Chapter 13 - The Enforcer
The door was kicked inward with thunderous force, the wood splintering around the latch.
Maya sprang instantly, driving the hardened titanium tip of her tactical pen toward the intruder’s throat. But the man was exceptionally fast; he brought an armored forearm up, deflecting the strike with a dull, ringing thud that sent vibrations straight into Maya’s shoulder.
The moonlight filtering through the high clerestory windows caught his face. He was huge, well over six-foot-three, wearing a reinforced tactical windbreaker and combat gloves. His face was weathered, marked by a jagged tattoo of a viper coiling down the left side of his neck—the signature brand of Red Sands security enforcers.
""Still fast, little sister,"" the man sneered, swinging a brutal sweeping hook with his left hand.
Maya ducked beneath it, the air whistling violently over her head. Vance stepped forward, swinging his steel baton in a vicious downward strike aimed at the intruder’s knee. The enforcer barely glanced down; he checked the strike with his heavy combat boot, caught the baton with his left hand, and ripped it effortlessly out of the elderly master's grip, throwing Vance backward against the bookshelf with bone-jarring force.
""Vance!"" Maya shouted.
The enforcer didn't let her breathe. He closed the space between them in an instant, wrapping both heavy hands around her throat and driving her out of the office, smashing her back into the padded pillar on the edge of the mat.
Maya gasped as the impact knocked the air from her lungs. Her feet dangled inches off the mat as the man lifted her with terrifying strength.
""Where is the ledger, Maya?"" the enforcer growled, his breath smelling of stale tobacco and gun oil. ""Aaron gave you the recovery keys before he ran. Give them up, or I snap your neck and burn this place to ash.""
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Maya choked, her vision blurring at the edges as darkness threatened to pull her under. But her mind remained fiercely, coldly analytical.
She didn't fight his grip with her hands. Instead, she brought both knees sharply to her chest and kicked outward with all her remaining strength, planting both heels directly into the center of his chest.
