Jio stopped, dabbing tears of mirth from the corners of his eyes with a napkin. “Go home, princess.” He waved her toward the door of the club. “I would’ve shown you a good time, you know. I wouldn’t have turned to No Peak, but it was entertaining to see you try to win me over, especially when you’re so naive. Go back to your father and tell him that he’ll have to do better than that.”
“So you refuse my clean blade?” Jaya asked.
Jio shook his head, grinning. “You really are something. No self-respecting man in the world will duel a girl. Let me give you some advice. If you want to be of worth to your clan, stop playing at being a Fist and use the assets you do have.”
“I didn’t ask for your advice,” Jaya replied. “No man has agreed to duel me yet, but that doesn’t mean I’ll stop offering a clean blade when I’ve been insulted. And now I’ll have to disappoint my father by telling him that you refuse our friendship.”
“Do that,” Jio said. “Tell him I look forward to finally seeing Ayt Mada crush No Peak like a snail.”
“Let’s go,” Jaya called to her Fists. The three of them departed the Big Triple to the snickers of the Six Hands Unity men. One of Jio’s bodyguards followed them and opened the front doors, waving Jaya through with exaggerated courteousness. She could hear their laughter as the doors closed behind them.
Jaya flipped open her phone and hit the speed dial. “Now,” she said to Tenn.
In seconds, three Brock Compasses full of the Little Knives roared in from different directions and surrounded the building. Young No Peak Green Bones piled out of the vehicles with Fullerton machine guns and blew the windows of the club apart with bursts of automatic fire. Roaring with Strength, Tenn hurled two incendiary hand grenades. The old wooden structure went up in crimson flames.
From across the street, Jaya could feel the intense heat attacking her skin. She Steeled herself and wrapped a handkerchief over her nose and mouth as she stood near enough to Perceive the pain and terror of the men inside. Some of them never made it out of the building, but Jio Somu and two of his bodyguards were strong enough in jade ability to escape the inferno. Deflecting their way through the fire and Steeling against burns, they managed to plunge out of one of the broken windows in a blur of Strength and Lightness, their hair and clothes alight, screaming like elemental ghosts. The Little Knives mowed them down with volleys of machine gun fire. Jio Deflected the first burst, but not the second or the third. Not even the best Steel stood a chance against such a close-range onslaught of lead. The Pillar of Six Hands Unity, who’d held Lukang for twenty years, collapsed on the sidewalk in a mangled mess.
Jaya spat on the ground. “How’s that for using my assets?”
She had to thank Jio Somu. If he hadn’t felt so secure after surviving so many previous attempts on his life, then he might not have underestimated her. When Jaya had become a Fist, her father had advised her, “In my experience, as long as your friends have a high opinion of you, it doesn’t hurt when your enemies have a low opinion, the lower the better.”
Noyu Kain phoned the fire department and the police. By the time they arrived, the Little Knives had put out most of the fire already. Asha and two others had opened up the nearest fire hydrant and several Green Bones were Deflecting the spray toward the flames. The buildings next door suffered damage but there had been no one inside. While Jaya was in the Big Triple speaking to Jio, phone calls had been placed to the neighboring businesses to quietly clear out everyone on the block.
Later, it would be determined that there was one civilian casualty—the kitchen manager of the Big Triple, a friend of Jio’s cousin, had not left with everyone else and had been caught in the fire and killed. It was unfortunate, but Jaya could explain to everyone that she’d observed aisho to the greatest extent that could be reasonably expected. She didn’t feel any guilt over the death of one bystander who didn’t know what was good for him.
News trucks arrived minutes after the emergency services. Jaya checked herself in the Brock’s side mirror. Ash dusted her face, but her makeup was holding up remarkably well and she made a mental note to get more of this brand of waterproof eyeliner. She buckled her moon blade onto her waist. “How do I look?” she asked Eiten Asha. Her friend pursed her lips critically, made a small adjustment to straighten Jaya’s jade-encrusted torque necklace, and gave her an enthusiastic thumbs-up.
“I take full responsibility for what happened here,” Jaya solemnly told the cameramen who surrounded her. “My father sent me to Lukang to discuss improving the relationship with the Six Hands Unity clan. No Peak has opposed Jio Somu for twenty years, ever since he betrayed his uncle, the rightful Pillar of the clan, and my aunt was nearly killed in the crossfire. But we were prepared to finally turn over a new leaf in this city.”