At least, that was the normal sequence of events.
Tonight, Ranny had arrived at the bottom of the tunnel steps right at 8 o'clock, just as all the lights in the arena went black. He stepped quietly up the steps, and was relieved to see through the darkness that the older female usher stationed at the top of the stairs was on the side away from the speaker's podium, whispering seat directions to a couple of latecomers blinded by the sudden darkness. Ranny's position was about 50 yards from where the president stood in the pale spotlight. Ranny couldn't make out the man sitting next to him, but he'd overheard the maintenance manager boasting to a foreman that he'd been invited to sit with the president tonight. That was the manager who'd fired Ranny this afternoon.
The president, standing tall under the spotlight in his well-cut Western suit, started his speech: "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the annual Cattleman's Night at the Cow Palace. I saw a lot of you enjoying the delicious barbeque earlier, and I hope -."
His announcement was cut off by a staccato burst of fire from an automatic weapon, and he crashed forward onto the table, then slumped to the side against the maintenance manager who had pitched back in his seat, blood streaming from fatal wounds in the head and chest. Ranny, hidden in the darkness, had quietly reached inside his long black coat with his left hand just as he had practiced in his apartment. He had grasped the M-16 by the front stock, swung it quickly to his shoulder, this time with his finger inside the trigger guard rather than outside it, and fired a quick burst, killing not only his two targets but also an unfortunate wealthy rancher sitting in the private box behind them, and wounding several people. He dropped the gun, supported by its shoulder sling, rushed down the steps, and headed out the passageway toward the nearest exit at the south end.
Monty recognized the sound of gunfire immediately, and grasping Laura's hand more firmly, said urgently "Someone's shooting in there! We need to get out of here, fast!" and turned back the way they'd come.
As they ran toward the south entrance, they were joined by others who had left their seats and were already starting to stream out of the tunnels. They could hear screams from inside, and people yelling "Get an ambulance into the ring!"
"Get a paramedic up here!"
"Does anybody see who was shooting?"
And someone who had commandeered the president's microphone urged, "Take cover by your seats - there's too many people trying to leave at once and you're going to get injured."