"Not for that," the Emir said. "For using the gun. There was a day when I would have strangled this traitor with my bare hands. But now ... I cannot." He looked toward Chiun.
The old Korean nodded. "Weapons take all the fun out of it," he said. Something seemed to catch his attention and he went to the Emir's large, bedroom window which looked out over the Atlantic Ocean.
He turned back to Remo.
"There is something out there," he said.
"A boat," Remo said.
Chiun nodded. "A black boat. Very black."
146
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Elmo Wimpler was almost ready to go.
The joke would be on the man he rented the boats from when they were found, painted black, and he wondered why someone would want to deface his boats.
The boats had taken more paint that Wimpler had expected and he was glad that he had made up a new batch of the invisibility paint and put it into spray cans. The paint job wasn't much, but it would do for a quick operation.
Maybe when this was over, and he found someone willing to pay him for having killed the Emir, he would move onto a boat. A yacht of his own. And he would only get off the ship when he wanted to make a contract for a killing, or to shop for supplies and food. He did not think he would leave the boat for a woman. It no longer interested him. He had thought a lot about women since the night he had worked his will on Phyllis and, frankly, there was no comparison. He preferred killing to sex.
And tonight he would kill his first monarch, he thought, as he finished pulling on his invisible, black trousers.
There were twenty-one dead men on the island, counting Pakir.
147
Remo called Smith to tell him that the Emir was all right.
"Everyone else is dead?"
"They were all fakes," Remo said.
"I hope so."
"They were. And the Royal Guards were in Pak-ir's pocket because they figured if they stayed loyal to the Emir, they'd be next on the hit parade."
"Have you seen any sign of the bodies of our real agents?"
"I'd have to guess that they were dumped out at sea," Remo said.
"The Princess?" asked Smith.
"She's well and she's clean. She's the only one on the island who wasn't part of it. I think Pakir had a thing for her and wanted to keep her alive."
"What are you doing now?"
"Chiun and I are going after Wimpler. His boat is out there offshore."
"Is that wise?" Smith said. "Leaving the Emir and the Princess alone?"
"It is now. I've taken care of it," Remo said.
"Be careful," said Smith.
Remo hung up the hall telephone and turned to find Sarra watching him from the doorway of her brother's room.
"The Emir?" Remo asked.
"Not well. Pakir's disloyalty is a crushing blow. Chiun is with him."
"You trusted Pakir too, didn't you?"
"I disliked him, but I didn't think he would turn on the Emir," she said.
"He had the hots for you," said Remo.
148
"The hots?" she asked. "Slang. He lusted for you." "Probably. But not I for him. I only have hots for you," she said.
"Thank you," Remo said. "It beats the hell out of love every time."
She stepped up and hugged him. "You will be careful with this other man you wait for?"
"Don't worry. You'll remember what I told you?"
"Yes. I do not understand it, and I do not believe it, but I will do it."
"Just do it," Remo said. They walked together to the doorway of the Emir's room.
Chiun was leaning over the thin and bony ruler who was speaking.
"Since I will die in any case, I would rather have been murdered than find out that Pakir, my friend, had plotted against me."
Chiun's face tightened with anger. "That is stupid," he said.
The Emir looked shocked.
"What?"
"Stupid, stupid," said Chiun. "You are giving to others and their actions the power of life and death over you. But if a man is to be a man, he must rule not only a country, but the circumstances of his life and the conditions of his death."
The Emir obviously thought about that for a moment, then nodded. "There should be no lament for traitors," he said.