Such a prospect threatened not only CURE but also the world. Smith had seen the awesome power of the unleashed Remo for himself. There would be no controlling him should the Remo aspect of his personality ever be totally submerged.
Smith had to know. Even if the truth meant shutting down CURE, terminating Remo. And incidentally swallowing a cyanide pill that would also extinguish his own life.
"Do you foresee this event recurring?" Smith asked the Master of Sinanju carefully.
"Before the Great Lord Shiva surrendered Remo's body, he told me..."
Smith's gray eyes made circles of surprise. "He spoke to you?"
"Yes. And he said that the hour would one day come that he would claim Remo as his throne. But that hour was far off; he also said."
"Er, how far?"
"Shiva did not say."
Smith's prim mouth tightened. The Master of Sinanju caught the thinning reflex.
"I know what you are thinking, Emperor," said Chiun.
"You do?"
Chiun nodded. "You are thinking that this spirit which Remo harbors may threaten your realm."
"In a manner of speaking," Smith admitted. He was not comfortable with Chiun's repeated references to his emperorship, but Masters of Sinanju had served as royal assassins going back to the days of the pharaohs. Since Chiun served America through Smith, Smith must therefore be addressed as an emperor.
"And you wonder if you should not extinguish Remo in order to prevent this calamity from coming to pass," Chiun continued.
"My responsibilities-" Smith began.
Chiun raised a wise finger. "Then know this. Shiva grows within Remo. In the past, he has been roused only when Remo's existence was threatened. Should you attempt to harm my son, Shiva will return to protect his own. It is better that you stay your hand, otherwise you will precipitate the very calamity you seek to avoid."
"I see," Smith said slowly. "But what about you, Master Chiun? Remo is as much as a son to you. He is the heir to the House of Sinanju. Does Shiva not threaten the line?"
Chiun bowed his head in the dimness of Smith's Spartan office.
"He does. But I am an old man who has been blessed with the greatest pupil any Master of Sinanju ever had. Yet I am also cursed to know that in my accomplishment I have sown the seeds that doom all I hold dear. But what can I do? I am an old man. You are my emperor. And Remo is Remo. But Lord Shiva is more powerful than us all."
And Harold Smith, who had personally seen the Master of Sinanju tear through a small army like a buzz saw, felt a thrill of supernatural fear course down his spine.
Chapter 10
Remo Williams sent his rented car into a copse of poplars several hundred yards short of the gates of Folcroft Sanitarium. He made his way to the closed gate on foot.
There were two stone lions atop the gate. They seemed to stare down at him like sentinels excavated from some half-forgotten civilization.
Grinning, Remo simply leapt sixteen feet into the air and landed atop the right-hand lion.
He paused and seemed to float to the ground on the other side.
There was a security guard at a lobby desk, his face buried in a newspaper. Remo slipped in and, staying out of the guard's peripheral range, his movements contained so that he made no attention-getting motions, made his way to the elevator and the second floor.
Remo walked into Harold Smith's office unannounced.
Harold W. Smith looked up from his computer, a startled expression on his face. Reflexively he stabbed a stud hidden under the oak rim. The desktop terminal retreated into his desk well like a shy plastic skull.
"Remo, you startled me," Smith said, flustered.
"Sorry," Remo said, looking around. He sensed another presence.
He pulled the door back and peered behind it. He saw only a blot of shadow. Empty.
"Is Chiun here?" Remo asked suspiciously.
"He is in the building," Smith said evasively. "He expressed an interest in monitoring the operation."
"Okay," Remo said, stepping in. "But before we get to it, let's establish some ground rules."
"I am listening."
"I'm going under the knife. But only to get rid of this freaking lump, whatever it is."
"That is the purpose of the procedure," Smith said.
"Not to have my face lifted."
Smith said nothing.
"You're a man of your word, Smith. So before we get to it, I need you to raise your right hand and swear on a stack of computer printouts that the doctor isn't going to get fancy with my face."
Smith swallowed.
"Is that a guilty look I see?" Remo asked suddenly.
"No, I, er, was just wondering if I had a Bible in the office. "
Remo frowned. "Bible?"
"You do want me to swear an oath, do you not?"
Concern made Remo's cruel mouth quirk up. "Yeah. But-"
"It is properly done with a Bible."
"We could skip the Bible part," Remo started to say.
"Without it, there would be no true oath."