Remo whirled. The Master of Sinanju was pointing a quivering finger toward the south wall.
"Behold, Remo. Gold!"
Leaping and hopping over broken mainframes, they came to the gaping vault doors. Inside, gold was stacked in gleaming perfect pyramids. There was barely room to walk between them, the stacks were packed so tightly.
"Gold!" Chiun exulted. "All the gold one could ever want!"
"I'd trade it all for another crack at that greedy little chip," said Remo, unimpressed.
"Quickly, we must transport it to a safe place."
"We'd better contact Smith."
Smith stood gaping at the checkerboard pattern of the XL SysCorp building, not knowing what to think.
Then the van phone shrilled.
He grabbed the receiver and said, "Yes?"
"Smith. Remo."
"Remo, what happened?"
"Friend committed suicide."
"What!"
"We nailed every mainframe but one. Then he tried to bribe us and get us to give up your plan."
"You do not know my plan."
"Exactly. When he realized he wasn't getting anywhere, he opened up the floor and we all fell down, in clouding Humpty Dumpty. All the president's men couldn't put that last mainframe back together again. Sorry, Smith. We tried."
"Friend is no more?"
"We almost bought the farm ourselves. But we did find the gold in the basement vaults. Chiun is guarding it now. I'm calling from a pay phone."
"Computers do not commit suicide."
"This one did."
"Computers are machines," Smith insisted. "They are programmed. Friend was programmed by his creator to make a profit. And as far as I know, there was no self-destruct function in his programming."
"Could he have escaped by phone?"
"No. I have control of the only working XL phone line. He could not enter my computer because its chips are not compatible with his."
"Then he's dead."
' 'He is not dead. He was never alive. Stand by."
Smith terminated the connection and punched up the Con Ed supervisor who had been on hold for over four hours now.
"Cut power to grid 476," he snapped.
"You want me to black out a whole city block in Harlem?"
"Now," said Smith.
''You got it. Let's hope nobody riots."
It took barely ten seconds. But the block immediately to the south of XL blacked out.
Harold Smith pecked at his keyboard frantically.
I KNOW YOU STILL EXIST, he typed. He hit the transmit key.
There was no response.
I KNOW YOU STILL EXIST AND I HAVE JUST BLACKED OUT THE BLOCK SOUTH OF YOU, Smith typed and transmitted.
No response.
NOW I AM GOING TO BLACK OUT THE NORTHERN BLOCK, Smith typed.
"Black out grid 435," Smith ordered into the phone.
The northern block went dark.
NOW I AM GOING TO BLACK OUT THE OTHER TWO BLOCKS, Smith typed. And gave the orders.
The four blocks surrounding XL SysCorp went dark.
Smith typed, NOW THAT I HAVE SHOWN YOU WHAT I CAN DO, YOU WILL REVEAL YOURSELF TO ME OR I WILL BLACK OUT YOUR BLOCK.
There was no response. Smith transmitted the message again.
And on the screen appeared a reply:
Smith typed, YOU WILL ANSWER THE QUESTIONS I PUT TO YOU TRUTHFULLY OR I WILL BLACK OUT YOUR ENTIRE BUILDING.
HOW DO I KNOW YOU WILL NOT DO THAT AFTERWARD? Friend asked via the screen.
YOU DO NOT. YOU HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO TRUST ME.
I HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO TRUST YOU, replied Friend.