And it was at that moment when he heard the noise, felt something in his ribs before he actually saw the small shadowed figure to his right. An ominous voice talking to him while trying to grab his briefcase.

But he really didn’t hear what the figure was saying to him. Because all Gabe could fathom was his paltry life—summated by official forms and bank accounts—being ripped away. So not only would he be parentless, he’d have no identity. Because to replace every thing stolen would require contact with Chris, explaining to his father why he had allowed some motherfucker to snatch his briefcase.

And he thought of all of this in half of a split second as he crashed his briefcase atop the mugger’s head while simultaneously knee-dropping him, sending whatever was poking into his ribs skittering to the ground. As Gabe kicked it with his left heel, sending it into the bushes behind him, he pummeled flesh—pounding and pounding and pounding until the figure was on his knees, crying and begging.

But he really didn’t hear the figure’s pleas.

What he heard was Hannah screaming at him:

Stop, stop, stop!

And like a dog that had been elevated to red-zone status, the screams suddenly snapped his mechanical throttling, drawing his attention back into the present. At once, he felt a throbbing pain in his left hand and cursed his stupidity. He let go of the mugger’s shirt until the man crawled away on all fours then got to his feet and ran off.

Gabe’s hand was raw and wet. He wiggled his fingers. Nothing broken.

God was a benevolent being—this time.

Hannah was still shrieking. He tried to project his voice over her hysteria. “It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay.”

She screamed, “Are you crazy!”

He was confused. In his mind, he had just done a good thing. Why was she was still yelling at him? “He had a gun to my ribs.”

“He had a gun? He had a gun? You could have gotten killed!”

“But I didn’t, okay.” He was still clutching his hand. Nothing broken, but man, it was sore. “I’m fine.”

“You’re fine?” she yelled. “You’re fine? You are not fine! You’re crazy!”

“I should have just let that motherfucker rob me?”

“Exactly. Why didn’t you just give him the damn briefcase?”

“Because I didn’t want to!”