"And faxed himself to Nishitsu. Damn!"
"Not necessarily, Remo."
Remo and Chiun looked interested.
"Then where did he go?" Remo asked.
"Recall that prior to this, the Krahseevah traveled through fiber-optic cables and short-distance cellular transmissions. In order to reach Osaka, he would have to be uplinked to an orbiting communications satellite and relayed back to a ground station. It is not clear that his atomic structure would retain its integrity during such an extreme transfer."
"You mean he might have had his molecules scrambled?"
"It's possible."
Remo folded his arms. "Last time, you were sure he was never going to come back to haunt us again."
"And I am not certain of his fate this time. But it is a possibility."
"Yes," said Chiun. "That must be what happened."
"Since when did you become the technology expert?" Remo asked dryly.
Chiun surreptitiously kicked Remo in the ankle. Remo went silent. Chiun went on.
"Obviously the Russian fiend is no more," he said firmly. "And since we dispatched the schemer Rumpp, this assignment has been successfully accomplished and all glory and credit is ours."
"I imagine that it has," Smith allowed.
"And contract negotiations may continue," Chiun added.
"Er, yes," Smith said carefully.
Chiun beamed. "Then I suggest we begin now."
"If you do not mind, I have a few loose ends to tie up."
"What could be more important than contract negotiations?"
"Briefing the President."
"Yes. Do that. And be certain to speak our names prominently and often."
"Of course, Master Chiun."
"You know, there's one thing I still don't get," Remo said slowly.
The others looked at him.
"Who were those Russians?"
"That is a good point," said Smith. "You had no chance to interrogate them?"
"Yeah. The head guy said he was shit."
"He did?"
"So I obliged him."
"No," Chiun interjected, "he said he was 'shield.' "
Remo frowned. "I thought I heard the other word."
"Your mind is a sewer," Chiun sniffed.
"One moment." Smith turned to his ever-present computer terminal and called up his Russian lexicon file base.
"The only Russian word that transliterates into that term is Shchit."
"That's the word I heard. What's it mean?" asked Remo.
Smith looked up, his face puzzled.
"Shield."
"Means nothing to me."
Smith switched to another file. Keys rattled. "There is no such Russian organization on file, past or present."
"Maybe they're new, Smitty." Smith's lemony face grew more bitter. "I believe I will create an active file under that name. Strange things are happening over there now. If there is a new Russian group or organization known as 'Shield,' it may be a problem for the future."
"Emperor, what will be the fate of the mighty building of the schemer Rumpp?"
"It has been condemned. Demolition experts are going to wire it with shaped charges and implode it into rubble."
Chiun nodded. "It will be an improvement."
Remo said, "One last thing, Smitty."
"What is that?"
"Those people who fell into the ground when the Rumpp Tower first spectralized. What happened to them?"
"Officially, they will be counted among the missing."
"And unofficially?"
"Unofficially, we have no idea. They may have simply slipped into the earth some distance. Or they may continue falling until they emerge from the earth's crust at some point on the other side of the globe." Smith consulted his computer briefly. "Which would appear to be Kazakhstan."