Firing Line

Solly Martin’s string of failed businesses ends when he hires arsonists Moe Moscalevitch and Ernie Flammio to burn his White Plains shop. They discover Lester McGurl, a boy who glows and projects fire; Lester kills them and Solly takes him into a fire-for-hire business. On Point Pleasant Beach, Smith asks Remo to kill Ruby Jackson Gonzales, who wants to leave CURE. Remo refuses, quits, and tells Chiun. Ruby escapes toward her relatives in Newark. Remo returns to Newark, where Solly and Lester (now called Sparky) set a paid fire in a tenement. Ruby evacuates residents but leaves a fake Sinanju medal under a charred victim’s body, staging her death.

Remo and Smith believe she died; the ending reveals that Chiun knew she was alive. Remo learns the arsonists’ names from the corrupt Reverend Horatius Q. Witherspool and traces the pair to St. Louis. Joey Geraghty’s column about a fictional arsonist leads Remo to Purchkie’s Bar, where he learns Solly and Sparky are working locally. Remo confronts them at the Barlin Sports Emporium but Sparky overpowers him and escapes; Remo rescues residents only after the fire spreads and is badly burned. Chiun heals him, then recounts a Sinanju story about Tung-Si the Lesser and a fire-wielding boy. Remo consults Dr. Ledore, who discusses spontaneous human combustion and a fire-children legend.

A New York firemen’s strike creates an opportunity for Solly and Sparky. Sparky burns the Eastern Marine Terminal to prove he can ignite supposedly fireproof buildings and threatens the World Trade Center for $10 million. Remo and Chiun arrive in New York. Remo kills Solly, then confronts Sparky in the tower. Remo douses and disarms him but cannot deliberately kill a child; Sparky charges and falls through a weakened floor onto a coat rack below, where Chiun is waiting. The WTC avoids serious damage, though the Safety-First Grandslam office is destroyed. The strike ends. Smith admits he had ordered Ruby killed to preserve CURE. A wig and note from Ruby’s business, and Chiun’s account, reveal Ruby is alive and had staged the death; Remo and Chiun do not tell Smith.