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Return Engagement — Hachette UK ebook edition
Hachette UK ebook edition

The DestroyerBook 711988

Return Engagement

A string of murders targeting elderly men named Harold Smith draws CURE into the path of a revenge-seeking survivor from 1949. While Remo and Chiun’s relationship is unsettled, a young engineer’s titanium invention becomes the center of a violent struggle.

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Konrad Blutsturz, a Nazi survivor severely burned in a 1949 Tokyo encounter with Harold W. Smith, returns to America pursuing Smith namesakes and titanium prostheses. He and Ilsa Gans kill several elderly men named Harold Smith, including Harold D. Smith and Dr. Harold K. Smith; Harold Q. Smith is reported murdered and is attacked by Ilsa, but his death is not shown directly. CURE protects engineer Ferris D’Orr and his titanium-melting nebulizer. Remo and Chiun separate over Mah-Li, Sinanju and Chiun’s departure, then reunite while pursuing Blutsturz. Ferris disables the device while captive, later affirms his Jewish identity, and is killed after Blutsturz mistakes him for Harold Smith.

Blutsturz receives powered titanium limbs from surgeon Manfred Beflecken; after Ilsa discovers he murdered her parents, he kills her. Remo and Chiun fight Blutsturz in the Everglades, Smith melts the prostheses with Ferris’s device and shoots him. Chiun finds Mrs. Smith alive in a Folcroft basement. Remo and Chiun agree to continue together for a year, leaving their longer-term Sinanju arrangement unresolved. The source says an unnamed President founded CURE and was later assassinated; a separate unnamed incumbent receives Smith’s report, with no identity link stated.

Sources for this summary

Characters & places

Spoilers

Full articles

Characters 17

Places 22

Organizations 4

Groups 1

Lore 2

Chapter summaries30 chapters · spoilers

  1. Chapter 1

    Konrad Blutsturz and Ilsa kill Harold D. Smith, then identify him as the wrong Harold Smith and treat the body as expendable.

  2. Chapter 2

    Remo builds a house for Mah-Li and disputes with Chiun about where they will live after marriage.

  3. Chapter 3

    Smith identifies thirteen Harold Smith deaths in seven weeks and examines the victims’ ages; he recognizes that he may be the intended target.

  4. Chapter 4

    At the communal gathering, Remo and Chiun continue their conflict over village customs and proposed improvements, including toilets.

  5. Chapter 5

    Konrad and Ilsa kill Dr. Harold K. Smith; the doctor’s information about new titanium-forming technology sends Konrad back to investigate metals.

  6. Chapter 6

    Chiun writes that he interprets Remo through the white night tiger/Shiva legend while worrying about the Detroit possession; Smith maps the locations of Harold Smith deaths.

  7. Chapter 7

    Ferris D’Orr, a titanium metallurgist, creates a focused-ultrasound nebulizer and tests its effects on titanium.

  8. Chapter 8

    Chiun leaves Sinanju and explains his departure in a note; Remo realizes he has gone and follows his trail toward Pyongyang.

  9. Chapter 9

    The narrative recounts the medical aftermath of the 1949 fire and Konrad’s resulting fixation on Harold Smith; he begins killing American namesakes.

  10. Chapter 10

    Smith withholds the murder pattern from the news to avoid endangering other namesakes, while the killer remains unaware that the real target can fight back.

  11. Chapter 11

    Boyce Barlow’s White Purity League is approached by Konrad, who offers to expand it and directs its leaders toward Ferris D’Orr.

  12. Chapter 12

    The unnamed President directs Smith to protect Ferris D’Orr after a kidnapping attempt and explains the importance of his titanium discovery.

  13. Chapter 13

    Remo pursues Chiun’s route through North Korea; his search and the local encounters bring him closer to the trail Chiun has left.

  14. Chapter 14

    Ferris is held in a Baltimore safe house, and Chiun arrives to take over his protection after finding the exposed location.

  15. Chapter 15

    Smith’s late-night call from his wife interrupts the investigation; later Remo reconnects with Smith after returning to the case.

  16. Chapter 16

    Konrad redirects the Barlow group after the failed effort to locate Ferris and remains focused on killing Harold Smith.

  17. Chapter 17

    Remo travels to Baltimore to find Chiun and learns that Chiun has taken responsibility for Ferris; the split between the two men remains unresolved.

  18. Chapter 18

    Konrad addresses the White Aryan League’s rally, using a promised race war to organize the group while privately treating the movement as an instrument.

  19. Chapter 19

    Ferris’s mother describes his Catholic upbringing and their conflict; a speech by the unnamed President calls Ferris’s work a defense keystone.

  20. Chapter 20

    The public searches for the missing Ferris while Remo negotiates informally with Smith and Chiun about staying until Ferris’s case is resolved.

  21. Chapter 21

    Ilsa and Konrad abduct Ferris from the Baltimore safe house; Konrad presents his cause to the captive engineer.

