"I don't know where he fits in, but hold on to him. Better yet, tell Chiun that he is responsible for Zarnitsa. That may keep him from interfering with your movements."
Remo looked over and saw Chiun and the Russian giving each other looks of mutual dislike.
"I'm sure they're both going to be very happy with your decision," Remo said before he hung up.
?Chapter Fifteen
Amanda Bull was beginning to wonder. She had had questions before, but the World Master had always answered them, and the answers had always dispelled her worries. She had had doubts before, but they were little doubts, and they always went away when she stopped thinking of them.
They didn't go away this time.
All during the ride back to Oklahoma City, she had questions and doubts. She could understand that there might be a reason for the World Master's spacecraft to suddenly disintegrate. A malfunction, for instance. Unavoidable, perhaps. She could understand the need to evacuate everyone. There was the danger from Remo, and then the strange man with the gun and the thick accent. Who had he been? And why did the World Master shout that he had ruined everything? There were probably answers to those questions, too. Good, sensible, logical answers. Of that, Amanda had little doubt.
What really disturbed Amanda did not strike her until after she and the rest of the Preparation Group had been led from the burning barn by the World Master himself. He had seemingly materialized out of the sparks and flames and smoke to take Amanda's hand and lead her out of the blaze through a hole between two boards. The others had followed while Remo and the Oriental were trying to escape themselves. It had been dark, and no one could see very clearly. Except the World Master. It had been he who made them all link hands and who led them to the waiting van. It had been he who had ordered the others to take the van, while pushing himself and Amanda into that reporter's car, which was parked nearby, and instructed them all to drive as fast as possible to Oklahoma City. All that made sense, and so Amanda followed orders as she always did.
But what was strange, and what did not hit home until they were on the road and clearly going to escape pursuit, was that the World Master seemed to have no trouble breathing in the Earth's atmosphere.
Amanda looked into the rearview mirror for the sixth time. Even in the darkness of a country road she could see that the individual who occupied the rear seat of the car was not wearing a helmet of any kind. He didn't have a breathing mask, either. That was clear. As for the face of the World Master, it had frightened Amanda horribly the first time she had looked into the mirror, and she almost lost control of the car. But, as if she were at a freak show, she couldn't resist another look, and then still another, until the shadowy face hovering behind her in the dark seemed like an image out of a horror movie— scary, but familiar.
"Can— can you breathe okay?" Amanda asked.
The voice that answered was no longer thin and high, but a sinister baritone. It said:
"Be silent, stupid woman. You have failed miserably."
"But... I tried," Amanda wailed.
"And failed. There is no excuse. I should not have entrusted such responsibility to a mere woman."
"Mere... But you said that—"
"I said be silent!"
And Amanda began to cry.
* * *
"Stop this vehicle, Remo," the Master of Sinanju demanded.
"Now? Chiun, we've got to catch these people before they get to the city."
"I no longer wish to sit back here with this Russian pervert," Chiun spat.
"Then climb over the seat."
"I will not climb over the seat like a child. Stop this car so that one may change his seat with dignity."
Remo braked the car. Chiun, gathering his robes about him, stepped out of the back and took the seat next to Remo, who got going again.
"Oklahoma City is about to be blown to chalk dust, and you have to change seats," Remo complained.
Chiun sniffed. "Emperor Smith may have entrusted this Russian prisoner to my keeping, but that does not mean I am forced to listen to a recitation of his filthy habits."
"What filthy habits?" Remo asked, eyeing Pavel Zarnitsa in the rearview mirror. Zarnitsa looked sheepish sitting all by himself.
"His filthy eating habits," Chiun told him.
Pavel, hearing this, leaned forward eagerly and protested. "I have not filthy habits," he insisted. "I was simply discussing my appreciation for that wonderful American delicacy, the taco."
Chiun made a disgusted noise.
"Tacos?" Remo said in surprise.
"Yes, they are some horrible food made with meat and spices," Chiun explained to Remo.
"I know what they are," Remo said. "I just never heard anyone call them a delicacy before."
"Well, they are not. And if this Russian's description is accurate, they are not even food." Chiun lowered his voice. "He told me that when he eats one, his nose runs and his stomach burns. He told me those were the reasons he likes to eat them," Chiun confided.
"I am hungry," Pavel complained. "If we find the warhead soon, could we stop for tacos?"
"I will kill this Russian before I will allow myself to be a witness to his perverted acts," Chiun said loudly enough for Pavel to hear.
The sun began to rise, flooding the eastern sky with hot red light. It was a pretty sight, but it made Remo think of a nuclear explosion in slow motion, so he drove faster.
* * *
The truck with the warhead was where it was supposed to be. Parked in front of FOES headquarters, it might have been any unmarked delivery van except for the black blots on each side where the nuclear radiation symbols had been painted out.
The two people who had driven the weapon-carrying van jumped out of the truck with relief when Amanda and the others joined them.
"We've got trouble," Amanda told them both in a grim voice. "The World Master says to ditch the FOES van somewhere. Anywhere. It's known."
The driver nodded and took the van down the street, and came back on foot several minutes later.
"Good," Amanda said. "Now everyone get inside and wait in the office."
Amanda got back into the car, biting her lip. It was growing light now, and the air had that early morning coolness that Amanda loved as a child but hardly ever experienced anymore.
"They still accept your orders. Good," the World Master said.
Amanda did not face him. Instead, she spoke with her face averted, as if to deny his existence at the same time that she held a conversation with him.
"That Remo will be following us," Amanda said.
"Yes. He is dangerous. Very dangerous. The old Oriental is not. He believes whatever I tell him. But we must deal with this Remo for our plan to succeed."