The Fog of Dreams

by Justin Bell

CHAPTER TEN

  It was a small room with mirrors across each wall, and thick pads on the floor, which suited Gary just fine, considering he planned to spend a lot of time down there. He had received the call on his private line that his combat trainer had arrived from Virginia, and both he and a new addition to Irizarry's crew, Ryan Sandidge were slated to meet with the ex-ESU officer today and start the next leg of this bizarre journey.

  "Mr. Irizarry?" the calm voice came from the door, which Gary had his back turned to, so he merely replied verbally.

  "Yeah, come in."

  The man was tall, just above six feet, and dark-skinned, though not quite as dark as Irizarry himself. He had long hair pulled into a tight ponytail and wore a dark blue tank top and jeans. Gary thought he looked like he'd come straight from the bench press, but he was a lot slimmer than your typical body builder was.

  "I'm Wayne," he said quietly, extending his hand. "Wayne Lewis."

  Gary thrust out his left hand in the expected convoluted way from someone who still was not quite used to only having their non-dominant arm, and the two men shared a clumsy handshake.

  "Good ta meet ya," replied Gary. The two men stood face-to-face. While Gary was considerably larger, Wayne was in more conditioned shape, and while Irizarry moved like a large, bullish linebacker, the smaller man swept over the mats like a nimble gymnast.

  "Give me a little background," Wayne asked and then glanced at the empty air where Irizarry's right arm used to be, "besides the obvious, I mean."

  "Well, I was with the NYPD for almost twenty years, worked in ESU for a bunch of them. I can handle myself pretty well, but with some recent developments," he shook his stump slightly, "I need a little help with balance and re-training my non-dominant arm."

  "Okay."

  "You specialize in that sort of thing?"

  "I specialize in a number of different combat techniques for uniquely incapacitated individuals, Mr. Irizarry, yes."

  Gary smirked. "No one's ever called me 'incapacitated' before, man. I don't especially take to that description now."

  Wayne returned the smile, somewhat apologetically. "Forgive me. For now, let's start with balance adjustment and some strength work, okay?"

  "Music to my ears."