Brian Lu found a place to watch the shop and the street without looking like he was watching it. He didn't see anybody standing out, but he expected that. A professional watcher knew how to blend in better than Brian did.

He hoped something turned up before the old man did. It would be something to point out to be pounded on for ruining the next Expo game.

Brian wondered what was going on and how to find out. The easiest solution seemed to be to find one of the mobsters and ask them questions. If he did that, there was no telling what would fall out.

He wondered how much Sara knew. She wouldn't tell him. She was already upset that he had shown up with the flowers.

His mind turned over the plane crash in his mind. Was the professor still alive? If he was, where had he been the last few years? Had he been marooned out in the Pacific? A lot of planes go down in the ocean. It was possible that the professor had found some way to escape and sail back to civilization.

Brian spotted a car running in front of the shop. He had seen it earlier. Was it circling the block? Was it waiting for Sara to leave the shop?

He worked his legs up and down like the chopping motions of living axes. He might be fighting if the car stopped to pick up Sara. He had taught her some things to defend herself, but that wasn't anything next to what he had endured with his old man.

He wondered if the mob was looking for him. What did they expect to get out of him. He didn't have that much money, had nothing valuable except for his skills and only the old man really cared if anything happened to him.

He couldn't think of anything anybody wanted from him. Only two people had enough of a connection that he would do something to help them. One was his old man. The other was Sara. He wasn't sure if he would help her since their falling out.

He smiled to himself. This was the kind of situation country music songs and soap operas were made from in his opinion. He had an ex who didn't like him but needed some kind of help out of a problem that couldn't be readily defined.

All he needed to round out the comparison was a bloodhound and too much booze.

He saw the car again. He checked his watch. This was the second time it had rolled by in a few minutes. Was the driver looking for one of them? If it rolled by again, he should think about stopping it and asking what was going on.

Maybe the driver was lost. Looking for an unknown address was a common reason for a ride around the block.

Brian decided that if he saw the car again, he would check it to see if it had gangsters in dark suits riding inside. Then he would ask some questions.

That would alleviate his boredom at waiting in one place for something to happen to tell him what was going on.

He saw the car coming around the corner. It rolled toward his lookout spot. He should see if the driver would talk to him about what was going on.

How much effort would he have to expend to stop the car? He gauged his readiness. If worse came to worse, he could kick out the window with enough of a runup.

It wouldn't be the first time he had sent fragments of glass flying away with the use of his technique. He didn't care if someone was caught in the explosion of window if he could get what he wanted.

Sara came out of the shop. She locked up and started walking down the street. The car followed her as she made her way to the subway. Brian worked his way down the street after the car.

What did they plan to do with her? Should he interfere? Should he let them take her and follow them to their base of operations?

Brian thought the risks just didn't warrant letting them take Sara as she went about her business. He couldn't guarantee she wouldn't be hurt in any brawl, or that he could rescue her later. It was better to make sure they didn't touch her at all.

That was something he could do. And if he could get the money for a new television for the old man, that would be a bonus.

It wouldn't be the first time he had made someone pay for something for the old man.

A couple of goons in black suits got out of the car and headed down into the subway after Sara. Brian followed after them. Once he had them out of the picture, Sara would be all right until the guys in the car could pick her up again.

He really needed answers to his questions. Once he knew what was going on, then he could think about some way of getting himself and Sara out of whatever fix they were in.

He had no qualms about turning the old man loose on these mooks and seeing what shook out of that. He knew it would be like letting a weasel loose on chickens, but he didn't care about displaying any mercy at this point.

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Coming after him in the park showed they needed to be dealt with before things turned serious for him, or Sara. They had been overconfident in their ability to deal with him. They wouldn't make that same mistake twice in his opinion.

Brian caught up with the two guys following Sara as they walked across the station toward the stairs leading down to the platform. He used the thin crowd as cover as he considered his next move. Sara was way ahead and out of sight.

She wouldn't have liked his appearance in her life again. Claiming that he was protecting her was not going to cool that anger down either.

Brian looked around. He didn't see a better spot to have his talk than right there. He hoped he wasn't making a mistake.

“How's it going, guys?,” asked Brian. “My old man is mad that you busted up his television. He's going to want a replacement.”

The two men turned. One of them went straight for a punch to the face while the other reached under his jacket. Apparently they had been warned about him. That was okay. It made hurting them less stressful on his conscience.

