That set him off again, into that strange, near-silent laughter. "Good answer," he said. "Nobody's ever tried to hit me before--at least, not before they'd met me." He nodded at Nny's hands. "That's a nice knife," he said. "Tell you one thing--you find a good one, keep it. So much of the crap they sell these days is...well, crap."

He flicked his switchblade open again. "I got this off a guy who had just come back from Vietnam," he said. "Tried to stab me with it and missed. Pity what a mess he made in his car."