Raw Deal by Mark Henwick

Author:Mark Henwick [Henwick, Mark]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Marque
Published: 2013-05-29T14:00:00+00:00

The opportunity to spend some time trying to find a lead had gone when my car refused to start this morning. I only had an hour or so before I needed to show up for the Saturday night shift on patrol. I would have to try again tomorrow.

Meantime, I had a session booked I didn’t want to miss. I’d laughed some of my frustrations away with Jo earlier, now maybe I could burn the rest of them out.

Chapter 12

“You are focusing too much on me,” Liu said. “Loosen your mind, perceive everything.”

I snorted. “Last time, Shi Fu, you were telling me to focus on your eyes.”

“And in contemplation of the contradiction, your mind will approach the ideal.”

Liu didn’t smile much, but I had a feel for his sense of humor. Our one minute breather over, we lifted the padded gloves and closed again.

I took great care when I sparred with his other students. On top of ten years studying martial arts, my strength and speed had increased since I was bitten. I didn’t want to break someone’s jaw accidentally.

This was not a concern with Liu. Despite being older than me, he was startlingly quick and elusive. I got a real thrill out of landing more than a couple of blows on him in a sparring session like this one, where we were essentially boxing, limiting ourselves to punches.

It focused me. It helped force me to put everything else aside and concentrate on hitting that weaving target without picking up too many hits myself. That would be good at the moment—I could come back fresh to the problems of what to do before the colonel arrived on Monday.

Liu enjoyed it as well, usually.

He called an end after the next flurry of blocks and jabs. We’d worked up a sweat, but I had expected a couple more rounds.

“Come,” he said, stripping his gloves and head protector off. He walked to the corner of the Kwan. “Follow me in the form.”

He started to move through one of the standard forms. My body hitched onto the muscle memory and I flowed along with him without having to think about it.

“Good,” he said. “The body is engaged. The small mind is engaged. The large mind can roam free.” He sank into an asymmetric stretch. “And you can tell me what is bothering you.”

“Huh?” I missed a move and had to catch up.

“You’re never fully absorbed in the moment, Amber,” he said, spinning on the spot and blocking attacks from imaginary assailants. “You always hold a little back. But today, you are holding a lot back. Why?”

We stepped back in sync. “I’m bothered by things at work.”

“This is seldom so. What bothers people may be rooted in work or fed at work, but more often it is simply that it remains unresolved in the time spent at work.” He crouched and came up smoothly on one leg, held it perfectly still. “What is work?”

I wobbled a bit, thrown by the question. “Everything I do when I’m in uniform.

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