When Victoria Hoar found Reverend Sluggard, he was counting Remo's money.
"How are the new security people working out?" she asked.
"Ah may not have to pay the tall one. He fell for the old cash-for-forgiveness hustle. But that ain't why Ah called you. We got another problem."
"What's that?"
"My legal staff says we're being sued. Over one of those recruits. His parents say they ain't heard from him."
"I thought you had your staff writing letters home for all of them to cover their disappearance."
"Ah did. This is the one what went pacifist on me during the last phase of training. He had seen too much, so we convinced him that if he carried the banner of the Crusade, he wouldn't have to carry a weapon. but Ah guess he wrote home that he was quittin' before we got his mind turned around. Now his folks are yellin' and carryin' on that their son has been kidnapped or some fool thing."
"This could get serious when the relatives of the other recruits hear of this."
"Ah hadn't counted on them all dyin'," Reverend Eldon Sluggard complained. "What was wrong with them? They had the best weapons money could buy. The best trainin'. And most of all, they had motivation. They should have torn through them ragheads like a pack of buzz saws."
"The next Crusade will have to be better-trained and better-equipped. "
"And better-motivated," added Reverend Sluggard. "It's mah sacred ass."
"I have an idea how to do that."
"Yeah? Lemme hear."
"At a more opportune time. We have better things to do. "
"Amen. While we're alone," Reverend Sluggard suggested, breaking out into a Cheshire grin, "how about a little unholy communion?"
"Not now. I want to check on the new security people. They could be a problem."
"Ah noticed you been eyeing the tall one."
"Of course. If he's drooling over me, he won't see the obvious. "
"Good point. But one thing Ah still ain't figured out: who are they? How can they do all that weird stuff they do?"
"I don't know. But I think the technique they used on the old security chief was created by the ninjas."
"Which sect are they? Ah don't pay too much attention to cults."
"The ninjas were Japanese espionage agents. They possessed remarkable stealth and killing tactics."
"That would make the old man a Japanese. But not the white one. He ain't no more Japanese than my daddy. "
"Who knows? But I'll find out. As long as Remo believes in your ministry, and my smile, we can control him. "
"Amen, sister."
Chapter 16
Rashid Shiraz had no problem with Customs at Montreal International Airport. His passport was in order. It identified him as Barsoom Basti, a Turk. No one from Lebanon to Ankara would mistake Rashid for a Turk, but in the West they clumped all dusky-skinned people into one racial lump they called Arabs. The guard stamped his passport automatically.
This was the crucial moment. He had gone first, in case the American made a mess of it. He could still run. And in Montreal, which was fast becoming the Vienna of the modern espionage world, there were many people and many places that would provide Rashid Shiraz with safe haven.
Lamar Booe offered his passport. It too was false. It identified him as an Englishman. If Lamar spoke softly, his twangy American accent would not betray him.
Lamar answered the questions in a dull monosyllabic tone and Rashid nodded. It was working. The man was so broken that he would do whatever Rashid asked-even without prompting.
The passport was stamped with a bang and Lamar joined Rashid. They walked from the airport and took a cab to a certain hotel. Within an hour, two Iranians were knocking at the door.
"Is this the dog?" asked one in a hard voice.
"Yes. Pitiful, is he not?"
"Yes," said the Iranian. He turned his attention back to Rashid. "We have a car waiting for you. Driving across the border will be easy. The guards look for drugs and contraband. Be certain you have no weapons with you. You will pass easily. The others are grouping at the rendezvous point."
"You have a map to the place of this false kafif Sluggard?"
"Ari. Here. And American money. More than you will need. Also there is a picture. You will need it if you are to locate him personally. He often moves with an entourage."
"I may not need it," said Rashid Shiraz.
"Your task is to abduct him and bring him to us. If this is impossible, you may kill him so long as you do it painfully."
"I know this. But this one will see that I am brought before Sluggard."
"How do you know he will not betray you?"
"Because he hates Sluggard more than we do," said Rashid Shiraz. And to prove his point, he extracted the photograph of the Reverend Eldon Sluggard from the folder and, after glancing at it briefly, placed it in Lamar Booe's empty, trembling hands.
"Is this the devil who betrayed you?" Rashid demanded.
"Aaahh!" said Lamar Booe, squeezing the photograph into a crumpled shape. Then, making little mewling sounds of pain, he tore the photograph first into big pieces, then into small pieces. He stopped only when the remaining pieces were so small his fingers could not grip them for further destruction.
His lips moved. The words were barely audible. Lamar Booe was whispering "Marg bar Sluggard" over and over in poor Farsi.
Chapter 17
Remo put his head in through the half-open door. "Have you seen Victoria?" he asked.
"Too often," Chiun replied sourly.
"The same to you. If you do see her, tell her I'm looking for her."
"Why?" asked Chiun. He was seated on a tatami mat in his stateroom aboard the Reverend Eldon Sluggard's yacht, the Mary Magdalene. He was boiling water in a brass bowl suspended over a tiny wood stove. It was his personal rice-making set, used when the Master was not in civilization. It had arrived within the green-gold lacquered trunk only a few hours ago, shipped by Harold Smith from Folcroft Sanitarium to a series of relay points and finally to the Eldon Sluggard World Ministries.