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.The Dutchman kicked him off the fence.Vittorelli's twitching body rolled toward the group of drunks who sat clutching one another in horror as they witnessed his electrocution.The drunks recoiled and scattered, shouting wildly.It had all gone out of control.The Dutchman would have to stop them all before their noise brought curious onlookers to the yard.But first he would have to get rid of the source of their fright, the gory mass of flesh that still trembled spasmodically nearby.With one hand, he threw Vittorelli's grisly, burned body high over the fence into the ocean beyond, while he trapped a terrified drifter, now stone sober and surprisingly strong, with the other.When Vittorelli hit the water with a resounding splash, the Dutchman turned to the drifter and silenced him with one lethal blow to the windpipe, then dropped him.He was searching for the nearest scream.It came from an old black man who limped toward the office complex.The Dutchman caught him in the solar plexus with his foot, then split his temple open with two fingers.He killed the others cleanly, seeking them out among the trucks and sandbags where they hid, making sure each kill was unique by striking different blows on each frightened, bewildered victim.When it was over, he counted the bodies.There were ten, including Vittorelli—the same number Sanchez had brought in earlier.The fragrant tropical air was already beginning to smell of death.The Dutchman opened a refrigerated truck container used for hauling meat and produce, and tossed the bodies inside Page 32ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlafter removing any personal effects and identification from them.These would be burned in the furnace at the castle.He closed -the door to the container, set its dials, and it whirred into action.The sea slapped at the shore in peaceful rhythm while the motor of the container chilled its terrible cargo.The box would be carried out to sea soon.As soon as the bodies of Remo and Chiun filled it.Outside the compound, the scrub grass stirred with heavy footsteps.The Dutchman pasted himself to the side of the refrigerated box and watched as the figure drew closer.It walked clumsily, as if the person carried a heavy load.At the gate, the figure held something in its hand that glinted like metal in the moonlight.In a moment, the gate slid open.It was Sanchez.In his arms was the water-bloated, gray-tinged body of a man in black.Sanchez dropped the body in front of the Dutchman and signaled that he had found him floating between the reefs below the French girl's house.The Dutchman pulled back his hand and slapped the mute across the face."For your ineptitude," he spat.The mute stood, expressionless."Is the American, Remo, dead?" he asked after a moment.The mute shook his head.So.He would have to take them both at once.It would have been better to kill the young one first, but that was a bad gamble at best.No one knew better than the Dutchman how dangerous this American was.Nearly as dangerous as the old man from Sinanju.He had been counting on the thug who now lay dead at his feet to catch Remo off guard, but he should have known that killing either Remo or Chiun was not a job for an ordinary killer.He would have to do it himself."So be it," he said quietly.Sanchez lifted the body into the truck container, already cold with frigid air that frosted the hair and beards of the unlucky drifters inside, and locked the door.At the gate, he slid a metal-striped card into a slot, and the gate opened for them and closed behind them.Two more switches, and the place was once again flooded in bright light.They walked together into the darkness."Has any harm come to the girl?" the Dutchman asked.His head down, the mute signaled "No" with his hands.After a moment, the Dutchman spoke again."See that it does."The mute nodded and was gone.?SixThe porch lights of Remo's villa were on.In the near distance, Remo blinked twice when he saw the opened front door.The doorway seemed to be crammed full of people, as though a busy party were in progress, only there was no sound.No music, no bursts of cocktail laughter, nothing but the drone of the cicadas and the chirping of grasshoppers.Then he saw one of the figures in the doorway, a black man in a striped shirt, move.It was more a slump than a conscious movement, lodged as the man was between the other people clustered in the frame of the open door.Remo came Page 33ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlcloser.The man who had moved now slid to the floor, upsetting the balance of the other figures.In one confusing wave, they all tumbled out the door and onto the porch, where they lay inert as broken glass figurines."Now what the hell is going on?" Remo said as he stepped over the dead bodies of the toppled partygoers on the porch.Chiun was inside, frowning, his arms folded across his chest and concealed inside the wide gold brocade sleeves of his robe."Where have you been?" the old man grumbled, gesturing with a snap of his head at the lifeless forms cluttering the entranceway."Move this rubble away.""That's it, huh?" Remo said, kicking a limp arm out of his way in disgust."Bump off half the men in the village so old Remo, the clean-up man, can come mop up the mess.Well, let me tell you, I've had it up to here with murders today." He mimed a slash across his throat."And what of me? The rudeness." Chiun hissed."Twice in one day have I been coarsely interrupted during the viewing of my beautiful daytime dramas.Emperor Smith, crawling through my window with the agility of a chained bear, is not enough.No.I must also suffer these." His voice rose to a high-pitched shriek as he jounced up and down in a rage.".These murderous hellions, shouting 'Hee Hoo Ha Hee' like hysterical monkeys as they went about their dastardly deed.It is a zoo, this sweltering armpit of an island.Vacation? Hah! Prison would be better.Poverty would be better than this.""Now, just calm down—""Calm?" Chiun's almond eyes were little hazel o's."You wish me to be calm— I, who have lost the single thread of beauty in life's tormented fabric? I, whose only pleasure in the dimming twilight of my years has now been shattered beyond redemption?""Will you get to it? What the hell are you talking about?"Wordlessly, Chiun glided out of the living room, uttered a small cry of grief, and returned wheeling the television set with its Betamax hookup, which he kept in his bedroom.The blank screen was punctured by a gaping hole, out of which the machine's innards were visible."This," the old man said, choking hoarsely."The lout did not even have the decency to die properly.Kicking, flailing everywhere like a wild chicken." He thrust his hand speculatively into the hole in the glass, then retracted it, wailing high and stridently."Oh, never again to gaze on Mrs.Wintersheim's troubled countenance.Never to know the dark secret of Skip the podiatrist.And Rad Rex, the kindest of healers, the finest—""You've seen those shows a million times," Remo said.Chiun turned on him, eyes blazing."And if one sees the Mona Lisa a million times, is it then permissible to destroy her?""I'll go into town tomorrow and get you another set," Remo said impatiently."Tomorrow?" Chiun bellowed."Tomorrow? What am I to do tonight?" He glared at the broken television."This is worthless now, isn't it?"Remo shrugged."I guess you could use it for a coffee table if you wanted to."Page 34ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html"Worthless.Gone forever, the lovely stories that lived within this magic box." He tossed the set into the air like a tennis ball and whacked it across the room, where it embedded itself in the stucco wall.Remo jumped."Remember what I said, Chiun.Calm.Let's be.""I am calm," Chiun hissed as he strode over to the heap of bodies in the doorway and propelled one of the dead men through the picture window with a crash of shattering glass
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