Warren Murphy: A Pound of Prevention

"Great," Remo muttered. He turned to the Master of Sinanju. "What do you think, Little Father?"

"For the future of our House, I would ordinarily insist you find a safe haven while I deal with the boom," Chiun said. "But since neither of us could flee in time, we will go in together."

Chief Batubizee and Bubu stepped forward. "We will accompany you, as well," the Luzu leader insisted. "If I am to meet my ancestors this day, I will do so while laughing in the face of the beast."

"I won't ask if you mean Nellie or the nuke," Remo muttered. "The rest of you fellas stay here," he called to the Luzu army. "And if you see a really bright flash, run like hell."

Propelling Mrs. Mandobar before them, the small group entered the black cave opening.

INSIDE WAS LIKE an abandoned Western gold mine. Ancient wooden support beams ran up to the rock roof where overburdened lintels strained to keep the ceiling in place.

At the cave mouth, Nellie found a bag with flashlights and other supplies she had left during her earlier visits. She and Bubu each took one. The washed-out white beams cast eerie shadows far down the man-made shaft.

"This way," the former first lady said. She led them far down the tunnel.

About seventy yards in, an alcove opened up on their right. Although it was short, Remo got a sudden sense of vast emptiness beyond, as if the world collapsed into nothingness at the end of the small side tunnel.

Peering through the darkness, he saw the opening of another tunnel in the rock face at the far end of the alcove.

"What's that?" he asked.

"Nuk wrote of them in his accounts," Chiun supplied. "They are passages without end. Nuk thought they led to the Great Void."

The thought, as well as the sense of infinite emptiness from the tunnel, gave Remo a chill.

"The geologists from Bachsburg call them kimberlites," Bubu whispered in explanation. His flashlight beam found the opening. "They occur naturally. Some are many miles deep."

The native's beam aimed forward once more, and they continued down their own tunnel. Eventually, the flashlight beams fell across the by now familiar shape of an East African nuclear warhead.

Remo and Chiun stooped to examine the bomb. The flashing red timer was set for 5:00 a.m. An hour and a half away.

"Wanna start ripping wires out?" Remo asked Chiun.

"Given your inability to screw in a lightbulb without first consulting General Electric, it would not be my first choice," the Master of Sinanju replied.

Remo looked to Nellie Mandobar. She licked her broad lips. "I would not try it," she said anxiously. Chiun studied the bomb casing. He ran a hand along the stainless steel, as if measuring its circumference.

"Okay, who's for making Broom Hilda here eat this thing?" Remo asked. He raised his own hand to drum up enthusiasm.

"She cannot eat it," Chiun said, stroking his beard thoughtfully.

When Remo met his teacher's gaze, silent communication explained his meaning. The younger Master of Sinanju nodded, taking up the thread.

"It'd have to be pretty deep," he warned.

"Did you sense a bottom?" Chiun offered.

"This would all have to come down, too," Remo said, waving a finger to the ceiling. It was Chiun's turn to nod.

"All right, we've got a plan," Remo announced. Reaching out, he slapped his hands on either side of the nuclear device, lifting it from the mine floor as if it were papier-mache.

Bomb in hand, Remo and Chiun led Mrs. Mandobar and the natives back to the alcove where the kimberlite opened up. He balanced the warhead on the rocky edge of the deep shaft. Holding the bomb in place, he turned to Batubizee and Bubu.

"You two had better scram," he warned.

Chief Batubizee hesitated. "Master of Sinanju?"

"Go," Chiun nodded. "If the end comes, you should be with your people."

With a final questioning look at Remo, Bubu reluctantly trailed his chief down the tunnel. When Nellie Mandobar started after them, Chiun restrained her.

"Hold, evil one," he said, his voice steady.

"Hold?" Nellie frowned. "Hold what? I am getting out of here."

In the yellow glow of her flashlight, Remo's smile was demon sent. "Lady, you couldn't be more wrong."

With a push, he dumped the bomb down the kimberlite. It disappeared inside the smothering blackness. As the nuclear device began its endless tumble through space, Remo spun to the former first lady of East Africa.

"Night-night, Margaret Dumont."

Her flabby face was just knotting in confusion when Remo reached out and tapped the center of her forehead. Nellie Mandobar's crazed eyes rolled back in her head, and she collapsed to the rock floor.

They left her unconscious in the kimberlite alcove.

Racing out into the main tunnel, Remo and Chiun flew down a few dozen feet. Each Master of Sinanju took a position on either side of the main path next to one of the support columns. A sharp nod and two tight fists shot out simultaneously.

The rotten wooden columns splintered at the center, bringing down the lintel above, as well as much of the cave roof. When the rock ceiling collapsed, Remo and Chiun were already gone.

They ran up the tunnel side by side, their legs harmonious blurs. Every time they passed another set of columns, hands shot out, pounding wood.

Walls and ceiling shook as if clutched in an angry fist. Even the floor seemed to buck as they raced through the rising hail of dust and stone.

Ahead, a stab of washed-out gray. A hint of starlight.

Running faster. Legs invisible, arms flashing, smashing columns to splinters of creosote-soaked wood. The dust cloud racing ahead, obliterating the cave entrance. A final rumble. Rocks collapsing above them.

A final surge propelled them through the storm and out the cave mouth. They sprang into the fresh warm air. Behind them, the cave vomited a massive burst of dust at the sky.

At the appearance of Remo and Chiun, a cheer went up from the assembly of Luzu warriors. Faces beaming pure joy, Bubu and Chief Batubizee broke from the crowd, running over to the two Masters of Sinanju.

"Master Chiun!" Batubizee whooped.

"Master Remo!" Bubu cried at the same time. Remo held off an embrace from the young native. "Before you bust out the champagne, maybe we should put some distance between us and that," he suggested, nodding back to the tumble of rocks that obscured the old cave mouth.

The Luzus nodded. With Remo and Chiun in the lead, the triumphant natives marched down the hill, leaving the dust and rocks of the collapsed cave to settle on the final resting place of both Nellie Mandobar and her twisted scheme.

Chapter 39

The explosion came in the wee hours of the morning, at the time when Nellie's party would have been winding down. Remo and Chiun alone felt the gentle rumble of earth. They sat on rocks near the dusty well in the middle of the Luzu village. All around, natives danced and sang. To Remo, what appeared to be a Luzu conga line pranced past for the millionth time. He was called to join but declined.

"Don't they ever get tired?" Remo asked.

The celebration had begun at their victorious return. Although dawn had long started to streak the sky pink, the party showed no sign of stopping.

"They have had little to celebrate for many years," the Master of Sinanju replied simply,

"I suppose." Remo nodded. The soft rumbling beneath their feet began to slow. It faded to a shuddering stop. "Looks like that shaft was deep enough to hold the blast. You think Nellie's awake by now?"

Chiun raised his shoulders indifferently. "Assuming the tunnel where we left her did not collapse, too."

"With any luck, she's sucking on radioactive dust and digging like mad," Remo commented with satisfaction.

Chiun was deeply unconcerned. He watched a dancing figure across the square.