I didn't wait for the guards to draw their weapons.
The second Ethan's burst hit my collar, the decision was made. _Hostile moving fast. Aggressive posture. L. backing up._ That meant Song Mei had stepped into Li's space. That meant the Empress was about to put hands on her or worse.
The hallway was a kill box. Four guards. One Shadow. One door. And on the other side of that door, Li was alone.
I pushed off the wall.
The move was sudden and explosive. It shattered the static tension that had been holding the corridor together. I didn't go for my concealed pistol. Gunfire would escalate the situation beyond repair and give Song Mei exactly what she wanted. A body on the floor. A reason to call it an assassination attempt and mobilize the entire municipal police force against the Golden Koi by sunrise.
I needed to breach the room, but I needed to do it with surgical, non-lethal precision. Fast enough to get through, controlled enough not to give them the war they wanted.
