I drop behind a couch and fire twice as another guard steps out with his weapon raised. The rounds catch him high in the chest. He stumbles forward and crashes face first onto the floor.
Gunpowder thickens the air.
Beau calls out, “Reloading.”
I lean out from cover and fire toward the DJ booth. A guard jerks as the round catches him in the ribs. He drops behind the speakers, groaning.
A blonde stripper presses herself against a mirrored wall, shaking, her hands clamped over her ears as she sobs.
“Go,” I tell her.
She slides down the wall and scrambles for the emergency door.
A man steps into the hallway with a sawed off shotgun raised at chest level.
Too slow.
I drive forward, closing the distance before he can steady his aim. I fire once into his throat and again into his chest.
He still manages to pull the trigger.
The blast goes wild.
Behind me, wood explodes and glass rains down. The force rips through the space where I stood a second earlier.
Beau slams into me and drives us behind an overturned booth as the shotgun clatters across the floor.
“Move!” Beau barks, hauling me with him.
Someone near the stage is still crawling, trying to reach a dropped pistol.
I kick the weapon away and shove the man back with my boot.
“Where the fuck is Dante?” I shout.
Beau lifts his head just enough to scan the room. His eyes move across the balcony, the hallway, the bar.
“Gone.”
I look up toward the balcony. The mirrored glass overlooking the club is empty.
Dante has left.
I lean into the microphone clipped inside my jacket.
“Travis, he’s coming out the front. Gray jacket. Blue pants. Shoot him if you see him.”
For a second there is nothing but the bass vibrating through the speakers and the sound of people crying.
Then a single gunshot cracks from outside.
Beau and I stop moving at the same time.
The club falls into a broken quiet. Bodies lie scattered across the floor. Music still thumps through the speakers, warped and muffled beneath the sound of groaning.
I run for the exit and shove through the front door.
Travis stands near the SUV with his gun raised. His hands are shaking. His face has gone pale. His eyes are locked on the man collapsed near the curb.
