The Last Dragon

Satellite analyst Narvel Buckle sells cryptozoologists imagery of a moving creature in Gondwanaland. Nancy Derringer, Burger Triumph executive Skip King and guide Ralph Thorpe explore the Kanda Tract and capture a living sauropod. Remo infiltrates Utah State Prison posing as an ACLU advocate; he kills three condemned men in a compactor incident but leaves Roy Shortsleeve, whom he believes innocent. Smith assigns Remo and Chiun to the Gondwanaland crisis; Chiun accepts a converted church as a castle and signs a one-year agreement, while saying that Cheeta Ching is pregnant and proposing that she and a child live with them. The source does not establish parentage or her agreement.

Armed men claiming to represent the Congress for a Green Africa attack the expedition. Remo and Chiun rescue Nancy and the others. The animal is transferred at Port Chuma to an Orlyonok ekranoplane, which carries it to Dover. Remo secretly breaks the aircraft’s airframe ribs so the animal can be freed safely; it is moved onto a heavy carrier in Dover and later reported safe at the Philadelphia Zoological Gardens. Remo makes Wyoming murderer Doyce Deek confess to framing Roy; Deek admits seven murders, and Utah begins reviewing Roy’s conviction. In the U.S., shell casings lead Remo and Nancy to infer that earlier firefights used blanks.

King’s board approves a six-month, twelve-city promotional tour followed by the proposed killing and sale of the animal’s meat; these are plans. Nancy is pushed out, then reinstated after Cheeta broadcasts her account. King arranges a later real attack, kills two guards, kidnaps Nancy and the animal, and demands five million dollars from the board. Remo and Chiun locate the barn and fight the hired men. A ricochet wounds the animal’s tail; when pain reaches it, it swallows King, then Chiun realigns its spine to render it unconscious. Nancy confirms it remains alive. The board resigns and Smith reports that the animal is moved to the Philadelphia Zoo. Smith’s explanation of Gondwanaland’s attackers as army units and of Oburu’s bribery is explicitly framed as surmise. Chiun agrees to wait until the animal’s natural death before claiming its bones.