"Chiun is his code name," Remo said quickly. "You know, like Ivory Fang is yours."
"Ah. So you are pleased?" Fang Yu said slowly.
"Yeah, this is great."
"Have soldiers come to this floor yet?"
"Yeah, they didn't find anything."
Fang Yu's sigh of relief was like a breeze through poplars. "Good. Then we have time to make love again."
Remo joined her on the bed without hesitation.
Fang Yu was moaning like a midnight sigh when he suddenly realized his left fist still clutched the elusive eyeball. He slipped it under the pillow and finished what he was doing.
"You like me again?" Fang Yu wondered.
"I only have eyes for you," Remo said sincerely.
Chapter 17
Remo had wanted to leave as soon as they were done, but Fang Yu had insisted it was too dangerous to do so.
"In morning, we will simply walk out, like any other tourist and guide," she had promised.
And so they waited for dawn to break, catching sleep in fitful breaks, like entwined cats.
"Ever think of going to America?" Remo asked as Fang Yu nestled in his arms.
"All the time," she said dreamily. "First thing I will do is dye my hair like Madonna."
Remo groaned.
"You not think Madonna pretty?"
"Like a plucked chicken," Remo spat. "I can get you out of the country," he suggested softly.
Fang Yu looked up, suddenly interested.
"You mean to come back with you?" she asked.
Remo smiled. "I can be habit-forming."
"My soul belongs to China," Fang Yu said distantly.
"China's a mess. How can you stand it?"
"We have had many emperors in China's past," she told him quietly. "Some were kind and some cruel. Now the Communists are our emperors and their cruelty is without measure. But all emperors die in their time. Even Communists, which are like dogs who sink their fangs into their own tails. I wish to be here when China awakens."
"Oh," Remo said. He was surprised at how disappointed he felt. He had known Fang Yu less than a day.
"But I could come to visit you," she added quickly. "Stay long time. Maybe you will return to China after the Communists are crushed."
"We gotta get through the night first," Remo pointed out.
"Why PLA want you, Remo?"
"What makes you think they want me?"
"I hear one giving your description to front-desk man."
"And what'd he tell them?"
"You will be insulted."
"Try me. "
"Front-desk man, he say all Westerners look alike to him. Big noses and round eyes stick out. All rest of face lost."
Remo grunted a laugh.
"I think front-desk man spoofing PLA," Fang Yu said. "No one cooperates with PLA if they can help it."
Remo looked down at her, cradled in his arms. "Spoofing?"
"Is that not the correct word? A tourist from Missouri say it once for me. I like that word. Spoofing. Sound sexy."
"Spoofing works for me."
"Excellent," Fang Yu said, snuggling closer. "If PLA return, we will spoof them together."
They were not disturbed by the PLA, however. The whir and ching-a-ling of bicycles of Changan Avenue roused them from sleep. After dressing, they walked leisurely through the lobby and out into the Beijing morning.
"Guess they widened the search for that guy, whoever he was," Remo said airily.
Fang Yu looked up quizzically. Then she led Remo to a waiting taxi. The morning air smelled of cabbage and coal smoke. Fang Yu smelled of rose petals. Remo stayed close to her scent, enjoying it.
At the bustling Beijiao market they took a local bus to the Great Wall.
"This better than tourist bus," Fang Yu explained. "Tourist bus stay only ninety minutes. Have to come back on same bus. This way we can stay as long as necessary."
The bus was crowded. One woman held a squawking chicken on her lap all the way. Once out of the city, the terrain became almost instantly rural. The driver stopped by the roadside when hailed by an old man who was prodding a fat sow with a stick applied to her buttocks.
The man and the sow were allowed to board.
"Equality," Remo muttered. "It's wonderful. Even the pigs ride the bus."