Wolf set down his holdall and walked towards the group of men. They had all been too preoccupied to notice him appear through the gap in the wall, but now as he came closer the youngest of the gang saw him. With a nervous flash of eyes he reached out and nudged the older one with the bottle, who turned and shot a hostile stare at the approaching stranger.

The kicking and beating stopped. The dog kept on screaming and yelping, desperate to get away. Wolf came a step closer. He sensed that the oldest of the group, the sadistic firebug, was the leader of the gang, and so he focused most of his attention on him. For a moment, nobody said a word. All eyes were on Wolf.

Wolf spoke first. He wanted to say, ‘Sorry to interrupt the party, but I can’t let you burn that dog. Let it go.’ But the words in Spanish didn’t come to him, so he just pointed at the animal, shook his head and said, ‘No.’

The leader’s eyes bulged and he gave Wolf a long, hard stare before he raised his eyebrows in mock amazement and replied in a deep, raspy voice, ‘¿No?’ He turned to his buddies and made a gesture, like saying, ‘What is it with this joker? Doesn’t he like burning dogs?’

Most of the gang found this amusing. But a couple of them didn’t laugh, and a growing anxiety showed in their expressions. They were right to be anxious.

‘No,’ Wolf repeated. He felt very calm and there was no anger in his tone. He pointed at the dog. ‘Stop what you’re doing. Leave the dog alone. Dejar al perro solo.’ He wasn’t sure if that was right. But his message was clear. And if these guys had any sense, they’d take heed of his advice. It was their choice.

But instead of listening to reason, the leader of the gang did something he’d regret for a long time to come. He tossed away the bottle of lighter fluid, dipped a quick hand into his hip pocket and came out with a fancy bone-handled switchblade knife. The blade popped open with a clack and the bright steel flashed in the sunlight. The guy’s eyes glittered and he gave another wide grin.

Wolf shrugged. Okay by him, if that was how they wanted to play it. He took another step towards the leader. He was wary of the knife, but at the same time he could tell the guy had no real idea how to use it. Whereas Wolf had been trained by the world’s best teachers in all forms of combat, and particularly excelled at this one. He said nothing. Advanced another step and waited for the guy to make his move.