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.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlembassy.He dropped it back to the floor, feeling the heaviness in his straining arm muscles."You and you," he said, tapping the chests of the nearest pair of waiting soldiers."This one." He pointed to the crate he had just lifted.Dutifully, the men lifted the heavy chest."Do not make a sound," he instructed.They nodded their understanding.The Berlin police still had the embassy surrounded.Soe did not wish them to be alerted to the activity on the far side of the thick embassy walls.The two soldiers carted the wooden crate across the floor and up the granite-slab stairs to the rear garden."You next," Soe said, pointing to the next pair of guards.There was only one more set after them."Go in staggered rounds.Do not try to carry them out all at once."As the next soldiers lifted the second chest and headed for the door, Soe left the basement.He found the Master of Sinanju sitting on the floor of the embassy library."I have done as you instructed," Soe said."Your men did not help themselves to my treasure?" Chiun asked.His cobwebbed eyes were closed in meditation."I watched them myself," Soe insisted."They did not steal from you.Nor would they, after what you did to their compatriots."A faint nod."Fear breeds honesty," Chiun admitted.On his way to the library, Soe had not seen the Master's pupil.Although the two of them appeared to bicker constantly, they were rarely far apart."Where is your American lackey, O Master?" Soe asked.Chiun opened his eyes.There was bright fire in their hazel depths."Watch your tongue, Pyongyanger," the old Korean warned.There was a chilly edge in his voice that seemed to actually lower the room temperature."I have heard you call him worse," Soe pointed out."I may call him what I wish.You may not.""My apologies, Master of Sinanju," Soe said, bowing.Chiun's steely gaze bore through to Soe's soul for a few long seconds.At last he drew his thin papery lids across the frightful orbs."My son is securing us transportation," the elderly Korean said."Forgive me, 0 great Master," Soe said."But there are many police officers outside.This embassy is at the center of a scrutiny far greater than that of the Vatican mission in Panama several years ago.Even General Noriega surrendered eventually.How do you hope to get out alive?""Know you this, son of a Pyongyang whore.The Master of Sinanju and his heir are not pineapple-faced despots cowering behind the skirts of the Church of Rome.We will leave when I have deemed we should leave.Until then, be certain that your men take not an ounce of gold, lest your neck suffer the consequences of their actions."The security ministry agent frowned at the peaceful form of the ancient Korean.How easy it would be to put a bullet in his frail old skull.As easy as it would be rewarding.In the end, he followed his orders.Rim Kun Soe left the old one to his meditation, wondering as he bowed from the library how the young one could possibly hope to get that much gold out of the North Korean embassy unnoticed.REMO HAD NO IDEA how they were going to get all that gold out of the North Korean embassy unnoticed.Under cover of darkness, he scaled the wall at the rear of the embassy, hopping down to the pavement between a couple of milling Berlin police officers.The uniformed men did not even notice him.Merging with the shadows, he slipped through a line of parked cars, turning backward as he reached the police cordon.Flapping his arms, he was finally noticed by a young police officer who assumed he had slid between the security Page 29ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlbarricades.As he had expected, Remo was escorted out into the milling crowd of curious onlookers.Outside looking in now, Remo stood with his hands on his hips wondering how the hell he was going to haul the remainder of Chiun's booty out of the embassy without alerting every cop in Berlin.There were twenty-six crates in all.Each one as heavy as lead.Remo frowned as he scanned the area.The crowds were thinner now than they had been.That was a blessing.Although people had been interested the night of the chase and crash, they weren't curious enough to endure the cold on the second full evening.Unfortunately, the Berlin police had not followed suit.Their interest was as high as it had been the day before.Maybe higher.There was a huge number of police officers milling about outside the ivy-covered walls.As he looked at all the crisp dark uniforms huddled together outside the high wall, Remo wondered if crime had suddenly been eradicated around the rest of the city.That was the only thing that should have allowed so many men to spend so much time here.He realized that an end to criminal activity in Berlin wasn't very bloody likely.At least not if the Germany he had seen over the past few weeks was any indication.The only way to end crime would have been to throw a net over the whole damned country.The day's endless drizzling rain had turned into spits of fat gray snowflakes.As they came in contact with the wet ground, they melted across the saturated pavement.Already there were indications that the snow would accumulate to slush before the night was through.Remo didn't intend to be around to see it.It would be easy enough to go out and rent another truck.But then what would he do with it? Drive it through the police lines and right up to the twisted and propped-up embassy gates?There were about a billion cameras outside the gates at the moment with one cop for every camera.He wouldn't get anywhere near the front of the mission with another rental.Truck, truck, truck, he thought.As he looked around, he rotated his freakishly thick wrists absently.There were those tiny European police cars that would be laughed off the road back in America.A larger paddy wagon was parked for some reason away from the nearest cluster of cruisers.Probably preparing for a riot if one broke out.In Germany that was always a wise precaution.A thought occurred to Remo.It was a long shot, but it was the only chance they'd have short of sitting out the whole diplomatic fiasco.Remo slipped back through the police lines, moving stealthily to the rear wall.He kept to the shadows once more, remaining just beyond the periphery of police eyes.He scaled the wall rapidly, slipping back inside the embassy grounds near the spot where he had instructed Rim Kun Soe to leave the treasure crates.They were stacked together on the wet lawn in neat piles.Thirteen piles of two each.A line of huge fir trees grew at the interior of the high wall.Remo grabbed a stack of cases in each hand and slid over to the wall.Dumping the crates four high into one arm, he used his free hand to scale the wall.He set the cases upon the wall, returning for the next four.Once all of the crates were lined up amid the jutting branches of the fir tree, Remo dropped back to the sidewalk outside.He went back through the police lines, this time avoiding the police entirely.He found the paddy wagon parked where he'd left it.The door was unlocked.Remo was ready to hotwire the truck-one of the few mechanical skills he had ever bothered to develop-but was surprised to find the keys dangling in the ignition
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