Brian blocked the punch with a forearm. He twisted and kicked the other man before he could pull out whatever weapon he was reaching for from its concealment. The man went over the railing and down another set of steps for people going the other way. He knocked some of the pedestrians down and became entangled while trying to get up.

The still standing goon went for another punch. Maybe he would get lucky and get away from the guy in his face. Then he could run for the exit, or run for the train. Either was better than taking a beating on a staircase.

Brian just let the punch go by. He kicked low and hard. The other man went down as his leg collapsed. The goon looked up in time to catch a boot to his face. The back of his head slammed into the railing. He crumpled on the steps.

Lu looked over the railing at the other man. He was still struggling to his feet. He seemed to be looking around for something on the steps. He probably lost his weapon in his short flight.

He decided not to let the goon arm himself again. He vaulted over the railing. He landed in a slide that he turned into a spin. His foot came around and cracked against the other man's face. The target went down as planned. The kicker finished his spin, and then brought his foot back in a reverse motion. The kick sent the guy into the wall, holding on to his stomach.

Brian followed with another kick to the head to put the guy's lights out. He looked at the crowd around him. He took a bow.

A few of them clapped in return. Everyone liked a good show.

Brian searched the two mobsters. He took their phones and wallets. He left them any keys, or other pocket things that didn't look useful. He took the two pistols he found and took them apart as he headed down to the platform. He kept the slides as he dumped the rest of the guns into trashcans as he went.

If anyone wanted the pieces, they were more than welcome to search the trash. They just wouldn't have a whole gun to show for their trouble.

Sara stood on the platform. She looked up and down the tracks. A pack of people formed around her, but no one was speaking.

Brian hung back. He didn't want her knowing that he was following her, and he didn't want her knowing that he thought she was involved in something rotten. That would just cause more misery for him.

It was better if he could just watch from a distance and dissaude any goons that might show up. Maybe he could talk to their chief and ask him what was going on. That might settle things a lot more peacefully than if he kicked all of them in the face.

Now that he had some identification, he could let the old man take over watching Sara and he could look around his victims' places for some kind of clue for what they wanted, and for whom they worked. That would help if nothing else did.

And the old man would love to get revenge for his television. Letting him take over would give him a chance to work his anger out on someone who wasn't Brian.

Brian didn't see a downside to that line of reasoning.

He imagined the only ones other than the goons not liking it would be the emergency staff the old man put to work.

The train rolled into the station a few minutes late. Brian waited for Sara to board before heading across the platform and entering a car a few cars away from her. He kept an eye on the platform to make sure she stayed on the train as the doors closed. The train rolled out on the tracks.

The two goons he had robbed came down the stairs to the platform as the train built up speed. He saw them running down the concrete stage to try to do something desperate to get on the train. He leaned into the window and watched them recede in the distance.

How long would it take them to get back to the street and flag down the car? He imagined the vehicles racing through the city as Sara's pursuers tried to catch up to the train so they could get back on her trail.

He doubted it would be hard finding her again if they knew where she lived. Someone had been watching her for a while if they decided to raid the apartment and grab his photo. Did they have her new address?

He didn't have it. It had been part of their truce for him not to try to find her new home. He frowned at the thought he was breaking their agreement when he didn't know what he was doing, or why he was doing it.

Acting on instinct was okay in immediate situations, but now he needed a long term plan and he didn't have one and he didn't have a way to explain to Sara what was going on, or what she should do about it.

And he was digging himself into a hole if she caught him following her around and he didn't have a reason to justify being seen in a place where he didn't usually go.

Maybe he should have asked the goons questions so he could avoid getting on the train and being stuck in this quandry.

He doubted Sara wanted to hear it was a free country and he was allowed to go anywhere he wanted that the government didn't control. That would definitely dig the hole deeper.

Brian decided to tell the truth if he was caught. He wasn't doing anything wrong. And telling Sara that the old man wanted him to find the people who smashed his television was believable enough that she wouldn't question it beyond giving him grief over being in her space.

She knew the old man had a temper. She wouldn't doubt he had asked Brian to find out what was going on.

If the old man showed up, she would take it better than Brian being around himself.

Brian watched the car as the train rolled along. There was nothing he could do but enjoy the ride now that he was stuck in place.

Maybe something would present itself by the time he followed Sara off the conveyance.