Chapter 14 - Mat of Blood
The double-heeled donkey kick generated tremendous momentum. The enforcer stumbled backward, his iron grip breaking from her throat as he crashed hard onto the tatami mat.
Maya dropped to her hands and knees, coughing violently, dragging ragged breaths into her bruised windpipe. Blood from her earlier shoulder wound had seeped through her bandage, staining the collar of her shirt dark crimson.
The enforcer shook his head, cracking his neck from side to side with a cold, terrifying calm. ""You always had fight in you. But you’re out of your league, Thorne.""
He drew an expandable stun baton from his belt, flicking it open. Blue electrical arcs crackled across the metal tip with a menacing hum.
Maya stood up, wiping blood from her chin. She abandoned all traditional stances, settling into the raw, predatory crouch of an operative fighting for her life. ""You want Aaron's ledger? Come take it.""
He advanced, slashing the crackling baton in rapid, lethal figure-eights. Maya timed the rhythmic pulses of the weapon. On the third pass, as the baton reached the apex of its upward sweep, she dove directly onto the wet floor beneath the weapon’s arc.
Her legs locked around his left ankle in a ferocious heel hook—an illegal, catastrophic submission hold designed to shatter the ligaments of the knee joint.
The enforcer realized the danger a second too late. ""Wait—""
Maya torqued her hips with explosive violence. A horrific sound of snapping tendons and splintering cartilage ripped through the gym, followed by an earth-shattering howl of agony from the giant. The stun baton flew from his hand, skittering across the floor and sparking harmlessly against the ring post.
The enforcer crashed onto the floor, clutching his completely inverted knee, writhing in helpless torment. Maya scrambled to her feet, panting heavily, her eyes burning with feral focus as she picked up the fallen baton and pressed the sparking tip an inch from his forehead.
May you like
""Who sent you?"" Maya hissed through clenched teeth. ""Tell me who has Aaron, or I swear to God I’ll fry your skull.""
The man spat blood onto the green mat, his eyes rolling back in excruciating pain. ""You... you think he’s a captive?"" he wheezed, laughing weakly. ""Aaron isn't a prisoner, you stupid girl... Aaron runs Red Sands now.""
