The Dutchman was gone.
?Nineteen
Remo stood alone in the small boat, ankle deep in water, enveloped by darkness. High on the cliff he could make out Chiun's outline, still and silent as the sea. He felt tired and pained and lonely.
Out of sight, the distant whirring of a helicopter grew louder. Then the machine appeared over the horizon, sending a searchlight out over the cliff. The light traveled the expanse of the castle, now a smoking wreckage licked occasionally by dying flames, then settled on Chiun. The old man shielded his eyes from the glare and pointed out to sea.
Remo waited unmoving in the boat as the helicopter's searchlight spanned the coral reefs and black night water of the ocean before it reached him. When the helicopter was overhead, a rope ladder dropped from its belly, and Remo climbed onto it. Halfway up, he spotted the sour lemon face of the pilot.
"Come here to see if I'm still alive?" Remo shouted above the noise of the propeller, and climbed up the rest of the way.
Smith turned the helicopter around without a word. The moon had risen, and in its light Smith's sallow face glowed a ghostly greenish white.
"Great tan you got there on Saba with your wife."
"It was a matter of national security," Smith said, as though that vindicated his order to have Remo annihilated.
"National security? What about my security?" Remo yelled. "You order my teacher to murder me because you found a couple of stray bodies, and all you have to say is 'national security'? Well, Chiun's not going to do it. If you want to have me offed, you're going to have to fight me yourself."
"For a time, all the evidence pointed to you."
"For your information, someone else killed those guys in the truck or whatever you found in the ocean."
"I know. Jeremiah Purcell," Smith said.
"His name's Jeremiah— what?"
"I know. It all came out in the wash. Glad the whole thing didn't go further than it did."
The helicopter hovered over the cliff for a moment, then drifted down.
"You've got some gall," Remo grumbled as Smith killed the engine. Chiun walked over and bowed politely. Remo and Smith stepped out.
"Where is he?" Smith asked.
"Who?"
"Purcell."
"You're a little late for him," Remo said. "A half-dozen sharks beat you to him."
"Oh."
"There's plenty of evidence against him. He had another truckload on ice at the shipyard, and a harem full of French hookers are on their way to the police to spill the whole story."
"It is so," Chiun agreed.
Smith grew even paler. "You mean the police are going to be notified about your part in all this?"
"Relax. Nobody even knows we're here."
"The housekeeper does," Smith said quietly.
No one spoke for a long moment. Finally it was Smith who broke the silence. "We can't have witnesses," he said.
"She's not going to talk, Smitty," Remo insisted.
"You can't be sure of that. Also, I've run a check on the Soubise girl."
"Oh, no you don't. Uh-uh. As far as she's concerned, Chiun and I are just a couple of happy sun bunnies. I'm not going to kill Fabienne now that things are finally looking up for her. No way."
"She was spotted leaving your place with the housekeeper. She knows your name."
"That's a lousy reason, Smitty."
"It's national security."
"That's a lousy reason, too."
"I'm afraid I have to order you to eliminate them."
"Yeah? Well, you can shove your orders—"
Chiun put a restraining hand on Remo's arm. "Silence," he said.
Smith was looking up at the smoldering castle. "I'll radio in a call to the fire department," he said. "Meanwhile, the two of you had better go back to the villa and collect your things. You're leaving in the morning. Pick up your tickets by eight at the American counter."
As he was walking back to the helicopter, he said over his shoulder, "Don't be surprised at the condition of your house. It's been ransacked. Some idiot even threw the television through the wall."
"Some idiot," Remo muttered. Chiun elbowed him in the ribs. "Hey," he called, "what about the rest of our vacation?"
"This vacation is over," Smith said flatly. "You'll have to wait until next year. Don't forget to take care of those two women before you leave."
The helicopter roared to life, lifted up, and disappeared.
"He's got the heart of a cod," Remo said.
Chiun wasn't listening. He was staring out at the ocean, a rippling film of black streaked with the moon's lone white ray. "I shall mourn our strange young Dutchman," he said.
Remo felt a knot in his stomach as he recalled Purcell's last words as the sharks closed in on him, bidding Remo to meet him in a better life. "Hell of a way to go."
"If Nuihc had only..." Chiun's voice trailed off.
Remo put his arm around the old man. "Let's go, Little Father."
They walked together down Devil's Mountain. Beyond the cliff, the ocean slapped peacefully against the shore. Chiun looked back once, saw nothing, then turned away.