“What do you want!” Pêro asked. But he already knew.
The man felt along his trousers and stopped. “What’s this?”
“Something my wife made, nothing of value that you’d want.” Pêro choked on his words.
“Give it to me! And your package.” The assaulter pressed the knife further into his back.
In one swift motion, Pêro swung to the side, throwing the man off balance and dropped the art supplies.
Before Mother María, the men fell to the ground. With a force of strength Pêro did not know he possessed, he flipped the robber onto his back and pinned him to the cobbles, with his knee to his chin. Pêro ripped the knife from the thief’s possession. He gripped it with both hands and held it above the man’s forehead, ready to plunge, Saint María to his back.
A woman screamed. Pêro turned, the man k
