Destroyer 94 - Feeding Frenzy by Warren Murphy & Richard Sapir

Author:Warren Murphy & Richard Sapir
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

Remo stopped by the front desk before returning to his bungalow.

"Water back on?" he asked the desk clerk, who held his red and tender fingers in the air as if afraid to touch hard objects with them.

"Not yet."

"Damn."

"Sorry."

"Not as sorry as you will be if I don't shower soon," Remo said.

"The drought is out of our control, sir."

"Remember my friend with the fast fingers?"

The desk clerk dropped his tender hand under the counter where it would be safe. "Indelibly."

"He wants me to shower more than anything in the world."

"More than he wants rice?"

Remo nodded soberly. "More than rice."

"I might be able to scare up enough water for a bath."

"Start scaring."

"It'll take a while for the ice to melt, though."

"I'll be in my room counting the minutes," said Remo, stepping out into the cool California air. He glanced up the road, but the Master of Sinanju was nowhere in sight.

"Let him play games if he wants to," muttered Remo, going in and turning on the TV.

He got the top of the hour CNN News.

"In Peoria, Illinois, authorities have just announced that Dr. Mordaunt Gregorian, self-styled thanatologist, has just assisted in his twenty-eighth suicide. The victim, forty-seven-year-old Penelope Grimm, was suffering from a severe vaginal yeast infection easily cured with an over-the-counter prescription. Unfortunately, the woman's Christian Scientist beliefs forbid their use. Asked to comment on his latest foray into medicide, as the practice of doctor-assisted suicide has come to be called, Dr. Gregorian said, 'This is a gigantic step forward for the medical community and for women, who no longer need to be terminally ill in order to end their suffering. My toll-free death-line number is-' "

"Damn," said Remo, grabbing up the telephone. He thumbed the 1 button. Relays clicked.

Harold Smith answered, "Yes?"

"It's me and I have a problem."

Smith's voice tensed up. "What is it?"

"I'm stuck in California when I should be in Peoria."

"What is happening in Peoria?"

"Dr. Doom just executed another sick woman. This time, she wasn't even terminal."

"I have heard that report. It is very disturbing. This man seems determined to test the euthanasia laws in every state in the union."

"It's sick, and I should be doing something about it, except I'm stuck here, dodging press and politicians and wasting my freaking time."

"One moment, Remo. I seem to have left the radio on."

In the background, Remo heard a hiss of static. It went away. Smith's voice returned, sounding faintly perturbed.

"Something must have happened to the feed for the Thrush Limburger radio show."

"Maybe that hippo sat on it," Remo growled.

"Remo, why are you in such a foul mood?"

"From the top, I can't shower because there's no freaking water; because I can't shower, Chiun won't have anything to do with me; and I can't do my job because Nirvana West is crawling with political freeloaders and media dips."

"You have made no progress?"

"I talked to the local coroner. One of the few sane people I've come across out here. He can't make any sense of it, either."

"Then you've learned nothing?"

"No." Remo was looking at the TV and said, "Hold the phone.

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