She returned his frank look. "I'm the first follower to dedicate her
services to El Hassan."
"So you want to come along?"
"Yes," she said simply.
"And you remember what Abe said? That in the end the Hero invariably
gets clobbered? Sooner or later, North Africa will outgrow the need for
a Hero to follow and then ... then El Hassan and his closest followers
have a good chance of winding up before a firing squad."
"Yes, I know that."
Homer Crawford ran his hand back over his short hair, wearily. "O.K.,
Isobel. Your first instructions are to contact those two friends of
yours, Jake Armstrong and Cliff Jackson. Try to convert them."
"What are you going to be doing ... El Hassan?"
"I'm going over to the Reunited Nations to resign from the African
Development Project. I have a sneaking suspicion that in the future they
will not always be seeing eye to eye with El Hassan. Nor will the other
organizations currently helping to advance Africa--whilst still at the
same time keeping their own irons in the fire. Possibly the commies
won't be the only ones in favor of liquidating El Hassan's assets."