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been searching around the alley and he returned with a heavy piece of wood which he was waving around like a club.
    â€œNow hold him still and we’ll have a bit of fun!”
    Just as dog breath spat out those words, we heard another noise from the end of the alley.
    â€œNow then girls, what’s going on here?” a quiet voice asked.
    Dog breath spun around. He saw a tall athletic-looking young man in jogging gear. “None of your business – keep on running.”
    But the runner carried on walking up the alley.
    Dog breath swore. “Listen mate – I won’t tell you again – we’re just teaching this thief a lesson. It’s none of your business – walk away before you get hurt.”
    The young man smiled. “A couple of points – first of all, I’m not your mate and secondly, it looks like you are picking on a friend of mine.”
    I looked up in surprise and finally recognised Luke Linden.
    He smiled as he spoke again. “Hi Harry, how’s it going?”
    â€œI’ve had better days.” I said weakly.
    Dog breath had heard enough. He whirled and advanced on Luke, holding the club in front of him. “You had your warning, now I’m going to smash your head in!”
    He screamed and hurled himself forward, swinging the club from side to side. Luke seemed to glide towards him, moving inside the arc of the swing and his right arm exploded outwards – almost too fast for the eye to catch. Luke’s stiffened fingers hit dog breath in the centre of his throat and he collapsed to the floor. Luke stepped over his prone body and walked towards us.
    â€œOK ladies,” he grinned, “who’s next?”
    My captors didn’t need to think twice. They released me and backed off. Luke threw his arm around me and began to laugh. “Hello Harry, long time no see!” Then he noticed the swelling around my face and his smile disappeared.
    â€œWho did this?” he asked in a very low voice.
    Two of the remaining group looked at my attacker. Luke spoke again.
    â€œI think Harry deserves compensation for his trouble. First of all you can give him his money back and then you can empty your pockets. I think that would be a fair exchange for not calling the police.”
    They began to protest until Luke’s face hardened and he stepped menacingly towards them.
    â€œOK, OK, here – that’s all we have.” said my attacker.
    â€œPick up your money Harry.” Luke said, then he turned back to the three lads who were trying to lift dog breath from the floor. “Hopefully that will teach you not to pick on students in future. He should be all right in an hour or so but he’ll have a sore throat for a few days.”
    I still couldn’t believe what had happened and I stared at Luke in amazement.
    â€œCome on Harry,” he said, “us Wishton lads have to stick together!”

CHAPTER 8

    Harry continued with the story.
    â€œBy now I was totally confused. I had no idea what had just happened and to make matters worse my eye was beginning to close.”
    Luke inspected my face and smiled. “That is going to be one hell of a shiner – the girls will be impressed. Is there any other damage?”
    I started to shake my head but that made me feel nauseous and I realised that my back was also beginning to throb.
    Luke seemed a little more concerned. “We need to have someone look at you. Are you OK to walk for a few minutes?”
    I replied that I would be fine and we set off in the general direction of the town centre. As we walked Luke started to explain how he came to rescue me.
    â€œYou were lucky.” he said. “My lecture finished earlier than scheduled so I decided to go for a run. I had only been out for a few minutes when I saw you flying out of the pub doorway – I was on the other side of the street. I followed as quickly as I could – sorry I didn’t get there in