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sprinkler sent blood splattering in a perfect circle in all directions. Bikers
slipped and slid until they collided in a messy jumble around the legs of
their friend without the upper extremities, who collapsed atop the pile, his
eyes fixed and open.
Amid the confusion and shouts, one of the bikers rose out of the tangle of
bodies. And he just kept rising and rising until he stood at seven feet six
inches.
"Cripes," Remo observed, now standing outside the mess. "The
beer-and-cigarettes lifestyle agrees with you."
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"You. You will die."
"Not before he trains his replacement," Chiun announced, emerging from the
darkness with a pair of bodies skidding across the floor before him. His
nimble feet seemed to reach out here and there to nudge the bodies and guide
them in the direction he wished them to go.
"Souvenirs?" Remo asked.
"Did you not say we need to get information from the rabble before they are
rendered into rubble?" Chiun bent over the battered bodies and asked in his
most polite singsong, "Which is the leader?"
The bodies stirred. One of them raised a quivering finger at the armless
corpse. "Him. Fork."
"And Virgin Killer." The dying man pointed at the one with the head puncture.
"Fork and Virgin Killer?" Remo asked incredulously.
"Good work, Remo." Chiun sighed. "I see you've managed to kill just two
hoodlums thus far and one of them happens to be the one we needed to keep
alive."
"Give me a break," Remo answered. "Hey, you." He snapped his fingers over
Chiun's bodies. "Who's next in the line of command?"
One of the bikers who still clung to life raised his eyes to the giant. Then
he raised his eyes to heaven and said a strange word, which ended in a final
hiss of breath. "What did he say, Belltower?" Remo asked.
"He said Belfagore," intoned the seven-plus-footer. "I am Belfagore."
"What kind of name is that?"
"It is one of the names of Satan," the giant thundered.
"Oh, brother."
"And I will dispatch you straight to hell, little man!" By this time the
surviving ranks of the Road Sharks biker gang were on their feet, and Remo saw
deranged vitality in their eyes. He'd seen it the day before in a certain
crack house.
Belfagore raised one long arm and stabbed the air, shouting, "Kill them!"
The Road Sharks struck fast, overpowering the throbbing music with banshee
battle cries. Their movements were adrenalized out of human proportions as
they tore into the two Masters.
The two Masters were gone, though. The small mob stumbled to a halt, shouts
dying in their throats until the shouters started dying themselves. Remo
pushed a pair of skulls against each other and removed his hands fast before
the gore splashed them. He leaped around their collapsing remains and reached
wide with both hands, inserting a finger deep into the ear of one Shark and
the chest of another.
Chiun stood watching Remo as the heart-puncture victim flopped to the ground.
The old Master was the picture of peaceful composure, hands tucked in his
kimono sleeves, as if he were unaware of the three Road Sharks sprawled dead
at his feet, let alone claimed responsibility for them.
"What was that 'Kill them' all about?" Remo demanded of the Road Sharks' new
leader. "You trying to do a whole Batman TV show thing on us? Were you
expecting some CRAACKK!s and KERPLOW!s? Notice that the real world doesn't
work that way?"
Belfagore was astonished at the nearly instant annihilation of his gang.
"So?" Remo demanded. "What's the deal? Why are you doing this? What's your
problem?"
The Shark closed his mouth and began to quiver.
"He is mad," Chiun declared resignedly.
"No kidding. Belfagore's got serious bats in his belfry."
"No. I mean he is angry."
Belfagore made a sound like a komodo dragon whose goat haunch has been taken
by another komodo dragon.
"Ya think?" Remo asked Chiun, then stepped aside and nudged the charging
giant, who tumbled with tremendous momentum across the bloody floor and
crashed through the last few upright lounge tables. Then he leaped to his
feet, shouting incoherently and charging again.
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Charging fast.
Belfagore launched himself at Remo but Remo stepped out of the way, so
Belfagore was sliding again, head-first this time. A wall stopped him hard.
"Ah, crap," Remo said.
But Belfagore wasn't dead or even unconscious. He used the wall for support as
he rose to his feet, and his eyes seemed incapable of focusing.
"I'm surprised you don't make accordion sounds when you breathe, Belf. I think
you're three inches shorter. Don't you think, Little Father?"
"Four inches," Chiun said.
Belfagore staggered at the Reigning Master of Sinanju, grunting and croaking.
"Oh, just give it up, would you?" Remo stepped aside and tripped the giant.
Belfagore fell down, and it was a long way down. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]