Warren Murphy: Midnight Man

"Except in the case of the fanatic," Chiun pointed out. Remo and the Emir looked at him as he spoke. "Very often, it is the difficulty of the challenge that will make the mission that much more de-

of you. My voice no longer carries as it once did." I sirable for the fanatic."

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"Excellent point," the Emir said. "I salute an ob- i met Chiun's, held them a moment, and then once

viously superior knowledge."

Suddenly the man in bed was struck by some sort of pain. His face twisted in anguish and then a coughing fit shook his body with spasms. Chiun, speaking soft, comforting words in Korean, reached out and touched the ruler's chest, pressing it along the ribs.

The coughing stopped and the look on the Emir's face showed that the pain had gone, too. The contorted grimace of hurt had given way to surprise, then delight.

"What . . . what did you do?" he asked Chiun.

"A simple manipulation of muscles," Chiun said.

"Are you then a physician?"

"Not in the strict sense of the word," Remo answered for Chiun.

"But obviously you have some knowledge of medicine?" the Emir asked Chiun.

Chiun nodded.

The Emir moved around in bed, seeking a more comfortable position. Remo felt he was also trying to come to some sort of decision. When he lay still, he seemed to have made his decision.

again, he said "Please."

At that moment, Princess Sarra entered the room, clad in a flowing silken robe, with a thick string of diamonds around her neck.

The Emir's face lit up as he saw her. "Sarra," he called.

"Yes, my brother."

"Be a good girl. Take Mister Remo for a walk while his companion and I have a private discussion."

It sounded to Remo like a polite request, but he was learning that a royal request, no matter how politely phrased, was a command to be obeyed.

Sarra bowed slightly. "As you wish, my brother. Please join me, Remo."

"Lead on, Princess. I'll see you downstairs, Chiun." But the old Korean seemed not to have heard him. He already had his hands on the Emir's chest, pressing gently.

Walking side by side, Remo noticed that Sarra had removed her high-heeled boots because she was now noticeably shorter than he was.

"What is that about?" she asked him.

"Will you examine me?" he asked Chiun. 1 "What?"

Chiun looked at Remo who shrugged. f "Your companion and my brother."

"I do not know if I would be able to tell you any- I "To be perfectly honest, Princess, I don't exactly

thing different from what your own physicians have I know," Remo confessed.

already told you," Chiun warned the Emir.

"And none of my physicians has been able to do for me what you just did with a touch. Please. I would be forever in your debt if you would examine me. No matter what the result." The sick man's eyes

Sarra led him downstairs, through the house and out onto a massive, front patio of stone, surrounded by an equally massive, overgrown garden. In the center of the garden was a large fountain. They sat on a stone bench looking at the water.

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"Do you live out here all the time?" Remo asked. I "Your wish is my command, sugar," he said as he "No, I have an apartment in New York City. Ac- I got up and walked to Chiun.

tually, I am here very little of the time. I get bored very easily."

"Pakir seems as if he'd be able to get along with your not being here. He seems to resent you."

"Pakir is in love with me," she said, "but he has a great deal of pride. A woman should be a woman and not put her nose in men's affairs. Actually, I am not the least bit interested in his affairs." She turned to look at Remo and said, "I have my own affairs to think of."

She touched Remo's hand and then smiled.

"What's funny?" he said.

"I would have expected sparks to leap from my hands to yours," she said.

"So would I," said Remo. He moved closer to her

"What's the story, Chiun? Will he make it?"

Chiun shook his head. "He will die, and much sooner than everyone thinks."

"You told him that?"

"Do you think I am insensitive? I told him that I could find nothing different from the findings of his own physicians. He accepted that." Chiun stared stolidly out at the sea.

"You've been acting strange since we got here," Remo said, "and even funnier since we met the Emir. Did you finally decide to hold him responsible for that debt?"

Chiun glared at him angrily. "Since you seem so concerned, I will tell you what is bothering me." He pointed toward the ceiling with a bony, long-nailed

and touched a spot on her back with his fingertips, I finger. "That man is a great man, a great monarch.

rotating them slightly. She arched her back like a | A Master of Sinanju knows a true monarch when he

meets one. That man was born to rule and what has been happening to him these past few months is beneath contempt. It is better that he die than live in

stroked kitten.

"I'd like you to come visit me," she said, closing her eyes to the slight pressure of Remo's fingertips. "At my apartment. Some time soon."

"Very soon," Remo promised.

When she opened her eyes again to look at him, she looked abruptly past him, then straightened up stiffly. Remo followed her eyes and saw Chiun watching them impassively from the terrace.

"You and he," she observed. "You belong together, somehow."

"Yes," Remo said. "We are joined by thousands of years of tradition."

"But leave him behind when you visit me in New York," she said.

exile."

"That's what happens to people who trust the United States. The quickest way to the boneyard is to figure on us to help you out." Remo paused. "Chiun . . . you didn't . . ."

"I took no action to put him out of this misery caused by your government," Chiun said coldly. "I have told you, he will die soon enough."

Remo let his air out in a sigh of relief.

"All right, then. Let's get Pakir and tell him how to beef up his security and maybe we can give the Emir the opportunity to do just that."

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CHAPTER SEVEN

Remo's advice to Perce Pakir was simple. "Get dogs," he said. "You've just got too much island to cover. If you put dogs on both flanks of the island, it'll force an invader to come in through the middle. That way, your devices have a better chance of picking him up."

Pakir listened politely but without enthusiasm. His coolness didn't bother Remo. When they got back, he would pass his recommendation on to Smith and, whether he liked it or not, Perce Pakir would have dogs.

The Coast Guard launch returned to pick them up at the main dock at the shore side of the island to take them to the Brooklyn dock where the two hoodlums' bodies had been found.

Remo used the ship-to-shore telephone to reach Smith at his headquarters in Folcroft Sanitarium.

"How does it look?" Smith asked.

"Not bad," Remo said. "The chief of security there doesn't like us, but I told him to get dogs."

"That's Pakir," Smith said.

"Right."

'Til see they get dogs," Smith said.

"And who's the hoople there representing us?" Remo asked.

"That's Agent Randisi.' "FBI?" asked Remo.

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"Yes."

"Check him out. He couldn't find his foot inside his shoe. He wasn't even around when we were discussing the security with Pakir."

"How is the big man?" Smith said.

Remo knew who he meant. "Impressive, but not long for this world. He'll die in bed."

"If he has to die, that's the way I'd prefer it," Smith said.

"Did you find out anything about the men on the dock?"

"They were shopping for an assassin to take out Romeo," Smith said. "It appears they found one."

"Any idea who?" Remo asked Smith.

"No," said Smith. "It might even have been an amateur. All the professionals seemed to have been frightened off. See what you can find."