But the weakness of all spear technique was what happened when you got close—too close for the spear’s head to be of any use. Laks remembered Sam’s first fight against the Bonking Head at Pangong Tso when he had just barreled in, absorbing damage until he was inside the other guy’s preferred range. Laks finally managed to do that. He even put his big steel kara to use blocking, then deflecting a strike. Which brought him in range of the feared nerve center strikes of Lan Lu’s kung fu; but unbeknownst to Lan Lu it brought Lan Lu in range of the short powerful strikes that Laks had grafted on to traditional gatka. Lan Lu got in one terrific shot behind the angle of Laks’s jaw that nearly felled him and left the whole side of his face numb. But Laks fell toward Lan Lu, rather than away from him, which probably saved the day. For out of that collision Laks was able to emerge with a series of punches, using the last six inches of his stick as a force multiplier, that drove Lan Lu back shouting with pain and surprise and toppled him into the snow. He held up a hand. The fight was over. Big Fish had won. Money was changing hands in Vegas. Territory was about to change hands up here.