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B efore Rondeau and Marla had walked a block from Finch’s house, a man stepped out
of an alleyway and blocked the sidewalk in front of them. He was broad-shouldered and
short, a squat bulldog of a man, wearing what looked like a black karate gi. Marla and
Rondeau moved to walk around him, and he slid over to block the way.
“I hope you’re a mugger,” Marla said, cracking her knuckles. “I’ve only whipped one
ass so far tonight, and I could go for another.”
“You should look for easier pickings,” Rondeau said cheerfully. “She’ll use your head
for a punching bag.”
“My master sends his greetings,” the man said. His voice was formal, and he spoke with
a faint Chinese accent.
“You work for the Celestial?” Marla said. “Have you come to drag us back to his lair, or
just to kill us?” Rondeau was, prudently, stepping back, putting Marla between himself
and the other man.
“My name is Ch’ang Hao. What is your name?”
“Your master didn’t tell you that?”
“I prefer introductions to be made personally,” he said, bowing slightly.
“Call me Marla.”
“And your associate?”
“We’re not at a cocktail party, Ch’ang Hao,” she said. “State your business, throw a
punch, or piss off, okay?”
He spoke past her, to Rondeau. “I regret the necessity of committing an act of violence
against someone to whom I have not been introduced,” he said, voice heavy with
genuine regret. “It smacks of mere thuggery, a condition to which I never wish to sink.
But, alas, circumstances are what they are. I—”
Marla threw a punch at his throat.
He blocked, knocking her hand aside, without even pausing in his speech. “—will do as
I must.” Bowing again, he slid his right foot back and brought up his hands, assuming a
defensive stance.
“Get back, Rondeau,” she said, and slid into a stance of her own. It had been a while
since she’d used martial arts for real, and she hoped she hadn’t lost the knack. Actually
fighting someone was quite different from practicing at the gym or her friend Master
Ward’s dojo.
Ch’ang Hao moved sinuously—he was a snake stylist, or at least he was starting out in
snake style. Of all the forms of five animals kung fu, snake was the most reactive, the
most dependent on moving around your opponent. Fighting a snake stylist could be like