At 9 o'clock that night, the premier and his wife, along with Remo, Chiun, Karbenko, and the Russian spy's four top men, were on a private plane heading for Orlando, Florida.
Ten minutes earlier, Admiral Wingate Stan-tington had learned, in his condominium apartment at Washington's Watergate Complex, that the Russian premier had never checked into the Colony Astor Hotel.
"That son of a bitch," Stantington swore as he slammed down the telephone. Karbenko had done it; he had gotten himself along somewhere with the premier and was just waiting his chance to gun him down.
Not if Stantington could help it though.
Within an hour, his men had found the budget motel where the Earp family had been registered. And only a half hour later, they learned of the specially chartered plane that had left Washington on its way to Orlando.
They checked all the hotels in the Orlando area, before they found one with a block of four rooms registered to Doctor Holliday and family.
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Doc Holliday. Karbenko's cowboy passion had given him away.
The hotel manager confirmed that the large group had ordered four taxicabs in the morning to take them to Disney world.
Admiral Stantington sat alone in Ms apartment for an hour, thinking, before he made up his mind.
He would not let Vassily Karbenko assassinate the Russian premier on American soil.
And if there was only one way to stop him, that was the way Stantington would take,
Vassily Karbenko was as good as dead.
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CHAPTER FIFTEEN
The premier wanted to go as an American.
"I want to walk the streets and alleys of Disneyworld, like American peoples. I will mingle among them. No one will know we not American."
Karbenko's four KGB agents looked at each other, then they all nodded.
Remo looked at the premier. He was wearing a Hawaiian plaid shirt, and a large straw hat, and big tinted sunglasses as a disguise. But he still had a face like a mudslide and anyone who had seen his picture on television was not likely to mistake him for anyone else.
The four taxicabs arrived on time. Remo, Karbenko, the premier, and Nina crowded into one cab. Two KGB agents rode in the first cab and two more in the third. Chiun insisted on riding alone in the last cab, because he would not share a taxi with Philistines.
"Remember, Chiun," Remo said. "We've got to keep him alive. Nothing else matters."
"Trivia," said Chiun. "All my life is bogged down with trivia."
At the gate, the Russian contingent ran out of
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money for entrance fees. Disneyworld did not take credit cards, nor did it recognize the International Monetary Fund or Russia's natural gas reserves. This decision was based on the judgment that Russia's natural gas reserves might well run out before Disneyworld did, Disney-world being an eternal and replenishable resource needing only fresh paint and teenagers who could run around dressed like mice and ducks.
Fortunately, Remo was carrying money and he was able to pay the $2,365.00 in cash for two days of rides for the group. This left the premier with enough money to buy "diplomatic necessities." Everybody got a diplomatic necessity. Karbenko's four KGB men got the winding kind, and the premier and Nina got the digital kind where Mickey Mouse's face appeared and lit up when the diplomatic necessity clicked off noon and midnight. Chiun got one too and proclaimed his love for Russia.
The monorail led over lush green fields with manicured trees. A large perfectly blue lake glistened in the late morning sun. One of the KGB men wondered if they dyed the lake blue.
When they got off the monorail they were greeted by the rich smell of fresh popcorn. To their left was a bank which would translate the cotton crop from Russian Tashkent into American dollars. The Russian cotton crop got the contingent through Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Pioneer World.
Chiun wanted a Davy Crockett hat. The premier decided to buy one for everybody, so one of the KGB men was sent back to the Disneyworld
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bank where he negotiated away mineral rights in the Ukraine, and brought back a satchel of cash to the premier who was waiting at Polynesian World.
The mineral rights also paid for a grass skirt for Nina and Mickey Mouse heads made from coconuts and sea shells.
"This is very nice," Chiun said to Remo, pushing the Davy Crockett tail out of his eyes. "But you are a liar."
"What now?" Remo said.
"Once you took me to a place and told me it was Disneyworld. But that wasn't Disneyworld. This is. You lied to me."
"Chiun, just keep an eye out so that nothing happens to the premier."
By now the Russian party was hungry and the premier found out that the entrance fees did not pay for lunch. Another KGB man was sent back to the main Disneyworld bank, with a promise of two months' tractor production. This allowed everyone to have soft drinks and a meal. When they were done with the meal, no one got up.
Remo asked why they continued to sit at the tables. The premier said the appetizers were a bit flat but he had high hopes for the main course.
When Remo told him he had just eaten the main course, the premier said he would not give up the Balkans for anything, not even a piece of bread.
Finally they settled for foot-long hot dogs, and Disneyworld got the rights to build a Black Sea resort and an option on the Urals.
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The Urals did not entitle the Russians to arcade games or dessert.
The premier missed the noon parade of Pluto and Donald Duck and Mickey and Minnie because the contingent was stuck in Future World and could not get over to the main plaza in time. The parade was free, there being no charge for eyesight.
About 1 P.M., Nina confessed that she had the feeling they were looking at the same thing over and over again, with different colored paint.
"There's a trick to telling one exhibit from another," Vassily Karbenko said. "If they have already clipped your ticket book, you've been there, I think."
One of the KGB men on the Paddlewheeler ride wanted to shoot real bullets into the imitation fort to see if anything would happen. Karbenko told him no because he might need his bullets to get out of there if they ran out of money.
Remo said to Chiun, "No sign of any trouble yet."
Chiun looked at his Mickey Mouse wristwatch.
"You have forgotten the lesson of the Great Ung," he said.