Snippet #1834046

"And I am going to inform you that you can't," Valentine said. "That's full-body Kevlar armour, designed to take anything up to a .45-calibre full metal jacket round. You'd probably do more damage punching them than you'd do with your knives or katana, and your revolver isn't going to do much either."

A moment later, Valentine heard footsteps. He spun, only to be assailed by a hail of automatic gunfire. His automatic reflex was to hit the deck, and he returned fire through his thermal scope. One, two, then three targets dropped, and suddenly, the room was silent.

As he lowered his rifle, he saw that his targets were in fact the drug lord's men, not SWAT soldiers, which explained their spray-and-pray policy. He sprinted over, staying low to avoid any sniper bullets that the police might fire through the windows. Bowing down next to the drug soldiers, he grabbed a rifle and tossed it to the assassin girl. "AK-47. Formerly Soviet-issue; loaded in 7.62x39mm hollow-tip ammunition. Fully automatic. Extremely reliable," he said. "I presume that you can operate an assault rifle?"

(The anecdote about punching them is true; kevlar vests are designed to take short, sharp impacts, and are very vulnerable to blunt impact. Hit a SWAT soldier with a lead pipe and you'll break their ribs; far more damage than you'd do with a pistol or blade.)