Pick One
“Pick one.”
Ryan Cole said it with a grin.
Across the mat, Maya Bennett looked at the three black belts standing in front of her.
Ryan was twenty-four, lean and fast, and Northgate Martial Arts’ most successful kickboxing competitor. He had won a regional tournament six weeks earlier and had spent most of the time since then carrying himself as if the trophy had changed something fundamental about him.
Beside him stood Derek Mills, thirty years old and built like a wall. Derek had been a wrestler before adding Brazilian jiu-jitsu and mixed martial arts to his arsenal.
The third man was Caleb Stone.
Twenty-six. Quiet. Patient.
Caleb rarely started conversations, rarely raised his voice, and rarely attacked first during sparring. His specialty was letting impatient people make mistakes.
All three wore black belts.
Maya wore none.
She was forty-one years old, dressed in plain black training pants and a faded gray T-shirt. Her dark hair was tied behind her head, and there was nothing about her appearance that suggested she had come looking for a fight.
In fact, she had not come to train at all.
She had arrived carrying a cardboard box and asked to speak with the owner.
But Ryan had spent the last several minutes making sure everyone understood that he did not think she belonged on the mat.
Now he pointed toward himself.
Then Derek.
Then Caleb.
“Go ahead,” Ryan said. “Pick whichever one you want.”
Maya looked at him.
Then at Derek.
Then Caleb.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Finally, Maya raised one hand.
One finger extended.
She pointed across the line.
Ryan.
Derek.
Caleb.
“All of you.”
The gym fell silent.
Ryan laughed first.
Derek stared at her.
Caleb’s expression changed only slightly, but Maya noticed.
Then Thomas Reed, Northgate’s head instructor, stepped forward.
“No.”
Maya turned toward him.
“I didn’t mean at the same time,” she said.
That changed the room again.
Ryan’s smile faded.
Maya looked back at the three men.
“One round each.”
“Ninety seconds.”
“Technical.”
“No ego.”
Thomas studied her.
“You sure?”
Maya nodded.
Ryan folded his arms.
“You came in here five minutes ago. You don’t even train here.”
“That’s true.”
“So why are we doing this?”
Maya glanced toward the cardboard box resting against the wall.
“Because you asked me to pick.”
Ryan laughed again, though this time it sounded less confident.
“I was joking.”
Maya met his eyes.
“No.”
She paused.
“You weren’t.”
The silence that followed was heavier than before.
And that was how it started.
The Woman with the Box
Maya Bennett had walked through the doors of Northgate Martial Arts shortly after six on a Tuesday evening.
The gym was busy.
Teenagers were finishing karate drills near the mirrors. Adults wrapped their hands before the evening kickboxing class. On the far side of the building, a beginner’s jiu-jitsu class was preparing to start.
Thomas Reed was teaching when Maya arrived.
She stood near the reception desk with the cardboard box balanced against one hip.
Ryan noticed her first.
“Can I help you?”
“I’m looking for Thomas Reed.”
“He’s teaching.”
“I can wait.”
Ryan looked at the box.
“Delivery?”
“No.”
“What’s in it?”
“Something for Thomas.”
Ryan smiled.
“That sounds mysterious.”
Maya did not answer.
She simply walked toward a bench and sat down.
That should have ended the conversation.
Instead, Ryan kept talking.
He had been watching her.
The way she stood.
The way she shifted her weight.
The way she stretched one ankle while waiting.
“Bad knee?” he asked.
Maya looked up.
“No.”
“You move like you’ve trained.”
“A little.”
Ryan smiled.
“What?”
“Karate?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“A long time ago.”
He nodded as if he had solved a puzzle.
“Traditional stuff?”
“Among other things.”
“What belt?”
Maya gave him a faint smile.
“I don’t remember caring much about the belt.”
That answer irritated him.
Derek walked over.
“What’s going on?”
Ryan gestured toward Maya.
“She used to train.”