Warren Murphy: Look Into My Eyes

"Yes, Vassily. You beat us," said Anna. Were all men like this? Did they have to crow about these things? Apparently that was what parades were for.

"You can't touch me now. Tell that to the Politburo."

"I'll be happy to, Vassily."

"You can tell them I don't care about them either. I don't have to beat them anymore."

"That's very good, Vassily."

"I don't have to beat them anymore because I am getting myself a whole country for myself. That's why."

"Good, Vassily."

"And he's getting it for me, Harold. Show me all the males making over two million dollars a year who are under twenty-five years old. I want their names and private lives."

The computer operator punched a few keys, and faces, mostly black ones in basketball uniforms, appeared.

"All right, give me State Department officials who have made embarrassing mistakes in the past that we know about. "

Another list came up, but this time with white faces. "Okay, now give me stockbrokerage houses which haven't lived up to SEC regulations."

The screen turned into a blur of names and faces and did not stop.

"Miss Ashford, this will take all day," said the lemon-faced man.

"All right, that's enough. Now, you go back and you tell your friends I am in the process of getting a country and if they want to cut a deal I have nothing against them. But also tell them I'm Russian too. So I know their word isn't worth anything."

"I understand that."

"All I want is to be left alone. Now send me Remo."

"I've been with him. I'll get him."

"He is the only friend I found in this country. Hell of a guy."

"Yes, Great Wang," said Chiun.

"He has his good points, Miss Ashford," said the man Anna was sure was Smith.

"He's a fine fellow, and I'll get him now," said Anna, turning her eyes toward the door.

"You have a nice ass," said Rabinowitz.

"Thank you," said Anna, very careful to control any hostility in her voice. No man who ever said that understood what he was saying. Nice ass for what? Sitting? Fornicating? It hardly played much role in the act. No, what they meant was that the round softness appealed to them. As though a woman's body was an art object.

Well, her object was to get out of the headquarters right away without looking back.

"I will escort her, Great Wang."

"That's all right, I'll do it myself. Fine. We'll be back in a shake of a lamb's tail," she said.

"Perhaps you'd better go, Chiun. Someone may shoot her because she's Russian."

"I've heard them say the same thing about you, Great Wang, which is not true."

"Yes, I've heard that said of you, too, Miss Ashford," said the man who had to be Smith.

"No problem. I'm gone," said Anna, holding her breath. She was out of the headquarters and in the hot Sornica sun, hoping with all her body and soul that Chiun would not come along. She had to reach Remo first. She had to reach Remo now. Remo had to know. He was the only one who could save civilization, and if Chiun got to him first, he might be no better than the slaves in that headquarters. She forced herself not to run. She also knew that she had to look as though she was in charge of something, otherwise some MP would arrest her and it would be back into the trucks.

She almost twisted an ankle on a loose rock going down the hill. Somewhere off to the left she heard small-arms fire. The Americans were mopping up. Someone said that the Sornican forces were trying to escape with their Gucci eyeglasses, Louis Vuitton luggage, and Bally shoes.

She didn't want to look around, but she knew both Remo and Chiun moved so quickly and silently she would never know they were there until they were there.

A soldier offered to give her a hand. She slapped it away. Where was Remo? She didn't see him. Had he attempted to sneak up on Rabinowitz and try an execution? If he had, he was a fool. This was not the place to kill Rabinowitz. She knew that now from what she saw. And she was not the one to do it. It had to be Remo. But he couldn't do it here.

Suddenly she felt a grip on her arms like a giant vise. It was Remo.

"Where are you going?"

"To find you. Where were you? You didn't go up to Rabinowitz. You didn't risk him, did you?"

"You mean the greatest guy in the world?" said Remo, smiling.

Chapter 15

"Just joking," said Remo.

"You bastard," screamed Anna, swinging at Remo's head. It looked like she hit, but she hadn't. She had only touched his face with her blow. "How could you scare me like that? How could you do something so insensitive and stupid and useless?"

Remo thought her anger was even funnier.

"You're such a man. You're such a real man," screamed Anna. "What a stupid, stupid joke."

"I thought it was good, too," said Remo.

"Do you know that if you are lost, everyone is lost? Do you know what's going on? Do you know what I found out?"

"How should I know? You haven't told me yet," said Remo. He looked up toward the command post. He saw Chiun leave, and by his very first step, Remo understood there was trouble now worse than anything Anna Chutesov might have uncovered.

"Rabinowitz is in the process of taking over your country. He's not frightened anymore. The world has become a game to him. He might start some war somewhere now just for the fun of it, and there's nothing we can do here. We're helpless."

"We might be more than helpless," said Remo. "We might be dead. We've got to get out of here."

Anna glanced up to where Remo was looking. Chiun, his friend, had just left the headquarters. He was walking slowly.

"He's coming after us."

Anna looked closer. Chiun seemed to be strolling. "How can you tell?"

"Look at his walk," said Remo.

"I can't tell any difference."

"You're not supposed to," said Remo. "He's ready to kill. And it may be me."

"Why?"

"Dunno. Maybe Rabinowitz figured out why we're here. Maybe he's after you, not me."

"We can't do any good here anyhow. Let's run." Remo saw the eyes of Chiun. Did the little father know? Was this some other mind that was coming to do battle? Did Chiun perhaps think Remo was just some other target? There was no anger in the face. Remo had been taught that anger robbed one of power. Anger was usually a result of weakness, not strength. And it caused such damage to the nervous system. To relax was the efficient way to use the powers of the human body.

"There is a way to finish off Rabinowitz," said Anna. "But it's not here. It's in Russia."

"Why didn't you think of it there?" asked Remo.

"Because I didn't have time and I didn't think I'd need it. I had to get here right away. I thought I could defuse Rabinowitz. I thought maybe we could even destroy him if we had to. I see now, we can't. I saw it in that command post."

"What are we going to find in Russia?"

"The secret to his powers. I am sure they are in Dulsk. I found something that men always miss."

"There are no women in Russia? They didn't miss?" asked Remo. He took her arm and guided her out into the road.

The staff car with officers and a driver didn't stop until the driver was pulled out of the window as the car passed Remo's grip. The car stopped. One of the officers declared Remo under military arrest, and another officer helped that officer regain his feet after Remo and Anna were off in the car.

Remo did not look forward but kept his eye on the rearview mirror.

"We can outrun him, right?" asked Anna.

Remo laughed.

"Is that another joke?" she asked.

"No. No, we can't outrun him in this car on these roads."

"Then why are we driving?"

"It's hell trying to bring you through a jungle."

"I thought you enjoyed it. You were touching me tenderly. "

"I was holding you up and moving you forward and I was touching you that way so you wouldn't break," said Remo.