They'd probably spotted us as soon as we stepped away from the bar entrance. For all I know, they had been waiting for us since we entered the bar.
Three of them. Sitting there in the illegally parked light passenger sedan just ahead of us.
I saw it when we were still fifteen feet away. I saw it, and I knew what it was, and I stopped.
The sedan wasn't really parked. It was just pulled over close against the curb, moving slowly toward us.
When I stopped, the sedan moved up quickly even with us, and two men stepped out.
I edged Maxwell toward a drugstore entrance a few feet to the left, but the men from the sedan were at our side in an instant.
"Hey, friend, got a match?" one of them asked for the benefit of a passing couple who glanced at us.
I recognized him. A deep criss-crossed scar ran from above his right cheekbone vertically down his cheek, ending in a big dent in his jaw bone. His lips were thick and loose.
For just an instant I was motionless, frozen, my right hand holding Maxwell's arm over my shoulder, my left hand gripping the quietly ticking defense mech.