"Oh, that fish cellar," said Remo, who had never heard of any fish cellar and was dead sure there hadn't been one in the basement before today. "What's your name, by the way?"
"I am housekeeper. Name not important." And she bowed again.
"But you do have one?"
"Yes," said the old woman, bowing again and shuffling up the stairs to the upper floor.
"Chiun better have a good explanation for this," muttered Remo, ducking through the door leading into the basement.
The basement was an L-shaped space, just like the building above. Patches of light streamed through casement windows. They fell on rows of storage freezers like the ones big families use to keep sides of beef and giant racks of ribs. They were new. They hummed insistently. There were also giant bubbling aquariums, also in rows. All were empty of fish.
"Chiun, where are you?" Remo called out.
"Here," a thin voice squeaked.
Remo knew that squeak. It was not a happy squeak. Chiun was upset.
He found the Master of Sinanju at the far end of the cellar, in what had once been the coal bin. It had been changed. The wooden sides had been torn out and the area bricked off. There was a door. It was open.
Remo looked in.
The Master of Sinanju stood in the dim, cool space wearing his face like a mummy's death mask. His bright hazel eyes were looking up at Remo. They glinted, then narrowed.
Chiun wore a simple gray kimono of raw silk. No decorations. Its skirts brushed the tops of his black Korean sandals. His hands were tucked into the sleeves, which met over his tight belly.
His button nose flared slightly and he said, "You stink of sango."
"Sango?"
"Shark."
"Oh, right. One tried to eat me."
Chiun cocked his head like an inquisitive bird, his expression unreadable in the gloom. "And...?"
"I ate him first." Remo grinned. Chiun did not. His head came back, throwing off the shadows that clung to the wizened parchment features. He was as bald as an Easter egg, with two white puffs of cloudy hair over each ear. A beard like the unkempt tail of a white mouse hung from his chin.
"Smitty tell you what happened to me?" Remo asked.
"He did not. No doubt shame stilled his noble tongue."
"I got to the rendezvous zone in time. But someone had sunk the ship."
"You allowed this?"
"I couldn't exactly help it. It was sunk before I got there."
"You should have been early."
"But I wasn't."
"But you avenged this insult?"
"I tried to. A submarine torpedoed it. I went looking for it, but it found me first."
"You destroyed this pirate vessel in the name of the House?"
"Actually it kinda got away," Remo admitted.
"You allowed a mere submarine to elude you!" Chiun flared.
"I know what a sub is. I got aboard, but they chased me off. I did my best, Chiun. Then I found myself floating in the ocean without a pot or paddle. I almost drowned."
Chiun's face remained severe. "You are trained not to drown."
"I came that close. Sharks circled me."
"You are stronger than a shark. You are mightier than a shark. No shark could best you whom I have trained in the sun source that is Sinanju."
"Thanks for taking all the credit, but it was a close call."
"The training squandered upon you brought you home alive," said Chiun, stepping out and closing the door behind him with abrupt finality.
"Actually I don't think I would have made it, but I remembered Freya," Remo admitted.
Chiun lifted his chin in unconcealed interest.
"I remembered that I had a daughter and I wanted to see her again. So I found the will to survive."
Chiun said nothing.
"I'm sorry I blew the mission," Remo said quietly. He rotated his freakishly thick wrists absentmindedly.
Chiun remained quiet, his face stiff, his hazel eyes opaque.
"So, what did we lose?" asked Remo.
"Our honor. But it will be regained. You will see to that."
And Chiun breezed past Remo like a gray wraith.
Opening the door, Remo stuck his head into the bricked-off end of the cellar. It was bare, except for row upon row of cedar shelving.
Shrugging, Remo reclosed the door and started after the Master of Sinanju, and they mounted the stairs together.
"The old lady said you were in the fish cellar. But I don't see any fish."