I drove to within a mile or so of my destination.
I didn't want my car to be seen anywhere near the vicinity of an assault. Although I wasn't absolutely certain that there would definitely be an assault, I knew that it was pretty likely. People nowadays seemed to regard filming other people in various situations to be a harmless activity. That footage often made it onto the net, and to me it was an unacceptable breach of privacy. I would try to explain how wrong it was to do something like that for fun, but words don't always suffice.
This particular individual lived with his mother and older sister in a small, detached bungalow near a small river. There were open fields on either side of the river, and the house faced out onto one of those fields. Nice area, nice home. Poverty was obviously not going to be an excuse here.
There was a pub nearby, and as I walked past it in the direction of my target, half a dozen drunk teenagers stumbled out of the doorway. I stepped around them, and continued walking, hoping they wouldn't decide to try and cause trouble. The young people in the UK had a reputation for random viciousness, and although the majority of youngsters were pleasant enough, the reputation was not undeserved. These kids milled around outside the pub for a few seconds, appeared to come to some sort of decision, and then started walking purposefully behind me. I sighed. Just what I needed.
I turned abruptly onto one of the public walkways that hugged the river, and started walking purposefully towards a derelict barn that was situated in one of the open fields. The river lay between the bungalow and the barn. Once I had dealt with these idiots, who, true to type, had turned to follow me along the pathway, I would return to the road, cross the bridge and resume my mission. But now I needed a quiet place to persuade these youngsters that attacking a solitary, unarmed man was not always a good idea. I grinned in the dark.
The first attack came just as I reached the doorway of the barn. My assailant was one of the bigger lads, with spiky hair and numerous facial piercings. He tried to rush me from behind, and swung a fist at the back of my neck. I ducked the blow easily, and trotted into the barn. I didn't want anyone witnessing what I was about to do.
They misconstrued my actions, as I had known they would, and hurried in after me, taunting me and laughing in eager anticipation of what they thought they were about to do. Yeah, right. What they were about to do was get a nasty surprise.