Firearms,’ Raf said, and the door clicked open. Behind the door there was a firing range. It looked a bit like a bowling alley, but at the end of each lane there were no skittles: there were targets, shaped like human bodies with concentric circles printed on the chests. To the left-hand side was a glass table, and on the table lay a selection of weapons, with Gabs standing next to them in her trademark black clothes.
‘OK, Zak,’ Raf said. ‘This is where it starts to get interesting.’
Gabs interrupted. ‘You shouldn’t say things like that to him, Raf.’ Her face was very serious, her blue eyes intense. She ran one hand through her white-blondehair. ‘You need to listen to me carefully, Zak. Once you’re activated, you’ll find yourself in some dangerous situations. The whole reason Michael wants you as an agent is so that you can get access to places where adults would cause suspicion. Nothing’s going to raise people’s eyebrows more than kids with guns, so you’ll find it pretty rare to be inserted anywhere with a firearm. You’ll likely be surrounded by them, though, so you need to know how to recognize and operate the major types.’
Zak nodded.
‘This isn’t playground stuff, Zak. Each one of these weapons can kill you instantly if you don’t use them properly.’ She glanced at Raf. ‘Interesting enough for you, Raf?’ she asked.
Raf grunted and approached the table. He picked up the weapon on the far left-hand side. ‘This is a handgun,’ he said. ‘We call it that because it’s designed to be held in one hand. Your other hand supports the firing arm. Some people call them pistols – same difference. They’re small, light and easy to carry. There are different types of handgun, but the ones you’re most likely to come across are revolvers and semiautomatics. Revolvers have a rotating chamber that normally holds between five and eight rounds. Semiautomatics use the energy from firing one round to load the next into the chamber. You only need to cockthe hammer once, and the gun will do the rest. Are you getting this?’
‘I think so.’
‘This is a Browning Hi-Power. It’s one of the most common semi-automatic pistols in the world. There’s a safety switch on the side, but some handguns have their safety in the handle, which means the gun will only fire when the user is holding it. If the weapon is loaded and the safety’s on, we say it’s locked and loaded. This gun fires nine-millimetre rounds – that’s the size of the bullets – and has a thirteen-round magazine. All making sense?’
‘Nine-millimetre, thirteen rounds,’ Zak repeated. His brain ached from trying to take it all in.
Raf lay the handgun back on the table and picked up the next gun – a longer one this time. ‘This is an assault rifle,’ he continued. ‘AK-47. Some people call it a Kalashnikov after the guy who designed it. This is the most popular gun in the world. Other common types of assault rifle are the M16, the Colt Commando and the C4 carbine. The AK fires 7.62 millimetre rounds – people refer to these as seven-six-twos or thirty calibres. The safety catch on an assault rifle typically has three settings: off, semi-automatic and fully automatic. When it’s set to off, the weapon is safe; semi-automatic, each time you pull the trigger it will discharge one round; fully automatic and theweapon will continue firing until you take your finger off the trigger or it runs out of ammo.’
Raf moved on to a third weapon. ‘This is a Heckler and Koch MP5. It’s a sub-machine-gun. Machine guns are fully automatic; sub-machine-guns fire smallcalibre rounds similar to pistols. MP5s typically fire seven to nine hundred rounds per minute. If you see
‘Train in what?’
‘Firearms,’ Raf said, and the door clicked open. Behind the door there was a firing range. It looked a bit like a bowling alley, but at the end of each lane there were no skittles: there were targets, shaped like human bodies with concentric circles printed on the chests. To the left-hand side was a glass table, and on the table lay a selection of weapons, with Gabs standing next to them in her trademark black clothes.
‘OK, Zak,’ Raf said. ‘This is where it starts to get interesting.’
Gabs interrupted. ‘You shouldn’t say things like that to him, Raf.’ Her face was very serious, her blue eyes intense. She ran one hand through her white-blondehair. ‘You need to listen to me carefully, Zak. Once you’re activated, you’ll find yourself in some dangerous situations. The whole reason Michael wants you as an agent is so that you can get access to places where adults would cause suspicion. Nothing’s going to raise people’s eyebrows more than kids with guns, so you’ll find it pretty rare to be inserted anywhere with a firearm. You’ll likely be surrounded by them, though, so you need to know how to recognize and operate the major types.’
Zak nodded.
‘This isn’t playground stuff, Zak. Each one of these weapons can kill you instantly if you don’t use them properly.’ She glanced at Raf. ‘Interesting enough for you, Raf?’ she asked.
Raf grunted and approached the table. He picked up the weapon on the far left-hand side. ‘This is a handgun,’ he said. ‘We call it that because it’s designed to be held in one hand. Your other hand supports the firing arm. Some people call them pistols – same difference. They’re small, light and easy to carry. There are different types of handgun, but the ones you’re most likely to come across are revolvers and semiautomatics. Revolvers have a rotating chamber that normally holds between five and eight rounds. Semiautomatics use the energy from firing one round to load the next into the chamber. You only need to cockthe hammer once, and the gun will do the rest. Are you getting this?’
‘I think so.’
‘This is a Browning Hi-Power. It’s one of the most common semi-automatic pistols in the world. There’s a safety switch on the side, but some handguns have their safety in the handle, which means the gun will only fire when the user is holding it. If the weapon is loaded and the safety’s on, we say it’s locked and loaded. This gun fires nine-millimetre rounds – that’s the size of the bullets – and has a thirteen-round magazine. All making sense?’
‘Nine-millimetre, thirteen rounds,’ Zak repeated. His brain ached from trying to take it all in.
Raf lay the handgun back on the table and picked up the next gun – a longer one this time. ‘This is an assault rifle,’ he continued. ‘AK-47. Some people call it a Kalashnikov after the guy who designed it. This is the most popular gun in the world. Other common types of assault rifle are the M16, the Colt Commando and the C4 carbine. The AK fires 7.62 millimetre rounds – people refer to these as seven-six-twos or thirty calibres. The safety catch on an assault rifle typically has three settings: off, semi-automatic and fully automatic. When it’s set to off, the weapon is safe; semi-automatic, each time you pull the trigger it will discharge one round; fully automatic and theweapon will continue firing until you take your finger off the trigger or it runs out of ammo.’
Raf moved on to a third weapon. ‘This is a Heckler and Koch MP5. It’s a sub-machine-gun. Machine guns are fully automatic; sub-machine-guns fire smallcalibre rounds similar to pistols. MP5s typically fire seven to nine hundred rounds per minute. If you see
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