"With praise for the Blissful Master."
"Just because he said they could leave, they just walked down into the valley? Into Patna? Out in the open?"
"Yes."
"Who is your Blissful Master that he would tell anyone they could go anywhere they wish? Who is he? How dare he?"
"He is perfection."
"You are faulty of mind and face," said Chiun. "Bad news he has given us, Remo. Bad news."
"What is it, Little Father?"
"I will tell you later. First settle your business with this roach. Ah, it is sad. An assassin's work is never done."
Remo talked to the priest. As a recent convert to the wisdom of the Blissful Master, Remo explained he had come to hear the truth. And since priests always told the truth, Remo wanted to know the truth about the upcoming event. The big one.
"Ah, the big one. It will be the biggest," said the priest. He clapped his hands, and the girls put on their robes and left, the blonde casting a betrayed look at Remo.
"I saw what you did in the street out there to the gang of toughs," said the priest. "Even if you have no wealth, we can use your services. We have many people who just give services. We have them in high and important places. We have them in the middle ages and the young ages. You would be surprised to learn who is with us."
"Try me," said Remo.
"That is secret."
"No, it's not," said Remo, and he was proven right for with a face squinting in pain, the priest told of all the important people he knew who belonged secretly to the Blissful Master, and Remo remembered every name. There were others too, the priest said, but he did not know their names. Honest and don't hurt me anymore, I don't know their names, he told Remo. Nor did he know the exact nature of the big event about to happen, but the Blissful Master was coming to Kezar Stadium in San Francisco.
Remo said he thought he might have been too harsh. He was going to be reasonable. He would reason with the priest.
"If you don't tell me exactly what's going to happen at that stadium, I'm reasonably going to separate your head from your shoulders."
"I don't know. I don't know. I swear to God, I don't know."
"Which God?"
"The real one."
Chiun stepped between them, and with hands moving like the flutter of butterflies, dispatched the priest on the neck.
"He does not know. Do not waste your time. We have work to do."
"You didn't let me finish with him. I told you we'd go to Sinanju afterward. I have my job to do also."
"We are not going to Sinanju. That is the sad news. I have other work to do. Older work. Indians have memories like sieves. In four hundred years, they forget everything. Everything. We must delay our return to Sinanju, jewel of the West Korean Bay, pearl of cities, vessel of beauty."
"What about the sub?"
"It can wait. Your country has many ships. There is but one Master of Sinanju, and he must sustain true and previous agreements."
CHAPTER SIX
When Remo gave the names he had learned of top followers of the Blissful Master to Smith on a closed line at 6:15 p.m., he heard a long silence and thought that the automatic cutoff had been triggered by some eavesdropping device. Then Smith spoke.
"A few of those people are highly sensitive. More than a few, Remo. Are there any chances that converts can be deprogrammed?"
"How should I know?" said Remo.
"You went through their program, didn't you?"
"So?"
"Perhaps in going through the program and not succumbing, you might have some ideas about how some highly sensitive personnel could be deprogrammed."
"Drop them from the Empire State Building."
"Thank you very much," said Smith.
"I need passports for India."
"You think that's your best chance of getting at this thing?"
"I guess."
"What does that mean?"
"Chiun thinks so. For some reason, he's willing to give up going home for it."
"Any word on the big event?"
"Nothing more. Just Kezar Stadium."
"With a few of those converts, if they can't be deprogrammed, they're going to have to be… er… retired."
"I told you the Empire State Building."
"I'm beginning to wonder whether you do have a cruel streak."
"You've been talking to Chiun."
"I've been counting bodies."
"If you want me to live in peace with the rest of mankind, just say the word, Smitty."
"Your passports will be at your hotel."
On the flight to Calcutta, Remo heard Chiun mumble something about faulty memories and some people needing reminders. The stewardess asked how they wished their dinner, and Chiun answered in a language Remo had never heard. Chiun explained it was Oriya and that the stewardess was obviously from the people who spoke that language because of the way she wrapped her sari.