Chapter 1 - Stand Down
Marcus Bennett threw the first punch before the crowd had finished laughing.
His fist cut past Maya Chen’s face by less than an inch.
Five hundred soldiers roared around the outdoor combat mat at Fort Liberty.
“Move, Chen!”
“Don’t let him touch you!”
Bennett turned with an arrogant smile.
At two hundred twenty pounds, he was the installation’s defending combat champion. Maya weighed barely one hundred thirty. She stood barefoot in a dark green training shirt and shorts, white wraps tight around her hands.
Bennett leaned toward her.
“Still think you belong here, sweetheart?”
Maya said nothing.
She stepped inside his reach and drove two short, controlled strikes into his torso.
His smile vanished.
Bennett charged again.
Maya pivoted, redirected his weight, and swept one leg from beneath him.
He hit the mat flat on his back.
For half a second, Fort Liberty went silent.
Then the training yard exploded.
Bennett rose with humiliation burning across his face. The referee ordered both fighters to reset.
Instead, Bennett drove forward and aimed an illegal kick toward Maya’s knee.
A voice thundered across the yard.
“Bennett! Stand down!”
His boot stopped before impact.
Every soldier turned.
Colonel James Harrison crossed the dusty field in a dark formal uniform, a restricted personnel file beneath one arm.
He stopped at the edge of the mat.
“You just tried to injure the soldier this command came to evaluate.”
May you like
Bennett’s anger became fear.
Maya remained in her fighting stance, breathing as calmly as if the match had never begun.
