Glass shatters, and someone screams. A man drops, clutching his neck as blood sprays across the marble. The music cuts out mid-beat, and for half a second everything stalls.
Then the panic hits.
Bodies surge in every direction as people shove, trip, and fall. Drinks hit the floor and shatter underfoot while someone disappears beneath the crowd.
I roll, come up fast, and scan.
Jackson is already shifting, trying to adjust his angle.
He doesn't get the chance.
Beau fires from outside, and Jackson’s body snaps back before dropping out of sight as the beam cuts out completely.
Gunfire cracks again, but this time it is sloppy.
One of them fires too fast and misses, the round tearing into a man trying to run. He drops instantly. Another shot follows and hits a woman near the bar, and she collapses before she even understands what happens.
They can't track us.
We are moving too fast.
Brooke drops low and slides under a table just as another shot tears through the space where she had been standing. The table flips from the impact, glasses shattering around her as she comes up on one knee.
I pivot in the opposite direction and cut through the crowd, forcing a bad angle while I bring my weapon up.
A guard moves in from the right, trying to intercept. I fire once. The round hits him clean, and he drops immediately. Another guard pushes forward behind him. I adjust and fire again. He spins and collapses against the bar, taking bottles down with him as they shatter across the counter.
More shots follow from above.
They're rushing now. They're missing.
Brooke rises from behind the table with her gun already up, her eyes locked on the second level. She finds Ava. Brooke fires once, and the shot hits her square in the chest. Ava staggers, shock flashing across her face.
Brooke fires again.
The second round drives her backward over the railing, and her body tips before crashing down onto a glass centerpiece below. The impact shatters it instantly, shards scattering as her body hits the floor and goes still.
Brooke shifts again without hesitation.
Ezra tries to retreat toward the hallway. I see it the same second she does.
She fires first.
The round catches him mid-step, and his body snaps back into the wall before sliding down, leaving a dark smear behind him.
I turn left. Diego is pushing through the crowd, using bodies as cover while trying to disappear. I track him through the movement and fire.
The shot lands clean.
He folds hard and goes down, taking two people with him as he hits the floor.
Another guard comes at me from the side, weapon already raised. I close the distance and fire twice. The first round hits his chest, and the second drops him before he can pull the trigger. A third guard tries to flank from behind.
I turn, catch the motion, and fire without thinking. He goes down mid-step.
Gunfire snaps again from above, wild and uncontrolled. A round tears past my head close enough that I feel the air shift. Another strikes a man behind me, dropping him instantly.
Beau keeps firing from outside, each shot landing with brutal precision. A guard on the stairs drops before he can raise his weapon. Another staggers and collapses, clutching his throat. A third tries to run and does n't make it more than a few steps.
