learned the eight Bukti Negara forms, then you were allowed to
proceed--if you were lucky--into the parent art, Serak. Toni had
decided he was serious enough, apparently. So he had already learned
the first two from the mother art and had bagged practicing the others.
This was pretty quick, she'd told him. Some teachers only showed
students two or three djurus a year, and he had twice that in six
months.
And Michaels already knew the third one, pretty much.
He'd watched Toni enough to pick up the moves, though he didn't tell
her that. So he was way ahead of the learning curve here.
Probably helped if you were working out every day.
Not to mention sleeping with the teacher, Michaels thought.
Though that wasn't happening anymore.
Shit. Let's not even go down this road again, okay?
Either work out or get back to the computer, but don't sit here
whining!
Yeah. I hear that.
The computer. He could practice his silat later.
He looked around. Most of his regular crew was gone, only the night
shift was on. Gridley and Howard were on vacation, and Toni was in
England.
Very quiet around here.
Saturday, June 4th London
'Why all the secrecy?' Toni asked.
Carl smiled.
'Come on, everybody likes pleasant surprises, don't they?'
'Well, not really. I know some people who wouldn't answer the door if
somebody showed up on their porch with a check for a million
dollars--not unless they had called first.'
They were in a section of London that Toni didn't recognize, a fairly
well-to-do neighborhood. They had passed Elephant's Castle, and she
thought they were heading north and west, but she had gotten turned
around during Carl's tour of interesting places.
He laughed as he downshifted the Morgan's manual transmission. He'd
told her that the car, a classic from the fifties, spent most of its
time in the shop, but that when it was running properly, he much
enjoyed driving it. The problem with old British cars was that they
only worked if they liked you. If you accidentally insulted one, it
would pout, he said, and simply refuse to go until you had suffered
enough.
They passed a big building off to the left.
'Imperial War Museum,' Carl said.
'We're not far now.'
She had to admit, she had been enjoying her time with the silat
instructor. Enough so that she considered getting to know him better
than just as a teacher and friend. But despite having quit her job,
and the breakup with Alex, she wasn't ready to get into another
relationship just yet.
The wounds were still too raw.
