Mercury took him off his feet and the bazooka went down with him, clattering across the floor between a hundred pairs of legs. The sound of the metal striking concrete was sharp and short and immediately swallowed by the rising roar of the room.
I was already down.
My hand found Venna's arm and I got her up against me while I watched the two men on the floor in front of the crowd, both of them still clawing at their own throats, both of them running out of whatever they had left. Bagins' face had gone dark under the mesh. The bearded man's legs kicked once and then slowed.
The crowd was already closing the distance—faces turning, weapons rising, the particular focused silence of people who had just been given a reason.
The room was closing in on us.
