Warren Murphy: Look Into My Eyes

And he most certainly was a holy man.

Which group would he be with? Each wanted him because these holy men could bestow special blessings. And each knew there would be many blessings for those who rescued a holy man.

When his mouth healed and he could speak, he refused to do so, because some people could tell a man's sect by his voice. He chose instead to write on paper. And what he wrote would change Dulsk forever.

"There is something beautiful in all of you. Look at how well you treat me, each of you thinking I am one of your own. I see for all of you arising out of my misfortune an even greater blessing. From this day forth, everyone who looks upon you will see the one closest to his heart. No one will come here but he will be of your group, or kind, because he will be like me, of your family."

The women repeated the note word for word.

"And so by our good deed, we were all blessed by this holy man and we never had any trouble until my son, thinking he could show off, went to that parapsychology village."

"They didn't think that there were others like Vassily where he came from, did they?"

"Oh, someone came, but his mother told him to leave the village alone," said one of the women, grinning.

"Would one of you come with us, and tell Vassily to stop what he is doing? Because with us it's like speaking to a mother. No, worse, I used to be able to disagree with my mother," said Anna.

All the women shook their heads.

"Vassily never listened to anyone," said one of the women. His mother sadly nodded agreement.

"He was a problem child," said the mother. "What I did to deserve that, I don't know. What did I do? I ask myself. And do you know what I tell myself? I tell myself, 'Nothing.' I did nothing. He's your problem now."

"And if he starts a war?" asked Remo.

"It would be just like Vassily to start a war if he felt he was being picked on."

"I'm talking about a war that could destroy the world," said Remo.

"He'd do that," said his mother.

The other women nodded. "Just like Vassily."

"Is there anything you can give us to help us?" said Anna. "How can we get through his defenses?"

"There is nothing you can do to him. He is not the problem. It's what happens in your head, young lady. That's the problem. Your problem is all in the mind. Your mind."

"That doesn't make it less of a problem," said Remo.

"We don't have our minds," said Anna. "That is the problem."

An old man in a green KGB uniform ran up the path to the Rabinowitz door. He banged heavily on the handcrafted wood.

"Ma. Ma," he screamed.

"Do you want me to get it, Mrs. Rabinowitz?" asked one of the women.

"Yes, thank you," said Mrs. Rabinowitz.

The youngest woman answered the door, and the KGB man, who was at least ten years her senior, said:

"Ma, Ma. They've got the village surrounded. Someone spotted a high official returning to Russia without going through channels. And she's got enemies. Her name is Anna Chutesov, and she's gorgeous. She's with a man. Who are they?"

"Your brother and sister. Help them," said the woman who answered the door.

"C'mon, sis. We gotta run," said the officer. And it was just like that. Instantaneous.

"I'm not worried about the Russians," said Remo. "I'm worried about what we do when we get back to America. I still feel my little father is around here."

"I feel the same way about my mother," said Anna.

"Sis, will you hurry up? I can get you through the cordon but you have to move quickly."

Remo and Chiun thanked the ladies. It was a peaceful town, this Dulsk, and perhaps it was because of those powers that the people could be peaceful to themselves. Anna still thought it was heredity.

"Totally logical that it was an inherited characteristic of the people," said Anna. "And they made up a holy-man tale to explain it to themselves. That's how religions get going."

"You communists will do anything to explain away a miracle."

"And how do you explain it, Remo?"

"I don't," said Remo.

At the cordon, the Russian officer had to be restrained from explaining Remo and Anna were his sister and brother, because the others would not believe what he said.

"But, sis, you've dated a couple of the guys. They'll let you through."

"You go up there and tell them that," said Remo. And when he was gone, Remo told Anna that there would be a time in a very short moment when she could drive right through the roadblock.

"All you have to do is wait for that time. I'm going up ahead."

"What are you going to do?"

"A Sinanju miracle," said Remo.

"But there are no miracles in Sinanju. You're an accumulation of body techniques over millennia."

"I wouldn't bet on that. I punched the belly of a dead man and found the center of a laughing universe," said Remo. "I don't know we're not a miracle."

"You're saying that to bother me, Remo."

Remo smiled and leaned back into the car, kissing Anna long and softly, his body close to hers.

"That bothers me, too," she said. Remo didn't say anything but he was feeling it work both ways now.

At the guard post it became apparent that Remo was not the brother of the officer even though the officer swore it. Remo fit the description of the man with Anna Chutesov, a high party official who had reentered the country without clearance.

Remo was told to put his hands in the air and walk slowly back to the car with the guards. There, they would take Comrade Chutesov back to Moscow.

Remo lifted his arms. Unfortunately he had two throats in his hands as he did so. This rapid movement broke vertebrae. A kick into a sternum transformed the heart muscle into goulash. The officer who thought Remo was his brother told him they both would never get away with it. Remo told him not to worry.

"Even though you're my brother, I'm going to have to take you in after this," said the officer, reaching for his gun. But he shook his head instead. "I can't do it. I can't do it. I could never do this to you. And what's so strange, I never liked you. In fact I used to arrest you all the time." Remo waved for Anna to bring up the car.

"That was amazing. I never even saw your hands move," she said.

"What are you happy about? I've got to face the man who taught me," said Remo. "No one's better than him."

Chapter 16

She could sense his eyes on her, and her body almost tore itself away from her will to throw itself at his feet. Thousands of men, perhaps millions of men, had loved her from afar, had seen her on the screen. She got hundreds of flattering letters a week from men and women, begging to be near her cool beauty. And never before had she responded.

But just minutes ago she had met a man at the most important party in New York. He was short with sad brown eyes, and spoke with a Russian accent that could stop your breathing if the onions he had just eaten didn't do it to you first. Everyone was saying he was the most important man in America. And no one knew why. He knew everything about everyone. Actress Berell Neek had been told not to cross him. Cross anyone in the room but him.

Berell had that perpetually sensitive face that was always playing sensitive roles. Directors gave her plenty of screen time to be silent with her warm sensitive eyes and her full sensitive lips, and sometimes they would have wind blow through her soft blond sensitive hair.

But Berell Neek had the soul of a calculator. She had been in front of audiences since she was five, and the only spontaneous orgasms she had in her life came during dreams about being raped by gold Oscars while reviewers tauntingly screamed how great an actress she was. Men held no appeal for her. Women held no appeal for her. Even fans held no real appeal for her. She preferred to be worshiped loudly, but from afar.