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"MacCleary swore she was dead. Said she died when the orphanage burned down."
"MacCleary lied. Sister Mary Margaret is in a nursing home maintained by the
Catholic Church."
"She would have to be as old as the hills by now," Remo breathed, looking out
at Honolulu basking in the midday sun.
Smith cleared his throat. "I suppose you would like to visit her?"
"Try and stop me," Remo growled.
"She is dying. She can do us no harm if you are discreet."
"Why are you doing this?" Remo asked suspiciously.
"Call it a gesture of good faith. I am at a dead end in the search for your
progenitors. Sister Mary Margaret may be able to put your mind at rest."
"If she knew anything, she would have told me long ago."
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"Did she ever tell you she caught a glimpse of the man who left you on the
orphanage doorstep?"
"Who told you that?"
"MacCleary. Back at the beginning. Since she failed to recognize the man, it
didn't matter. It was a dead end."
"Tell me where she is."
"Oklahoma City. Our Lady of Perpetual Care Home for the Infirm. Ask for a
Sister Novella. Tell her you are a friend of Conrad MacCleary."
Remo grunted. "A nursing home. No wonder I never heard different. She might as
well have been in prison."
"You should waste no time, Remo. I am reliably informed she is at death's
door."
"Don't sweat it. I can hardly wait to get back to the U.S.A. Chiun has some
godforsaken place called Hesperia on my itinerary."
And Remo hung up.
Sneaking out of the hotel, he hailed a cab and got on the first standby flight
to the U.S.A., figuring he could reach Oklahoma City from any spot in the
country. But once Chiun caught up with him, all bets were off.
He wasn't followed. This made Remo suspicious. He wondered where the Master of
Sinanju had disappeared to. It wasn't like the old reprobate to be so easily
fooled.
But as he flew to San Francisco, Remo prowled the aisles several times,
searching the faces of the other passengers. None of them were Chiun.
The first-class stewardess wondered if the seat next to Remo was empty.
"You're the flight attendant," Remo said. "You should know."
The stewardess took Remo's surly growl as an invitation. "Do you live in San
Francisco?" she asked.
"No."
"Visiting? I could show you the town!"
"It's a stopover. I'm going on to Oklahoma City."
"I have a third cousin twice removed in Oklahoma City! I haven't seen her in
years. Tell you what, I'll take the rest of the month off and we'll do
Oklahoma City together."
Remo made his face sad. "Actually I'm going to a funeral."
"Wonderful! I love funerals. So does my cousin. Maybe we can find a date for
her, too."
"Are you listening to anything I'm saying?" Remo asked. "I'm going to a
funeral and I'd like to be alone with my thoughts."
The stewardess rested a soothing hand on Remo's own. "I understand perfectly.
I'll just sit here and give you silent emotional support."
"Get lost," said Remo. Setting his seat back all the way and closing his eyes,
he let himself sink into blackness.
A STURDY MAN with a bull neck and merciless black eyes rose up from a plane of
darkness all but invisible against a deeper blackness.
"I am Nonja," he said, his voice the croaking of a bullfrog.
"You can call me Remo."
"I mastered the sun source at an early age, but all my life I lived in
ignorance."
"The Great Wang said you know about my father."
"I had a son. His name was Kojing."
"I think I heard of him."
"I had to come to this Void before my ignorance was banished," Nonja intoned.
"Know this, O white-skin."
"Master Kojing lived in the Choson Kingdom era," said Remo. "That much I
remember because Persia and Egypt were no longer clients, and there wasn't
much work for the House."
"Master Kojing had a secret. Do you know it?"
"If I did, I forgot it long ago."
"You must try to remember. It is very important."
"Sorry. I give up. Tell me about my father."
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Nonja frowned deeply, his dour face falling into fleshy gullies. "Kojing will
tell you this. For I must go."
"That's it? I don't have to fight you?"
"No, you do not have to fight me," said Nonja.
"Good," said Remo. "Not that I couldn't take you." And without warning, Nonja [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]