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A soldier jumped out into the street, took aim at Sunny Joe and Remo made a
detour that brought him within head-harvesting reach of the oblivious
marksman.
The side of Remo's hand went through the man's neck, and when the head jumped
off the newly created stump, the rest of the soldier lost all interest in
working his rifle.
Remo raced on. If there were any more soldiers intent on trying their luck,
they developed other plans as Remo caught up with the Humvee.
"Hey, wait up," Remo called.
At the wheel Sunny Joe said, "What're you doing here?"
"I came to bail you out."
"Bailed myself out, damn it."
"You stopping?"
"If you can run this fast, just circle around. Door's open."
"Damn." Remo hung back, came around the other side and pulled even with the
front passenger's seat. "It'll be a whole lot easier if you stop."
"Those are live rounds they're slinging."
"They stopped shooting."
"And they'll start right up again once they get a stationary target. Now, hop
on!"
Remo skipped, bounced off one foot and plopped into the passenger's seat. The
cushions met his back, and there was a brief sensation of about 2 Gs as his
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decelerating inertia and the Humvee's accelerating momentum met, strained,
then fell into perfect synchronization.
"Head for the border," Remo said.
"What the hell do you think I'm doing?"
"What's got into you?"
"I was doing fine until you busted in," Sunny Joe commented.
"Hey, I just wasted a bunch of people to save your skin."
"And I saved my own skin without any killing. I saw what you did to that poor
soldado back there. His neck's probably still pumping blood."
"He would have shot you," Remo argued.
"The bullet was never cast that could bring down a Sunny Joe. No arrow,
either."
"There's always a first time," Remo said defensively. "And why'd you take off
without telling me?"
"Since when do I have to check in with you or anybody before I light out?"
Remo started to speak but found he had no answer to that.
They drove in a strained silence until they cleared the border.
Then Sunny Joe let out a sigh of relief. His voice turned brittle. "Ko Jong Oh
used to say a warrior's worth is not measured in scalps or trophies or booty,
but in his ability to be like the wind. Everyone feels the wind on his skin,
but no man can see it. The wind can sculpt sandstone into any shape it sees
fit to. But nothing can stop the wind. Not even the spirit of the mountain,
whom we call Sanshin. A strong wind will flow over a tall peak or cut a small
one down to size. Be like the wind, Ko Jong Oh told his sons, and the sons of
the sons of Ko Jong Oh have ever since emulated the winds."
Remo said nothing.
"How many men you kill back there, Remo?"
"I wasn't counting."
"Comes that easy to you, does it?"
Remo opened his mouth, then shut it so hard his teeth clicked.
"Was that you making all the commotion out in the outer jail rooms?"
"Yeah," Remo answered.
"I had two window bars loose. Figured if nothing broke by nightfall, I'd just
slip out. When I heard all your racket, I knew I'd better make my break now or
it might be never."
"The bars were still in the window."
"Sure. I turned them around in their mortar till they were good and loose.
When I got out, I stuck 'em back in. With luck they might not have missed me
till tomorrow morning."
"For all I knew, you were dead."
"You don't have much faith in your old man, now do you, son?"
"Am I supposed to say I'm sorry?"
"Are you?"
"No."
"You did what you do, is that right?"
"I did what I do," Remo agreed.
"What you were trained to do?"
"That's right."
"Then you got your answer."
"To what?" Remo asked.
"Your future. Your ways are the ways of violence and death. The ways of the
Sun On Jo are the ways of peace. We don't kill except as a last resort. And we
don't die except in our hogans in our old age."
"You saying I should go back to my old life?"
"I'm saying you should take a good hard look at where you won't fit in."
"You kicking me off the reservation?"
Sunny Joe's voice softened. "You're welcome to visit any time. If you live
long enough to retire, this is a good place to rest your weary bones, take it
from one who knows. I aim to lay my Sun On Jo bones in this here red desert."
"I can't believe you're tossing me out of your life."
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"I'm not, Remo. You think this through. I'm encouraging you back into the only
life that fits you."
"I don't want to kill anymore."
"You didn't have that attitude at the start of this conversation. I don't
think deep down it's who you really are."
"I don't know who I am anymore," Remo said in a bitter voice.
That night Remo visited his mother's grave. Laughing Brook was running high.
It had been a baked-dry desert riverbed when Remo first came to the Sun On Jo
Reservation. Three happy months ago. It seemed like an eternity. It had all
gone by so fast.
He was alone for a long time, waiting. And somewhere in that waiting, Sunny
Joe materialized beside him. There was no warning.
"What do you think she'd say?" Remo asked after a while.
"About what?"
"About me."
"Well, I reckon she'd be proud of her only son who grew up to be a
fine-looking man who served his country."
"I'm an assassin."
"I was a soldier myself," Sunny Joe said.
"A soldier is different. I'm an assassin. Killing is like breathing to me."
"Then breathe."
Remo's mouth thinned. "Lately I've been calling myself a counterassassin
because I thought it fit me better. I was wrong. I am what I am." Remo sucked
in a hot breath. "And I don't belong here. I'm leaving in the morning."
Sunny Joe nodded in approval. "I appreciate what you tried to do."
"You didn't act it."
"Being a father is new to me. It's just that I like to do things for myself.
Always have. You stepped into the private circle of an old warrior's pride."
Remo's eyes were fixed on his mother's headstone. "I wonder if I'll see her
again."
"Doubt it. Her work is done. She laid her bones in the red sand long, long
ago. But there was unfinished business, and she found the will and the way to
finish it. Next time you meet, it'll be in the great beyond somewheres."
Remo set his teeth to keep his chin from trembling.
He felt Sunny Joe's big paw fall on his shoulder. "The way I see it, if she
disapproved of your path in life, she wouldn't have found her way to your
hogan."
"I've changed my mind," Remo said thickly. "I'm not waiting until morning. I'm
going now."
"If it suits you."
"It suits me."
"Then let's saddle up together one last time, you and I."
They rode out in the clear, cool desert night, neither man speaking. The sky
was full of bitter blue stars, and Remo looked at them, feeling a connection
growing. It was that oneness Sinanju gave. He swelled with every intake of
breath.
"Ever feel part of the universe?" he asked Sunny Joe.
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