Without displaying any effort at all, Grandmaster Ortiz carried two large, wooden boxes into his small martial arts weapons shop. He was a short man who only stood about 5’5’’, but every muscle in his body was proof enough that this man was not to be tampered with unless pain was a desire. His sparse grey hair and soft wrinkles were signs of experience and a long life lived to seek better learning.

Carefully placing both boxes on the floor, he then wiped the sweat off his brow, caused by the hot tropical evening and was silently thankful for his store’s air conditioner. His gaze then moved to the young woman standing by the cash register. She was wearing earphones and was busily singing to whatever music she was listening to as she flipped the pages of a magazine.

Grandmaster Ortiz crossed his strong arms over his chest and slowly shook his head. He then walked over to her and pulled the earphones from her head, and until that moment she had failed to notice his presence.

“Sifu!”

Victoria jumped up, startled, and tossed her magazine away. A frown formed upon the Grandmaster’s features when he noticed the magazine was actually a “Victoria’s Secret” catalog.

“You spend half of what I pay you in that store. I wouldn’t be surprised if they named it after you.” He said, the frown never leaving his face. Victoria’s soft cheeks turned beet red.

He then looked straight into her eyes, with his arms coolly relaxed behind his back, forcing Victoria to lower her own gaze with outmost respect.

“Just because you could not hear me did not mean you wouldn’t have been able to sense me in the room. When one of your senses fails, then it is the precise moment for the other four to be more alert. Is this understood?”

“Yes, Grandmaster Ortiz.” Victoria’s voice was almost inaudible and for a brief moment she wondered if he would also reprimand her for her lack of enthusiasm.

He did not. Instead he smiled and placed a hand on her shoulder. She in turn, dared to raise her eyes to meet her teacher’s and smiled as well.

“Go home, it’s getting late. I’ll close up here.” Ortiz said motioning to the door entrance.

With a small grin, Victoria quickly picked up her belongings and stuffed them into her black backpack.

“Buenas noches, maestro (Good night, master)” The young woman said, as she brought her right fist into her left palm and bowed before the Grandmaster. The old man took her small hands into his and also bid her a good night. With that, she exited the store and headed home.

******
A few hours later…

Victoria was not sleeping well that night. Her struggling mind seemed to ignore her room’s air conditioner; small sweat drops trickled down her forehead onto the white sheets of her bed. It was as if something inside her psyche was screaming at her to wake up…

“Grandmaster!” With a loud gasp she jerked awake and briefly sat paralyzed on her bed. Without giving it much thought though, she jumped out of it and quickly got dressed.

Slamming her apartment door behind her, Victoria ran into the direction of Grandmaster Ortiz’s shop.

*******

With his armed men close behind, Pablo “El Diablo”, got into his black Audi A6, his driver shutting the backseat passenger door seconds after and almost immediately stepping into his own seat. A malicious sneer adorned Pablo’s handsome face as he gazed at the men who accompanied him; they too were getting into a car, very similar to the one Pablo was now in, a few meters behind the Audi. He mentally patted his shoulder for a job well done even though he knew the task was not over yet.

Taking his wallet out of his pocket, he retrieved a small, worn out picture of Victoria Enid.

“Hola, preciosa… (Hello, beautiful…)”, He said, hungrily licking his lips. He then motioned the driver to turn the engine on and turn the vehicle around.

********

Victoria ran as fast as she could. The muscles in her legs threatened to give in to exhaustion, and she inwardly punished herself for not moving faster. Anyone who saw her though, would have without a doubt, applauded her speed.

Her breath was caught short in her lungs when she reached her destination. About six onlookers, most of them tourists, were circling about in the bullet-shattered glass entrance of Ortiz’s old shop. With the poor light that reflected from inside the store, most of it provided by street lights, Victoria could see that at least half of the merchandise was missing.

Victoria ran into the store, pushing, not too gently, two observers out of the way. Once inside, she could not help but drop onto her knees beside the form of the unconscious Grandmaster Ortiz. She counted several bullet shots on his legs, one on his stomach and one on each shoulder. With trembling hands she checked his pulse and thanked God that he was till alive, but just barely. With some effort, she lifted the old man onto her shoulder.

“Call 911!!!” She yelled at a young man who had poked his head through the remains of the glass windows, angry that neither he nor any of the others had done so already. The young man heeded to Victoria’s orders as nervous fingers tumbled clumsily his cellular phone.

Meanwhile, Victoria had managed to carry her master outside to the sidewalk and with the help of another man had begun to attend his wounds.

A black Audi pulled over in front of the demolished shop. Victoria raised her eyes with the hope that helped had arrived, but instead her senses were struck but the evil aura emitting from the young man who was studying her with intense interest from inside the car.

“Take care of him.” She simply said to the man who had been helping the Grandmaster. She briefly glanced over at the youth who was uneasily explaining the situation to the police on his cell phone, and then again at the stranger whose only interest at the moment was to challenge her.

Pablo eyed her appreciatively as she stood up to face him; even drenched in another’s blood she was pleasing to the eye. “El Diablo” held up a yellow piece of paper and clenched his fist around it, crushing it into a ball and threw it at Victoria’s feet. Without taking her eyes off Pablo she kneeled to pick it up, unraveled it, and discovered it to be an ad for another tournament.

With wide eyes, she looked again at Pablo, who in turn blew her a kiss, then casually tapped his index finger on his wrist watch and pointed to the store.

Somehow, Victoria understood. Pablo motioned his driver to immediately get them out of there. Everything from that moment seemed to run in slow motion. In a mix of instinct and panic, Victoria yelled at those around her to run, with the aid of another, lifted the wounded martial arts master onto her shoulders and jumped out of harm’s way in the last possible instant.

The store and the surrounding buildings exploded into a huge burst of flames and hell itself practically broke loose on the brick streets of Old San Juan.

Screams invaded the hot late night air, but all Victoria could hear was the sound of her own heart pounding as she scanned her surroundings for the smallest clue of where the Audi had gone. First making sure, that her master was in safe hands, she sprinted into a fast run. She knew the old city well and knew that the car could have gone in only one direction…

After a five minute run, she reached the middle of a Spanish plaza, where all the streets of the old city would merge. Not understanding how, Victoria slumped to her knees, realizing that whoever had attacked them that night had escaped. The car was nowhere to be seen. For a few minutes she sat on the bricks, catching her breath, then with a heavy sigh, and an almost unnoticeable flash of red in her eyes, she made her way back to the disaster.

********

Ambulances had already arrived. Firemen and policemen were rapidly aiding those in need. Victoria stood a few blocks away, hiding herself from the scene behind the tall brick wall of an old museum. From the distance she could see the paramedics assisting Grandmaster Ortiz and she could also see Riq Pierantoni at his side. She knew it wouldn’t have been long until he found out.

With another sudden rupture of anger she growled slightly, looking at her bloodied hands, then moved her gaze to Riq once more.

“He’ll take care of everything here…my business is elsewhere.” She said, covering her head with the hood of her jacket and hiding her crimson stained hands in its front pockets. Without another word or another thought, she quickly headed home.