Jaya rested an arm outside the open window, drumming the beat of the music on the side of the Brock, laughing and joking in high spirits despite the fact that she was driving toward certain danger. Or perhaps because of that, the joy of life was greater. She was proud of what she’d accomplished over the past four years. Toshon was not nearly as big and important a city as Janloon, but it had grown and contributed to the clan at an important time, and it was where she’d risen into being a Fist on her own merits. People in the far south cared little about the clan dynamics in the capital. Even though the rivalry between the Mountain and No Peak affected the entire country, southerners had their own concerns.
The biggest problems were unemployment and drugs. Jaya spent more time than she liked on the phone with her aunt Shae and the people in the Weather Man’s office, advocating for patronage for new Lantern Men in the area. She coordinated with the municipal government and the police to crack down on crime and lure more businesses and visitors from up north down to the peninsula. And she went after the drug trade—sweet flour, sand, buzz, and of course, shine—with the brutal efficiency of not just a Janlooner, but a Kaul. This was one area where Jaya did not at all mind leaning on her father’s reputation. Drug dealers had one thumb cut off for a first offense, the other thumb removed for a second transgression, and their throat opened for a third.
She assembled a core group of up-and-coming Fists loyal to her, young Green Bones who were known for working hard and partying harder. Gray-eyed Eiten Asha, the only other woman on the original team sent from Janloon, was two years Jaya’s senior and acknowledged as such a tough and capable Green Bone that it would surprise most people to learn she was also heiress to the famous Cursed Beauty hoji company. Noyu Kain, the elder brother of Jaya’s Academy classmate Noyu Hana, had transferred south to Toshon to work for Jaya specifically. Icho Tenn was a member of the previous ruling family of the Jo Sun clan; he was the only Toshon-born member of their group, but he got along well with everyone and was also deeply loyal to his city. Together, they had roughly sixty Fingers who reported to them.
As a woman Fist, Jaya could not expect to be automatically obeyed, not even with the amount of jade she wore. She didn’t see herself being able to pull off Ayt Mada’s authoritative poise, or her aunt Shae’s cool competence. Besides, those aloof old women sat in boardrooms. She would have to find her own style.
Many of her Fingers initially followed her because she was known for being fun and generous, for holding movie nights and group training, for making decisions as a team when it was feasible to do so, which was something that could be accomplished in a smaller territory. Using confiscated drug money, Jaya purchased two large houses that were social gathering places for her Green Bones and often the site of much raucous behavior, drinking, and promiscuity. Shine and other drugs were strictly forbidden, however.
The first Finger she caught defying her rules, she packed him back to Janloon. The second one, she tied into a chair and cut off the jade studs in his ears and nose, leaving him permanently disfigured before kicking him out. She never used her family name as a weapon but she did not need to; everyone murmured that she was her father’s daughter. Her team was known as the Little Knives, and word of their tight-knit culture had reached even Janloon.
Jaya and her friends arrived at the outskirts of Lukang before dinner and spent the night at a motel outside the city, so their arrival was unlikely to be noticed and reported to any of the local Green Bones. The following morning, they had brunch at a roadside noodle shop, then drove to meet up with six more of the Little Knives who’d driven up the previous day in two other vehicles. Together, they went to the Big Triple club, where Jio Somu could regularly be found on Fifthdays.
The sign on the outside of the building read in big white letters: COCKFIGHTS. ARCADE. INTERNET. Tenn circled the block and dropped Jaya, Asha, and Kain off on the street corner before driving away. The three Green Bones walked inside. The Big Triple was a musty old establishment valiantly trying to freshen itself up with modern attractions and amenities. To the left was a small cockfight pit with electronic betting terminals. This early in the day it was empty except for a couple of bored trainers sitting on benches, talking about their birds and waiting for more people to show up. To the right was a room with several computer stations behind a counter selling snacks and a poster with the sign displaying the prices in fifteen-minute increments.
Jaya strode farther into the room and found Jio Somu, Pillar of the Six Hands Unity clan, sitting at a circular table in a booth at the back of the club, having lunch with two of his Green Bones. Three bodyguards stood near them, their hands already on the grips of their pistols and the hilts of their knives, jade auras humming. They’d Perceived the No Peak Fists as soon as they’d walked in the door.