Born in occupied France during WWII and brought up in Hawaii; Bernard Lau was one of the first non-Japanese practitioners of aikido. After a long stint in the navy as a submariner and diver, Lau joined the Seattle police department and eventually wound up as an undercover narcotics agent. This is the story of the off-beat and action-filled life that he had planned for himself at the age of 16, a life that didn't always go according to plan.