Why was the phone always so cold? he wondered.

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CHAPTER FOUR

Dr. Harold W. Smith did not like to meet in public places. That was his position. Remo's position was that if Smith wanted to meet with him and Chum, he would have to meet where Remo told him to.

And so, because he knew that Remo was quite capable of disappearing for three months without even a word, Dr. Smith found himself hi a cable car high above the pedestrian walkways of the Bronx Zoo, trying to explain the latest problem to his two assassins.

"Really, Remo. The Bronx Zoo?" Smith complained.

"I like zoos," Remo said. "I haven't been to a zoo in a long time."

Chiun leaned close to Smith. "He is hoping to find some relatives, Emperor," he whispered loudly in Smith's ear.

"I heard that," Remo snarled.

Chiun looked up with an expression of bland innocence.

"And stop calling him emperor," Remo said.

Chiun seemed surprised. For thousands of years the Masters of Sinanju had contracted out their services to emperors, czars and kings of the world, and he thought it only fitting to refer to Smith as Emperor Smith. He said to Smith, "Ignore him. He is testy because everybody in the monkey house looks

36

exactly like him and he can't pick one relative from the next."

Smith pointed at the only other occupant of the cable car, a man asleep at the far end, sprawled across the seats. Remo and Chiun could tell he was stone drunk, because for them the fumes of his inebriation hung like thick fog in the car.

"He's out of it," Remo said. "Don't worry about it. So I'm supposed to babysit the entire Olympic team?"

"Foolish child," Chiun said quickly. "The emperor would not ask you to perform such an impossible task. This assignment seems most reasonable."