Tiger by the Tail by John Ringo, Ryan Sear Read Free Book Online

to empty his magazine. The moment the lead stopped flying, he poked his carbine around the corner and fired two bursts at where he had last seen the muzzle flashes coming from. The position stayed silent afterward.
    Hearing more gunfire right behind him, Vanel didn’t turn to check on his leader until a loud crash shook the boards under his feet. He glanced back to see the mangled body of a pirate on the ground a few meters away, bloody bullet holes pocking his upper chest.
    “Fuckers are dropping from the sky now!” With a grin, Yosif motioned for Vanel to move out. Rising to his feet, he was about to round that corner again when the night was shattered by the thunder of something much larger than an automatic rifle.
    * * *
    “Quad .50!” Adams was on his radio, watching as the emplacement tracked any movement and the four barrels spit death. “Sonsabitches got their hands on a quad!”
    “I love firepower,” Mike said. “Except when it’s on the other side.”
    This shooter, however, was either wounded or high, as he seemed to be firing indiscriminately, the big rounds chewing up anything they were aimed at, building, the pier, pirates—and coming way too close to the Keldara on the ground.
    “Blue Hand, take him out!”
    * * *
    On the Big Fish , Lasko exhaled and fired in the millisecond between two heartbeats. The SLAP-T round would have easily pierced the double-walled steel ship plate protecting the gun emplacement, except it didn’t have to. The Keldara sniper had aimed for the narrow slit through which one of the bottom barrels protruded. The large, armor-piercing bullet mangled the ammo box and cored through the mount. Even after penetrating all that, it still had enough kinetic energy left to rip through the gunner, tearing him almost in half.
    The quad mount fell silent for a few seconds, but its three remaining guns starting firing again.
    * * *
    There is a world of difference between getting shot with a 7.62x39mm round and a 12.7x99mm, or .50 BMG round.
    Assuming the average AK shooter does manage to hit you, which is unlikely past 150 yards, if the bullet flies true, it will penetrate and make a good-sized hole in its target from which much blood will flow. If it tumbles during flight or on impact, the wound cavity and subsequent injury will both be much worse. Add the possibility of fragmentation to all of this, and the 7.62 is a definite manstopper, no doubt.
    The .50 caliber round, being three times larger, can cause much more horrific damage to the human body. If it doesn’t yaw, the target simply ends up with a larger hole in their body, which can be survived given prompt medical attention. While the round does not automatically tear a limb off if it hits one, it will mangle whatever it does hit into uselessness, and provides one-shot kill capability just about every time.
    Multiply that power by four, and Team Yosif had almost stepped into a gruesome whirlwind of lead death.
    Every team member immediately sought cover no matter where they were. Once they were hidden from sight, Yosif and Vanel tried to get a vector on the gun to take it out. Unfortunately, it was high up and well protected, both by the slope of the earth and the large piece of freighter hull someone had hauled up and installed as armor. The gunner inside stitched rounds into anything even remotely moving in his field of fire, blasting his own people, tree branches waving in the wind, blowing apart crude huts. Basically, if it moved, he shot at it until it didn’t anymore.
    Against that overwhelming firepower, the swimmers’ only choice was to hug cover and wait for divine intervention. That came in the form of Lasko’s single .50 caliber round, which accomplished as much as the Quad gunner had done with twenty to thirty rounds at a time.
    When the deafening roar of the Quad .50 fell silent, Vanel and Yosif hauled ass, hustling to what they hoped was a better firing position. The other two team members hadn’t joined them