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."Father," he concluded."We just don't have time for you.""Are they gone yet, the Koreans?""You don't even know who they are," said Reggie to the silly old man."Have you killed them?""We will," Reggie said.(History of Sinanju from the gracious pen of Chiun, for those to come, thatthe House of Sinanju shall in its glory prosper and survive.)"And through the years, Chiun would accept no obstacle, even though the pupilwas not from precisely what was considered the old borders of the village.Ashas been mentioned in the histories, these borders changed often.Sometimesthose who lived west of the mill were considered Sinanju.Sometimes not.Whowas to say where the borders in one age began and where in another they leftoff? As has been mentioned in previous histories by Chiun, there might bethose who would question, not without some foundation, whether Chiun's pupilwas indeed born within the formal boundaries of the village.There are alwaysthose who will quibble."Nevertheless, through the years, Remo showed that Chiun could raise him tothat level which could not be denied.He was Sinanju, even if he had been bornas far away as the south village.Nay, even Peking or Tokyo, which he wasnot."During the time of rest, Chiun took Remo to an island in the new world Chiunhad discovered.(See: Discovery of America, Emperor Who Would Not Serve.)"And it came to pass that a total stranger came into Chiun and mentioning thatRemo had been gone many days now bordering on weeks, said, 'Where has your songone?'" 'Son,' answered Chiun.'Why do you say that?'" 'Because,' said this simple but wise stranger, 'there is something about himthat is so much your son.Or even your brother.'"Here, from the lips of a third person, was proof that Remo, the pupil, wasdefinitely of Sinanju even if he had been born, in the eyes of some, far westof the old mill.""Yes, Mr.President," said Smith into the special device that would allow hisvoice to be scrambled.Only a telephone in the White House could unscrambleit."He has been there for a week, sir," Smith said.Page 30ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html"Then why hasn't he stopped it?" the President said."I don't know, sir.""Should I leave Washington?""I don't know.""Well, dammit, Smith, what do you know? You run the organization that'ssupposed to know everything.What do you know?""He's on it, sir.And I don't know his methods.Only one other person does.""The old Oriental? I like him.Use him too.""I am afraid, sir, that according to the protocols under which I operate, youcannot order me to do things.You can only suggest or order me to disband.This was to protect the country from my organization in case a Presidentshould try to misuse it.""I don't see how trying to save twenty million people from dying a horribledeath is misusing your organization."Smith knew that the death threats and that crazed Indonesian newsman trying tokill him with a sword had gotten to the President.He was not about to tellthis distraught leader that the Oriental whom the President liked so muchbecause he was old too had become difficult because Smith was using Remo whenRemo should have been resting.Smith was only glad that Remo demonstrated that even while he was at less thanpeak, he was still far beyond anything else in the field he might come upagainst.So Smith assured the President that the Oriental was not needed."I will call you again only if it is absolutely necessary, sir.I don't thinkfor the sake of our ongoing cover, we should be talking this much," Smithsaid."All right," said the President.But before the day was out, Smith was phoning him.He had seen projectedweather reports about a change in the jet stream and the President was goingto have to leave Washington.The whole east coast would be in danger too.Chapter SixIt was Indian country but the danger wasn't the Indians.They were thevictims.The rolling hills where antelope and buffalo had grazed until theintroduction of the rifle and cash for their skins, actually covered in theirscenic beauty a bureaucratic foul-up so dangerous that every department hadkept passing it to another department since the First World War.Underneath grass, far beneath where gophers made their underground villages,were four square miles of nerve gas, the first containers put there in caseKaiser Bill didn't learn his lesson and America needed to use gas warfare inthe trenches of France.But at the end of the Great War, later to be givennumber one, gas warfare was outlawed.Like all the other countries with standing armies, America kept the gas justin case anyone else would violate the treaty.And then World War II broke outand new, more virulent gas was manufactured in case anyone broke the treaty inthat war.And then the cold war started and one never knew what Russia might do, so morenew gas was manufactured.And there was never a war in which America used gas, nor did any othercountry, no matter how base its philosophy, until in the Middle East an Arabcountry based on the principles of "compassion and justice" used it against afellow Islamic country, based on "justice and compassion."Like all the other civilized countries who had never used their gas in war,America had been making it since Woodrow Wilson and the Sopwith Camel airplaneand had an awful lot of deadly gas.Acres of it.Miles of it.In the early 1900s, they started stockpiling it with a friendly tribe ofIndians in the Pakeeta reservation.The deal was one bottle of whiskey for onecan of gas.The can would be buried underground and the Pakeeta would nevereven have to see it, much less smell it [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]