"Then you were to be liquidated."
"So the finger is still on me, eh?"
"Yes, you'll have to be careful."
He looked full into her face. "How do you stand now?"
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."