Read Lamp Black: Second Edition, Disaster, Preparedness, Survival, Awakening (The Gatekeeper Book 2) for Free Online Page B

didn’t have to kill that man, his actions didn’t warrant a death sentence.”
    “How will I know, dad?” asked Adam.
    “I hope you never do, but if anyone ever threatens you guys with death or harm, I’ll kill them myself. In that case, they will have brought death upon themselves, which is very different from me giving it to them. Anyway, I got a little off track. So, if someone’s using me as a hostage, and tries to get into our house, what do you do?”
    “If someone has a gun to your head . . . can I shoot them?” asked Adam.
    Jenna gasped. “Adam, you will not shoot anyone holding your father, not if I have anything to say about it,” responded Jenna, angrily.
    John almost said, “Yes, you can take the shot,” but thought better of it. Adam was a really good shot, but shooting past a hostage was tricky business. John trained himself extensively for that pistol shot. It was one of his favorite shots to take during competitive shooting matches, but he only began tackling that challenge when he could quickly place a three-round shot group in a one-inch square, at twenty feet.
    John recalled, while training on a paper hostage target, that his shooting instructor wrote Jenna’s name in big bold letters on the frontof the silhouette. John was tasked to place three rounds in the nasal-ocular cavity outline of the hostage taker at seven meters. John had no problem with the challenge, for one reason he knew that Jenna’s written name on the paper target didn’t mean it was actually Jenna standing there. He was as good with disassociation as he was with association, so taking a hostage shot didn’t concern him. The other reason he wasn’t concerned was that he knew he could cleanly hit the hostage taker. Other members of the class didn’t share John’s confidence. About half the class hit their hostage with the first shot.
    “If someone has a gun to my head,” replied John, “Don’t open the door. It’s that simple,” said John.
    It wasn’t quite that simple for Jenna, or the kids, so John talked them through a few believable scenarios until they were comfortable with a variety of different responses. After an interesting conversation that, much to John’s displeasure, referenced Hollywood and television portrayals of hostage situations and armed combat, John was able to balance his family’s fantasy with a dose of reality.
    “People usually don’t drop with the first round,” he said. “Two quick shots, center mass, is what you aim for. If you need to, then you put a shot in the target’s head. But not just anywhere in the head. The head is covered with dense bone, so it’s better to aim here,” said John, and with his fingers he made a window over his eyes and sinus cavity. “This is the best way to guarantee a finishing shot.”
    “John! Really?” said Jenna.
    “You’re right. I’m sorry dear.” He looked at Adam and said, “Forget what I said, son,” and winked to him.
    Adam tilted his head, and acting like he was riding pool water from his ears, he lightly tapped his head with the palm of his hand. “There, dad, it’s all out. No worries, mom,” and winked back.

J ohn and Adam spent the next hour and a half installing the front door brace. They began by anchoring a three foot long, four-by-four post to the entryway floor, at the outside edge of the door’s inward swinging arc. With a ceramic drill bit, John tapped into the foundation and anchored the post to the ground with expanding bolts. They then constructed a four-by-four U-brace, to match the length of the floor brace, and inverted it on the floor. The two legs of the U-brace were positioned twelve inches from the door, which would allow John to open the door, but prevent anyone from forcing it completely open.
    With heavy hinge plates, John secured two angled four-by-four braces between the floor brace and the U-brace. To close the remaining twelve inches between the door and the brace, John cut two additional wooden