Free Return of the Phoenix - 01 by Heath Stallcup

and the SCAR-H 17 308 for sniping. The US military had a very good working relationship with Fabrique National de Herstal and procuring the weapons wasn’t a problem. Getting the proper ammunition was . Enter, Jay Wolf of Elite. Mr. Wolf was a specialty ammunition manufacturer and when Matt went searching for other ammunition suppliers besides FN for 5.7 ammo, there was only ONE. That one was Elite. Being that they were a small company, and the fact that Mr. Wolf was ex-military, Matt knew that Wolf could keep a secret. If Matt needed umpteen rounds of silver hollow point ammunition, then Mr. Wolf would see to it. The problem was getting the bullets. Matt actually had to have another bullet manufacturer make the bullets, ship them to Elite, and then have Elite make the rounds for the squad.
    What made Elite’s rounds ‘elite’? The fact that they spent thousands of man-hours finding the maximum ft/lbs that could be safely pushed through both the handgun and the carbine for maximum carnage, whereas, FN, in an effort to appease the po pulace, and facing unfounded rumors that the FiveseveN pistol was a cop-killer gun, had begun to water-down their factory produced rounds. Not the kind of ammunition you wanted to use when hunting a monster with a really thick skin.
    When Jay Wolf entered the compound Laura met up with him and escorted him to Matt’s office. It was as if two old Army buddies had met again after many years apart. Scotch was shared, war-stories swapped, and condolences given for the loss of the squad. Jay knew some of those guys personally and would feel their loss later once it had really sunk in. He knew the news would be devastating to his wife and business partner, Lisa once he got home and broke the sad tale to her. Although bound by secrecy, the agreement had to include her. There was no way one could produce tens of thousands of rounds of silver ammunition for the federal government and not include your wife and bus iness partner especially when she was an integral piece of every part of the business.
    “Jay, we got these new boys out here training to replace that squad,” Matt said, staring out the window of his office at the guys running obstacle courses or practicing their hand-to-hand skills. “I’d like you to go over the importance of the weapons and rounds.” He turned to face Jay, his face obviously holding something back.
    “Okay, Matt. I guess I can do that,” Jay said. “But don’t you usually have your smiths go over the weapons systems with them? I’m sure they’d have a lot more input than I would—”
    “On the weapons themselves, perhaps. But you know the nuances. You know these rounds. Hell, you hand load each one to match specs.” Matt drained the remaining puddle of his drink. “Besides, these guys are still of a mindset that bigger is better. They don’t understand the concept behind the firing rate, the faster, smaller bullet, ft/lbs of energy and all that crap.” Matt sat on the edge of his desk and gave Jay a good hard look. “You’re not military anymore. You’re a real person in the real world with real world results. You brought the presentation with you?”
    “Of course.”
    “Then let’s do this.” Matt stood and opened his office door. “I just want somebody who won’t let these guys walk all over them, and I figure a tanker like yourself is just the man for the job.”
    In the briefing room Jay went over the weapons systems and the rounds he created for the squad. He explained how a smaller bullet travelling at a higher rate of speed could give as much kinetic energy as a larger bullet at a slower rate of speed, but still have armor piercing capability. And while the team was not likely to meet up with anything out there wearing body armor, they were likely to meet up with something whose skin was as tough as armor, if not tougher.
    Jay ran through his slides and videos showing how his ‘hot loads’ could pierce car doors and still remain lethal.