Chapter Three

The unforeseen even of coming face to face with oneself is not a practice to be recommended. It does something strange to the mind beyond giving it a short sharp unexpected shock. The impact is even greater with the realisation that a conspiracy is taking place. To add to the intrigue, the imposter was holding the arm of a woman who passed herself off as my secretary. In a way, it was rather flattering. I had always considered my personal role in the grand design of life was singularly unimportant, yet someone had taken the trouble to arrange for me to have a double... and here he was talking to me in the street! In the confusion that followed, the effect of the confrontation caused me to become lost for words. To my surprise, Penny picked up the baton swiftly which led to the next development.

‘Commander Spring wants you to come with us to talk to Tomar Duran in a valley south of here,’ she informed them, issuing a statement which was totally untrue. ‘There’s no need to confer with him. He said it was urgent. We haven’t any time to lose.’

The bogus Jason Scott stared at her suspiciously. ‘What’s this all about?’ he enquired. ‘I thought the Commander wanted to brief us on the flight arrangements tomorrow.’

‘You’ll understand when we get there,’ continued Penny in a firm tone that was not to be denied.

The man pursed his lips for a moment deep in thought. ‘That’s odd!’ he muttered. ‘I thought Duran was covering our tracks... in case of need.’ He shrugged his shoulders aimlessly. ‘It’s too bad! They never tell us what we want to know. Well... if that’s the Commander’s decision, so be it!’

We led them to the small Volkswagen and clambered inside before driving along the highway to the path leading to the wreckage. I had no idea what was going to happen when we got there.

‘I understand you play bridge,’ I ventured, testing him out. I had never seen him playing in the major competitions, nor had anyone else for they would have pointed out the likeness to me had he taken part.

‘Yes,’ he replied. ‘I used to play duplicate in the north of England. Then I left for the United States and took part in a lot of tournaments there. Recently, I worked for the management of a couple of clubs... gambling clubs... playing for the house.’

‘Which system do you use?’

‘Quite a few. Acol... precision club... American Standard and a few others. If you’re interested we may be able to make up a foursome.’

I could understand why Commander Spring was so concerned. My double was far too amicable and much too casual. He needed more tutoring in my mannerisms if he was going to emulate me as well as the way I spoke. It baffled me as to the reason why he did not recognise me as the original Jason Scott. ‘ What’s your view of the Vienna Coup,’ I challenged relentlessly, testing him to the full.

‘Great!’ he responded easily. ‘One of my favourites on the right sort of hand of course. I love it when there’s a squeeze.’ 51

‘And the opening of four no trumps in Acol?’

‘Asking partner for aces of course. I say, you seem to know your game. Are you looking for a partner?’

He obviously knew his stuff when it came to playing bridge but why was that the criterion? And why did anyone choose to replace me? At that moment we arrived at the spot where we had picked up the car. ‘We’ll have to walk from here,’ I told them stopping the vehicle in the same lay-by. I tried to fathom the reason why we had returned to this place but without success. ‘It’s only a short walk.’

The second Jason Scott rubbed his eyes as he left the vehicle and blinked a number of times before starting to walk away with us. ‘I’ve got these strange contact lenses,’ he confided. ‘My eyes are grey and the Commander insisted that they should be brown. They gave me a set of brown-coloured lenses but they blur my vision terribly. I think they’ll have to go back to the drawing board or I’ll go completely blind. And this woman’s no help. She may look like Penny Smith but she’s not very bright and she doesn’t speak a word of English.’

So that was the reason why he hadn’t recognised me and why the woman had said nothing. I was grateful to the Commander for small mercies. The four of us continued along the track accompanied by the prattle of the other man as he rambled on for what seemed to be an eternity about the island. He may have looked like me but he was not like me at all.

‘Do you know there are one thousand five hundred varieties of wild flowers on Crete? And three thousand caves and grottoes,’ he babbled liberally. ‘On could come to the island and live rent free simply by becoming a cave-dweller. I’m sure you’ll agree with me that any place which attracts sunshine for three hundred days a year deserves a vote for a place where one could retire at leisure. It’s known as the crossroads between Europe, Africa and Asia and it’s the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean. By the way,’ he paused staring directly into my eyes, ‘you didn’t tell me your name.’

