"You are joking," she accused.
"Nope," said Remo happily. "That's why we're here. Somebody stole our section."
"I cannot believe this," she said, twisting back around. "Stop the car."
"Lady, I didn't do it for him-I'm sure as hell not doing it for you," Remo promised evenly.
"This is beyond duplicity," she said, astonished.
"It is no wonder Siegfried did not trust Bal-Mung. You are a family of liars. Stop this car!"
"I have memorized the map," Chiun said softly. Though she had been growing more enraged with each passing second until this point, Heidi instantly became calm. She peered cautiously at the Master of Sinanju.
"Is this true?" she questioned suspiciously. Chiun gently tapped the parchment skin of his temple with the tip of a tapered fingernail.
"Every detail of our map section is forever burned into my memory," he said pleasantly.
Heidi looked at Remo questioningly. Remo paid her no attention as he looked out over the hood of the speeding car. Finally she turned back to the Master of Sinanju.
"How good is your memory?" she asked. Chiun didn't respond to the insulting question. He merely stared out at the frozen paddies as the car soared down the empty highway.
Chapter 15
Keijo Suk could not believe how quickly he had been apprehended. He had always trusted in the basic dishonesty of every Western store owner. Unfortunately he had found the last honest merchant in the hemisphere.
The coin dealer had called Suk back to his shop twice before turning him over to the authorities. Suk had thought the man was working up the courage to purchase the coins he had stolen from the Master of Sinanju's house. In retrospect, he realized that the man was checking on their authenticity. Without proof of ownership of the heretofore unknown variety of coin, it was determined that Suk was quite obviously a thief. The only question was how he had managed to sneak into and out of Egypt with his stolen prize. Never mind the fact that while there he had discovered and looted an unknown yet apparently flawlessly preserved tomb.
Suk realized how useless it would be to explain where he had gotten the coins. He had decided to merely sit quietly and take whatever punishment was given, hoping that he would not encounter the Master of Sinanju.
In truth, Suk doubted the Master of Sinanju would ever find out about the theft. There was so much treasure in that rambling house that the infamous assassin could not possibly miss a few coins and a simple chunk of wood. Also it was known in his native land that the Sinanju Master spent much of his time in the decadent West where he had been commissioned to train a white in the ancient arts of his village. It was likely that he would not return for months. Perhaps years.
Reasoning thusly, Keijo Suk had managed to calm himself somewhat as the German authorities turned him over to the North Korean consulate in Berlin. Even the torn cartilage and fractured bone in his shoulder had begun to feel better.
His embassy had shipped him off to North Korea, where he would be placed under arrest the moment his plane landed.
The official government aircraft had just touched down at the airport in Pyongyang. As it taxied slowly to a stop, Suk made a final appeal to whatever gods might still listen to a thieving Communist that the Master of Sinanju would never learn of what he had done.
REMO PARKED THE CAR in the same spot from which he had stolen it that morning.
The Korean soldiers who patrolled the airport gave them a wide berth. Although it would have been more than reasonable to question an odd group like theirs, the reputations of both Masters of Sinanju preceded them. They were allowed to move across the parking lot with impunity, just as they had been after landing earlier that day.
But this time Heidi was with them. A thought suddenly occurred to Remo.
"How did you get in here, by the way?" Remo asked. He was looking at her very pale skin and obviously non-Korean features.
"Anything is possible with the proper bribes," Heidi said. She clearly didn't wish to discuss it further.
"Whatever." Remo shrugged.
Remo left the others and went inside the terminal to ask about the flight from Germany. He learned that it had landed only a few minutes before.
Coming back outside, Remo led their party out through the restricted chain-link fence onto the tarmac. The soldiers on duty made an effort to look wherever Remo and Chiun were not.
A boarding ramp had just been secured at the side of the government aircraft, and the first of the passengers was beginning to deplane. Keijo Suk was led out in manacles in the company of a pair of North Korean police officials.
The Korean cultural officer needed only one glance at the pale purple kimono on the old man who waited for him at the bottom of the ramp. His eyes grew wide in fright.
"Ahhhhh!" screamed Keijo Suk. He turned around and, shoving his captors roughly aside, raced back up the stairs, disappearing inside the plane.
Recognizing the flight instinct of a guilty man, Remo and Chiun each hopped up onto a railing of the ramp. They ran up, jumping onto the platform at the top. They followed Suk inside. Heidi was forced to push her way past the irate passengers. The men who had been escorting Suk stayed far behind in the doorway, fearful of the Master of Sinanju and his protege.
Inside, Chiun found Suk cowering on the floor behind the last three coach seats. He cradled his injured shoulder with his shackled hands.
"Thief!" the Master of Sinanju charged, eyes furious.
Chiun grabbed Suk by the front of his jacket and dragged the terrified man to his feet. Suk was sweating profusely.
"Don't kill him yet, Little Father," Remo warned, running up behind Chiun.
"Yes!" screamed Suk. "Please! Do not kill me yet!"
"Tell what you know, thief!" Chiun ordered. As incentive, he slapped Keijo Suk back and forth across his tear-soaked face.
"I know that I have stolen from the Glorious House of Sinanju and that I must be made to pay for my actions," Suk blubbered. He held his hurt shoulder away from Chiun.
"And so you will," Chiun hissed.
"But must that payment be in blood?" Suk pleaded.
"Of course," Chiun replied, as if Suk were an imbecile.
"Everything is negotiable," Heidi Stolpe volunteered in German. She was standing behind Remo.
"Silence, wench," Chiun menaced.
Suk looked up at her, a spark of hope in his eyes. "Yes," he said, also in German. "She is correct, Master."
"She is a woman and is therefore incapable of correctness. You are dealing with me," Chiun warned. "Where is my property?"
"The men who escorted me here have the coins," Suk answered.
"Remo," Chiun snapped. He jerked his head toward the men who still stood back near the door. Remo went dutifully, if somewhat reluctantly, over to the door. One of the men held a small package-about the size of a cigar box. He willingly handed it over to Remo.
"Wait here," Remo ordered. He jogged back to Chiun. "Here it is," he said. His tone was painfully uninterested.
Chiun ripped the box from his hands. Tearing it open, he fussed over the coins inside. They were wrapped in two long tubes of cellophane.