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tionary government of Bislami and from the Russians for both the death and the embarrassment of the United States.
And he ... and perhaps the Princess Sarra if she decided to be reasonable . . . would live the lives of the very wealthy. Perhaps in South America. Or Switzerland. Or anywhere. There were very few doors, national or otherwise, that were not open to a man with ten million dollars.
It was time.
The Emir stirred in bed. He opened his eyes for a moment, then closed them again, trying to drift back into sleep. Sleep was all he had left. And then death. He was helpless now to affect his own fate. If the many groups with a price on his head did not get him, the cancer would.
It was probably best this way. Sarra could go on to live her Ufe. His friends in the United States, even though they had abandoned him in his hour of need, would be rid of a national embarrassment.
And the Emir would be removed from pain.
It was probably best
Princess Sarra stepped through the doorway into her brother's room. He slept peacefully, and she sat
talk to the world about the murder of the Emir and ^ ^ rf ^ m a wakm for
the disappearance of almost a dozen U.S. agents. ^
Forhim tQ die? She ^ ^^ and
dered why she had come. Was it because she had pleasured her body with Remo earlier that day, and now felt guilty about disporting herself while her brother was the target of both killers and disease?
* * *
139
The helicopter had landed them on the New Jersey shoreline and a power boat was waiting to speed them to the island.
As they alighted at the main dock, Remo observed: "No one around. They're supposed to have somebody on this dock to check visitors."
"Perhaps they were not expecting guests," Chiun said.
"And perhaps they are discussing what to do about these guests," Remo said.
Chiun nodded. They heard the sound simultane- the house-
ously. Footsteps, someone running through the brush from the main house. When he broke out into the open, they saw who it was.
It was Randisi, the top federal agent on the island. Or the man who played the part of Randisi.
He ran up to them, apparently out of breath and somewhat wild-eyed. Remo ran through Smith's de- aní hissed. ^
scription again in his mind. Randisi, Smith said, was Psssssst.
Chiun was already moving to the house. Remo quickly got to his side. "If they sent him ahead with that phony warning, they're waiting for us to come running right up to the front of the house," he said.
Immediately, they circled off, through the brush, to come around to the rear of the large four-story mansion.
As they passed the side of the house, they saw three men with suits, armed with automatic rifles, crouched near the pathway leading to the front of
"Quietly," Chiun warned.
Remo nodded. If the Emir was still alive, any sign that Remo and Chiun were coming to his rescue might mean his immediate death.
They cut back in behind the three men. When they were only two feet away, Remo pursed his lips
35, six-foot-two, two hundred pounds, with salt and The ^^ men turned around. Remo and Chiun
pepper hair. This man was almost 50, five-foot-eight, fat, with red hair.
"They've taken over the house," he gasped, grab-
struck at the same time. Remo took the man on the right. Chiun handled the one in the middle and the one on the left. Without a sound, the life was
bing Remo by the shoulders. "The Emir is in danger. crushed from their bodies.
You'd better hurry."
"You're Randisi?" Remo said.
"Yes."
"You're right," Remo told him. "We shouldn't waste any time. We should get right down to it."
"Right."
Remo reached out and touched the fake agent on the back of the neck, where the spinal column enters the skull and is the most vulnerable. It snapped
and the man fell at Ms feet, dead. was brick and the üúnindentation of mortar be-
140
"Four," Chiun said.
"Smith said there were twelve federal agents on the island. And we saw eight Royal Guards. There's at least twenty," Remo said. He looked up, then hissed to Chiun: "There's two up on the roof. I'll go up and work my way down. You start down here and work up. One of us'11 get to the Emir before they have a chance to kill him."
Remo went to the rear of the house. The building
I
tween the old, red bricks was enough for him to get 1 Chiun had started in the front door, just as four
finger and toe holds as he started up. men had walked out of the house. Each of them car-