The Last Assassin

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 and put the laser on his forehead.
    The green inside the goggles was eclipsed by a huge white flash. I blinked and jerked my head away.
    I knew instantly what had happened. The power was back on. The goggles had an automatic high-light cutoff feature that saved me from being blinded, but it still took a moment for my vision to adjust. I dropped behind the bench and tore off the goggles. When I popped back up, the HK pointed over the back of the seat, Yamaoto was gone.
    Fuck. I scanned the area.
    There he was, moving to my left. I zeroed in on his torso.
    Bam! A shot slammed into the back of the bench inches from my head. I tracked to my right and saw one of the bodyguards, kneeling on the floor in front of one of the booths.
    Bam! Another shot tore into the back of the bench. I didn’t think. I just squeezed the grip, put the front sight on his torso, and pressed the trigger. Pffft. The shot caught him in the sternum. He fell backward and I put two more in him before he’d even hit the ground.
    I swiveled back to Yamaoto. He was running now, and everyone was running with him, away from the gunfire. I brought the gun around, looking for a shot.
    “Down!” I heard Delilah call from behind me. I ducked and a bullet whizzed over my head, the crack of a pistol following a split instant later. I scooted to my right and snuck a peek over the back of the bench. It was the fourth bodyguard. He swung the pistol over to my new position and fired again. I scrambled to the edge of the seat, thinking absurdly, Well, this is going well, isn’t it?
    I brought the HK out alongside the bench. The bodyguard saw me and adjusted again.
    There was a Bam! Bam! Bam! of pistol fire, but not from him. His body jerked and he slumped to the ground. I glanced over. It was Delilah, holding one of the fallen bodyguards’ guns.
    I brought out a fresh magazine, dropped the nearly spent one, and slammed the new one into place. I reached for the one I’d dropped and said, “Dox,