The two Berettas I’d taken from the cleaners’ house were still rolled up in a towel, stuffed into the backpack in our room. Nazari came in and sat on the bed quietly while I was crouched over the bag. I handed her one of the pistols. Then I removed the two boxes of ammunition. Each box contained twenty rounds of Speer gold dot 9mm jacketed hollow points. Police classics, and very reliable. The metal jackets were nickel-plated brass. I said, “I’m sure you’ve seen these before.”

She slipped the magazine and started loading. “Just the two boxes?” She didn’t waste time asking where I’d gotten them from.

“Yup.”

The Berettas were M9s, which was a good thing. The mags were standard and had a fifteen-round capacity plus one in the chamber. So we’d each get a full mag and four extra rounds clinking around in the pocket just in case. I watched as she loaded her gun. When she racked back the slide she let it go without riding it, which was a good sign. The first round chambered with a satisfying snick, as the spring mechanism did its work. I could see the round was chambered because the external extractor was protruding nicely.

She looked up, caught me watching and smiled. “Checking on me.”

I shrugged. “Can’t help myself.”

The M9 has the same double action trigger press as the Sig-Pro in the French police armory, so she’d be good to go with that. Otherwise it would have been a potential issue for her. Double action means that the trigger pull is divided into two parts. The first part cocks the pistol, the second fires it. But that’s only for the first shot, subsequent shots are standard single action, until the safety is set again and the whole process repeats. The idea is that, with the double action trigger, distracted people are less likely to accidentally shoot themselves or each other. The first pull requires around nine pounds of finger muscle.

“You know what? I’d feel better if you dry-fired that a couple times.” The issue with a double pull is that the shooter tends to miss with the first shot, because the pull is heavier than expected. Then, when the second shot is lighter than the first, the shooter overcompensates and misses again. It was her turn to shrug. She cleared the gun, aimed it down at the floor and dry-fired a few times.

“Heavy pull?”

“First one’s a little heavier than the Sig, yeah.”

“Thought it’d be slightly different than you’re used to.”

“I’ll be able to hold it down.”

“No doubt.”