A Message

"Devon, I heard someone was looking for me at the martial arts school. How about we meet later?" Dash said as he left the school, looking at Devon and the others waiting for him to eat.

"Is there a problem?" Tory asked, noticing Dash's serious expression.

Dash relaxed his expression and said, "Not at all, but I think I need to go to that place as soon as possible."

"Take care. You know where we'll be, so you can find us later," Devon said as she bid farewell to Dash, who seemed to be in a hurry.

Dash got into his car and looked at the message that literally said, "Daddy is in the USA. You wanted a man of war? Well, here's one! [Waiting for you outside Sakura Bushido!]" The only person who could come up with sending him that message was Santiago since he was the only man who knew the name of his dojo outside the country, except for Dre, Cheng, and everyone in China.

"If that old drunkard comes to the school, Mr. Chozen will kick him out." Dash murmured, slightly nervous about something silly happening. Driving at the maximum speed allowed, he went to refill his car's gas tank as it was running low. After paying, he arrived at Sakura Bushido, quickly parked his car, and went in to check if that person was outside.

"Has a strange old man come here looking for me?" Dash asked a guard who was on duty at the entrance.

The guard, who looked at Dash, nodded. "There was a strange man; he asked for you, but then he got hungry and left, saying he would come back later. He asked about some adult clubs, but I told him I didn't know any."

"That's definitely Santiago..." Dash murmured as he entered. But remembering something, he said, "If he comes again, don't forget to call me directly. If his name is Santiago, you can let him in."

"Got it!"

Once in the dojo, Dash didn't want to go back immediately, so he went to the changing rooms to freshen up and do some muscle memory exercises. In his last serious encounter, he felt that somehow he could achieve more. He didn't want to harm Jack, but he knew that if he focused his punches on less dangerous areas, he could cause a lot of pain without causing lasting damage.

The sudden sensation of vibrating through the air made Dash realize an idea. Following this rhythm of movements, he soon clenched his fists, looked firmly ahead, and focused his punches on vulnerable areas, attacking forcefully and generating a loud sound in the air. He efficiently examined his punch and, following the same sensation, memorized many punches following his Northern Dragon Kung Fu style, moving in any situation and knowing perfectly how to react to each one.

But at that moment, while Dash was still moving from side to side, he heard his cell phone vibrating. Thinking it was the worker calling him, he quickly stopped.

"Devon..." Dash was surprised. He didn't expect a call from his girlfriend, but he answered without any problem.

"Is something wrong? Come on, can't you stand being without your boyfriend for a whole day?" The tone, the smile, and her personality were used when saying these words. Just when Dash expected a response from his girlfriend, a deep voice came out of the intercom.

"I'm sorry to tell you that I'm not your girlfriend. But if you want to see her without a scratch, you better show up at the exact location at the agreed-upon time, or we'll start having fun with her." The voice ended the call without giving Dash time to respond.

Looking at the call that was exactly from Devon's cell phone, Dash quickly left the martial arts school and headed to his car right after changing. Accelerating rapidly, Dash headed to the restaurant where Devon was, trying to call Tory and Aisha, but none of them answered, which made him even more nervous.

"Damn..." Dash gritted his teeth but didn't lose his composure. Immediately parking outside the restaurant, he burst in through the door, looking at Tory, who was just getting up to leave.

"Tory, where is Devon?"

Surprised to see Dash behaving like that, Tory asked with concern, "Did something happen?"

"Is Devon here or not?" Dash asked with a louder voice.

"She left half an hour ago. Is everything okay?" Tory knew something was definitely wrong. Without time to ask, she watched as Dash ran out of the restaurant.

Looking at the message again, Dash forcefully hit the car's steering wheel and, without thinking much about the details, sped away to the place where he was summoned.

"Mr. Chozen, this is Dash. I think Devon is in trouble, so if you can come to the address I sent you, you could tell Mr. Kim to send help." Dash said as he disregarded many traffic fines.

It was late; night was falling. Without wasting time, Dash hung up the call and headed to the place where that strange voice had summoned him.