"Miz Bleem doesn't tell me what she's thinking," Oscar said.
"She'll tell me," Remo said. He walked away, holding the container of rapid-breeder bacteria under his arm. "You better get that hand checked," he called back to Oscar. "It looks broken to me."
196
Chapter Twelve
"The rapid-breeder bacterium has arrived," Reva Bleem said.
"Where is it?" asked Sheik Fareem.
"In my car."
"Bring it and we will use it," Fareem said. "If we needed an illustration of how low the Hamidis have fallen because of oil, we certainly received one today."
Reva nodded. "But the American?" she said.
"What about him?" Fareem asked.
She turned to Chiun. "Will you let him live?"
"Why not?" Chiun said. "His prowess as leader of an army threatens no one."
"But he could be a danger to our plan to use the bacteria," she said.
"He lives," Chiun said.
Reva shook her head. "After what he said about you too."
"What did he say?" Chiun asked.
"He said that he was going to kill you. That you were too old to matter anymore and that he was going to kill you to teach you a lesson. He said he didn't like Orientals anyway."
"This is very serious," Fareem said, glancing at Chiun.
The old Korean nodded. "Yes, it is. I will take care of him."
"When?" asked Reva.
"Now," said Chiun.
197
They were met outside Fareem's tent by Oscar, who was still holding his battered hand. "He took it away from me, Miz Bleem. He took it away."
Chiun led them to Remo's tent, on the far side of the oasis. Remo heard them coming. He was lying on his sleeping mat.
"Remo," he heard Chiun call.
"What do you want?" he yelled back.
"Where is it?" Chiun called.
"Safe. Where nobody can touch it," Remo said.
"You have it in there with you, don't you?" Chiun called.
"No, I hid it," Remo said.
He crossed his arms on his chest and chuckled to himself. Let Chiun look. Let him try to find the tube of bacteria under the sand where Remo had stashed it. Thousands of square miles of sand. Let Chiun look. His side may have won the battle, but Remo had won the war. The bacterium was safe, out of the reach of Chiun and Fareem.
"Heh, heh, heh, heh," Remo muttered, loud enough for Chiun to hear. Let him look. "Heh, heh, heh, heh."
It would be impossible to find. Remo had been careful. Exactly fifteen paces away from the corner of his tent, due west, and buried under two feet of sand, then smoothed over. Not a trace for anybody. Not even Chiun.
Remo decided to nap for a while. It felt good to win something every so often, particularly against Chiun. Let Chiun look. Not even the Master of Sinanju could find that test tube where he had hidden it. It would stay there until he was ready to go back and deliver it to Smith. He had saved the Western world. He had. Remo Williams. He wished the nuns at the orphanage in Newark could see him now. They had always thought he wouldn't amount to anything, and here he had saved the world. And no one could stop him now. Not even Chiun.
Of course, he couldn't. Not even Chiun.
No, he couldn't do a thing about it.
Not even Chiun.
Remo couldn't sleep. He got up and walked to the entrance to his tent.
And there, striding across the sand, holding the white styrofoam box under his arm, was Chiun. Walking behind him were Reva and the sheik. Remo started after them.
"Chiun," he called out.
"What?" Chiun asked without turning.
"How'd you find it?"
"I looked where you put it."
"How'd you know where that was?"
"You left your big hoofprints all over the sand," Chiun said. "It was not difficult."
Remo caught up with them as Chiun, Fareem, and Reva passed one of the small springs in the oasis. He looked at Chiun across the small bright, sparkling pool.
"Chiun, you've got to give that back. We've got to take it home with us."
"No," said Fareem. "It is our chance to make our country free again."
"I am sorry, Remo," said Chiun. "But it is my obligation."