"Hello? You there, Smitty?"
Smith's voice was arid. "Remo, Ivory Fang is not a woman. Ivory Fang is a male agent."
It was Remo's turn to be silent.
"You sure about this?" Remo asked in a small voice.
"Are you certain of your facts?"
"Believe me," Remo said ruefully. "I'm an authority on her femaleness. If she's not your contact, how come she met me at the airport and helped me this far?"
"I do not know, but you had better find out quickly. She could be an agent of the Chinese Security Bureau. Proceed under the assumption that you've been compromised."
" 'Compromised' is the word," Remo said. "I kinda like her. "
"Do not let it cloud your judgment. You have a twofold mission. Every minute is crucial."
"Count on me," Remo said in a suddenly clear voice.
He hung up the phone, his features darkening. He stepped over to the window and looked out over the city of Sayn Shanda.
It was small by American standards, but surrounded by the vastness of barren Outer Mongolia, it seemed a miracle of civilization carved out of a forsaken wilderness.
The snow continued falling. Remo's sharp eyes picked up snowflakes as they swirled downward, memorizing their unique shapes. Someday, he thought, he'd spot two that were alike.
"But not today," he said aloud. He turned from the window. A second sooner and he would have missed it.
Down in the street, around a corner, came a long black limousine. It was identical to the one he had first encountered in New Rochelle. And it matched the one he'd seen from the train.
"This isn't China," Remo muttered under his breath. "No reason why a Chinese Red Flag limo should be way up here."
He decided Fang Yu could wait.
Remo flashed to the door. He moved along the corridor to the elevator. As fast as he went, he was able to catch himself as he turned the corner. Just in time.
Fang Yu stood by the elevator impatiently, her hair dry. As Remo hovered out of sight, the elevator came and took her away. Remo emerged from hiding. The indicator showed that the car was on its way to the lobby.
"That must be the quickest shower in history," Remo muttered. He plunged for the stairs.
At the bottom, he eased a fire door open and watched Fang Yu hurry through the lobby and out to the front door.
Remo followed, trying to be unsuspicious. He was still in his Mongolian riding costume.
Outside, the black limousine waited, engine purring.
A chauffeur popped from the front door and opened the rear for her. He wore black.
Fang Yu stepped inside. The door shut with quiet force. The chauffeur returned to his wheel.
Remo saw his black mask-not that he had any doubt who the man was. His pantherlike body language gave him away.
"Damn!" he said. Remo hesitated. The Twenty-seventh Army was on its way. Could he afford to follow the car?
The limousine pulled away from the curb.
"Damn it," Remo repeated. "What am I supposed to do?"
The limo slid down the street and around a corner, its rear lights red and resentful.
Under the stern gaze of the statue of Genghis Khan, Remo watched it go.
"Must get great mileage to go from New Rochelle to Outer Mongolia," he muttered. Then he walked around to the back of the hotel.
The stable was separate, of wood, but bore the same Cyrillic symbols as the hotel marquee. Remo went in and found a short Mongolian man in a gray del.
"Speak English?" he asked the shyly smiling man.
"Of course, English is a wonderful language," he said, adding, "Compared to Russian."
"Great. That cream horse is mine. A friend stabled him for me. His name is Kula."
"Ah, Kula. A horseman among horsemen. Everyone knows Kula. "
"Glad he's so popular. Know where he went? I gotta find him-fast!"
"Come," the Mongol stablehand said, leading Remo back outside. He pointed west, saying, "See those freaking gers?"
"You mean yurts?"
"Only Russians call them yurts," the Mongol said contemptuously.
"The gers, sure," Remo said. "I see them."
"Go there. You will find Kula in one of those. That is a true Mongol hotel. Not like this ugly concrete thing."
"Well, what do you expect from the Genghis Khan Hotel?"
"Lord Genghis was a great man," the Mongol retorted seriously. "His was the greatest empire in history, and his memory was too long suppressed by the Russians. What do Russians know? They think Lenin was a hero-Lenin could not ride a camel, never mind a horse."
"I heard Genghis destroyed every city that stood up to him," Remo pointed out, "putting everyone to the sword."
The Mongol sighed happily. "Yes," he said wistfully. "That was our Lord Genghis. A fine role model for our children." "Uh-huh," Remo said dryly. "Saddle my horse for me?"
"At once."
Remo gave the man a buck as his horse was brought out. He got on and galloped off.