I'm looking forward to introducing Tony...sorry, Master Shen...to the people from Murray's. Maybe it's just picking on the poor bastard, but not only did he inflict Murray's on us, he inflicted us on them. That it seems to be working out is serendipitous, but still beside the point.

But there's picking on him and there's being destructive. Bad enough that I busted in on him with his girlfriend there. Muscling in on him while he's got a class going just seems rude, disrespectful and so on. It could hurt his business. It could get the police called. It could result in a roomful of screaming little kids, and no one wants that.

So here we are in a coffeeshop across from Flying Tigers, scouting it out to see what times are busy for him. Or at least I am. Tsu'na came with me, and we sat for a while drinking stupidly expensive tea. She didn't seem to like her stupidly expensive tea as much as I liked my stupidly expensive tea, but then I knew I liked earl grey while she got to experiment with the menu.

"You don't like mine?"

"It is...it tastes...oily...?"

"Yeah, it's got a kind of fruit oil in it."

"What is chai?"

"Kinda like Kugane tea with herbs. Haven't tried it."

"You may observe your test subject trying it."

Then she said she wanted to explore Tulsa a bit and would be back later. Leaving me with my laptop and the window and the view. But hey, at least there's free wifi. Subsidized by stupidly expensive tea.

Master Shen wasn't kidding about getting kids in there. Around 10 a bus pulled up, marked with what I think was the name of a private school or daycare center, and offloaded a bunch of youngsters, maybe age 5 or 6. They weren't in little white suits, and they didn't appear to be there for karate; from what I could see they were climbing over and around low padded walking beams and doing things with rings and exercise balls. I'd seen places that did this...kindergarten gymnastics. Gets the kids off their butts and burning calories. Of course, today's active preschooler is probably tomorrow's fidgety schooler, but that's tomorrow's problem.

Around lunchtime there were a few business-suit thirtysomething guys coming in for some exercises and rotation training. They thinned out before 1:00, to be replaced by thirty- or perhaps fortysomething women in sweat pants that appeared to be coming in for yoga and tai chi. It seemed Flying Tigers was the WalMart of martial arts around here.

I sustained myself with a venison pie for lunch. Bringing my own food in got me a bit of a stinkeye from the staff, mollified somewhat by renewed purchase of stupidly expensive tea. Scuse the hell out of me for not wanting to subsist on biscotti.

There was a bit of a gap between the housewives and a second busload of urchins. That suggested 2:00 would be a good time for a drop-in, at least on Tony's end. I'd need to find out what the Murray's guys actually did during the day...there couldn't be that many drug seekers to roll to make a living off of.

Tsu'na returned while the kids were running around inside. She further underwrote the wifi with a jade citrus mint tea and brought out her own laptop.

"How'd the exploration go, my love?"

"It went well. I did research. Do you know what a butt slider is?"

"The guys with the kevlar pants? Yeah, I've seen videos."

"What is kevlar?"

"A kind of cloth for armor. It's bullet-resistant and heat-distributing."

"And a butt slider wears pants made of kevlar?"

"Yeah, then they tie a rope between their feet and a car and get dragged around while they're sitting up. They claim they don't feel anything, the kevlar's that good. It's a stupid kind of fun."

"It does sound stupid. And perhaps fun. We should study kevlar."

"We really should. I've seen kevlar clothing online. I'll put in an order. How's the tea?"

"I think I like mint less than fruit oil."

As the tide of kids rolled out, a trickle of teenagers streamed in. Those must be the troubled teens Master Shen mentioned. They didn't look all that troubled...perhaps they were learning to channel their troubles into each other.

When Tsu'na spoke next she was scowling at her laptop. "Kevlar is strange, Husband."

"How so, my love?"

"If I am reading this right, it is made by mixing lots of things in a liquid, then pulling the kevlar straight and spinning it while still in the liquid."

"Huh. What's the liquid?"

"Sulfuric acid."

"Well, that's a problem. Sulfuric acid is really corrosive. We don't want to deal with it if we don't have to."

"Yes. This says it is what makes kevlar expensive to make."

"Does it say what it's made of?"

Tsu'na peered at her screen. "Things called monomers with long names."

"Hm. Okay, short-range plan. We buy kevlar thread and start from there until we can make it or something better."

"I will look for kevlar thread."

The teenagers were persisting. There had been what looked like a class or training session at first, but then it broke into individual help. After that it looked like the place was a hangout as well.

I called Scott with an update on the Flying Tigers schedule. He said he'd work out a day with the guys for the 2:00 slot. Then we packed up and headed to the diner for our shift.

When we got there, Tsu'na made a cup of tea. It was just Lipton, but she was content with it. And it was stupidly cheap.