"I didn't think he'd be much of a threat—"
"Point three. This is an assassin of remarkable talent. Remember, our last confrontation with Nuihc was years ago. This boy has trained himself in the finer points of Sinanju. Marvelous." He shook his head in admiration.
Remo reddened. "You sound like you'd rather adopt him than kill him."
"It is always terrible to destroy something of worth," Chiun said. "A fine assassin. From good stock, probably, not some rubbish of the streets."
They neared the entrance to the compound's electric fence. Chiun handed Remo the metal-banded card. "Oh, to train a talent such as his. To nurture such enormous ability in one so young." Chiun's eyes took on a faraway look.
"I don't think he's so hot," Remo said.
"He has tremendous self-discipline."
"His mother wears combat boots." Remo jabbed the card into the slot and kicked at the gate.
The shock shot him twenty feet backward. Remo sat up on the ground with his scalp tingling and his ears ringing. He approached the fence again, holding his hands a fraction of an inch away from the wire mesh. The hairs on his arms stood on end, and the fence emitted a low, continuous hum.
"The power's still on," Remo said. He slid the card in and out of the slot. "Something's gone wrong."
There was another sound, a soft, zipping electronic noise. Remo and Chiun both turned in time to see a metal panel slide open in the corner of the fence. Behind the panel protruded a black six-foot cube with a refrigeration motor attached. Out of the box slithered a nine-foot python.
"Your Dutchman's a real prince, all right," Remo said.
Four more snakes, sickly-white cobras, sped out of the box. They raced unerringly toward the two men.
"Give me the white card," Chiun said softly. He took it between two fingers and snapped it toward the cobras. One of the white snakes split in half, its tail dancing on the ground. The other cobras lunged at its head, their fangs, exposed and dripping. "Now get us out of here," Chiun whispered.
"Why do I always get the hard part?" Remo muttered. He looked around. The bamboo pole he had used to vault over the fence was on the other side. There was nothing movable in the trucking area except trucks.
A truck. It was bulky, but it would have to do. Remo ran in a quick zigzag pattern to one of the inert truck bodies. The giant python noticed the movement and followed the same meandering route. Remo knew he had to work fast. With the snake close behind, he wouldn't have time to drag the unwheeled truck over to the fence. He would have to transport it in an instant, before the python had time to get a grip on his limbs and crush them like cobwebs.
At the far end of the fence, Chiun raced back and forth at dizzying speed. The three remaining cobras followed him with their dolls' eyes, hypnotized, their necks distended with venom.
There was no way to move the truck body. Remo's mind raced. What happened normally when they had to be moved? Well, first they had to be... He slapped his forehead. Of course! How could he be so stupid? They had to be lifted. He ran toward the compound's one building. On the far side he found what he was looking for. A crane.
He eased in the throttle, and the great machine began to inch forward. Ahead, he could see Chiun still surrounded by cobras, his back to the fence. The levers to Remo's right controlled the movements of the crane. It dipped and rose and swung experimentally as he tried them all out, heading faster now toward the high-voltage wire.
Then his vision was all but obliterated by the shiny, sleek body of the python as it draped itself over the windscreen, its reptilian head searching for him.
Remo fought back the impulse to remove the snake then and there. The crane had to get close enough to Chiun to lift him out of danger, and Chiun's luck with the dazed cobras would last only as long as he kept up his exhausting speed. But with the python covering Remo's line of sight in the cab, the crane could scrape the fence and force an electric charge big enough to explode both the crane and its driver.
He pressed forward. "Tell me when to stop," he yelled. He maneuvered the crane upward. Its chain swung wildly. Although he couldn't see it, Remo knew that the hook at the end of the chain was suspended somewhere near Chiun's head. If he came too close, Chiun would be impaled at about the same time Remo began to fry.
"Closer?" Remo shouted.
There was no answer. The machine moved forward. The snake on the crane's windshield slithered into the cab and wrapped itself around Remo's leg.
"Halt!" Chiun yelled.
With all the discipline he could muster, Remo shut down the throttle as the python hissed itself into a huge coil from his ankle to his thigh.
Chiun leaped high into the air, lighting on the hook of the crane's chain. At the instant he moved, the hypnotized cobras lunged at the spot where Chiun had been. Their fangs grasped the metal fence in a grip of death as their bodies jiggled and waved like ribbons in the breeze. The doll eyes turned milky white, their bodies charred and blackened in seconds. Still they hung onto the deadly steel wire, their jaws lodged in the mesh.
"Move this over the fence," Chiun demanded. "Climb up here."
Sweat poured from Remo's brow. He slammed his fists into the python's rubbery body. With each blow, the snake coiled more tightly. His foot was already throbbing and numb. If he could only get to its head... But the snake's head was tucked securely beneath Remo's thigh, inching toward his groin.
"Remo!"
Get... Chiun... out, Remo told himself. He would deal with the snake when he could. He raised the crane and swung it over the fence. Chiun rode the hook to the far side of the compound, then jumped off, his robes billowing gaily. He was safe.
Remo rolled out of the cab onto the ground, the python around his leg shifting at lightning speed to envelope his entire body. Now, Remo said to himself as the snake's head darted in front of him. Now. He grabbed the knob with both hands and twisted violently to smash it on the ground. The coils loosened suddenly. Remo pulled himself free, his leg still pounding, and limped to the base of the crane.
The snake periscoped its head unevenly. A shudder ran through its tunnel body. It convulsed once, then lay still.
At the top of the crane, Remo pulled his hurt leg up close to his torso and vaulted in a triple somersault to the sandy earth below. Lying quietly where he landed, he smelled something ripe and burning. He turned toward the fence. The three sizzling cobras were turning into smoking skeletons, their flesh burned to ashes.
"Very slow," Chiun clucked above him. "I do not understand. I am the one surrounded by snakes. I am the one in mortal danger. You had only to operate that ridiculous prehistoric machine. And yet you dawdle coming over the fence. You lie here, feigning exhaustion. One would think you had been the one to confront death." His jaw snapped angrily.
"I've got to rest a minute," Remo said, wincing. The feeling was coming back into his damaged leg. He tried to squeeze his toes together. His muscles cramped spasmodically.
"I shudder to think what would have happened if a snake had come after you." Chiun snorted triumphantly. "You are growing soft, Remo. But perhaps it is not your fault. Perhaps your training began too late. Perhaps your natural ability is limited."
"Perhaps you piss me off, Little Father," Remo said.
"Now, with the Dutchman. Ah, there is a pupil. Young, powerful, intelligent—"
"He just tried to murder you."
"And would have succeeded, were it not for my uncanny timing and quick reflexes."
"Thanks. Glad to know I could be of help."
"Do you think that if the Dutchman were in your place now he would be resting slothfully on the grass? Never. He would be inquiring as to my well-being. He would be concerned over any possible injury to my person. He would..."