"Get her outa here!" Norman bellowed in Jake's ear. He thrust Gabby into Jake's arms, threw three vicious punches, caught a blow in the throat and reeled back. Lennox steadied him and dragged Gabby and Norman toward their table, bulling through the fighting crowd with his chin on his chest. The band began riffing the National Anthem. Nobody who could hear it paid any attention. A series of crashes commenced and the wall lights began going out. There was a wild Chinese yell and the Shroff appeared, crouched low, beating his way through the mob with a mop he wielded like a bamboo staff. Behind him Lennox saw the Killer teetering on a chair as he hurled empty coke bottles with deadly accuracy. He was methodically smashing all the lights. "Out! Out!" Lennox roared. "Come on.... Out!" As they snatched their coats off their chairs, two very large men charged out of nowhere and laid violent hands on Gabby. Lennox turned with a snarl and clubbed one across the back of the neck. As he dropped to his knees, the second was felled alongside him by the Killer. Gabby bent over them. "This is not the way to do it," she said intensely. "You must organize. Organize!" Lennox yanked Gabby up. He wanted to kiss her and spank her. The four men formed a circle around Gabby and beat their way out to the foyer. Gabby was hurling pacifist denunciations at the riot but no one could hear her. As they started down the stairs, Norman, who was fighting a rear-guard action, whistled shrilly and stopped them. "Cool, Clarence," he croaked. "Not that way, man. The police'll be coming." He beckoned, slammed an anonymous assailant in the belly, and dashed around the corner to the rest rooms. As the others followed, the anonymous swung on Lennox who stiff-armed him back. The Shroff kicked him and spun him around in time for the Killer to finish him. Norman led them into the ladies' john. Three girls were standing there, unaware of the battle outside, trying to cope with a crisis of their own. They were holding on to a fourth girl who was screaming hysterically as she trampled on her dress. She wore a string of white pearls, white satin slippers, and nothing else. The black and white contrast was beautiful and worth closer inspection, but no one had time. "She main-linin' again?" Norman inquired. He flung open a door revealing narrow stairs leading up and squeezed himself in. The three girls began screaming too. "Her slip's showing," Lennox said. He propelled Gabby up the stairs. "She'll catch cold," the Killer said and followed. "Ve'y Happy New Yeah," the Shroff beamed and slammed the door behind him. They climbed through a skylight and emerged into the chill night air. The riot below them sounded distant and detached. Norman guided them across roofs to the dim stairs of a respectable apartment house. They descended and emerged on the street, around the corner and half a block down from The Midnight Sun. There they took stock.