It was a game I could play no longer but I had no idea how to end it. However I didn’t need to worry because Penny had an immediate answer.

‘It isn’t necessary for you to know,’ she countered icily, producing a revolver from her handbag. ‘Step aside Jason!’

The last time I recalled seeing Duran’s gun was at the moment Penny let it fall from her hand after she had shot him. In the aftermath of the crash, the fight with Duran, the pains in my body and the throbbing in my head, it had slipped my mind entirely. Penny must have picked it up before we left. I could only imagine that she saw it as some kind of useful insurance if we ever got into trouble. Now she threatened to use it against two other people. I wasn’t too sure of her intention but the opportunity to extract information was too good to be true.

‘All right!’ I snarled. ‘ What’s going on? Why are you pretending to be Jason Scott and Penny Smith?’

‘You’ll have to discuss that with the Commander,’ he replied flippantly, causing me to believe that nothing had been divulged to him either. He peered closely at my face and he began to recognise me. ‘But firstly you ought to tell me why the Commander arranged for another set of people to look like us. Perhaps we’re all dispensable. I wouldn’t be surprised.’

He moved slightly starting to withdraw his hand from his pocket and, without warning, Penny fired the gun. The imposter clutched at the area of his heart before collapsing to the ground. The other woman screamed and started to run away. As she did, Penny fired again. My feet turned to clay as I stood on the same spot horrified at the sight of two bodies laying on the ground. I knelt down painfully to examine them. Both had been shot through the heart.

Whoever they were, they hardly deserved to be the victims of such a wanton killing.

‘Why did you do that?’ I gasped, looking at my secretary who was still pointing the gun at the bodies in case either of them moved.

The pale expression on her face indicated that she was confused. ‘I thought he was going to pull a gun from his pocket,’ she explained, almost in a whisper as her eyes filled with tears. ‘I thought he was going to kill us.’

I drew the dead man’s hand from his pocket to exhibit a large white handkerchief. ‘All he was going to do was to wipe the tears from his eyes caused by the contact lenses.’ I spat angrily. ‘My God! This is turning out to be a nightmare! What on earth possessed you to pull the trigger? And why did you have to kill the woman?’

She started to cry and I pulled an unhappy face deciding not to continue with the inquisition. It was possible to accept that Penny’s nerves were so stretched that she was imagining that death was imminent from every source. After all, she was a petite innocent secretary who, ostensibly, would never hurt a fly. Yet, on reflection, she had killed three people by her own hand within the span of an hour!

‘Let’s get away from here!’ I urged, taking the gun from her hand and placing it in my pocket. I pulled her arm and led her along the path until we reached the highway again. As we approached our vehicle, two police cars, with their sirens blaring, scorched along the road to pull us beside us sharply. Four policemen emerged from the cars and raced across the road towards us. Two of them grabbed me roughly and forced my face down on the bonnet of the Volkswagen, pinning my arms behind me. Pain seared through my body like a red hot poker and I groaned loudly almost falling into a faint. They propped me up as I slid sideways while one of them ran his hands over my body reaching into my pocket to remove the revolver. Another one uttered something in Greek which in any language would have translated into: ‘You are under arrest!’ Then I was rudely handcuffed before being thrust into the rear seat of one of the police car like a common criminal. They drove back to the police station at tremendous speed with the siren on the roof of the vehicle wailing like a lonesome banshee as we raced towards the streets of Heraklion.

I had expected someone to read out a charge on my arrival and then to be interrogated after contacting the British Embassy or by a lawyer who spoke English. As it happened, I was very much mistaken. There was no communication, no questions, and no explanation for my arrest. Rough hands grasped my upper arms and I was pushed down a short flight of steps before being tossed into a filthy cell. It was a dingy awful place. The only furniture available was a flea-infested mattress which lay on the floor, covering half the space, and an old stench-ridden bucket with flies darting to and fro above it. The sides of the cell were damp and covered with fungi while high on the wall, some ten feet high, was a barred window from which streamed a narrow shaft of light. After the cell door was locked, I sat on the mattress and struck it with my fist several times in frustration. Eventually I calmed down to evaluate the situation. There was no doubt the police would link the gun they took from me with the three dead bodies in the valley. They were well aware that a capital crime had been committed. I was doomed to a life of imprisonment in a foreign country! Someone must have contacted them with the information otherwise I would not have been arrested. As a result of the prima facie evidence of the dead bodies and the murder weapon , which I had taken from Penny and placed in my pocket, I was the prime suspect. No... I was the only suspect! Nothing I could say or do would change their minds. I wasn’t sure whether the authorities in Crete jailed murderers for life or whether they executed them. It wasn’t a pleasant thought either way.

