"There has to be another explanation," Moorcock said. "I can adapt to any situation." He was talking to himself as much as to Remo and Chiun.
"So I understand," Remo said. "You've adjusted to your failure in politics very nicely."
"You cannot anger me," Moorcock said. He stared at them for a few moments, then said, "I have it."
"Don't breathe this way; I haven't had my shots," Remo said.
"You," Moorcock said to Remo, ignoring the remark, "will kill him," pointing at Chiun, "or I shall kill her."
"That's a good plan," Remo said, "except for one thing."
"What's that?"
"If I try to kill him," Remo said, "I'm afraid that he'll kill me."
"That will serve my purpose just as well."
"Yeah, but if he kills me, who's going to kill him for you?" Remo asked.
"You are trying to confuse me in order to prolong your own life," Moorcock said. "You will kill the old man. That shouldn't be too much of a problem for you."
Remo could feel the scorn that remark brought out in his teacher.
"Please," he said to Moorcock, "don't get him mad."
"I think perhaps you are mad," Moorcock said. "This old man can hardly be a danger to anyone."
"If that's the way you feel," Remo said, "then you kill him."
All Remo or Chiun needed was for Moorcock to take the gun away from the woman's head once more, even for a few seconds. If the minister would fire at Chiun, then one of them would surely reach him before he could turn the gun back on Mrs. Sterling.
Moorcock was pondering the problem when something happened that resolved the situation. The basement door opened violently, striking Moorcock in the back. He staggered under the blow, releasing Mrs. Sterling so that she fell to the floor.
Moorcock himself retained his footing and turned to face the door. To everyone's surprise, Walter Sterling entered the room. When the boy saw the gun, he threw himself in front of his mother. Moorcock aimed the gun at him.
Chiun took full advantage of the situation, and Remo stood back and watched because this was what the Master of Sinanju had been waiting for. Remo had done the legwork. but this part belonged to Chiun.
The old Korean moved across the floor in a blur and kicked the gun from Moorcock's hand. The minister shouted and turned to find himself face-to-face with the old man he'd been ridiculing only moments ago.
"I'll kill you," he said to Chiun.
"You have killed children," Chiun explained to Moorcock, "and for that you must die a violent and painful death."
Moorcock laughed and launched a punch at Chiun. Chiun moved forward, easily avoiding the blow, and landed a blow of his own. Remo was the only other person in the room who heard the ribs on the man's left side crack. Moorcock gasped but had no time to slump to the floor before Chiun landed a second blow, shattering the ribs on the right side. Remo realized that Moorcock was about to suffer the Death of a Thousand Breaks, which was usually reserved for the very worst enemies of the House of Sinanju.
The sound of snapping bones filled the room, and before long Moorcock was lying on the floor, barely alive but still able to feel the pain from the damage that had been inflicted on him by the Master of Sinanju.
Chiun stepped back, surveyed his handiwork, and nodded. Remo knew that there wasn't a whole bone left in Moorcock's body.
"That was horrible," Mrs. Sterling said, sobbing. Her son had helped her to her feet, and she was leaning on him for support.
Chiun turned to the woman and said, "It was meant to be, madam."
Remo moved to Walter Sterling and put his hand on the boy's shoulder.
"What did he do to me?" Walter asked. "I woke up in an alley and—"
"Never mind," Remo said. "Walter, it's up to you and your mother to get all those people out of the building, and then you must call the police and tell them to come here."
"Should we wait—"
"After you've done that, take your mother home," Remo said. "We'll make sure that the police find evidence of what was going on here."
"All right," Walter said. He turned to his mother and told her they had to do what Remo said. Then he turned back to Remo and said, "The man who killed my father?"
"I'll take care of him, Walter," Remo said.
Walter Sterling accepted Remo's word and guided his mother up the steps.
Remo looked at Chiun, who was calmly studying the man on the floor. Moorcock was making all kinds of sounds, none of which sounded human.
Chiun looked at Remo then and said, "The lamps."
"Yes."
They waited several minutes for Walter to clean out the parishioners, then Remo took a few of the lamps from the walls and threw them onto the large wooden tables where the cutting had been done. The kerosene ignited the wood very quickly, and soon the acrid odor of burning heroin filled the air. Before long, everything that was wooden in the basement was burning, and Remo knew that it wouldn't be long before the flames found the steps and burned their way up to the main floor. The building was old, and it would go up quickly.
"Let's take him up," Remo said. He bent over and filled Moorcock's pockets with heroin, then threw the body over his shoulder and started up the steps.
When they reached the main level, they found that it was empty except for the smoke which had already begun to fill the place.
They left the church by the main exit. Remo left Moorcock there, where the police would be sure to find him.
There was a good chance that Lorenzo Moorcock would be dead by the time the police got there, but it could go either way.
"Next stop," Remo said, "National Motors."
Chiun looked at Moorcock, then nodded to Remo, and they went.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Jack Boffa and the man called Samuel, unaware of what was happening at the church, were busily tending to business at the National Motors plant.
First, Samuel turned the heroin over to Jack Boffa, all nicely cut and packed in plastic bags. Boffa had rounded up some of the kids to help him load the stuff in the fender wells of the cars that were being shipped that very day to New York, New Orleans, and Los Angeles. With both Louis Sterling and Allan Martin out of action, he needed the help.
Boffa, supervising the loading operation, was counting dollar signs in his head. He was to meet with Moorcock later that day— although he didn't know that the "big boss" was Moorcock— to collect his payment, unaware of the fact that Moorcock had intended to be gone long before their prearranged meeting. Even Samuel was to be left out in the cold— the cold ground, to be precise.