"Remo. Wonderful news. Wonderful news. We have found the right emperor to serve, and guess who serves him also?"
"I can't imagine you happy, little father," said Remo. "What's going on?"
"See?" said Wang. "Both of you walk around all the time in a state of unhappiness. Identical."
"I'm happy, asshole," said Remo. Wang laughed at the curse.
"Remo, even the Great Wang is here serving Vassily Rabinowitz, a wonderful guy. And do you know what? Mad Harold was wise after all. We're all here, Remo."
Instead of covering the speaker, Remo created a vibration in the plastic. The hand never could cloud a voice to someone who had been trained to hear.
"Can there be two Great Wangs, one in one place and one in the other?"
Wang saw what Remo was doing and understood the problem.
"No."
"How do I know I have the right one?"
"Are you happy?"
"Not really," said Remo.
"Then that's who you are. Is Chiun happy?"
"Yes."
"How many times do you remember him happy?"
"Well, you know, he can get happy at times. Not too long. He likes bitching better, but I've seen him happy."
"You know you have the right one."
"So, does he?"
"Ask him, ask him about any problems. Chiun is always collecting injustices. He talks about them and you pretend they don't exist. You're a wonderful pair."
Remo stopped masquerading the sound vibrations on the receiver.
"Things are pretty good down there, huh?" he asked.
"Perfect. We have finally found the right emperor. And Smith understands too. I tell you, Remo, everything about everyone down here is perfect."
"Thanks, Chiun. I'll be right down," said Remo, getting the coordinates in Sornica where Chiun, Smith, and Rabinowitz expected to be at the end of the next day's advance.
"Wherever you are, I'll find you," said Remo. And he hung up.
"Chiun's in trouble," said Remo. "I don't know if I can save him. That hypnotist has got Smith. I remember Smitty couldn't be hypnotized. Did you know that? He was telling me once. He tried to get hypnotized to relax, and it wouldn't work. He had no imagination. He'd look at a Rorschach ink blot and see an ink blot. True."
"What's a Rorschach ink blot?" asked Wang.
"It's something new. People who are supposed to heal the mind make up random cards with ink blots, and the person is supposed to say what it looks like to him. It really says what's going on in the person's mind. If he sees violence he has violence on the mind. Happiness, he has happiness on the mind."
"Oh, the Tow Dung. It's done with mud on a white plate. Same thing. How can you rescue Chiun now if the man who has him can turn your mind against yourself?"
"I don't know," said Remo. "I'd like that to be my question you've got to answer. How can I save Chiun? How can I save Smith? I'm helpless."
"People are helpless in order to get others to help them. You're not helpless. But I must admit this sounds like the greatest challenge ever to the House of Sinanju. What are you going to do, Remo?"
"I don't know."
"Are you frightened?"
"A little. I hate to think of Chiun with his mind scrambled."
"And what if he thinks you are some enemy who is to be killed? What will you do when you have to fight him to the death? Have you thought of that?"
"Hey, I'm supposed to ask the questions. You're supposed to give me the answers."
"Fine. Here is an answer. Since you cannot figure out a way to rescue Chiun and this client for whom you have developed an attachment even though you claim to hate him, find someone else who can reason. Someone who can think brilliantly."
"I don't need help."
"You just said you were helpless," said Wang, laughing at how much Remo and Chiun were alike.
"Just give me the answer to the big question and get out of here," said Remo.
"Ask me the question," chuckled Wang.
"Never mind the question. Give me the damned answer, and stop playing games. Give me the answer," said Remo.
"Yes," said Wang, and Remo found himself staring at the blueness of the sky over Vistana Views, and he knew the Great Wang was gone. He had come in the last transition of Remo Williams, and he was supposed to answer the one great question Remo had.
And truly Wang had. The answer was yes.
But Remo still didn't know what the question was. Remo did not pack to leave America for good, but walked out of the condo into the Florida sunshine, headed for Sornica and the war that was supposed to be going on there.
Anna Chutesov felt elation at the defeat of the Russian forces stationed in Sornica, then despair as Rabinowitz' columns retreated, then elation again as they seemed to be getting all the gas and ammunition they needed.
"Good, now let's get someone down there to surrender to Vassily Rabinowitz before he fouls up this campaign."
"But we don't want to lose Sornica to the Americans. They're reinforcing."
"Have you noticed how they're reinforcing? Have you ever seen supplies move that well and quickly with the Americans?" asked Anna. "Have you been actually reading the reports instead of looking at colored lines on maps that tell you nothing except where some people surmise other people were at the time the ink was wet?"
"The Americans are getting behind this war on a grand scale. We must support our Sornican brothers," said Ambassador Nomowitz.