Anna sputtered something unintelligible. "Did you tell her?" Remo asked Smith.
"No time," Smith said. "It never came up."
"What never came up?" Anna demanded.
"My new situation," Remo said, suddenly understanding Anna's bad mood. She had expected to pick up their casual relationship where it had left off months ago. She didn't know about Mah-Li. "Never mind," Remo sighed. "I'll fill you in later." To Smith he said, "I think Chiun will recover. He claims that he's been sterilized."
At Remo's words, Anna Chutesov sank into a chair and buried her face in her hands. "He knows," she said. Her shoulders shook uncontrollably.
"I thought you said you didn't break the news to her," Remo said doubtfully, looking at her.
"I did not," Smith affirmed.
"Then what?"
"Ms. Chutesov is convinced that the shuttle has been reconstituted as this Yuri Gagarin Free Car Wash. She and Chiun drove through it. That was when Chiun lapsed into unconsciousness. Her story is patently absurd, of course. The shuttle crashed two days ago. Assuming some idiot was inclined to build a car wash out of the scrap, he could hardly have accomplished that feat overnight. But there is something odd about the car wash."
"That's the temple of evil Chiun was babbling about? A freaking car wash?"
"It seems so," said Smith.
Remo went over to Anna Chutesov and gently shook her shoulder.
"Is that it?"
Anna Chutesov lifted a tear-filled face to Remo's. She shook her head until her blond hair flopped at the nape of her neck.
"He must have killed the crew," she said brokenly. "There is no other explanation."
"Could I see you a moment, Remo?" Smith asked. Remo and Smith huddled in a corner.
"I don't understand any of this," Smith said.
"Join the club."
"The Gagarin disappears near Rye and then this woman shows up. She's the only one outside of our operation who knows about CURE."
"You think this is a setup?"
"Her car-wash story is ridiculous. And why was Chiun rendered unconscious and she was not?"
"Sinanju makes a person more sensitive to certain things that don't bother normal people," Remo said. "The hamburger you had for lunch would put me six feet under. I do know this much: if Chiun says he was sterilized by a car wash, I have to believe him, Smitty."
"I think you should look into that car wash, Remo. Take Ms. Chutesov with you, but keep an eye on her."
"Gotcha," Remo said, making an A-okay sign with his fingers.
Remo rejoined Anna Chutesov, who had found her feet and her composure. She wiped her eyes with her fingertips.
"You game for another crack at that car wash?" Remo asked.
Anna Chutesov squared her shoulders and opened her mouth to speak.
"Yes," said the Master of Sinanju from the doorway. He was wearing a hospital johnny, which he clutched at the back, out of modesty.
Remo snapped around.
"Little Father, should you be out of bed?"
"It is my future that has been murdered, not my resolve," said Chiun. "And I cannot allow you to venture into that evil building without me to guide you. For you lack the wisdom of the full Master and are the last potent vessel of Sinanju, Remo."
"I never thought of myself in those terms." Remo smiled.
"Neither have I," said Anna Chutesov archly.
Chapter 12
Remo slowed the car as they approached the crude road sign that said YURI GAGARIN FREE CAR WASH. "Where are the huge lines I've been hearing about?" he asked. He had driven the car from Folcroft because Chiun was too weak to fight about it. Anna Chutesov smoldered in the back seat. At times, she dabbed at her eyes. Remo, feeling a wave of pity, thought he knew why. Anna was hurt by his rejection of her. Maybe she was in love with him. He would have to break the news of his engagement to her gently, poor kid. Let her down easy.
"There!" Chiun said, pointing. He had donned a tiny suit of green and white checks that made him look like the Korean version of a racetrack bookie. "The place of evil," Chiun added. "Fie on the day I set eyes upon its wickedness."
"Looks like an ordinary car wash to me," Remo ventured.
In the back seat Anna Chutesov growled from the back of her throat and unlimbered a Walther PPK automatic from a pocket of her spring coat.
"Where'd you get that?" Remo asked, noticing the gun in the rearview mirror.
"I bought it."
"How'd you manage that? Guns are tough to get in this state."
"The gun-store owner was very co-operative. He, at least, recognized me for what I am."
"A Russian agent?" Remo asked. No, fool. A woman."
"Oh," said Remo. "I think there's something I should tell you."
"Later," Chiun broke in. "The evil place looms ahead." Remo coasted to the bottom of the ramp, letting two cars pass before he slid onto the grounds of the car wash. There was no activity about the place. The wind shook the banks of oak trees behind it. There was a cardboard CLOSED sign taped to the front.
"Looks deserted," Remo said after a long pause.
"A brilliant observation," Anna Chutesov snorted, stepping out of the car, pistol in hand.
"Hey!" Remo said. "Wait up!"
"Hush!" said Chiun. "Let her do as she will." "She might get killed," Remo pointed out.
"Better her than us. Besides, it is her fault I have been unmanned."
"Unmanned? Oh, right."
"Let us see how the car-wash machine treats her," Chiun said.
"Nothing doing, Little Father," Remo said. "She might do something crazy." Remo trotted after her.
Anna Chutesov had stepped into the open entrance. She moved like a cat, supple and silent, and Remo felt, vaguely, a stirring of his old feelings for her. She was a graceful female animal, cool as a snow leopard, and fearless. She paused before the hanging leather strips to examine a control board.
The leather strips lifted quietly like the tendrils of a great plant and wrapped around her head, arms, and legs. Anna Chutesov screamed as they dragged her inside.
Remo broke into a run.
The Master of Sinanju pounced after him and got in his way.
"No, Remo!" said Chiun, pushing against Remo's stomach. "I will attend to this. You must not risk your seed too."
"You're not well. You stay."
"We will both go, then, stubborn one," Chiun said, and they flashed into the Yuri Gagarin Free Car Wash. They went through the hanging leather strips so fast they cracked like sails in the wind.
Inside, Remo saw an incredible sight. The interior of the car wash was dark, hot, and stifling, but its mechanisms were alive. Looking down the length of the car track, he saw frantic mechanical movement. It was like a fun-house tunnel come to malevolent life.
Huge bundles of hanging strips of leather, like seaweed, dragged along the wet flooring, and out of the tangle poked a pair of slim legs. Anna's legs. And Anna screamed as they dragged her toward the flailing machinery.
"Hold!" Chiun cried. Remo, his eyes automatically adjusting to the light, saw the Master of Sinanju jump to one side of the leather tangle. There was a flurry of flashing fingernails, and in a twinkling, the leather strips fell into a wet heap.
Remo helped Anna Chutesov to her feet.
"Good going, Little Father," said Remo. "I have her. "
"Now take her," Chiun cried. "I demand you leave. Go! This instant!"
"Nothing doing," said Remo stubbornly.
"The danger is not at this end," Anna said suddenly, "but at the other."
Remo and Chiun looked at her. She was dripping wet.
"How do you know that?"
"Trust me. I know," said Anna, wringing out her hair.
"What do you think, Little Father?"
Remo never heard what Chiun thought, because suddenly jets of water sprayed at them from all directions and the huge spinning buffers bore down on them.