Warren Murphy: Feeding Frenzy

"Roger, Thrush," said the Master of Sinanju.

Nalini was saying, "Please do not harm me, Man of Sinanju. I am but a poor servant who cannot harm you." Her voice was pitiful. Her heart was beating wildly.

Remo hesitated. Her fruity scent was in his nostrils, tickling them.

"Straight talk," he said.

Nalini gathered herself up, her liquid eyes steady on Remo's towering form.

"What do you wish to know?" she murmured.

"There's no HELP, right? Just poison spiders."

Nalini nodded. "There is no HELP, yes. Only spiders."

"So how come some people die in two days and others go as soon as they're bitten?"

The Spider Diva mustered up a tentative smile that made her dark eyes sparkle alluringly. She stretched her legs, revealing no hidden arachnids.

"It is very simple," she said, averting her eyes. "My pets are no different from other creatures. Some are male. Some are female. The bite of the male brings weakness and a slow death. Those whom my sisters bite succumb at once."

Remo grunted. "Okay, why?"

"It is my duty." She lay back, stretching her arms, arching her back like a supple brown cat. "If you are Sinanju, I do not have to explain duty to you."

"Who's your boss-Clancy?"

She closed her eyes. "Yes, my boss is Clancy."

Remo listened to her beating heart. It had been slowing down, and was now beating normally. She was telling the truth, he decided.

"What's his game?"

"To be President of the United States."

"Blotto? Who'd vote for him?"

"Grateful Americans, once he delivers them from the terrible Human Environmental Liability Paradox."

"Smart. All you gotta do is pull your spiders back and anything he does will look like a cure. But it won't work."

Nalini found his eyes with hers. Her voice grew pleading.

"It could work, Remo. If you were to join us."

Remo shook his head. "No chance."

"I am sorry you say that," she said petulantly, lying back. Her head fell on the pillow. More of the fruity scent billowed up and Remo found himself breathing more rapidly. "I looked forward to more lovemaking with you."

"Sorry."

"You will not kill me."

"It's my job," said Remo.

"I too have a job. I am sorry that your job and my job have made us adversaries. But we need not be enemies."

"That's the biz, sweetheart," said Remo, trying to decide whether to shatter her face or deliver a simple heart-stopping blow over the left breast.

"I understand," Nalini murmured. "But I do not think you will kill me."

"Why not?"

"Because you cannot."

"Wrong," said Remo. Lifting his right hand, he made the stiffening fingers into a spear point.

Nalini spread her legs apart in the darkness, and her scent filled Remo's head. She lay open to him like a burst plum.

"Kill me then-if you can."

And Remo found he could not strike. Instead, he desired her. It was against all his training, but his mind kept flashing back to their wild lovemaking of the night before. And his body yearned to join with hers.

"Mount me," Nalini whispered. "Take me. I will be your slave if I am allowed to live."

Remo started to laugh, but his manhood was stirring. He willed the engorging blood back, but his desire was stronger than his will.

Eyes dark with want, he got onto the bed and straddled her.

Nalini smiled wantonly. "I knew your blood would hear the call of my blood," she whispered.

Remo grasped her under the arms, squeezing the bushy hair hard as he could. The crunching of tiny insect bodies rewarded him.

Nalini's smile melted, her eyes widening with shock.

"You thought I didn't figure they'd be there," said Remo, reaching down to remove his pants.

Nalini closed her eyes in surrender. "You are wise for a man of the West. I want you, therefore I will not resist you."

Remo took her. She threw her head back and gave a tiny grunt that mixed pleasure and pain. Her features softened, and a slow cunning smile touched the dark corners of her lips.

And before he could begin the first return thrust, Remo felt tiny fangs puncture the tip of his swollen manhood.

Chapter 28

The Master of Sinanju employed his long nails to sever the cloth gag and bonds of Thrush Limburger.

"You are safe now," he intoned, stepping back, restoring his hands to his sleeves.

"Who the heck are you?" Limburger demanded, shedding his bonds.

"I regret that I cannot speak my name to you, but I am here to rescue you from a cruel fate."

Limburger blinked in the gloom. He looked around. "Where am I anyway?"

"The house of Clancy."

"Not the Black Hole of Hyannisport?"

Chiun nodded. "The very same."

"Unbelievable. I guess Clancy must be behind HELP, if they kidnapped me just to shut me up. I knew those California Highway Patrol guys were fakes the minute I laid eyes on them. But they had their guns out and snapped off my mike before I could say anything."

"Speak to me the truth. What did you discover?"

"There is no Human Environmental Liability Paradox. It's a scam. The bugs are harmless. What's killing people are poison spiders."

"Yes. We have learned that much."

Limburger looked quizzical. "We?"

"How did you come upon the truth?" Chiun asked.

"I happened to drop in on the Ukiah coroner when he was autopsying a local guy who died mysteriously. While we were talking, a red bug crawled out from under the dead guy's leg. We thought it was an ant, until its head split apart and two fangs popped out like switchblades. That was when I recognized the thing as a Ceylonese jumping spider, Myrmarachne plataleoides. I figured it got into the guy's clothes and bit him."

Chiun narrowed his eyes. "How do you know its name?"

Limburger grinned proudly. "I saw a picture of one once in a National Geographic. I just happen to have a photographic memory. That's how I knew those CHP guys were phonies. I recognized them as Clancy campaign aides. Just one of the varied talents of Thrush Limburger, Renaissance talk show genius."

"And how did you know this insect to be poison?"

"Simple. It up and bit the coroner. He keeled over, and his eyes turned blue." Limburger shook his head sadly. "Poor guy was dead in a New York minute."

"But you told no one?"

"Wasn't any time," Limburger protested. "I had to go on the air with it as soon as possible. The sooner I warned the world, the sooner people could avoid the damned spiders and lives would be saved. There was nothing I could do for Esterquest."

Chiun nodded. "This was wise, except that there are those who blamed you for the man's death."

"The media, right?"

"And certain others."

"That's what it is to be Thrush Limburger. If I cured cancer, they'd bitch that I overlooked the common cold. Well, let's get the heck out of this pest hole of permissiveness."

And from somewhere above, a voice emitted a startled cry of pain.

"What was that?" Limburger demanded.

"Remo!" cried Chiun. And because he could not have a human elephant stumbling after him, he felled Thrush Limburger with a short, chopping blow to the side of his head.

The man fell like an up-ended rain barrel.

Nalini Toshi laughed with musical mockery as Remo pulled himself free of her, a jumping spider clinging to the tip of his male organ.

He whacked it off, crushed it under a stamping heel.

And Nalini cried, "It is a she-spider! Your death is upon you, Western fool!"

Remo felt his manhood wilt, and knew the toxin-filled blood was returning to his body. His crotch was already growing numb. And a coldness crept into his upper thighs and solar plexus. He fought to keep the blood in check, but the coldness was already spreading toward his heart.

"Die! Die!" shrieked Nalini. "But be sure to fall where the moonlight will show me your eyes. I want to see them turn blue. I want to look into your dying eyes, Sinanju fool."