Warren Murphy - Line of Succession

"He followed us to Sinanju," Remo said grimly. "But he got away. I've got a score to settle with him."

"Where is he now?"

"We don't know."

"What about the presidential candidates? Are they safe?"

"Yes," said Remo.

"No," said Chiun.

"No?" asked Remo.

"No," repeated Chiun in a firm voice. "His reason is fleeing. His purpose in attacking those politicians was to embarrass Remo and me and force us to return to my village in disgrace, where he intended to complete his vengeance. Now that he has failed, he has returned to America to finish the killings he did not complete. "

"Why would he do that?" asked Remo. "He doesn't give a hang about the election."

"He is a wounded scorpion who is lashing out in his pain. He has always been driven to kill. He fears you, desires to be my pupil, and thinks that he has killed Smith. He will strike at those we were once hired to protect. It is the only way he can cause us pain without risking another confrontation he knows he cannot win."

"I don't buy it," disagreed Remo.

"But I do," said Smith. "Or at least I can't take the chance that Chiun is wrong. I need your help, both of you. "

"I have a personal thing to settle with the Dutchman," Remo assured him. "You can count on us."

"But I do not," said Chiun, surreptitiously kicking Remo in the shin.

"Oww," muttered Remo.

"I may be persuaded to reenter your service, however, Emperor Smith."

"I'm happy to hear that," said Smith. "Of course I'm prepared to sign a contract on the terms we discussed earlier. "

"I am afraid that cannot be," said Chiun.

"Why not?"

"Because you tore up that contract."

"Can't you prepare another."

"I could, but it would take several days, for I am old and my memory is slipping. It may be that I would have to reopen negotiations simply to refresh my feeble mind."

"Then what do we do? We can't wait that long. The Dutchman could strike at any time."

"It just so happens that, anticipating your desires, I took the liberty of preparing a new contract during my journey to America," said Chiun, brandishing a fresh scroll. He untied the blue ribbon and presented it to Smith.

Smith took the scroll. He blinked at it. "I can't see. Of course, my glasses. Where are they?"

Remembering that he had them, Remo pulled the glasses from his pocket and placed them over Smith's bleary eyes. "The Dutchman brought them to Sinanju as proof he'd killed you," Remo explained.

"This is worse," said Smith. "I can't see a thing."

"Oh," cried Chiun. "I do not know what to do. We could wait for you to obtain new spectacles, but I fear for the lives of your nominees."

"What are the terms?"

"Excellent. I am certain you would find them agreeable. Why don't you simply sign now and read later?"

Smith hesitated. "This is exceedingly irregular."

"These are irregular times," said Chiun.

"Very well," said Smith unhappily. "There's still a chance that CURE will be terminated after the election. It can't hurt to keep operations going another few months."

"Excellent," said Chiun, plucking a goose-quill pen from one sleeve and offering it to Smith. An ink stone came out of the other sleeve. Chiun lifted the tiny lid and Smith dipped into the well. He signed the bottom of the scroll.

"You will never regret this," promised Chiun, recovering the quill and the scroll.

"I trust not," said Smith, moving his glasses in front of his eyes at different focal lengths. He still could not see. "Your first task is to protect the presidential candidates."

"Immediately," declared Chiun.

"Count me out," said Remo. "I'm after the Dutchman, remember?"

"Who perhaps even now is on his way to murder one of them."

"Count me in," said Remo.

"One last thing before you go," said Smith. "I need to contact the President as soon as possible. Could you go to my office and bring my briefcase?"

"It's already here," Remo told him, reaching out into the corridor. He placed Smith's worn leather briefcase on his lap.

"Folcroft was the first place we went," said Remo. "Your secretary told us you were in the hospital. I figured it wouldn't hurt to bring the briefcase, just in case."

"Good thinking."

"Actually it was my idea, Emperor Smith," Chiun pointed out. "Remo merely carried your property."

"Yes," said Smith vaguely, unlocking the briefcase. Inside, a compact computer link gleamed under the weak fluorescent lights. Smith plucked out the handset of a cellular phone. "I must speak with the President. Alone. Could you remove that doctor on your way out?"

"At once," said Chiun, bowing. "Remo," he said, snapping his fingers.

Reluctantly Remo toted the doctor out to the corridor, where Chiun stood before an elevator. Remo shoved Dr. Kimble into a broom closet and joined Chiun.

"I'm worried about Smitty," he told Chiun.

"He will be fine."

"I mean his vision. He acted half-blind."

"I am sure he will recover. Sometimes when the kotdi is improperly manipulated, the vision is slow to return."

"The doctor didn't have that problem when I brought him around. "

"You are not old and feeble like me."

"I also wasn't carrying a contract I wanted signed, sight unseen," said Remo, stepping into the elevator.

"That too." Chiun beamed as the elevator doors closed on them.

***

When the red telephone rang, the President heard it all the way down the hall in the Oval Office.

He raced out of the office past Secret Service guards, who tried to follow him.

"Stay there. I'll be right back. Diarrhea," he yelled. The Secret Service guards stayed put.

In his bedroom, the President snatched up the red telephone.

"Yes?" he said.

"Smith here."

"I've been trying to reach you for two days. Where the heck have you been?"

"I've been indisposed. I'm sorry," apologized Smith. "Without going into details, Mr. President, I can now clear up the matter that is before us."

"I'd like to hear the details," said the President.

"They would take too long, and I doubt that you would believe them."

"Let's hear the broad outlines, then."

"I have identified the force behind the assassination attempts. The man calling himself Tulip is actually an opponent force my operation has dealt with in the past. His motive was revenge against my enforcement arm. He failed, and I have reason to believe that he is back in this country. He may try to complete the assassinations."

"I'll double the security around the nominees."

"No, pull them back. My special person is on the job. I've signed him on for another year."

"And those personal records of his?"

"You mean his scrolls?" Smith's voice lost its sharp edge.

"Yes, I asked that their destruction be part of the new contract."

"Of course. You're right. I had forgotten. I've been quite ill, but strangely, my mind feels quite sharp now. I don't know how I could have forgotten that detail. "

"So what are the details of the new contract?"

Smith paused. "As you know, I have full autonomy in undertaking contractual obligations," he said.

"I'm not asking for veto power," the President snapped. "I just want to know what guarantees we have that this won't happen again."

"I'll have to get back to you on that, Mr. President. But rest assured, this situation will not be repeated."

The President grunted unhappily. "Very well. Anything else-or can't you tell me?"

"The two bodyguards, the one called Adonis and the ninja. I have identified them. They are both this Tulip person. And he hired the killers involved in all of the assassination attempts."

"My information is that one was a muscle-bound American and the other a short Japanese man. How could they be the same man?"

"I told you you would not believe it."