Capítulo 44: Chapter 44

Bear begged, borrowed, and stole to be able to attend the local karate school and came home and taught Reed everything he learned. There, Bear learned how to control his mind, how to channel rage into discipline. He learned his lessons well. He trained at a local beat up gym. A punch-drunk boxer felt sorry for the kid who kept coming around asking for instruction in self-defense. The owner of the karate school now had a studio on a prime piece of real estate. The boxer was a retired security guard with a full pension after working for Drummond for only a few years.

While the Eastern disciplines were all about defense, boxing and the western arts of war were all about aggression. The combination of techniques made both Bear and Reed’s lives easier, a combination that had kept Bear in good stead since he was eleven. Why had the rage bubbled up and escaped its locked box? He had not felt rage when Antonio left him, only guilt after he died.