  22. Chapter 22

    Smith learns that Ferris is missing while Remo and Chiun discuss whether the engineer can still be found.

  23. Chapter 23

    Ferris recognizes the danger of hatred, disables the nebulizer, and identifies himself as a Jew; he is then returned to Konrad as the prosthetic operation continues.

  24. Chapter 24

    Remo and Chiun study the compound and confront the attackers; after hearing Ferris’s apparent death, Chiun grieves and they continue the pursuit.

  25. Chapter 25

    Konrad proceeds with his physical transformation and attempts to command the organization; the confrontation ends with Ilsa fleeing Fortress Purity.

  26. Chapter 26

    Smith thinks the murders have stopped, then learns Harold Q. Smith, age sixty-two, has been killed; the case draws him toward Blutsturz.

  27. Chapter 27

    Remo returns to Chiun among captured White Aryan League survivors. The narrative also follows Mrs. Smith’s attempt to reach Harold at Folcroft.

  28. Chapter 28

    Konrad confronts Smith over the June 7, 1949 Tokyo incident; Smith recalls arriving at Dai-Ichi and the fire that severely burned Konrad.

  29. Chapter 29

    Remo and Chiun fight Blutsturz and damage one powered leg. Smith melts the titanium prostheses with Ferris’s nebulizer, then shoots Blutsturz when he continues advancing.

  30. Chapter 30

    Smith reports to the President; Chiun finds Mrs. Smith alive in the Folcroft basement, and Remo and Chiun agree to continue together for one year.

Other mentions3 names & references

Editions & covers

Edition · cover shown

Hachette UK

2015-05-07

ISBN 9780751559132

Edition details

References & notes

Sources 35 references
  • witness:00000207:ch01:p0017
  • witness:00000207:ch01:p0093
  • witness:00000207:ch03:p0058
  • witness:00000207:ch07:p0106
  • witness:00000207:ch08:p0015
  • witness:00000207:ch14:p0055
  • witness:00000207:ch01:p0095
  • witness:00000207:ch05:p0055
  • witness:00000207:ch05:p0062
  • witness:00000207:ch07:p0107
  • witness:00000207:ch07:p0111
  • witness:00000207:ch12:p0128
  • witness:00000207:ch18:p0086
  • witness:00000207:ch21:p0079
  • witness:00000207:ch23:p0043
  • witness:00000207:ch23:p0079
  • witness:00000207:ch26:p0045
  • witness:00000207:ch26:p0082
  • witness:00000207:ch28:p0091
  • witness:00000207:ch28:p0122
  • witness:00000207:ch28:p0125
  • witness:00000207:ch29:p0128
  • witness:00000207:ch29:p0141
  • witness:00000207:ch30:p0021
  • witness:00000207:ch30:p0025
  • witness:00000207:ch30:p0038
  • witness:00000207:ch03:p0004
  • witness:00000207:ch30:p0004
Edition and source notes

Names are the bibliography’s title-level “written by” attribution key, not a verified edition byline. credited_authors is null because no first-edition cover/title page was checked. A creator name in the general franchise metadata must not be treated as proof of sole drafting.

registration-declared first publication: 1988-01-04. CPRS record field is the registrant/depositor-reported first-publication date, not independent retail/on-sale verification; no print copy inspected. Source

Return Engagement:

Publisher's description: Hachette supplies only its general series overview here; it characterizes the novels as action-led stories mixing comedy and mysticism.

Presidential clues

Current U.S. President: historical identity unresolved.

Unnamed assassinated President who established CURE

John F. Kennedy

  • Book 71 says CURE was set up by a President who was later assassinated (ch03:p0004).
  • Book 71 separately calls the officeholder in the current storyline “the present President” (ch03:p0005); it does not say that officeholder founded CURE.
  • Book 26 identifies John F. Kennedy in the founding history of CURE (Book 26 ch01:p0148, p0150); this supports a cross-book hypothesis only.

strong cross-book inference

Book 71 does not name the founder or give an identifying date; the candidate arises only by comparing Book 26’s named founding account with Book 71’s unnamed account. Preserve as a qualified series-level hypothesis, not a settled Book 71 identity or entity merge. Keep distinct from the unnamed incumbent.

Unnamed incumbent President

Unidentified U.S. President in the contemporary CURE storyline.

  • Smith says the current President authorized CURE to resume operations without an enforcement arm (ch03:p0005–p0006).
  • The President directs Smith to protect Ferris D’Orr after a kidnapping attempt (ch12:p0114–p0128).
  • A presidential speech calls Ferris’s work a defense keystone (ch19:p0031).
  • Smith gives the President a final report on Ferris and the recovered nebulizer (ch30:p0004–p0007).
  • The 1949 Tokyo account identifies an OSS agent and Blutsturz, but no President or CURE founder (ch28:p0091–p0132).

none

The narrative gives no personal name or story date for the incumbent and never identifies the incumbent with the unnamed, later-assassinated CURE founder. No identity merge is proposed.

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