I lay down on the mattress to east the pain in my legs and to rest my throbbing head. There was a slight chance that I might have fractured my skull in the crash. It certainly felt as though something was wrong. If so, a medical examiner might be able to prove that I was out of my mind when the murders were committed... even though I knew I hadn’t carried them out. If I was saved from a death sentence, being sent to prison might be commuted to ten years.

Primar had become angry when I insisted that Penny Smith has to accompany me on the journey. She was my secretary with whom I was having an affair... a diminutive young attractive woman who took dictation from me, ran the outer office efficiently, served me with coffee throughout the day, and looked after all my business activities. Her recruitment to Dandy Advanced Electronics had taken place seven years earlier, nearly five of which was spent as my secretary. During the past year we had become lovers, involved in an affair which we both enjoyed. Yet, strangely enough, I still loved my wife intensely. It would seem that one woman was not enough for me in life. There was nothing extraordinary to report concerning her office activities or her private life, except that we continued on a clandestine affair yet she had executed three people with considerable ease, seemingly without any remorse. Admittedly, each time she had burst into tears after the event, playing the innocent, but it was too much to believe that they were all incidental... especially with regard to the killing the woman who was her double. At the back of my mind there was something else that kept trying to trigger the answer but for the moment it just wouldn’t come. Yes... suddenly there was a phrase she had used which caused a ripple in my brain. I tried to squeeze it from my mind by concentrating my thoughts but nothing sensible emerged, It was a few moments later when the piece of the jigsaw fell into place. I had run through the events at the time of the crash in minute detail to recall something she had shouted that made me leave the aircraft when I was searching for documents. ‘Someone’s coming!’ she had called out. ‘I can see a man at eleven hundred hours!’ And then Tomas Duran appeared. A phrase of that nature was adopted only by the military. Only women employed in the armed forces would ever express a direction in such a manner. When I employed her as my secretary, I took great care to examine her records. There was no mention of service in the armed forces. Now that I had time to think it through there was evidently more to Miss Penny Smith than met the eye.

In addition to my current dilemma, there were two acute problems which concerned me. Someone had tried to replace us with duplicate look-a-likes. Why did they want to do that? Surely it had nothing to do with the game of bridge although, apparently, that activity was a criterion. The only other possibility was my employment at Dandy Advanced Electronics. I needed far more time to deliberate on the prospects in depth. Primar knew of my indifference to my employer as well as my lack of loyalty. Like a fool, I never made any pretence of it when we were on holiday on the Costa del Sol. No doubt, if I failed to fathom the reason, someone would enlighten me at some future date. There was another problem that was far more imminent. We had told Commander Spring of the death of Tomas Duran but what would happen when he discovered that the false Jason Scott and Penny Smith were also dead? Somebody had taken a lot of trouble for find another person who looked exactly like me. Perhaps that was the reason why someone placed a bomb in the aircraft expecting to eliminate myself and my secretary to make way for the other two. But why should they do that? Yet the assumption blew a hole in my previous theory. If Penny Smith was on their side, whoever they might be, why did they want to kill her? None of it made any sense!

A little later I fell asleep. Throughout the night I twisted and turned on the filthy straw mattress until the morning light began to filter through the bars of the tiny window. The noise made by the warder, as he slid the breakfast tray noisily across the stone floor of the cell, awoke me. I rubbed the stubble on my chin, moving my legs sideways, wincing at the pain, and rose to walk stiffly to the door. At least the throbbing in my head had stopped. As I bent to pick up the tray, which contained a cup of ugly-looking liquid and a hunk of stale brown bread filled with caraway seeds, I noticed that the cell door was slightly ajar. I shook my head to clear my sleepy mind and pushed it gently with my right hand to make sure that my eyes did not deceive me. It was definitely open! Within seconds, I discard the evil breakfast and hobbled swiftly out of the cell into the corridor making my way stealthily towards the steps. I crept up the short staircase into the main area of the police station only to find that the desk sergeant was absent. In fact it appeared that there was no one in the police station at all. I had a golden opportunity to escape completely unnoticed. I hesitated for a moment thinking that it might be a trap so that they could shoot me to avoid embarrassment on an international scale. There was quite a lot of international pressure and activity when trials of foreign subjects came to the attention of the relevant authorities and were reported in the Press. Perhaps the method they used in Crete was simply to eliminate the problem by shooting escaping foreign prisoners. In the face of trial for murder however, I really had no option but to take my chances.

