Chapter 9
The digital exposé sent shockwaves through the corporate headquarters of the Vanguard Group, but instead of surrendering, the leadership lashed out with desperate, chaotic fury. Late that evening, while the city slept beneath a heavy shroud of mist, the quiet neighborhood surrounding Lin’s tea shop became the target of a cowardly sabotage attempt. Maya, who had been sleeping lightly on a cot in the back room, was jolted awake by the sharp, acrid scent of burning plastic and smoke drifting through the hallway.
Moving with instantaneous reflexes, Maya slipped out of her boots and into the main shop area. Thick grey smoke was billowing through the mail slot in the front door, and the sound of shattering glass echoed from the alley entrance. Someone had thrown a kerosene-soaked rag through the side window. Without a moment of hesitation, Maya grabbed a heavy wool blanket from the storage shelf, rushed to the side door, and smothered the flames licking hungrily against the wooden window frame before they could catch hold of the dry herbal shelves.
At the same moment, the front door rattled violently as heavy kicks struck the wood. Marcus, who had stayed late to help guard the shop alongside Kai, rushed out from the back with a heavy iron pipe in his hand, his face tense with adrenaline.
"Stay back, I've called the police," Marcus yelled, though his voice wavered slightly.
"The police are ten minutes away," Maya said calmly, stepping past him toward the front door. "And whoever is out there knows it."
She unlocked the deadbolt with a swift, practiced motion and yanked the door open. Standing on the pavement under the flickering streetlamp were three hired thugs wearing heavy leather jackets and dark masks, holding iron crowbars and canisters of fuel. They had clearly expected terrified merchants hiding in the dark, not a disciplined martial artist ready for engagement.
The lead thug snarled, swinging his crowbar in a wide, vicious arc aimed directly at Maya’s head. Maya did not panic or shout. She ducked effortlessly beneath the wild swing, stepped inside the thug’s defensive guard, and delivered a sharp palm strike to his chest that knocked the wind out of him instantly. He collapsed onto the wet pavement, gasping for air.
The remaining two thugs hesitated, looking at their fallen comrade with sudden, nervous disbelief. Maya did not give them time to recover. Moving with lethal grace and absolute economy of motion, she swept the legs of the second attacker, sending him crashing hard onto the concrete, and used the momentum to pivot and apply a swift joint lock that immobilized the third before he could raise his weapon.
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Within thirty seconds, the entire attack was neutralized without a single unnecessary blow or wasted movement. The three thugs lay groaning on the wet ground, completely defeated. Marcus stood by the doorway, lowering his iron pipe with a look of stunned awe, his mouth slightly open.
Maya exhaled a slow, controlled breath, stepping back and adjusting her blue utility vest. "Call the police back," she told Marcus calmly. "Tell them we have intruders waiting for them."
