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the strut gone from his walk, his shoulders slumping.
Then he asked Nina, "Well, what do you think?"
"I think you're making a mistake," she said.
"You too? You don't want me to go?"
"No. I think America is the safest place for you."
"Then what's the mistake?"
"You said you were going alone," Nina said. "That's the mistake. I'm going with you."
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CHAPTER TWELVE
Remo and Chiun waited in an office just outside Smith's office and Ruby Gonzalez watched them as if she expected them to try to steal her jar of rubber cement.
"She makes you feel wanted, doesn't she?" Remo asked.
"It will be a happy day in my life," said Chiun, "when you two present me with a child. Then I will no longer have to associate with either of you."
"Hah!" Ruby said.
"Fat chance," Remo said.
"And then I will bring him up correctly as befits a new Master of Sinanju," said Chiun, ignoring them. "I have gone as far as I can with you."
"Never gonna happen," Ruby said.
"Only because I don't want it to happen," Remo said. "If I wanted it to happen, it'd happen. You can count on that." He glared at Ruby.
"You talk a lot of mess," Ruby said.
"Yeah?" said Remo. "I want you to know that I've got twenty-seven separate steps that I follow to bring a woman to ecstasy. They never fail."
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"You couldn't remember twenty-seven steps," Ruby said.
"Don't say anything now you're going to regret later," Remo said.
"I will pay one thousand gold pieces for a healthy male child," Chiun announced.
"Each?" asked Ruby.
"Each what?" said Chiun.
"One thousand to me and one thousand to him?"
"No. One thousand total," Chiun said. "Do you think I'm made of gold pieces ?"
"Not enough," Ruby said. "Five hundred ain't enough to pay me for my sacrifice."
"No, hah?" said Remo. "Sacrifice, hah? All right. You can have my five hundred gold pieces."
"Then we have a deal," Chiun said.
"I'll think about it," said Ruby.
"I won't," said Remo. "I will not sell my body for mere gold."
"Be quiet, white thing," Chiun said. "This does not concern you."
"What kind of gold pieces?" Ruby suddenly asked, her voice coldly suspicious.
"Nice little ones," Chiun said.
"I want Krugerrands," Ruby said.
"Have you no shame?" said Remo. "Supporting the racist regime of South Africa?"
"Listen, honey, when you talking currency, South Africa be good," Ruby said. "That Kruger-rand, that's better than dollars."
The buzzer rang on Ruby's desk. She answered it, then nodded to Remo and Chiun.
"Doctor Smith wants you now."
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"He can wait," Chiun said. "This is important."
"He's trying to stop World War III, Chiun," said Remo. "That's important, too."
Chiun dismissed World War III with a wave of his hand. "One thousand Krugerrands to you," he told Ruby. "And you give me his healthy male child."
"Chiun, dammit. That's like a hundred and sixty thousand dollars," Remo said.
"A hundred and seventy-one this morning," Ruby said.
Remo glared at her. "You can buy the whole spawn of some cities for that," he said.
"I know what I want," Chiun said. "We have an agreement?" he pressed at Ruby.