Outside the jail, I took a deep breath of fresh air and walked at a casual pace to the end of the street trying my very hardest not to hurry. A sign displayed the name Dikeosinis and I smiled to myself as a silly pun formed in my tired mind... it was all Greek to me! From then on I turned right into the Platia El Venizuelou, through Platia Kelergon, until I reached Parko El Greco. I sat on the grass in the park for a while considering how I could make contact with the British Consul to ask for assistance. I knew that as soon as he made enquiries, the Cretan authorities would identify me as a wanted criminal... a man responsible for three murders! And they had the murder weapon to prove it! I would be handed over to the police as a formality. I would not find sanctuary with the British Consul! On the contrary... all hell would break loose! I sat there feeling sorry for myself for the best part of ten minutes when I heard footsteps approaching quickly. I looked up to see Penny Smith walking towards me dressed in a brown uniform similar to that worn by Commander Spring.

‘Kali mera!’ she called out brightly. ‘Ti kanete!’

I nodded my head, considering I now knew the true answer. ‘Well you certainly fooled me,’ I admitted candidly. ‘You were one of them all the time.’

‘I don’t think you should assume anything until you know what’s going on,’ she countered sharply with a disposition I didn’t recognise in her. ‘If you do, the odds are that you’ll arrive at the wrong answers and all the wrong conclusions.’

‘I’m sure I would,’ I answered dryly, deciding to prove she wasn’t half as clever as she thought. ‘There was one phrase which gave you away or... as they say... blew your cover. When I was searching for documents in Chedda’s cabin after the crash, you told me that you could see a man coming towards us at eleven hundred hours. It was a dead giveaway. The only people who use such terms are those trained in the military.’

‘Come!’ she returned with a certain element of urgency, ignoring my remark. ‘I have a car to take you to safety.’

‘To safety, eh. What does that mean in your organisation. You and Primar have already made me face death and arrest by the police. What have you got in store for me this time?’

‘You don’t think you escaped from prison by pure luck, do you? The police will soon start a murder hunt for the killer who got away right under their noses. They have three dead bodies on their hands. Someone’s got to answer for such a terrible crime. I’m afraid you’re very much in demand.’

It was paradoxical that having committed the murders herself she was offering to protect me from being punished for them. I struggled to my feet and walked with her to the park exit. Before we reached the road, however, a police car sounding its siren screamed to a halt a short distance away. All the doors opened and four policemen emerged. I was convinced they hadn’t seen me but I was in such a panic that I started to run from the scene. Fortunately, Penny had a stronger will with greater intuition in this kind of situation and she held my arm tightly to prevent me from being recaptured. She walked over to a refuse bin, withdrew a large black plastic bag and motioned to me to climb into it. It was partly filled with litter left by visitors to the park and it smelled vile. Penny pressed her thumbs through the sides of the bag to provide two small holes to allow me to breathe After I had climbed inside, she advised me to fall on my knees and crouch down. Then she took a ribbon which was tied to the back of her hair to secure the top of the bag, making it appear that it was ready for collection. She walked off to avoid drawing attention to the spot while I remained perfectly still, holding my breath for long periods to reduce inhaling the nauseous stench of the rubbish in which I was kneeling. To my dismay, the police took their time to interrogate the few people in the park and to look behind every tree and bush before deciding to look for me elsewhere. When Penny returned to undo the bow at the top of the bag it was a great relief. I struggled up from my aching knees and climbed out of the bin shaking my head slowly.

‘Someone had better make sense of all this,’ I muttered angrily. ‘It’s starting to get on my nerves!’

