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.Her longhair danced behind her like a horse's tail."Ah been askin' for you," he said."Ah been tryin' to talk sense to thecaptain, but he won't turn this scow around.""Not possible," Victoria Hoar said simply."We're on course for Iran.""Ah-ran!" Reverend-General Sluggard screeched."Ah ain't goin' to ragheadland.""Yes, you are.It's your job to keep up the morale of your Cross Crusaders.""Who's Reverend-General around here anyway?""You.But this ship is sailing under my orders.""It is? I thought you said your daddy ran this oil company.Well, Ah want toPage 80ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmltalk with him.""You'd need a Ouija board.He died.Heart attack.When they plugged up thebest well he ever drilled down in Hidalgo County, Texas, it killed him.I runthe company now.""Ah smell a setup.You had this tub waiting all along.""I didn't expect to move this soon, but here we are.""Ah can't go to Ah-ran.You know what they'll do to me if Ah'm takenprisoner.""Don't get taken prisoner," Victoria Hoar said.Reverend-General Eldon Sluggard turned red."You been playin' me right along,ain't you? Like an old fiddle.""More like a saxophone.And you hit every note.Now, let me suggest you startpracticing for when you hit the beach.""When mah Cross Crusaders hit the beach, you mean.""When they hit the beach under your charge.I didn't want to tell you beforethis, but remember when I said I'd figured out what had gone wrong the firsttime? That last Crusade didn't have a truly inspiring leader.This time, itwill.You.""No damn way.""I'd put that silver-tongued voice of yours to work," Victoria Hoar went on,indifferent to Reverend-General Sluggard's rantings."Because you're going tobe the first to hit the beach, like it or not.And you'd better have awell-motivated force backing you up, or you're going to be out there allalone."The thought settled onto Reverend-General Sluggard's beefy face."If Ah could swim." he said gratingly."But you can't," returned Victoria Hoar, turning on her heel and stalkingoff."Bitch," called Reverend-General Eldon Sluggard.And this time he did not sayit under his breath.A mocking laugh floated back to him.Chapter 23General Adnan Mefki entered the Grand Ayatollah's private garden, his faceset.The Grand Ayatollah looked up from his raisin-sweetened tea and signed for thegeneral to speak.The soft winds coming down off the Elburz Mountains sent thebaskets of red roses rippling, filling the air with their perfumy sweetness."I have word that a delegation from the House of Sinanju desires an audiencewith your holiness.""I know of no such place," the Grand Ayatollah said distantly."Sinanju is a village in North Korea, Imam, the seat of a powerful sect ofassassins.They serviced the former shahs and before them, the caliphs of oldPersia.I have known of this house all my life.Many believed them extinct.""I will not treat with any emissary who consorted with the infidel shahs.Donot allow them to enter this country.""I am afraid it is too late.They are in Tehran.I do not know how.The waysof Sinanju are most mysterious.But they have sent word that they will be herewithin the hour and they expect an audience.""And who are they to make demands of us?" asked the Grand Ayatollah.The general paused, his expression dumbfounded.Although no Master of Sinanjuhad set foot in Iran in generations, some years ago the latest Master ofSinanju had done a kindness for the last shah.Sinanju could not be denied."They," the general said at last, as if it explained everything, "areSinanju."And in the distance, the melting ice of the Elburz Mountains cracked like athunderclap.The Master of Sinanju strolled down the center of Lalehzar Street.Hiscarriage was straight.His face lifted proudly."See how the crowds part for us here?" Chiun said loftily."The past servicerendered by my ancestors has not been forgotten."Page 81ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html"No offense, Little father," Remo said, "but I think it was those twoRevolutionary Guards you dismembered back there that did the trick.""Hoodlums," said Chiun."Ruffians.Obviously uneducated, for they did notrecognize me by sight.""The border guards were the same way.Every checkpoint from here to Pakistanwas full of them.Between the two of us, they're going to have to start a newrecruitment drive to replenish the ranks.If you ask me, no one bothered totell them about Sinanju's contributions to Persian culture [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]