"And you belong in a nest," Perriweather said. "Get those two scientists out here."
"You are the crudest-"
"In a nest with orange peels and coffee grounds on the bottom. Get them, I said."
Dara pressed an intercom button that made her voice reverberate around the IHAEO complex.
"I think you are a matter for security, Mr. Perriweather: You understand? Security."
"I have no intention of discussing anything with a breeder. Bring on your scientists."
Inside the main lab, Remo heard Dara's voice. "Security," he said. "I think that's us."
Chiun unfolded himself from a lotus position atop one of the tables.
"About time," he grumbled. "No wonder scientists are always being given prizes. They deserve medals for their ability to endure boredom."
"I think some of them do more than sit on tables," Remo said.
"If they were afflicted with ungrateful pupils the way I am, they would be under the tables, not on them," Chiun said.
"Why don't we go see what Dara wants?" Remo said.
"If you wish. But if the two of you start noisily coupling in her office, I do not know if I will be able to control myself."
"I'll keep a lid on it, Little Father."
"See that you do."
"Ah. Drs. Remo and Chiun," Perriweather said. He handed his card toward Remo, who ignored it. He shoved it into Chiun's hand. Chiun tore it up.
"What seems to be the trouble, Dara?" Remo asked.
"This one called me an egg-layer."
Chiun chuckled. "An egg-layer," he snorted. "What a wonderful term for the white female."
Dara threw her hands up over her head in exasperation and stormed from the office.
"I am Chiun," the Korean said to Perriweather, nodding slightly.
"And you must be Dr. Remo?" Perriweather said.
"Just Remo will do."
Perriweather thrust his hand forward toward Remo, who ignored it. In a quick glance, Perriweather appraised the young man with the thick wrists. He didn't look much like a scientist. He looked more like a security man, probably around to protect the old Oriental. He smiled involuntarily. The late Dr. Ravits could tell them a thing or two about the value of security men, he thought.
But no matter. It just made his work easier than he had expected it to be.
"I greatly admired your work on eradicating the Ung beetle from Uwenda," he said.
Remo had appraised Perriweather too. The man was too smooth, too well dressed and too polished to be a scientist. But his fingernails were dirty.
"You read about it in the papers?"
"Yes," Perriweather said. "You see, I have some interest in entomology myself. Have a very sophisticated lab in my home. You should see it."
"Why?" Remo said coldly.
"Because as the two foremost entomologists at IHAEO, your opinions on an experiment of mine would be really useful."
"His opinion would not be useful at all," Chiun said, glancing at Remo. "He does not even know the correct clothing to wear. How could you expect him to appreciate science?"
Perriweather looked at Chiun, then in confusion glanced at Remo.
"My opinion's as good as anybody else's," Remo said testily. "What kind of bug work do you do, Periwinkle?"
"Perriweather," the man corrected. "And please, say 'insect.' 'Bug' is a term . . ." He stopped and took a couple of deep breaths to calm himself. "They are not bugs. They are insects," he finally said. "And because of your magnificent work on the Ung beetle, I came to alert you to an even greater danger which I have managed to isolate in my laboratory."
"What is it?" Remo said.
"I'd rather show you," Perriweather said. He moved closer and Remo could smell the scent of decay and rotting food on the man's skin. "I know you people have had trouble here with terrorists. Well, since I have been working on this project, I've gotten threats. I expect an attack tonight on my laboratory."
"You've got to tell me something about what your work is about," Remo told Perriweather. "And please stand downwind."
"Don't tell him anything," Chiun told Perriweather. "He'll forget it in two minutes. He remembers nothing, that one."
There was something going on between these two that Perriweather did not understand, so he elected to talk only to Remo.
"There is a new strain of insect," Perriweather said. "If proliferates very quickly and if my guess is correct, it could rule the earth within weeks."
"Then why are you smiling?" Remo said.
"Just nerves, I guess," Perriweather said. He clasped a hand over his mouth. Remo noticed that the man's fingers were long and thin and sharply angled at the joints, like the legs of a spider.
"We'd better go see this thing," Remo said.
"I think it's important," Perriweather said. "I have a private plane waiting."
Remo took Chiun aside. "Talk to him for a few minutes. I want to call Smitty and check him out."
"Yes," Chiun said. As Remo walked to the door, Chiun called out, "You can tell the egg-layer to return to her post. Heh, heh. Egg-layer. Heh, heh."
Remo dialed the telephone and listened to the clicks as the call switched from Albany through Denver and through Toronto before a telephone finally rang on the island of St. Martin in the Caribbean.
"Hello?" a quavering voice said.
Remo paused before answering. "Who is this?" he said suspiciously.
"It's Barry," the voice whimpered. "I suppose you're calling for Dr. Smith?"
"Maybe," Remo said cautiously.
"I'll have to take a message. He's not here. I wish he was. I really miss him."
"Barry who? Who are you?" Remo asked.
"Barry Schweid. I'm Dr. Smith's best friend. His very best friend. You're the one called Remo, aren't you? What can I do for you?"
"When is Smitty coming in?"
"I don't know. I wish he was here right now. I don't like talking on the telephone," Barry Schweid said.
"Give him a message for me, will you?" Remo said.
"Go ahead. I'll write it down."
"Tell him I want to know about a man named Perriweather. Waldron Perriweather the Third."
"Does that begin with a P?" Barry asked. Remo hung up.
In the mansion, Perriweather led them past the gleaming white laboratory toward a dark corridor. "Don't you want us to see the lab?" Remo asked. "In a moment. There are a few things I'd like to show you first. There's a room down here. Just follow me."
"Something doesn't smell right here," Chiun said in Korean as they followed a few paces behind Perriweather down the dusty carpeted hall.
"It could be his fingernails," Remo responded in Korean. "Did you see them?"
"Yet his clothes are immaculate."
"But what was that stuff about Dara being an egg-layer?" Remo asked.
"Oh, that," Chiun said in dismissal. "Yes, that."
"When one is speaking of white women, all is fair," Chiun said.
"I'll ignore that," Remo said.
"He became incensed when you used the word 'bug,'" Chiun said.
"Strange for somebody who works with them all the time. Probably keeps them in his fingernails as pets."
"Silence," Chiun hissed in Korean.
"What?"
"There are sounds coming from the room at the end of the hall."
Remo pitched his hearing low. The old man was right. Behind the thick door at the end of the corridor something was breathing. Something huge from the sound of it. As they stepped closer, the breathing grew louder.
"Someone snoring, maybe," Remo said in Korean. "From the looks of this place, sleeping might be the most fun thing to do."
Chiun was not smiling.
"What's in there, Chiun?" Remo asked. "What kind of animal?"
"Two things," Chiun said.
The noise grew louder. Air was hissing out of lungs that sounded as if they were made of concrete. As they neared the doorway, they could smell something vile from inside the door. The air became foul and cold.
"Control your breathing," Chiun snapped in Korean.