Cat
R C Hilty
Copyright © 2020 R C Hilty
All rights reserved
First Edition
NEWMAN SPRINGS PUBLISHING
320 Broad Street
Red Bank, NJ 07701
First originally published by Newman Springs Publishing 2020
ISBN 978-1-64801-511-3 (Paperback)
ISBN 978-1-64801-512-0 (Digital)
Printed in the United States of America
Table of Contents
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1
Cat looks through the lens of the SN-3 T-Pal, the best rifle scope US Optics had to offer, which is mounted on a Surgeon rifle, chambered in .338 Lapua Magnum. She starts to wonder, How did I end up here? In four days I’m to be at the firing line of the largest long-range competition in the world, the Big Shoot.
The Big Shoot, a competition like no other, is to start in four days. Never has so much prize money been made available to long-range rifle shooters. This will be to a shooter as Frontier Days is to a cowboy.
Next will be a turning point in Cat’s life. This is not a competition where a miss will just mean a lower score. The next three rounds she fires from her rifle will be more important than any competition. Hiding behind a pile of firewood under a tree, she is all that stands between three terrorists and the hundreds of people trapped on the highway.
She looks down at the three cartridges that she had picked out. It reminds her of the biblical story, David and Goliath, when David picked up five smooth stones to fight the giant Goliath. She knew she will need the Lord’s help just as much, if not more than David did. Her eyes wandered over to her brother, who is looking through the spotting scope-and-range finder, punching numbers into his laptop. She had always depended on him and his math skills, especially trigonometry. Now would be no different. This will be a tough shot, over 1,700 yards, uphill into the bright sunlight.
Cat is confident that they have picked out a good spot that will keep the sun from reflecting off their equipment and giving away their position to the terrorists. She looks over to her brother one more time. He looks up at her and nods. She puts a cartridge in the chamber and closes the bolt. She has less than three seconds to fire three accurate, well-placed shots. All three have to hit the mark, or hundreds of men, women, and children will perish, including her dad and brother. She puts herself in a bubble, slows her heart rate, and wishes she had not had the third cup of coffee this morning. She says a prayer, places her finger on the trigger, and slowly starts to squeeze…
*****
Catherine, who went by Cat, was born in upstate New York, the youngest of three children. In the early summer of 2009, her dad, Dave, had lost his job as a bank vice president due to downsizing. He researched the job market in the surrounding areas, traveling to Albany and New York City for interviews with a couple of the major banks. After searching all summer and no results and not wanting to go back to working all the time with no time for the family, he decided to do what he had always wanted to do but never had the guts to before. He called Greg Campbell in Kentucky. Greg had been taking care of a cabin that had been left to Dave by an uncle. He knew that his wife, Betty, would think he had taken too many pain killers, but what the hell—you only live once.
A few days after his call to Greg, Dave called a family meeting. It had been awhile since the whole family had been together at one time. After Betty and the children, Cat, Ben, and Liz, sat down around the kitchen table, he said as matter of fact, “We are selling everything we own and moving to Kentucky.”
Betty’s sarcasm cut like a knife, “What have you been smoking?”
Dave replied, “Nothing. I’m getting tired of the rat race. We have that cabin that Uncle Jeff left me.”
“What will you do for income?”
“I’ll find something.”
“I’m not going to live out in the boondocks away from civilization or in some hick town where everybody knows your business. No way am I going to carry water from the river or wash clothes on a rock.”
“I said we’re moving to Kentucky, not to some third world country. Believe it or not, they do have running water and indoor plumbing there.”
“I don’t care. I like it here.”
“Hey, Dad, I think it’s great. You know how much I love to hunt and fish. We can live off the land!” Cat chimed excitedly. It had always been her dream to live somewhere in the wild. She always knew that she had been born 150 years too late.
Betty shook her head and went into the kitchen. It didn’t matter much what she said or did. Without Dave having a well-paying, job there was no way they could afford to stay where they were.
“I don’t want to live where I can’t get on the Internet,” Ben said.
“There is more to life than the Internet and video games,” Cat responded.
“Like what? Going off living in the wild, eating what you can shoot and catch?”
“That’s a lot better than burning your eyes out staring at the computer.”
Liz shook her head as she went to her room. It didn’t matter much to her, because she would be going off to school soon anyway.
*****
The next month Dave had an auction, selling the house and everything else that they were not taking with them. With his severance pay and cashing in some of his 401(k)s, he was able to pay off everything he owed, including the vehicles.
Dave rented a trailer to pull behind his pickup. It took some doing, but they got everything they wanted to take to their new home loaded into the pickup, trailer, and van.
The family taking their time enjoying the trip they finally made it to a small town in Kentucky. The looks they got made Cat wonder if this was such a good idea. She had heard that little, close-knit towns, especially down South, didn’t like outsiders moving in.
Dave stopped at the local gas station to fill up. Dave