"That's not in my itinerary." Judah picked up his bag.

     "Then we'll have to send you off the hard way," cleft lip man said. He grabbed my wrist.

     Judah didn't think he just wanted to help him carry his bag so...

     He bent his elbow toward cleft lip man's forearm, forcing him to let go of his wrist. Then Judah pitched his body forward, thrusting his other elbow into cleft left man's throat. The man folded on the ground, grasping for breath.

     "Bakulaw, hawakan mo s'ya," Unibrow man said in Filipino and drew his gun.

     Gorilla man seized Judah from behind in a smothering bear hug (in this case, gorilla hug), pressing his arms against the sides of his body.

     The man was really strong, crushing Judah

     Judah dropped his weight down into a squat, stomped gorilla man's foot with his heel, and rotated out of his hold

     He kicked between gorilla man's legs and connected his shin to the groin

     Before gorilla man could even groan in pain, Judah knocked him out with a knife hand strike at the side of the neck.

     Unibrow man tried to shoot, but Judah whacked his arm with his bag, separating the man from his gun.

     "Hey, I thought you liked me," Judah said.

     "Putang ina mo, Godling." Unibrow man pulled a Filipino balisong, a deadly fan knife, from his jacket and performed an impromptu exhibition of his knife-wielding skills to intimidate me. "I'm gonna gut ya like rotten fish an' shove your bowels up your ass 'til you fuckin' vomit them on your mother's face!"

     "Don't include my mother in this." No one was allowed to disrespect the mother Judah had never ever seen. This one will really get it.

     Unibrow man lunged and slashed, going for my throat

     Judah sidestepped and turned to the direction of unibrow's thrust, grabbed the hand holding the knife, broke his arm, and shoved the howling man onto cleft chin man who was trying to get up.

     Three men down in less than sixty seconds. Could be faster, though, Judah thought.

     "You still wanna do this?" Judah said.

     The three men staggered to their feet then scampered away.

     A gun pointed at the back of Judah's head.

     "You're dead, doc," a man's voice said.

     In one swift continuous movement, Judah turned low out of the line of fire, stepped forward, and locked the opponent's arm tight between his shoulder and forearm close to the chest, twisting to deliver an elbow to the face and knee to the groin, both of which the man quickly blocked with his free hand.

     The man was really good, lightning fast.

     Judah grabbed the gun, pointing it halfway to the ground, and pushed it out of the man's hand. He turned to put distance between the man and him.

     But following the momentum of Judah's hand, the man turned with him, putting his leg between Judah's legs and landing behind him. Then he grabbed Judah's chin and nape and sank into a low position, pulling him in position where his back was dangerously arched and the man could dislocate his head with a turn of his hands.

     "I got ya," Rob Winger said.

     "Bang." Judah was pointing the gun at Winger's heart.

     "Draw?"

     "Cool." Judah gave the gun back to his best friend.

     They laughed, shook hands, and made their ritual greeting: they embraced and tapped each other's back three times with hands forming the secret sign of their high school gang of three—Rob, Regina, and Judah.

     Rob's mother was Caroline Patriarcha's cousin; Judah's father was her friend and supplier of antiques. That's how their lives intertwined since childhood.

     "You still got it, Dragon Jude," Rob said, "just like our wild mixed martial arts days. Moves like a ghost, strikes like a boss."

     "You're not so bad yourself, Robbie Lightning, all things considered. Those bullies part of your welcome entourage?"

     "You didn't know them? I thought they were unhappy patients asking for a refund, so I just let the doctor deal with them."

     "So Detective Winger just watched. Whatta caring friend. What—didn't wanna mess up your J.C. hair?"

     "Hey, just coughed out a hundred fifty bucks to get this right, doc. I don't think I even want to shower again."

     "One-fifty for that shit? I'm so sorry for you, man. I forgive you."

     "I'll call out an APB to get those guys."

     "Forget it. Maybe they're just some boys from our old rival gangs who forgot to grow up."

     "If you say so."

     They walked to Rob's SUV, a white Chevy Suburban, which obviously hadn't been off-road, parked by the station building. Judah dropped his bag in the back, climbed into the passenger seat. Rob drove them out of the train station.

     "Where's Regina? It was a question Judah had been asking back in New York for the last two weeks. Regina's phone had gone out of service. Her Facebook, Instagram, and other social media accounts deactivated. Judah's emails unanswered. There was no way to get in touch with her.

     It took a moment before Rob could talk. His words became difficult. "Jude, Regina can't be with you anymore."

     Judah stared at him, waiting for an explanation.

     "She's married."

(CONTINUED)