to go off.
Howard was not happy with the things, but he had been made to
understand that there was no choice in accepting them. All federal
agencies would eventually be using smart guns, and the FBI was taking
the lead.
So far, the new guns had operated at 100 percent, no failures. So
far.
Gunny put the ring into a slot on the coder and checked the program,
then did the same for the new gun.
'All set, sir.' He passed the ring and revolver back to Howard.
Howard looked at the gun as he slipped the ring back on. The theory
was fine. If your kid found your weapon and hadn't been taught
properly, at least he wouldn't shoot himself or one of the neighbors.
It wasn't foolproof--somebody could snatch one of the rings and use
it--but it was supposed to keep Net Force people from being shot if
they lost a gun in the heat of battle. And once a month, you were to
run your ring through a coder that reset the command signal, so any
lost rings would no longer work after thirty days. He didn't like it,
but that was how it was going to be. End of story.
Back at the lane, Howard loaded the revolver using his357 ammo. The
shells were a little harder to put into the chambers than they were in
the Smith, but not that much harder.
He set a stationary bull's-eye at fifteen meters, lined the sights up.
The front sight had a red dot on it, easy to see under the overhead
lane lights. He squeezed off a round.
He was surprised. Even though it fired the same cartridge, the recoil
seemed considerably less than the Smith. Probably because it was a
heavier piece, plus the barrel was a half-inch longer. He looked at
the counter. A centimeter below dead center. Probably zeroed at
twenty-five meters.
He cooked off the rest of the cylinder, and managed a grouping that
went maybe four or five centimeters, all in the X ring. Damn. This
was great for a gun he'd never fired before. Hell, it was great for a
gun he'd been shooting for years. Pointed fine, too; it felt very
ergonomic in his grip.
'Not bad for an old guy,' Julio said.
'Want to get back to it?' He waved at the target.
'You and the Beretta you sleep with against a gun I've just picked up?
Right.'
'Tell you what, to make it fair, I'll go and borrow that snub .38
Special Gunny has. Ten bucks says I can beat you with that.'
'If you are determined to give up your money. Sergeant, I will take
it.'
Fernandez grinned.
'Be right back.'
London, England
Tom Fiorella deflected Carl Stewart's right punch to her throat with
her own strike at his face-Because he had his punch backed up with his
left hand, the wipe was there, and he took it, and fired a backup elbow
at her temple Because her strike was also covered with her off hand,
