American Sniper: The Last Round – Episode 11

📖 The Story Continues

American Sniper: The Last Round – Episode 11

Matthew Valentine rested one hand on the loan folder and told Jane how little effort it would take to destroy everything around them. With a single instruction, he could place the land at auction and force the shooting range into foreclosure. Jane, her employees, and the “nobodies” she relied upon would be ordered to pack their belongings. He spoke as though eviction had already begun.

Jane asked how he could do this to his own family. Lewis had worked for years to build the range, sacrificing comfort and security for the dream. Matthew interrupted before she could finish, impatient with any appeal to his brother’s memory. Sentiment had value to him only when it could be used against her.

Carl Oliver kept Rebecca near him while watching Matthew’s entourage. No one carried a visible threat that justified force. This confrontation would be decided by choices, contracts, and whatever game Matthew believed he had rigged. Carl had spent his life studying hostile ground; the rules were different here, but arrogance remained predictable.

Matthew glanced at Chris Redford and offered Jane what he called a fair chance. With the National Shooting Team coach already present, they could settle ownership through a shooting contest. The proposal sounded spontaneous, yet Matthew’s confidence suggested preparation. He would never gamble on an outcome he had not tried to control.

“What do you want?” Jane asked. Her suspicion did not erase the fact that conventional options were disappearing. She lacked the money to repay the loan or challenge Matthew’s bank in a prolonged legal battle. A competition might be reckless, but it was at least a path that depended on skill rather than wealth.

Matthew stated the terms. If Jane’s team won, she could keep the range and he would fund a full renovation. If her team lost, the property would become his forever. He made the reward generous enough to disguise how confidently he expected victory.

Jane studied the shooters gathered behind her. Alex Westin held a respectable record, and several club members considered themselves professionals. None of them looked certain now that the building itself had become the stake. She also thought of Carl, whose hidden ability remained impossible to measure.

“Deal,” she said. The word crossed the room before fear could call it back. Matthew’s smile confirmed that he had wanted precisely that answer. Jane had tied her father’s legacy to a contest without knowing whom her uncle intended to field.

Rebecca asked whether they would be kicked out if they lost. Jane crouched and promised that it would not happen, forcing confidence into her voice for the child’s sake. She could not allow Rebecca to carry the same terror she did. The range was their livelihood, history, and home all at once.

Matthew mocked Jane for committing and then hesitating. He wanted every fear visible so his eventual victory would feel complete. Jane stood again and refused to retreat. Whatever came next, she would not give him the satisfaction of watching her beg.

Matthew formally asked Chris to judge the contest. As coach of the National Shooting Team, Chris possessed the authority and technical knowledge both sides could publicly accept. Chris agreed, though his guarded expression suggested he understood the ugliness beneath the sporting language. His endorsement visit had become an arbitration over a family legacy.

The shooting team began whispering about formats, weapons, and possible opponents. Alex positioned himself at the center, eager to reclaim authority after the earlier rifle malfunction. He saw the contest as his opportunity to prove that the range needed a professional captain. Carl remained beside Rebecca, apparently outside the team entirely.

“We’ve got Carl,” Rebecca said with uncomplicated certainty. Her voice carried farther than she intended. After watching him save her mother and defeat Benny, she could not imagine a shooting competition he would lose. The adults reacted with discomfort rather than agreement.

Alex immediately dismissed the idea. Carl would slow them down, he said, and the range could not survive another handyman’s trick. Several shooters supported him, unwilling to stake their jobs on someone without an official rank. Their pride remained stronger than the evidence they had witnessed.

Carl did not challenge them. Revealing himself might protect the range, but it would also bring questions about Lewis and the King of Guns into Jane’s life. He had spent a year maintaining distance between his oath and his identity. Matthew’s wager threatened to erase that distance.

Jane looked at Carl, remembering three bull’s-eyes without a scope and a weapon assembled faster than a B-Class shooter could follow. She did not know his limits, but she knew Alex’s confidence had failed once already. Choosing between familiar credentials and unexplained talent would become her first real test as team owner.

Matthew watched the exchange with amusement. He saw division where Jane needed unity and assumed it made victory easier. His own competitors had not yet entered, but he spoke as though they were untouchable. The unknown opponents cast a shadow larger than any visible threat.

Chris began outlining the need for clear rules and equal equipment. Matthew agreed too readily, suggesting he had designed his team around whatever format he intended to propose. Carl recognized the tactic: allow the other side to believe the battlefield neutral while selecting soldiers built specifically for it. Jane’s professionals were already being maneuvered.

Rebecca slipped her hand into Carl’s and whispered that he would not let Matthew take Grandpa’s range. Carl looked at the child Lewis had wanted so badly to know. His vow had never promised an easy or invisible life; it promised protection. If keeping the range required the King of Guns to step forward, anonymity might be a price he could no longer afford.

Matthew called for the contest to begin and gestured toward the entrance. Heavy footsteps approached from outside, belonging to shooters he had selected long before pretending the wager was spontaneous. Alex swore under his breath as the first competitor came into view. Only then did Jane understand that her uncle had arrived with an entire team prepared to take everything from her.