The Last Assassin

moved through the swinging doors into the main room.
    I didn't know where Delilah was. And I had only two minutes of darkness to find her.

42

    T he moment the lights went out, Delilah dropped the halter top and reached under her dress. She slid her fingers into the Hideaway grip, pulled the knife free from its sheath, and slashed Yamaoto across the forearm. The razor-sharp blade parted skin and muscle like water and sliced down to the bone. He howled in the darkness and released her wrist.
    She shoved Big Liu hard and he spilled out of the booth and into the bodyguards. She felt Yamaoto grabbing for her and slashed him again. There were shouts and cries of confusion from all over the room now, the sounds of people stumbling into one another and cursing in the dark.
    She crouched on the bench and walked to the edge of it, then dropped down. She started edging along the wall.
    Then someone grabbed her ankle, and she was falling.

43

    T he scene through the green light of the goggles was like something out of a George Romero movie: scores of people stumbling in all directions, expressions fearful, arms splayed in front of them, bumping into one another and crying out in the dark.
    I moved to the right, my head swiveling in sync with the front sight of the gun. The near panic in the room was palpable. Things felt one step away from a stampede.
    I kept my back to the wall and kept moving to the right, toward the private rooms. That was my best guess for where Delilah had first joined Yamaoto.
    I reached the corner of the room and started moving forward. Here and there small flares of light were appearing as the relatively cool-headed took out lighters and turned on cell phones.
Come on, come on,
I thought. I was running out of time.
    I reached the first private room and tried the door. It swung open. Empty.
    From somewhere in front of me, I heard a man shout in Japanese, 'The emergency exit is stuck!'
    A woman cried out, 'What if there's a fire?'
    And that was all it took. Everyone charged, mostly toward the front, but some, disoriented in the dark, went the wrong way and collided with the others. People tripped and fell over one another. The ones on the ground, their faces kicked and fingers stepped on, started screaming, and the screams fed the panic.
    I heard Dox in my ear. 'You all right, man? Delilah, can you talk?'
    'I'm good, I'm in,' I said, moving. 'Stay put., Cover the entrance.'
    'Roger that,' he said. There was nothing from Delilah.
    I made it to the second private room. Empty, like the first.
    The booths, the booths,
I thought. I kept going, as fast as I could while keeping my back to the wall. I knew there were four bodyguards in the room, and I scanned for them constantly, but in the chaos I couldn't spot them.
    A man came stumbling toward me, his arms pawing the air in front of him. I shoved him to the side and he spilled to the floor with a wail.
    The blocked emergency exit was just ahead, the booths along the wall to its left. I moved closer, still scanning. There, in front of the nearest booth, some kind of pileup on the floor, and…
    There were the bodyguards, two of them, guns out, facing the room, looking sightlessly for the threat.
    I cut left to the nearest row of seating surrounding the bar, avoiding stumbling, howling patrons, scanning as I moved. I hopped down onto one of the benches, wanting some cover in case anyone trained on my muzzle flashes and returned fire. I braced the gun on top of the back of the bench and put the laser on the first bodyguard's head.
    Pffft.
The man quivered and sank to the ground.
    The flash was reduced by the suppressor. The other guy didn't see it, or if he saw it he didn't know what it meant. And the reduced muzzle report was eclipsed by the shouting all around us. The man stood there, still looking around, probably not even realizing his partner was now dead on the floor.
    Pffft.
I dropped him, too, another head shot.
    I scrambled over to the opposite side of the bench, in case anyone else had tracked my muzzle flashes. There were still two bodyguards in the room, plus Yamaoto, Kuro, Big Liu, and Big Liu's associate.
    But where? I scanned the room left to right. People were still scrambling in all directions. I wanted to shout,
Delilah,
where are you?
    A light flared in front of the corner booth. I looked over. It was Yamaoto, holding up a cell phone, trying to see what was going on.
    Son of a bitch.
The corners of my mouth crept up. I brought the HK around