Unpopular Science

Margo handed them their tickets. Remo and Chiun entered the museum, where Herr Fastbinder’s collection of mechanical oddities and novelties waited in over-air-conditioned splendor. These were oddities and antiques from around the world, procured at great expense by Fastbinder’s network of dealers. There were gleaming robots that seemed to have little or no useful function. There were all kinds of smaller devices in motion, clanking, humming, beeping and generally accomplishing nothing.

Remo examined a rocking chair linked with a lever to a butter chum. The sign explained: Automatic butter chumers were said to have been used in Appalachian homes as far back as 1892. This is a genuine working model that was used as a prop on the Yee Haw! TV program. Go ahead—give it a try!

“Think any of this could possibly be, you know, dangerous?” Remo asked.

“No.”

“Better safe than sorry, though.”

“I agree,” Chiun said.

It took the Masters of Sinanju less than a minute to reduce it all to scraps and rubble.

Epilogue

After his long trip home, Jack Fast was shocked by what he found there. There was crime scene tape around the museum. The interior of the museum proper was in shambles—although the gift shop looked untouched! There was crime scene tape across the entrance to the Fastbinder house, as well, and inside were ruins.

The depression in the floor, and the one major piece of unaccounted-for equipment, told Jack Fast exactly what had happened to his father. The assassins came and Fastbinder tried to escape using the most dangerous possible method.

“Aw, Pops, ya dope. I told you it was a death trap.”

Jack’s girlfriend appeared around eleven that night and ran into his arms. Nancy was overjoyed to find him alive.

“The police came and couldn’t find any clue about what happened, Jack, and they couldn’t find you or your dad. Where were you? You could have called!” Eventually she overcame her anger. They slept in the cool, peaceful ruins inside the old warehouse. Jack Fast was one tired kid.

But he woke up when he heard the clink of metal on metal, and sat bolt upright. Then he couldn’t hear the sound anymore.

When he laid back down, he heard it. Faint, coming from beneath.

Jack Fast grinned, his mind already working at lightning speed, planning his next amazing feat of engineering.

“I’m coming for you, Pops!”

About the Authors

Warren Murphy’s books and stories have sold fifty million copies worldwide and won a dozen national awards. He has created a number of book series, including the Trace series and the long-running satiric adventure, The Destroyer.

Richard Ben Sapir worked as an editor and in public relations before creating the Destroyer series with Warren Murphy. Before his untimely death in 1987, Sapir penned a number of thriller and historical mainstream novels.