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put away that Glock I know you’re holding and open the door.”
    When the door opened, Brock smiled. “Holy shit, Will. Damn, I never thought I’d see you this far east. Come on in.”
    The two men embraced and gave each other a prototypical male chuck on the back.
    “Damn,” said Will. “It’s been a long time.”
    “You look like shit. Look at you. Five days of gray stubble. Your hair all long and hanging down the sides of your head. Hell, the last time we worked together you had shaved your head. Maybe that’s why I didn’t notice all the gray.”
    “Gray, huh? And you, you young piss-ant. Look at you. What the hell is this? All leathered up? You look like a biker all right. Is this what you always wanted to be? A biker? And you’re telling me my hair is long? Hell, you look like a rock star from the ‘80s.”
    “Oh shut up. Let me get you a beer. Your favorite.”
    “Shit, I’ll bet it’s a Pabst Blue Ribbon. Is that all you ever drink? Hey, you remember that shithole in Bangkok, and we got in that fight with that little dude with the green shiny suit on?”
    “Remember it? We were so drunk we nearly got our ass kicked by that little pipsqueak.”
    Brock handed Will a beer.
    Will popped it open and held the can high in the air. “To good friends.”
    “The best.”
    “I come all the way across the country to see you and all you have to offer me is a warm PBR. Man, times haven’t changed that much.”
    Brock stood up. “How the hell did you find me, anyway? Scared the shit out of me when you knocked on the door. No one knows I’m here. I was about to go all postal on your ass.”
    Will had always been a mentor to Brock, and that role was not about to end. “Now what would you have to be so scared about with someone knocking on your door? Hmm, compadre?”
    Brock looked down and exhaled. His lack of words and stoic face communicated volumes.
    Will continued. “Got yourself in deep kimchi now, haven’t you?”
    “How do you know about that?”
    “How do I know? Man, it’s all over the news, even out on the beaches in sunny California, where I’d rather be right now, by the way.”
    “Is that where you’ve been keeping yourself these days?”
    “Warm sun, warm girls. What the hell’s not to love about that place. But,” Will took a long swig of beer, “when I saw the news footage from that biker bar, I knew it was you. They keep playing a tiny clip of the surveillance tape from that fight you were in. Didn’t take me a second to recognize you.”
    “But my face is hardly visible.”
    “It’s your style, compadre. The way you move. Hell, I taught you half that shit as it is. Now, I just have one question for you, why the hell are you still in this crappy little town? Man, you should have blown clear of this place the moment that fight was over.”
    “I couldn’t. I couldn’t leave.”
    Will looked at Brock out of the side of his eye, like one who’s just watched a puppy shat on the rug. “I can read you like a book, compadre. You’re still carrying that around with you, aren’t you? Dammit. I thought you were through with all that.”
    Brock could not avert his eyes from the stains on the carpet.
    Will pointed a sharp finger. “That girl died ten damn years ago, man. And ten thousand miles from here. And there wasn’t a damn thing you could have done about it. That guy had it out for you. And she just got in the way, that’s all.”
    Brock leapt to his feet and his beer went flying. “You leave Lori out of it!”
    But Will knocked him to the ground. “I’m not the enemy, god dammit. But I tell you who the enemy is, it’s you. Yeah, it’s inside you and you can’t let it go. You chicken-shit. I’ve told you a hundred times. Her dying was not your fault. How could you know that Lori would come home right after that muther-fucker broke into your place? I’ve told you, he was there to kill you. She had nothing to do with it.” His volume trailed off. “I loved her too,