Dan Tackett, the main character of Kill Yuan, returns in Blood Debt, the tenth Brannigan’s Blackhearts novel. It’s a tighter, more localized fight this time, but there are still some interesting guns that will be used by friend and foe alike.
As the story opens, Mitchell Price’s Special Purpose team is closing in on their target, armed with Gilboa M43 carbines. Price decided on these rifles for the ergonomics of the AR/M4 platform, while still maintaining the capability to rearm with 7.62x39mm, which is common enough in Central Asia.
They are confronted by shooters in unfamiliar camouflage, carrying B+T APC 300 carbines. The Advanced Police Carbine is a Swiss design, ambidextrous, and can take B+T’s ROTEX suppressor. The APC does come in 5.56, but the APC 300 is optimized for .300 Blackout.
Boyd, the Humanity Front’s main hatchet man in Kyrgyzstan, is a professional, but he’s not as into exotic guns as Flint was. He picked the APC 300s for his team because the Front doesn’t want the appearance of a standardized military force. But his sidearm is pretty standard: a Glock 17 9mm.
When Brannigan’s Blackhearts get on the ground, they can’t be that choosy. Their contact has access to a cache of former Afghan National Army weapons. They end up with mostly old M4 carbines, formerly issued to Afghan Commandos.
Curtis and Bianco, being the team machinegunners, hold out for some machine guns. All their contact has, though, is a couple of RPKs. Effectively the light machinegun variant of the AK, it has a slightly longer receiver, and a longer and heavier barrel, but is otherwise functionally identical to the AK-47.
The Kyrgyz Army is still mostly equipped with Soviet-era weapons and gear, though they’ve started to get some American guns lately. While the Kyrgyz have some M4s, the soldiers we see are all armed with old AKMs. The Modernized version of the AK-47, the AKM has a stamped receiver and several other features making it easier to mass produce. It still fires the 7.62x39mm cartridge.
The Front has a few other nasty surprises, up in the Tian Shan mountains. But those will have to wait until the book comes out.
Blood Debt is currently available for pre-order, and will be out on Kindle and Paperback on December 14.
Very nice fill in, thanks!