"Don't touch me!" Audrey took a quick step backward, wobbling on her heels.
"You don't mean that," said Chalmers. "Not deep down."
"I mean exactly that, you oaf!"
"Oaf, is it? Rhymes with loaf.' I've got a loaf just right to fit your oven, dearie, or I'm very much mistaken."
Remo moved up on silent feet with the speed of wind and was immediately behind them when he spoke.
"It's a small world, after all."
Pike Chalmers swung around to face him, squinting in the dark, then sneering as he recognized the face. "Too bloody small," he said. "You'll shove off if you know what's good for you."
"Is there a problem here?"
"No problem, Doctor."
"Yes!" As Audrey spoke, she moved to stand at Remo's side, warm fingers resting lightly on his biceps. "Would you walk me back to the hotel?"
"No problem," Remo said.
"You sure of that?" asked Chalmers. "I believe you'll find there is a problem when you start to meddle in another man's affairs."
"You're drunk, friend. Maybe you should hit the sheets so you don't miss the flight tomorrow, eh?"
"I'll hit your bloody sheets, you little faggot!"
Chalmers put his weight behind the swing, but it was nothing special. Remo pulled his punch to keep the hulk alive, but it was still enough to drop him in his tracks, out cold before he hit the pavement.
Audrey gaped at Chalmers, laid out in the street. "My God," she said, "what happened?"
"I suppose he slipped and hit his head," Remo answered. "We could try and carry him to the hotel."
"Forget about it. He can sleep it off right here, for all I care."
"Well, if you're sure—"
"I'm sure. If someone rips his wallet off, it serves him right."
She looped her arm through Remo's, and they put the fallen hulk behind them, crossing over to Jalan Pudu and starting on the loop back to the Shangri-la.
"I'm glad you came along back there," she said. "It could have gotten ugly."
"You should be more careful choosing dates," said Remo.
"Bite your tongue! I wouldn't date that caveman on a bet. He saw me in the club and… oh, well, never mind. I wanted Safford—Dr. Stockwell—to get rid of him, but he's supposed to be the best at what he does."
"Which is?"
"Shoot animals," she said with thinly veiled contempt. "The great white hunter, don't you know?"
"I didn't understand this was a hunting expedition," Remo said.
"You're right, of course. It isn't. But we had to make some kind of gesture toward security and all that sort of thing. There was insurance to consider, and the truth is, I don't want to find a lion in my tent if I can help it."
"Lions live in Africa," said Remo.
"Anyway, I'm told the hired gun stays… unless he's cracked his skull and can't go on tomorrow. God, you don't suppose we'll have to push the trip back and look for a replacement?"
"I suspect he'll be all right," said Remo, "but I wouldn't want the headache he'll find waiting for him in the morning."
"Serves him right," said Audrey, "but enough about that creep. I understand you're from New Orleans."
"Not originally." Remo tapped into the file CURE had compiled on Renton Ward. "I've worked there for the past eight years, but I'm from Kansas, if you trace it back."
"What got you hooked on snakes?" she asked.
He smiled. "What got you hooked on plants that died a hundred million years ago?"
"Touché." She thought about it for a moment, then went on. "I guess it crept up on my blind side, Renton. I was into botany and horticulture as a freshman out in California, when I took a course on prehistoric life. It was supposed to fill a blank spot in my schedule, no big challenge, but it got me thinking. How can a species dominate the earth for several billion years, and then just fade away? I mean, if we can solve that riddle, there's a chance we still might save ourselves, you know?"
"Are we in danger of extinction?"
"Every day," she told him earnestly. "We've got pollution—air, sea and land—overpopulation and a lot of shaky fingers on the trigger that could blow us all away. So what if Russia fell apart? It's not like one regime was causing all the problems in the world. Hey, what's the joke?"
She caught him smiling, seemed about to take offense.
Remo moved to head her anger off. "No joke," he said. "It's just that you sound more like someone who should be out leading demonstrations than collecting fossils."
"I do both," said Audrey, "when I have the time. And what about yourself?"
"I mostly hang around the serpentarium and milk my snakes," said Remo.
Audrey giggled like a schoolgirl. "When you say it that way, it sounds positively lecherous."
"It gets to be a handful," he allowed.
"I can imagine. What's your favorite?"
"Snake? That has to be the king. Twelve feet of solid muscle. One dose of his venom is enough to kill a hundred men. We have a mated pair back in New Orleans."
"And you handle them?"
"I milk each of them once a month."
"You must be very brave."
"It keeps me on my toes," he said. "The other snakes are dangerous, of course—the rattlers, coral snakes, moccasins, the bushmaster—but if you mess up with the king, you're history."
"You must have magic hands."
"It's in the wrist," he said.
"You'll have to show me sometime. How you do it."
"Have you got a snake?"
"We'll improvise."
"That could be challenging," he said.
"You must keep busy in New Orleans," Audrey said. "I've read about the women there, in the French Quarter."
"Well—"
"Come on, now, Renton. Please don't tell me you're a monk."
"I don't have much free time," he said by way of explanation.
"It's a good thing that we got you, then, before you waste away. All work, no play, et cetera."
"I understood this was a working expedition, Dr.—"
"Audrey, please."
"All right."
"It is, of course, but there's no law that says we can't enjoy ourselves along the way, now, is there?"
Remo thought about it. "Not that I'm aware of."
"There you go."
They were a block south of the Shangri-la and gaining fast. When Audrey saw the progress they had made, she dropped her grip on Remo's arm and took his hand.
"You know," she said, "you saved my life tonight."
"I doubt that very much."
"My honor, then. The proverbial fate worse than death."
"Something tells me you make out all right on your own," Remo said.
"Oh, I do. But it's more fun with two."
"So I'm told."
"You deserve a reward from the damsel in distress."
"I'll have to take a rain check, Audrey. Gear to pack, that kind of thing."
"A rain check, eh?"
"If that's permissible."
"You do know where we're going, don't you?"
"Well—"
"Rain forest all the way," she told him, rising on her toes to kiss him lightly on the corner of his mouth. "You get some sleep, now. Save your strength."
"I'll see you in the morning."
"And don't forget to pack your rubbers," Audrey told him. "It gets wet here in the bush."
"I'll bet it does," said Remo, and he started back toward his hotel.
Chapter Seven
"The woman has desire for you?" asked Chiun.
"It looks that way to me," said Remo.
Chiun reached out and thumped him on the forehead with a bony index finger. "Think with this head, always," he demanded. "Sex is a temptation to be overcome, an instrument to be employed for higher purposes. It is the nature of the female to deceive."
"I hear you, Little Father."
"Yes, but do you listen?"
"Well, my ears are ringing at the moment."
"Always joking, like a monkey in the zoo."
"I have to go," said Remo, glancing at his watch. "It wouldn't do for me to miss the kickoff."