missing several teeth. Puller rose, found his gun, and kept moving forward.

 

The door to the bar was wide open. Paul, the bouncer, wasn’t anywhere that

Puller could see.

 

He kept sweeping his weapon and listening for sirens.

 

More gunfire was coming from inside the bar.

 

He reached the doorway and looked inside. His training allowed him to size up

stressful and violent situations quickly.

 

He could observe, by quick count, about thirty people inside. Four men were on

the floor. What their status was, he couldn’t tell. Three were young. One was a

big guy dressed all in black and with what looked to be splints on one hand. He

was older, as evidenced by his white hair.

 

As Puller gazed more closely he could see the man was dead, his eyes wide and

glassy under the harsh lights of the bar. The other men’s backs were to him. He

didn’t know if they were dead or simply injured.

 

Paul the bouncer was in the process of disarming one guy who was far bigger and

younger than he was. As Puller watched, Paul whipped the guy around, clamped two

hands around his neck, and jerked to the right. Puller could imagine the neck

snapping cleanly in two with the move.