After he terminated the White House call, Smith hit the autodial button to Remo Williams's Massachusetts home. He was a gray man with gray eyes and hair, the complexion of weathered, unpainted wood and a matching personality. Even in his CIA days, more than thirty years ago, he was known as the Gray Ghost.
Smith waited patiently, knowing that the Master of Sinanju would ignore the ringing and Remo would, depending on his mood, also ignore it because Chiun was ignoring it, or possibly break the telephone and keep on sleeping.
It was an unlisted number. Neither man had anything remotely like a social life, but these days telephone salesmen were unafraid to call at the most ridiculous hours, and Remo had no patience for such interruptions.
Fifty rings later, Remo answered, clear as a bell but slightly peeved. "If you're selling something, I'm going to spoonfeed you the contents of your scrotum."
Smith cleared his voice. "It's me."
"Me who?"
"You know my voice," Smith said carefully, knowing this was an uplinked call.
"I know a lot of voices."
Smith decided to skip the game-playing. "The space shuttle Reliant was destroyed on its transporter midway between the launch-assembly building and the launch pad."
Remo's voice sobered instantly. "Anybody killed?"
"Unknown at this time. But no astronauts were aboard." Smith paused. "Remo, it was hit by a bolt from the night sky, turning it to slag."
"Damn. Somebody's trying to wreck the space program."
"The BioBubble wasn't part of the space program," Smith said testily.
"Maybe whoever's doing this doesn't know that."
"It is possible."
"Speaking of which," said Remo, "any luck on tracking down the mystery guy who funded the BioBubble?"
"No," Smith admitted. "I have combed Amos Bulla's personal and business telephone records, and accounted for all persons and calls. None trace back to a man named Ruber Mavors. "
"There's no such person. Not going by that name."
"I looked into the backgrounds of everyone in those records. None had the financial wherewithal to rescue the BioBubble project."
"Unless you believe in Latin-speaking Martians with a sense of humor, you're overlooking something," Remo said dryly.
"Remo, see what you can learn at the Kennedy Space Center."
"Won't the place be crawling with investigators?"
"Yes. But you saw the BioBubble aftermath. I want positive confirmation that these two events were the work of the same agency."
"That's all?"
"Perhaps you will stumble upon something."
"Should I leave Chiun behind?"
"Why would you do that?"
"Because he doesn't exactly blend in with a highsecurity investigation," Remo said dryly.
"Will he agree to remain behind?" Smith asked doubtfully.
"Sure. Why wouldn't he?"
"You know him better than I. Go in as a National Transportation Safety Board investigator."
"NTSB! Aren't they just airplane and train crashes?"
"Yes, but every other logical agency will be represented. Any other cover would put you in contact and conflict with legitimate representatives of other agencies."
"Gotcha. I'll call you from Florida."
The line went dead.
When Remo padded to Chiun's room at the other end of the L-shaped building, the Master of Sinanju was already rolling up his sleeping mat, attired in an avocado-trimmed ivory kimono.
"I am going with you," he squeaked.
Remo decided on the nonconfrontational approach. "It's not a good idea, Little Father."
"I will be the judge of that."
"It's going to be a zoo."
"Perhaps I will encounter some apes I have never before beheld," Chiun said aridly.
"Just give me one reason why you should go when you don't need or have to."
Chiun's hazel eyes flared in a brief twinkle that quickly died. "I have read that the Americans are taking Japanese into space now."
"Yeah, some Japanese astronaut went up on the shuttle to help salvage a Japanese satellite earlier this year. What's that got to do with anything?"
"If a Japanese can go into space, why can not a Korean?"
"It's not that simple. You have to be selected. Then you have to train for years."
"I have trained all my life."
"Not for outer space."
"Are there deadly assassins and killers in outer space?" Chiun demanded.