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been wiped out."
"Wiped out? Who wiped them out?"
"I guess it was the citizens," Chief Spence said vaguely. He avoided telling
the president the truth about the dead-eyed man who had run alongside his
squad car and matched the description of one of the two said to have wiped out
the mob.
"I'm going anyway," Grom declared.
"Don't you think you should stick around?" the chief asked. "The news will be
all over this place in an hour."
"I don't care," Grom said nervously. "I have to go!" Chief Spence picked up a
megaphone and began telling the tourists to turn around and go back to their
hotels. The danger was past. Evacuation was unnecessary. The vacationers were
complaining but relieved. Greg Grom didn't feel relief. Not yet.
Finally the emergency transport chopper swayed and lifted off of the helipad.
The lights of the cruise ship dock fell away and the blackness of the
nighttime Caribbean Sea cushioned them. They'd be in St. Thomas in no time.
Somebody knocked. "Hello? Can I come in?"
It was him. The one with the dead eyes was standing on the landing skid with
his face pressed against the glass. "Fine. I'll let myself in."
The rush of air filled the cabin and the dead-eyed man didn't close the door
behind him.
"Who are you?" Greg Grom demanded.
"Remo...somebody. I forget exactly. Why do you care?"
"Are you going to assassinate me?"
"Oh, for sure. But first-" Remo grabbed the small carry-on that was Grom's
only luggage "-is this all of it? The poison?"
"Yes. Take it. It's all yours. It'll make you rich and powerful!"
"Like you?" Remo asked with a chuckle. "No, thanks." He hoisted the bag out
the open door, and it tumbled three thousand feet into the sea.
"No!"
"Don't fret about it, Prez. You're going with it."
Remo grabbed Grom by the back of the neck and walked him to the open door.
"No!" Grom shouted again. This time it was a long, long "no" that ended with a
splash.
The copilot burst into the passenger compartment. "What the hell is going
on?"
"My friend," Remo said, "I'm just figuring it all out myself."
With a little persuasion, the pilot and copilot agreed to turn the helicopter
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around.
REMO FOUND the suite empty when he awoke in the morning. He lifted Chiun's
trunks and wandered downstairs, past the all-you-can-eat breakfast where the
sleep-deprived vacationers were having it out with the staff.
A woman in a floral swimsuit under a souvenir T-shirt was leading the
resistance movement. "What do you mean no hash browns! How can you not have
hash browns?"
The staff was confused about this, too, and tried to explain what they thought
had happened.
"Stolen?" the woman cried. "Your hash browns were stolen? Nobody steals hash
browns."
"Well, those were awfully good hash browns," an elderly woman in the crowd
spoke up, and she was met with fervent agreement from the others.
"Was it you who stole them?" the outspoken lady demanded of the old woman.
"No. I was just saying they were worth stealing."
"It was you!"
The outspoken lady had to be restrained.
Remo found Chiun in the lobby, talking to the big blue parrot.
"It was Master Lu who actually decided to try to eat parrots. Lu made several
bad decisions. For some reason he thought the parrot flesh might be suitable
fare, comparable to duck."
The macaw shifted uneasily on its branch.
"Of course," Chiun continued, "those were ugly little gray parrots. The Romans
imported them from Africa. You look like a much meatier specimen."
The macaw gave a small squawk and hopped several branches away.
"Finally found somebody you can win an argument with?" Remo asked.
"I wondered if you would be sleeping until noon. May we leave now?"
"The sooner the better. Say goodbye to your buddy."
"Perhaps I should bring it along."
"I am not going to eat parrot," Remo insisted.
"I did not intend to share it with you," Chiun replied. "But I think not.
Farewell, ugly bird."
The macaw hopped forward again and cocked its great head with its big yellow
eye patches. Chiun stopped. Remo watched the two of them regarding each
other.
"Hello?" Remo asked.
Chiun held up a hand for silence, which lasted a full minute. Remo stood there
impatiently with the trunks balanced on his shoulders.
"Ah, well, goodbye," Chiun said finally.
The parrot squawked. "Bye-bye! See you soon!" They strolled out of the open
air lobby, and Remo began loading the trunks into the first taxi in the
lineup. All the while he heard the raucous voice of the bird drifting out.
"Bye-bye! See you soon! Bye-bye! See you soon!"
"Hey, you weren't thinking of bringing it home as a pet were you?" Remo
demanded.
"Of course not," Chiun said from inside the cab.
"Bye-bye! See you soon! Bye-bye! See you, Chiun! Bye-bye! See you soon!"
Remo got in. "Well, you sure seem friendly with the thing. It even knows your
name."
"I did not tell it my name." [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]