Warren Murphy: Skull Duggery

The hateful glitter in Wu Ming Shi's eyes faded. His narrow chest rose and fell with his slight breathing.

"Five-Dragon Cave," he murmured. "I know it well."

Returning the skull to the box, he rose to his feet painfully, clutching the box like a square football.

"Know, Master of Sinanju, that with this gift you erase the memory of the insult that was done to me so long ago. I vow to you that from this day forward, the village of Sinanju and all who dwell within need fear naught from the mandarin Wu Ming Shi."

"If you will so inform your blue Bees, I will consider our business done," Chiun returned with a slight stiff bow.

"They will be so informed before we leave."

Chiun's wispy beard trembled. "We?"

"Many li separate Sayn Shanda from Five-Dragon Cave. The Gobi is overrun with Mongols, stirred up by a new khan. I will need protection if I am to reach the place I seek."

"I have not offered my protection."

"But you will give it," Wu Ming Shi said with a cracking of his lips into a brown smile. "Else my Blue Bees will hear nothing from me before we leave. I know you will not wish me to depart Sayn Shanda without word going out-and you will happily see me to my destination. For I am without my faithful Sagwa. "

Chiun considered. "I agree. On one condition."

"And this is?"

"Your new servant. I wish him back, for without the treasure of Genghis, I will be forced to return to America. He is not the best servant I have had, but he is at least somewhat housebroken. You may have Zhang Zingzong for him."

Wu Ming Shi looked to his chauffeur. "Ah, so he does mean something to you."

"It is as I have said," Chiun insisted quietly.

"Yes. This can be arranged. Prepare to ride." Wu Ming Shi turned to Fang Yu, saying. "Let the Blue Bees of the world know my directions. And assemble a group of them for the journey."

Fang Yu bowed and padded away.

Chapter 37

Remo walked ahead of the mandarin Wu Ming Shi only because the mandarin Wu Ming Shi commanded him to do so.

The long black limousine was parked outside the monastery. Before it, over forty blue-clad Chinese workmen sat on short-legged Mongolian horses, in rows four deep. Directly behind the limo, the Master of Sinanju waited astride a pony, as did Zhang Zingzong and Fang Yu. Zhang's head was bowed, his wrists bound to his saddle. Fang Yu sat proudly, attired in a blue work uniform.

"My Blue Bees," mandarin Wu Ming Shi said proudly.

"I'll bet they're good little Doo-Bees, too," Remo told him.

"Open the door for me."

Remo obliged, hating every second.

The mandarin Wu Ming Shi paused at the door. His dead brown teeth showed in an ugly smile.

"You are silent," he hissed. "Good. You learn."

Remo decided he had enough. He brought his foot down for where the mandarin Wu Ming Shi's instep should be. To his surprise, he stomped the hem of the mandarin's gown flat without encountering flesh and bone.

"Where do you keep your feet?" Remo asked, dumbfounded.

Wu Ming Shi swiftly eased into the limo interior, his guttural, "Close the door and take your rightful place," coming as if from a well.

Remo obeyed and climbed in behind the wheel.

The horses started off, and Remo, unable to resist the orders coming through the glass partition behind his head, followed them.

They rode south, out of Sayn Shanda and into the hard desert. Remo doubted the car would handle the rough terrain, but then he realized that was why the so-called Blue Bees rode ahead. Their pony hooves packed down the sandy gravel so the car's tires found traction.

They passed several clusters of gers, and while curious Mongol eyes followed the procession, none followed them with their bodies.

They made good time, the horses cantering, the limo moving at a steady pace. Occasionally its tires would hit a gully. The Blue Bees hastily dismounted, and wielding brooms and shovels, filled in the rough spots. And they would continue.

Remo drove monotonously. After a few hours the mandarin laid his head back against his seat and fell asleep, his head tilted back, his mouth open, as if in rigor mortis. He looked dead, his face a varnished death mask.

Remo discovered that the black seat rest beside him had a lid. He lifted it, exposing two rows of shiny black buttons. Each button was labeled in Chinese, but he guessed they controlled the limo's defensive array. He shut the lid.

Shortly after that, the Master of Sinanju cantered up beside him and Remo rolled down the car window.

"I didn't know you could ride a horse, Little Father," Remo remarked.

"Koreans are the finest horsemen in all of Asia," Chiun sniffed.

"The Mongols don't think so," Remo said.

"What do you know of Mongols?" Chiun demanded.

"Enough to clear out of their way when the dinner gong is struck," Remo said. Then, "It was all true, wasn't it, from Amelia Earhart to Fu Manchu?"

Chiun nodded. "How did you know I would be in China?"

"Smith, who else? He found that note in a bottle Zhang threw overboard."

"What! There was no note!"

Remo frowned. "He knew about Temujin too."

Chiun frowned. "It is another of Smiths sneaky listening insects." He spat. "That man is more duplicitous than the fictitious Fu Achoo."

"I thought we pulled all the bugs from the house?"

"You must have missed one," Chiun said pointedly.

"Never mind. Why does he call me Sagwa?"

"It is not a name, but a Chinese insult. It means Stupid One. "

"At least I'm trusted to drive the family car," Remo snorted. "Are you really going to give up Zhang to the PLA?"

Chiun did not reply. "When the evil one awakens," Chiun said, "do not obey his orders."

"And how am I supposed to disobey?" Remo complained. "I feel like Howdy Doody!"

"Just do as I say. Obey him until we reach Five-Dragon Cave, but after that, do as I say."

Fang Yu rode up, hissing, "Return to your place in line, Old Duck Tang!"

"She's calling you Donald Duck," Remo supplied.

"And you are Old Mouse Mi," Fang Yu laughed. "That mean-"

"Mickey Mouse," Remo said unhappily. "I get the picture."

"I return," Chiun said haughtily, "but only because I do not wish to listen to this female cat-eater."

"What you know? You Korean! They eat of dog!" Fang Yu spat after Chiun's departing form.

"I'm so glad you two are getting along," Remo said acidly.

Fang Yu matched her pony's gait to the car's smooth pace.

"You were lying to me all along, weren't you?" Remo asked.

"Not all lies. You good in sack. Better than husband."

"So you really are married?" Disappointment tinged his voice.

Fang Yu nodded. "Zhang Zingzong is my husband-the fool!"

Remo almost lost control of the wheel. "What!"

"When Zhang find skull, he share with me. Zhang not know I was a Blue Bee, just as you not know I was not Ivory Fang. I tell him about this. But he not want to become Blue Bee. He flee with skull, but not know that Blue Bees are everywhere, even in US FBI."

"What happened to the real Ivory Fang?" Remo asked.

"Real Ivory Fang got out of way. I not really spy for West. I serve my teacher, my Jiao-Shi, who will one day restore China to greatness. He is a great man, Remo. He save me from orphanage. Has worldwide swarm of Blue Bees, and many cars like you drive now, and hiding places for them all over. Blue Bees in America find Zhang, and through him, the Master of Sinanju. But Jiao-Shi arrive too late to catch them. He know this Korean would come to China, so we wait and watch. My task was to be with you because everyone know Sinanju work for American now."

"So you kept him up on what I was doing?"

"Some. Teacher was hearing own reports of Old Duck Tang. I meet with him that night in Beijing, tell him about you. But when I learn you seek Master of Sinanju too, I understand my teacher had to know this. I know teacher had gone to Sayn Shanda. That is why I suggest we go there, not for other reasons."