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low."
    "It's a start."
    He cut the call without so much as a goodbye. Rachel smirked. Her little brother was a bit of a prick, but useful with it.
    Rachel checked the time on her phone. She'd been outside for just over three minutes. No time to call Brian. She rattled off a quick text instead.
    Watch ur back 2day. Some weirdo was askin bout u. xox
    She took just the slightest bit of pleasure from the thought of what a text like that would do to Brian's weed paranoia. Maybe he'd consider giving it up.

Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting
    ––––––––
    "R ight, try to put me in an armlock."
    Brian had no idea how to put somebody in an armlock, but he was game to test Tony. He reached for the dealer's offered right arm and wrapped one hand around his forearm and the other around his upper arm. Tony rotated his wrist and bent his elbow. Then Brian was facing the opposite direction with his own arm pushed up his back. He giggled.
    "That was cool."
    "I can teach you how to do it."
    "Happy days."
    Tony let him go and Brian rubbed at his shoulder. It had been tweaked slightly by the strain. No major pain, though. He looked Tony up and down, still a bit surprised that the guy actually had some moves.
    They were at Tony's 'dojo', a little room above an arcade in Castlewellan, a small town next to Dundrum. Tony reckoned there wasn't a big enough population in Dundrum to support his venture. The room had poor lighting, a threadbare carpet and damp in one corner. Tony had set up a punch-bag in the dry corner and there were pictures of Chinese characters on printer paper dotted along the wall. The place was shabby but in Tony's words, "It'll do."
    "Here, Tony. Show me how to defend myself against head butts, will you? I'm heart scared of those."
    "Oh, that's a good one, actually. Remind me to show that in class."
    "Will do. Show me first, though."
    Tony grinned and rolled up his sleeves. He did that a lot, even though the baggy silk fell right back down again. It did look the part, though. Must have seen it in a movie or something.
    "Come on, then. Try to land one on me. But go slow. For your own safety, like."
    Brian grabbed two fistfuls of Tony's Chinese suit. He could feel a little burn-hole, most likely from a loose spliff, under one of his thumbs.
    "Okay, so as the head butt comes in..." Tony widened his eyes to show he was ready for Brian's attack. "Just drop your chin onto your chest."
    Brian completed the slow motion attack and his nose met the top of Tony's head. He shuddered at the thought of a full speed impact.
    "That's all you need to do?" Brian asked.
    "K.I.S.S. Keep it simple, stupid."
    "And it works at full speed?"
    Tony took a step back and let his head loll forward a couple of times. "This motion will always be faster than a head butt, simply because it's a smaller movement."
    "But why doesn't everybody know this?"
    "Not everybody has met me. Sometimes the simplest solutions are the hardest to find."
    "And you reckon you could do that under pressure in a real fight?"
    "I don't feel pressure in real fights. I know enough to keep me safe."
    "So you've tested this in a live situation? Tell me about it, man."
    "Hero stories aren't going to teach you how to protect yourself. Pick another attack."
    "What about a flying knee?"
    "When was the last time you saw one of those in a street fight?"
    Brian shrugged. "Never, I guess."
    "How about we just deal with punches for the next wee while?"
    "Oh, here. What if I come at you with something random? Just to sharpen you up a bit, like?"
    "Probably not a good idea. If I don't know what's coming I can't keep my movements slow and controlled. There'd be much more risk of injury for you if I go at a hundred percent."
    "Oh, right. Never thought about it like that."
    "No worries. Just try to punch my nose, okay?"
    Brian adopted an attempt at a boxing stance. Then he dropped his right fist down to his hip and swung an almighty haymaker at Tony. The dealer held up both hands, fingers