"Because we may get one."
The screen stopped flashing. The message SORT COMPLETE appeared. Under that was a blinking BUBBLE SEARCH Y/N?
"What's a bubble search?" Remo wanted to know, as Smith tapped the Y-for-yes key.
"A brute-force search. The key search has isolated over six hundred possible Chiun sightings."
"That many?" Remo said in surprise.
"I did say 'possible,' " Smith returned coolly. "I've assigned probability numbers to each sighting. The bubble search will cause the high-probability sightings to bubble to the surface and the low-probability ones to sink back into memory for later retrieval."
Remo watched. He saw no bubbles. Instead, there was a SEARCH COMPLETED message, and in numerical order, text digests of various sightings appeared.
They read them together.
Twenty minutes later, they reluctantly concluded that none of the high-probability sightings were of the missing Master of Sinanju.
"Where could they have gone?" Remo wondered.
"Anywhere. That is the problem."
"No, I mean where could he have gone that he didn't dismember a stubborn cabdriver, annoy a waitress, or nearly kill a bellboy for dropping one of those damn trunks of his?"
"I do not know," Smith admitted glumly.
"Then I guess we wait until he causes the inevitable ruckus," Remo said, folding his lean bare arms.
Smith returned to the key search.
"No time. I will attempt to locate Zhang or the masked chauffeur."
"Don't forget the tall guy in back."
"Description?" Smith asked, fingers poised to input.
"Oh, about six foot, maybe taller. He was bending to get in when I first saw him. Wore a long coat, and later, a purple silk gown."
"Knee- or ankle-length?"
"Lower," Remo said thoughtfully. "Almost like one of Chiun's kimonos. I don't remember seeing his feet."
"You mentioned a fur cap." Smith prompted as they keyed.
"Hat. One of those Russian-style things. What do they call them?"
Smith thought a moment. "Ah, astrakhan," he said, inputting the word. His fingers stopped in mid-word.
Remo leaned closer. "Yeah?"
"Odd. You've described a person very familiar to me, but I cannot recall who it is."
"He didn't look familiar to me. The chauffeur, yes. Zingzong, too, but only from the back-if that makes any sense."
"I am not surprised. No one in the West knows what Zhang looks like from the front, but he may have the most famous back in modern history."
"Care to clue in an intrigued assassin?" Remo wondered. "One moment. Would you assume the tall man in the astrakhan hat was Asian?"
"I assume so, yeah, but I don't know that I can cite you any reason to think that. Come to think of it, he's pretty tall for an Asian, if he is one."
"Hair and eye color?"
"Got me. Didn't catch either."
Frowning, Smith completed the sparse description and initiated another key search.
"So who is he?" Remo asked as Smith leaned back, watching the search.
"We won't know until the search is completed," Smith said.
"I mean Zingzong."
"Zhang Zingzong is-or was-a student at the Beijing School of Iron and Steel."
"Sounds charming. I'll bet finals are pretty noisy."
"He escaped to the West only a few weeks ago, after months of being sheltered by Chinese citizens sympathetic to the pro-democracy forces over there."
"One of the student leaders?"
"No. In fact, his role in Tiananmen was insignificant. Do you recall, Remo, the Chinese man who stopped that line of T55 tanks a few days after the massacre?"
Remo blinked. "Him! That was Zingzong?"
"Yes. He escaped China to Hong Kong and from there to the West."
"Are you sure? I mean, I hate to say this, but I wasn't impressed by the guy at all. He reminded me of a scared rabbit. How do you know it's the same guy?"
"Our intelligence resources within China identified him early on. We facilitated his escape from the mainland. He is very brave. It was a dangerous escape."
"I'll take your word for it," Remo said vaguely. "So why are we so interested in him?"
"He is a global symbol of Chinese resistance. One who, if the old-guard regime falls, may be in a position to be inserted into the leadership vacuum. We are keeping him safe until that time."
Remo grunted. "Great job you did."
"Word must have leaked. There were several attempts to abduct Zhang, which I find very odd."