"Aren't you afraid I'm going to kill you?"
"Hell, I expect you will. I called for more troops while the ruckus was going on, but you're faster than they are. Hell, I can't even get the bastards out of bed anymore."
Far in the distance, Remo could hear the sound of marching feet approaching the building. It had to be the general's replacement troops, Remo reasoned.
"All right, get on with it," the general said, assuming a fighting stance, his portly belly jiggling in front of him. "To tell the truth, I feel pretty silly doing this after all these years, but it's a better way to go than having some idiot recruit misfire his weapon into me during target practice. Get on with it." He formed his features into a combat scowl. "Arghh. Arghh."
"Whaes that?"
"Mad noises. Scares hell out of the enemy. Arghh."
"Calm down, General," Remo said, writing down some numbers on a piece of paper. "Here's where you can reach me in case you find out anything. Van Dyne was in on whatever's going on around here, and I don't think he was alone. Do the country a favor and tell me about any leads you get before you tell any more of your majors."
55
The general followed Remo to the anteroom, where the WAC was batting her eyelashes and attempting to show Chiun a portion of her thigh. "Let's go," Remo said, and in less than a second the general saw the thin young man who could fight so well and an unknown aged Oriental go out the window and shinny down the sheer face of the building.
"Let me know if you want to enlist," the general called out the window after them. "You can start as a corporal."
t
I
56
Five
Toward the end of his descent down the building, Remo's leg brushed against the chest of a tall, leggy redhead. Her two-piece khaki uniform looked like evidence that the modern army had decided to open up a supply room on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills.
"Quite a trick," she said. She looked appraisingly at the smooth wall.
"Something I picked up at summer camp," Remo said.
"You've got a lot of nerve, you know."
"Naah, not really. If you can climb up it, you can climb down it. It's not hard."
"Do not reveal the secrets of Sinanju to outsiders," Chiun cautioned in Korean.
"I didn't mean the wall," the girl said. "I mean you have a lot of nerve copping a free feel like that."
Remo looked around at the expanse of ground surrounding them. "If God didn't want your chest rubbed, he wouldn't have given you enough for two. Anyway, you could have stepped out of the way."
"Then I wouldn't have enjoyed it as much." Her
57
r
face broke into a pretty smile. Her eyes were jade green. "Work here?"
"Sort of. See you."
Remo and Chiun turned the corner. The girl ran ahead of them. They brushed past her without slowing. "Hey," she called. "I won't bite. My job is to make visitors feel at home here. Public relations." The breeze blew the scent of her perfume into Re-mo's nostrils. It smelled woodsy and sensual.
"We do not relate to the public," Chiun said.
"That's a beautiful robe," the redhead said, tentatively touching Chiun's kimono. "You can always tell hand-brocaded silk."
Chiun stopped and said, "Remo, don't keep walking while this lady is talking to us." To the woman, he explained, "Rude. He has no manners. Ignore him. The women of my village toiled long to make this robe. It is perfect."
"I can see that. It suits you well."
"The Master of Sinanju always cloaks himself in perfection," Chiun said with a smile.
"What was that about giving away secrets?" Remo asked.
Chiun sniffed at him. "Unfortunately, so few things on the earth are perfect. It can be disheartening for one who seeks after beauty and truth to be surrounded with loutishness and ingratitude."
"How very sad. But the grinding that would wear a lesser stone to nothing only serves to give luster to a diamond."
Chiun beamed. "True. Very true. You are a wise child. She is very wise, Remo. Proof that some whites can think."
"Come on, Little Father," Remo said. "She's playing you like a harp."
58
The girl continued, "I didn't make it up. My father always says that."
"Your father is Korean?" Chiun asked.
"I'm afraid not, but he does what he can."
Chiun nodded sympathetically. "He might be nice anyway."
"Well, it's been swell," Remo said, taking Chiun by the elbow. The Oriental yanked his arm away.
"Unhand me, lout," he said. "Do you see how I must suffer at the hands of my ungrateful pupil who ¦does not even recognize a pure spirit when he encounters one? Tell me again, child, about the grinding."
She smiled at Remo. "The grinding that would wear a lesser stone to nothing—"
"My grinding teeth arc wearing away to nothing," Remo said. "Could we at least move away from here? The place'11 be crawling with zombies in à minute."
"That's a great idea," the redhead said. "How about my place?"
"Alas, I must return to our dwelling," Chiun said, "for I am weary from lack of sleep. Perhaps we shall meet again to.discuss other adages of your respected father's." He tottered away, wiping his brow weakly.