“What insolence!” Chiun said. “We are in front of the world, Remo. I cannot afford to be seen to lose.”
“You mean you are going to have to kill me?”
“I cannot afford to be seen to lose,” Chiun repeated.
“Then go ahead and kill me,” said Remo. He skirted the area of the fine mist, looking for a dry spot inside the perimeter, and when he found it he did a forward tumble over the mist. He hoped it would not look too unusual to the cameras. He landed on the dry rock and advanced through the remnants of the defenses Chiun had already destroyed.
“Did you see that?” asked Rubin.
“Yes, can you imagine what he's like in bed?”
“I see now why he was able to get through bullets and everything.”
“He's so sexy,” said Beatrice.
“Do you think he'll take the older man?”
“He can take me,” said Beatrice.
The Dolomos watched as the Oriental in the kimono turned to face the oncoming white with the dark eyes and thick wrists. The two spoke an Oriental language they didn't understand.
Then the white threw the first blow. It was so fast they did not see it, but the eddies from the stroke fluttered the reddish-purple flowers of the bougainvillea.
Chapter 16
The reason for surrender was as simple as it was horrifying. The Dolomos had made a demonstration of a small American city.
“Before you have your minions of evil finish us off, check Culsark, Nebraska,” Rubin had said.
“What's in Culsark?” asked the President.
And the President heard laughter.
“You check them now, because what happened to Culsark will happen to you. Will happen to Europe and Japan. We have devoted followers stationed at fourteen of the most vulnerable water supplies in the world. When you look at Culsark, look at the future of Paris, London, Tokyo, and Washington. Look at tomorrow, which doesn't remember yesterday.”
Smith, listening in, immediately ordered Remo to back down. It was just what he was afraid of.
“We can at least check on Culsark first,” suggested the President.
“No time. If my estimate of Rubin Dolomo is correct, he has his people set to go off without instruction. In other words, if they don't hear from him every so often, they unload the formula.”
“Then it will be done with.”
“Not if we don't know how long it lasts. Move it into a water supply and it might infect the world, for all we know. Imagine a world where no one knows how to read or can remember how to make bronze or steel. What we have here is something worse than nuclear weapons. We have the end of civilization.”
“We can't keep surrendering to them.”
“I'm sorry, sir,” said Smith. “We just have.”
The word from Culsark came quickly. State troopers found the population crying. They all were looking for someone else to bring them food and change their clothes.
Under orders to maintain secrecy so the entire country would not panic, state troopers wearing rubber suits moved the victims to a specially prepared hospital. The scientists Smith had recruited had found some success with flushing out the system immediately, although the long-term effects could not yet be determined.
He did not hear from Remo or Chiun for four hours. And when he did, the news was even more disastrous than he could imagine.
“Sorry, Smitty,” said Remo. “Chiun's gone over to the Dolomos.”
“But he can't leave without you. You're still working for us, aren't you?”
“I'm sorry. I just couldn't explain away your actions anymore to Chiun.”
“You never could.”
“I couldn't explain them to me is what I really mean, Smitty.”
“Remo, if this is a maneuver, I will understand.”
“Smitty, when you backed away from rescuing the hostages, you lost me.”
“We had strategic concerns you didn't know about.”
“I knew I was an American and I felt trashed by what was being done to the hostages. Besides, Smitty, I just threw a blow at Chiun that was so bad, he laughed at me. I can't live with that.”
“Remo, remember everything you believe. Don't leave your country now.”
“I'm sorry, Smitty. I learned something when I lost my memory. My country has left me. It isn't worth defending anymore. So long, sweetheart. It's been fun. But it's over.”
Smith heard the communicator disconnect itself. Apparently Remo had destroyed it.
In Harbor Island Remo threw the last of the communicator into the Atlantic as the patrol boats veered away toward the horizon and the last of the naval aircraft landed on the carrier's desk for departure.
“We've won,” said Beatrice. “We have won everything.”
“Are you really the force of negative universe response?” Rubin asked the dark-eyed man who had given him so much trouble.
“He is,” said Chiun. “I have labored against this negativity for years now, but only you have been able to spot it.”
“I knew it,” said Rubin. “The negative force coming after my positive force.”
“I want him after me now,” said Beatrice.
“Wait,” said Chiun. “If I am to serve you properly I must admit that your forces are not worthy of such a gracious queen.”
“That was Rubin's idea— calling me a queen. The press fell for it. But I rather liked it.”
“You are a queen,” said Chiun. “I have been working for these white lunatics lo these many years. You alone show the true nature of a queen. You appreciate revenge, I can see.”
“Not revenge, justice,” said Beatrice.
“The best kind,” said Chiun. “Let me know your enemies so that they may grovel at your feet, begging your mercy.”
“This man has a nice ring to him,” said Beatrice.
“I don't know,” said Rubin. “They've come a long way to surrender.”
“It is not surrender,” said Chiun, “when one leaves fools to join with those who understand the universe. We could kill, you know, but that would leave us without a monarch, and what is an assassin without his monarch?”
“Maybe you're playing along so that I won't ruin Western civilization,” said Rubin.
“I never thought much of it anyhow,” said Chiun.
Rubin wheezed and popped another sedative. It had been a long day.
“How do you do that stuff that you do?” asked Rubin.
“How do you do everything?” asked Beatrice.
“Your Majesties,” said Chiun, “your way should not be burdened nor should your way be hard.”
“I'm going to puke,” said Remo in Korean.
“Shut up,” Chiun answered in kind.
“You're mine, young man,” said Beatrice, trying to put a hand on Remo's arm. The arm kept escaping her hand.
“Tell him to be still,” said Beatrice. “If I'm queen I can have everyone in my kingdom.”
“So much for your standards of being an assassin, Little Father. Do you know what they call this service?” asked Remo in Korean. He got a reply in the same tongue.
“She doesn't really care about your body. It's hers she is interested in. Satisfy her.”
“I don't even like touching her.”
“That's all you have to do, just touch.”
“Then you do it,” said Remo. “I'm your son. Is this what you would have your son do?”
“Oh viper, that you should use guilt on the aged, that you should turn morality against him who has given you everything you know and saved your life innumerable times,” said Chiun, and he refused to discuss anything else privately with Remo.
The boy had much to learn.
“Gracious Queen, allow me to awaken you to the wonders of your body,” said Chiun.
“Thanks,” said Rubin, who knew he was off the hook for this afternoon at least.