He took the long way back to his car, so he wouldn't get noticed. He got in and drove a few miles away to a gas station. He walked into the bathroom and looked at his left hand. It wasn't bleeding much. The bullet-proof material in the palm saved him.    He looked at his vest and saw another mark from a slug. This is cutting it too close, he thought. I can't take on a whole gang.
   He got cleaned up and decided to drive around, listening to the police scanner. He heard the report of a robbery at Armitage and Fairfield. So, he drove by. He got there before the cops. There was a man standing there holding his head, looking up and down the street for the cops.
   Todd yelled at the man, careful not to actually say that he was a police officer "I am undercover, which way did they go?"
   "That way, two of them. A white guy with a blue hat and a Mexican guy with the same blue hat."
   "How long ago?" Todd asked.
   "About five minutes ago, they're gone now." The victim answered.
   Todd drove around the neighborhood looking for two that matched that description. About six blocks away, he saw a white guy and a Mexican guy walking. They didn't have blue hats on, but maybe they tossed them, he figured.
   He parked his car one block ahead of them and got out to walk toward them. As they got closer, Todd hunched over a little more and slowed down. He stopped to act like he was catching his breath as they walked by. They just kept walking and so did Todd. He walked another one hundred feet or so and looked back. They were coming back this way!
   Todd continued to walk slowly. He stopped to catch his breath again and looked back out of the corner of his eye. They were walking fast and getting closer. Todd pulled a knife and held it close to his body, so they wouldn't see it.
   They stayed about fifty feet behind him for over two blocks. Todd was begining to wonder if they were ever going to make a move, when he saw the factory up ahead. A nice dark area, that was what they were waiting for and Todd knew it now. He stopped to catch his breath and looked back out of the corner of his eye again. They were there alright.
   As Todd approached the darkest area in front of the factory, which was also conveniently blocked by some bushes, they made their move.
   Todd heard quick feet, trying to be quiet and coming fast. Before he could even turn around, one of them grabbed his right arm as the other one tried to grab his left arm. Todd turned to his right to avoid the guy on his left. At the same time, he stuck the knife into the thigh of the guy holding his right arm. He let Todds arm go and screamed "he's got a fucking knife!"
   Todd saw the other guys hands now. He had a knife too and he was swinging it toward Todds face. Todd put his left arm up to block it and he heard it hit the sheet metal in his sleeve. At the same time, Todd stabbed forward and hit the guy in the stomach, though not too deep. He jumped back and now his friend was regaining his strength, still limping. Todd faked a stab toward the knife wielder and quickly kicked the other guy in his sore leg. As he bent over, to grab his painful thigh, Todd stabbed him on top of his head. The knife sunk in and killed him instantly. He fell, with Todds knife still in his skull. At that same instant, the guy with the knife stabbed Todd in the stomach, but it couldn't penetrate the vest.
   Todd jumped back now and tried to pull his sword, just as the guy lunged toward him with the knife. It grazed Todd and cut his jacket. He jumped back again and pulled his sword. Todd swung his sword, repeatedly in a circle, chopping downward and sliced the guy on top of his head a few times before he finally fell.
   Todd wasn't sure if he was dead or not, as he put his sword back away. So he pulled his knife out of the dead guys head and sliced his friends throat to be sure.
   Todd ran for a block or two, then walked the rest of the way back to his car. He went to the gas station and cleaned up again. That was a quality kill, he thought. Those two deserved to die. He heard a little voice in his subconscience say "maybe they weren't killers, maybe they were just muggers and never killed anybody." But he fought that thought off with the notion that they had a knife and was trying to kill him. What if he had lost, he wondered? Would they have killed him? Probably, he convinced himself.