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.Someone wondered aloud what a civilian was doing giving the Army orders.Page 28ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlCaptain Holden grabbed the man and put his hand over the soldier's mouth and hissed urgent words into his ear until the soldier started nodding his head in furious agreement.The soldier rejoined the search in a subdued mood.The National Guard pitched in.They ranged far and wide.The search was filmed extensively by legions of camcorders.Reporters hindered the effort with a steady barrage of questions.When Major Styles suggested they drop their equipment and join in the search, he was told, "We cover the news, not make it."When one had the temerity to approach Remo with a "How is the search progressing?", Remo showed him a new way to carry his microphone.The reporter retreated to his convertible and burned rubber, on his way to the nearest proctologist.He drove standing up.After that, the media kept a respectful distance."You have a way with the media," Styles remarked to Remo."You just have to find their hot buttons," Remo snapped.They found the Master of Sinanju among the corn.A delighted Guardsman made the discovery."I found him, sir," he shouted, waving wildly.The search party converged on the spot.Compared to Remo, they were moving in slow motion.Remo flashed through the corn so fast he shucked leaves off the stalks."Where is he?" Remo asked as he came up on the Guardsman.The man pointed to his feet.Remo stopped dead in his tracks, his gorge rising.The Master of Sinanju lay there on his stomach, bare legs apart under the hiked-up kimono skirt.Chiun's head was turned so one cheek rested in the dirt to show his face in profile.Shocked by the bloodlessness of his mentor's parchment skin, Remo sank to one knee.A solitary fly crawled out from behind Chiun's shell of an ear.Angrily Remo killed it with a violent snap of his fingers.Slowly, one outstretched hand trembling, he reached down to touch his Master's throat.He hesitated.The others drifted up, making the cornstalks complain under their feet.A camcorder approached like an intrusive eye."Get back!" Remo snarled, shattering the lens with a swift knuckle blow.The crowd retreated to a safe distance.Remo laid a finger against the Master of Sinanju's carotid artery.He felt nothing.His stomach sank.He stifled a sob.Then the artery pulsed.And pulsed again.Remo breathed then."Thank God," he said chokingly."You're alive, Little Father.Thank God."Remo got to work.First he arranged Chiun's skirts so his legs were covered.Chiun had always been modest about his legs showing.Carefully he felt Chiun's arms and legs, testing the birdlike bones for breaks.Finding none, Remo placed his hands on the pale yellow skull, massaging the bone plates to detect cracks or the telltale gravelly texture of crushed bone.He could feel the throbbing of the brain beneath the paper-thin bone.The skull was fine.Only then did Remo gently turn Chiun over onto his back.A hand placed over the delicate mouth picked up regular but soft exhalations.Breathing was normal.Knowing that there was no major damage, Remo settled down to await the Master of Sinanju's imminent return to consciousness."Shouldn't we call an ambulance?" Captain Holden suggested from a discreet distance."No!" Remo snapped.And that was the end of that discussion.A sharper rising of Chiun's small chest gave Remo the first indication that Chiun was coming around.The eyelids began to flutter.Then, dramatically, Chiun's eyes flew open."Remo," he squeaked."What has happened?"Page 29ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html"Little Father," Remo said solemnly, "I don't know how to break this to you."Chiun's sweet wrinkles convulsed with surprise."What is it, Remo?""We used too much explosive." And he smiled.Remo stood up and offered his hand to Chiun.Strangely, the Master of Sinanju rejected it."I am not an invalid," he said peevishly."I can regain my own feet.""Hey, no offense intended," Remo said, stepping back."It's just that we both took a pretty heavy hit.I was out too.""And just because you regained your white senses first, you think you are stronger than I, who taught you everything you know?" Chiun intoned as he came to his feet like an unfolding paper kite.Angrily he brushed off his dusty kimono."It's not like that at all," Remo objected."It's just I-""Hey, we found another one!"A National Guardsman trudged up, leading a dazed Sky Bluel by the hand.Her rose-tinted glasses hung askew off the bridge of her uptilted nose."I thought she left," Remo said, his argument with Chiun momentarily forgotten."What made you think that?" Captain Holden asked."Because her pickup is gone." Remo pointed to the gnarled apple tree where it had been parked."Look."Sky Bluel shook off her dazed look when Remo's words sank in."My pickup!" she cried."My neutron bomb! My science project! They're all gone!""What neutron bomb?" Captain Holden asked blankly."My neutron bomb, you ninny! Didn't you catch my press conference? I brought it in my pickup.Actually, it's my dad's pickup.And he's going to kill me for losing it.""Well, it didn't drive off by itself," Remo pointed out."Anybody see where it went to?"No one had.They conducted a general search.The truck had not been blown into a ditch, or anything of the sort."Maybe it blew up with the rest of the plastique," Remo suggested after they had regrouped in defeat."There was an awful lot of it in back.""Don't be a moron," Sky snapped."I parked it near that apple tree.The tree is still there.If that plastique had gone up, there'd be a crater, not an apple tree." She shook an angry finger in Remo's face."And none of this would have happened if you hadn't tried to play macho superhero.""Sue me," Remo said [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]