Free First Date- a Novella by Thomas A Watson, Christian Bentulan, Amanda Shore Page A

“I sold my soul to work in a place that didn’t allow me to carry my gun, and this is my punishment.”
    Watching Daniel put his thumbs inside the loop, Malik furrowed his brow as Daniel grunted, stretching it out. “You need to keep your punishment to yourself then,” Malik said, wondering why Daniel was grinning with a big ass rubber band.
    “How in the fuck did you know that was there?” Ginger asked, wrapping duct tape around a baton to hold the mouse pad.
    “My first week here, the repairman was here to see why it quit working and replaced this; this is the main drive belt.”
    Grabbing scissors, Ginger cut a strip off another mouse pad and wrapped it around another baton, taping it down. “Not to say it isn’t a good idea, but think it’s strong enough? We are talking about a human skull.”
    “I took the old belt and made one and could shoot metal ball bearings through half-inch plywood at fifteen yards.”
    “Marbles aren’t ball bearings,” Ginger said, going to another baton.
    “I know; they’re lighter and will move much faster. I used to hunt with them and could blow through a rabbit,” he said, walking over to the table. Laying the belt down, he grabbed a roll of duct tape, ripped off a small piece, and wrapped it around the middle, pinching the belt together.
    Shaking his head, totally lost, Malik went back to work. “You Special Forces boys are improvisers. I’ll give you that.”
    “Had to be or you couldn’t graduate,” Daniel said, putting the two ends of the belt on the Y of the table leg he pulled off. When Malik looked up, he grinned, finally understanding.
    “A slingshot from hell, huh,” he said, chuckling as Daniel used tape to hold the loops on the Y.
    “A slingshot can’t hurt nothing,” Gary spat out, wiping the sweat off his face.
    Not saying anything, Daniel kept working until he held up a slingshot that had a three-foot-long handle. He pulled a marble out of the can and put it in the pouch he had made in the middle of the loop with tape. Aiming it at the wall, Daniel pulled back, grunting hard from the strength of the band.
    Letting it go, pop rang out as the marble hit the wall, and everyone saw the round hole through the polished wood. Oscar stepped over and peered in the hole. “I can see the hallway,” he cried out.
    Daniel turned to Gary as he grabbed another marble. “Can I try it out on you, Gary?”
    Grabbing some scissors, Gary went back to cutting the hose. Looking down the table, Daniel pictured the other weapons and nodded. Then he went over to a large dry erase board and started drawing the floor plan to the north fire escape. Following the halls, it was over half a mile away.
    Finished and his mind clear, Daniel moved back to the table and started unwinding one of the rolls of para cord. Grabbing one of the two-foot sections from the lamp, he laid it on the table. Laying five feet of para cord out, he cut it then cut a dozen more, laying them together.
    “You really like Ginger, don’t you?” Holly asked, coming over and rubbing cramps out of her hands from cutting the hose.
    “She’s my kind of girl,” Daniel said and grinned but never stopped working as he dug in his backpack and pulled out a lighter, burning the ends of the para cord.
    Holly smiled and looked down at Ginger as she and Malik continued to work. “You seem to like Teresa also,” she said in a small voice.
    Snorting, he said, “She’s the first MILF I’ve ever thought I could be friends with.”
    “MILF?” Holly asked, cocking her eyebrow.
    “It’s an acronym for Mother I’d Like to Fu—”
    “Daniel,” Ginger snapped. “Holly is in high school.”
    “Then shit, she should know it already. I had to ask my nine-year-old nephew what it meant,” he said, never looking up as he started braiding the para cord in an intricate, tight weave.
    “That’s what it means,” Holly gasped. “I’ve heard it used, but I didn’t know what it meant.”
    “Well now you do,”