Engines of Destruction

A series of derailments and collisions leaves decapitated victims, heelless tracks and unusual weapons, while NTSB accounts repeatedly blame drugs or accidents. Remo and Chiun investigate for CURE alongside NTSB investigator Melvis Cupper; they meet rail photographer K.C. Crockett at the Nebraska wreck. An apparent attack on a secret Air Force Peacekeeper train ends with a cold-launch ejecting its dummy-warhead MX missile, which falls and burns without a powered launch. A faceless armored figure seems intangible and escapes. A repeated Essex collision leads to Nishitsu equipment and a transmitter; the figure later leaves a head bag in a hotel room. Smith connects its technology to Nishitsu, and the narrative reveals that baseball player Furio Batsuka was recruited by Nishitsu president Kozo Nishitsu to sabotage railways and help promote maglev.

The company’s new Black Goblin suit permits its wearer to pass through solids and fiber-optic lines; Kozo says an earlier Goblin Suit prototype was stolen by Russian agents. At the Denver Rail Expo, Batsuka flees after recognizing Cupper. Remo and Chiun confront him at the Hilton: Chiun cuts off his fingers, Remo stabs him with a dematerialized katana and throws a second blade that rematerializes at his neck. Batsuka’s body transmits through a telephone line to Folcroft while his head remains in Denver; the head dies and Chiun throws it into a Dumpster, and Smith burns the body in the Folcroft coal furnace.

Remo and Chiun put their katana and battle-ax into the nose of Nishitsu’s maglev demonstration engine; during a later test ride, the car drops back into its guideway, smokes and sparks, and passengers evacuate, though the text does not establish a direct mechanical cause. Melvis and K.C. reconcile and plan a Texas beer-train honeymoon. At Folcroft, Chiun opens his guarded trunk to reveal years of Remo’s nail clippings; Remo adds Chiun’s broken nail, closes the trunk and still has to carry it.