Page 28 of Tiger on the Prowl

“Do you see him?’” Jay asked, speaking quietly into his microphone, while he searched the crowd and the areas behind the palm trees for the shooter.

“Nothing so far,” came Yankee’s reply.

Where the fuck was the shooter hiding? He looked at the crowd. Everybody was looking toward the two couples that now started to dance. Nobody took any notice of Jay or Yankee. Even the two waiters who’d been bussing tables, had stopped their work and were watching the dancing couples.

“Fuck,” Yankee suddenly hissed through the earpiece.

“Where is he?” Jay shot Yankee a look. He was near the area where the band was playing.

“Smith. Smith is here.”

Jay’s heart skipped a beat. “Fuck!”

He followed Yankee’s gaze and saw him too. He was dressed as elegantly as the rest of the guests, his eyes directed toward the dancing couples. From his vantage point, Jay couldn’t see if he was carrying a weapon, but it was possible.

“Keep an eye on him. Don’t let him see you,” Jay said, when he suddenly perceived a movement to his right. From behind the bamboo partition, a man suddenly emerged. He wasn’t a waiter, but dressed in a suit and tie. A guest, but clearly not one who’d been invited.

“The shooter,” Jay alerted Yankee. “Behind the bamboo partition.”

Jay sprinted toward the man who looked to be in his mid-thirties, when he saw him reach underneath his jacket, trying to pull something from it. Jay barreled toward him just as he cleared the partition, and the shooter produced a handgun. Jay crashed into him with such force that the guy lost his balance and fell back against the partition. As he tumbled backward, Jay snatched his hand holding the gun and wrestled it from him, before he put him in a chokehold.

“Fucking bastard,” he hissed.