The Edge

Devine read quickly, but comprehensively, just as the Army had trained him. In combat, time was not on your side. But neither was skipping over something in a briefing that might prove catastrophic later.

“The shooter didn’t police their brass?”

“Right. And, technically, the casing was polymer, not brass.”

Devine looked surprised because he was. “A polymer casing?”

“Yes. It expands and then contracts in the chamber immediately. Brass just expands, as you well know. Less degradation on the equipment, because the polymer insulates the heat from the chamber.”

“And less heat and friction reduces choke rate,” said Devine, referring to the hesitation of the weapon in firing due to those factors.

“The Army’s been slowly moving away from brass. Hell, they’ve been wedded to it since before the Spanish-American War, so it’s about damn time. And the Marines are testing polymer casings for their .50-cal. M2 machine gun. And the Brits are looking at polymer too, for their 5.56 mm rounds.”

“A good thing, too. Brass adds a lot of weight to your gear pack.”

“That’s why they’re making the switch. What with smartphones and handheld computers and more weaponry and optics, the Army carry load is up to about a hundred pounds now for each soldier. Switching from brass to polymer is a cost-effective way of lightening the load. For the Marines, a forty-eight-box pallet of the .50-cal. in polymer weighs nearly seven hundred pounds less than brass. And there’s even the possibility of 3D-printing repair parts in the field because the casings are recyclable.”

As he’d been speaking Devine had continued to read. He looked up. “It was a .300 Norma mag round.”

“Yes,” replied Campbell.

“And the head stamp shows it’s a U.S. military round.”

“Army snipers and special ops guys chamber the Norma in the Barrett MK22 rifle.”

Devine nodded. “They switched from the 6.5 Creedmoor round after I mustered out. But does the Army already use polymer casings for the .300 Norma?”

“No, Devine. There are tests being run at various Army facilities across the country chambering the Norma and other ordnance with a polymer casing, but it has not been officially deployed. You know how that goes. Army needs to shoot a shit ton of it under every conceivable combat environment before it has any chance of getting approved for mass deployment.”

“Who’s the manufacturer?”

“Warwick Arsenal. A small firm out of Georgia.”

“So, the question becomes: How did a still-in-testing .300 Norma polymer round produced by a firm in Georgia end up at a crime scene in Maine?”

Campbell said, “We’ve spoken with the people at Warwick. They have checked and rechecked their inventory and found nothing amiss. But to me that’s meaningless because they’ve shipped hundreds of thousands of these rounds to Army facilities throughout the country, with hundreds of personnel taking part in the testing. There is no way that every single round can be accounted for. Proverbial needle in a haystack.”

“So someone could have pocketed the polymer casing and given it to someone and then it goes through various hands and ends up being used to kill Jenny Silkwell. Was it important she was shot with that particular bullet? Did she have any involvement with its development?”

“None. And I have no idea if the use of that particular bullet is significant or not. That’s your job to find out during your investigation. By the way, the local cops are also working the case. You’ll have to team with them.”

“And why would they team with me?”

Campbell took from his desk drawer what looked like a black leather wallet and slid it across. “Here’s why.”

Devine opened what turned out to be a cred pack, complete with shiny badge, and examined it. He looked up in surprise. “I’m a special investigator with Homeland Security? Seriously?”

“Your cover is rock-solid.”

“Only I’m not a trained investigator.”

Campbell gave Devine a drill sergeant death stare. “Don’t sell yourself short. You carried on investigations in the Middle East in addition to your combat duties. And you did a pretty damn good job of sleuthing back in New York on the Brad Cowl case. And you’ve done stellar work with the other assignments I’ve given you. Now, you are to find out who killed Jenny and why. And determine if any of our national security interests have been compromised. And find her laptop and phone.”

“Well, that sounds simple enough,” said Devine dryly.

“Rise to the challenge, soldier,” retorted Campbell.

“Why don’t the feds have a joint op platoon of agents on this? Central Intelligence goes scorched earth when one of its own goes down. And the FBI, too.”