Remo spoke up, loudly.
"The only thing dead is Stacy," he said. He heard a scurrying inside the igloo, and then Harvey Quibble came out through the large opening.
He held a big automatic in his hand.
"You," he said, with a small smile. "Well, well, I have all the troublemakers in one spot."
"It's all over. Quibble. Or should I say Lance?"
"When did you know?"
"Just a while ago. It was your after-shave that tipped us. That smell was everywhere we found a body. And Cicely still had your picture in her bedroom. Tell me, how does it feel to order your own wife murdered?"
"Ex-wife." Quibble said. "She had to go, for the good of the program. We needed a martyr."
"And Pierre LaRue?" Remo asked.
"We needed a scapegoat," Quibble said evenly.
"How'd you kill Carpathian?" Remo asked.
"An injection. I was afraid if you got to him, he'd talk," Quibble said. "How did you get on to me?"
"You made a mistake when you left that tape recorder in the snow," Remo said. "A federal tape recorder. And you're the only federal employee around here. I should have known that sooner."
"Actually, I never expected you to find it," Quibble said. "I thought it would just stay buried under the snow. But, all's well that end's well," he said.
He began to back away from Remo and Chiun to give himself more safe shooting room. His hand was steady as he held the gun on them. But as he moved backward, past the opening to the igloo, Joey reached out, grabbed his heel, and Quibble fell to the snow-covered ground. The gun squirted out of his hands in Remo's direction. Quibble got up, looked at the gun, at Remo, then turned and ran, heading into the forest.
Remo watched him for a moment. Then his eyes lit on Pierre LaRue's double-bladed axe, buried deep in the tree where Remo had thrown it.
Remo yanked the axe from the tree. He raised it over his head and then threw it forward with his right hand. The heavy handle of the axe whistled as it turned over and over again. The blade of the tool buried itself deep into Harvey Quibble's back. He fell to the ground with a whooshing exhalation of air.
"Timber," mumbled Remo under his breath, as he watched the man fall.
Joey Webb came out of the igloo and stood with Remo and Chiun.
Chiun looked around at the trees, at the brightly starred sky and said, "This is beautiful. I think I will go up into the woods to commune with nature. Just me and the outdoors, sharing the oneness of life."
"Carry your own trunks," Remo said.
Chapter Eighteen
Chiun had marched off into the woods, to find some peace and quiet.
Remo had called Smith again, while Joey was in the back of the log cabin.
"I just traced that tape recorder to Harvey Quibble," Smith said.
"I know all about it," Remo said. "He's dead. Stacy's dead. The job's done."
"Oh," said Smith. "Then I guess there isn't much for us to talk about, is there?"
"No," Remo said.
He heard Smith clear his throat, nervously, as if trying to muster up the courage to speak.
"What is it?" Remo said.
"Give Joey... give Joey my love."
Remo looked up as the pretty long-legged woman walked toward him. She had taken off her clothes. She extended her long, naked arms toward him.
"I'll be glad to," Remo said. "Glad to."
And he was.