She laughed and took me by my arm back to the Volkswagen. This time she sat at the wheel. ‘I’m taking you to a neutral place. A safe house... just as a precaution. There are some crossed wires that need to be unravelled, but they’ll be sorted out soon enough.’

She started the motor and drove off. It was all I could do to resist the temptation of inundating her with questions. Shortly, we arrived at a small house on Kalonadon Street where she ushered me inside. It was sparsely furnished and I sat down in a small chair, snorting to rid myself of the persistent stench which still clung to my clothes. Penny poured two drinks from a bottle and handed one to me.

‘You’ll have gathered by now I was planted as your secretary nearly five years ago,’ she explained. ‘Shortly, before that I joined the 21st Century Crusaders. You were particularly high in the pecking order in the company but my superiors recognised your potential.’

‘Before you go on,’ I broke in, before slowly sipping my drink, ‘there are two questions I have to ask. Firstly, I’d like to know the reason why I’ve been chosen by your organisation. I’ve never supported or belonged to any cause in my life. Secondly, I’m sick at the thoughts that our intimate relationship was just flim-flam to you... a way of doing your job for the cause. I thought you felt real affection for me. Did you make love with me solely for the benefit of the cause.’

She smiled at me as a mother would to a child. ‘With regard to the second question I’ll bounce it back to you. Do you think I was faking love for you over the past year? Over the whole year? If you don’t know the answer to that one you know nothing about women!’

I shrugged my shoulders indifferently. ‘I never had any doubts yesterday.’

‘Then don’t have any today,’ she replied calmly. ‘I didn’t need to have an affair with you. I didn’t need to make love to you. I could have served the cause just as well without becoming emotionally involved. But, putting our personal relationship aside for the moment, I’ll tell you something about the 21st Century Crusaders. For the last hundred years the political doctrines in the world of extreme right-wing and left-wing attitudes have been translated broadly in terms of Communism and Fascism. Somewhere in between lies Democracy except that few people really knows what it stands for any more. As a result, there is always friction which culminates into terrorism and war as well as changes of political control in different parts of the world. There are two major issues which cause war, terrorism, death and suffering... politics and religion. Everyone has opinions on how to tackle the political problem. They’re all scared of the religious one. For example, Vietnam was a political confrontation. Thousands of soldiers on both sides and innocent women and children were slaughtered. Such misery can never be expressed in its reality to the rest of the world. Politicians of major powers have a lot to answer for. Although religious war isn’t new, it’s important to note that it has escalated in recent years... especially in terms of terrorism... changing the emphasis to include additional extremist ideals. Certain religious factions have forced their way into power as an advanced guard to start in the battle of security to safeguard millions of people. There will be the resurgence of Holy Wars... one which will dwarf the old-time challenge of the Crusades. We shall face a structured oligarchy of Ayatollahs, Mullahs and the like who will suddenly disappear when oil runs out in the Middle East in fifty years time. We’re not talking about people with whom we can reason or whom we can talk to logically. The leaders... the Sheiks and wealthy people will vanish with all their funds. The people left behind will be without any money to live on and they will end up as fanatics, martyrs, suicide terrorists, willing to die in their thousands against Western democracy. They’ll regard the rest of the world as heathen, rich and the enemy. Logic and reason through diplomatic channels will have no effect. You’ll never be able to get through to such people to help them. Therefore, alternative action is necessary. If we ignored the situation, we would face a repeat of the element of history recorded as the Crusaders against the armies of Islam. However, I would point out that the wider spread of Islam and the use of modern weapons will heighten the danger. This time it’ll be nuclear weapons.’

‘Who are you actually taking on?’ I asked, somewhat overwhelmed by her declaration.

‘We’re taking action against the religious powers in certain Middle Eastern countries and against those religious fanatics who could affect the stability of the world. We want to prevent an adverse shift to power by an area of the world which has been depleted of their only resource... oil... sending economies into a spiral by the violent actions they intend to take to establish themselves and to stave off hunger and disease. If we do not act, Islam, in a very belligerent form, will rise to manifest itself. And there will be many Muslims all over the world ready to support them. It will cause chaos in practically every nation.’

‘Fine words... but what can one single unknown group such as the 21sr Century Crusaders do against a large region of the world with millions of people who will be in desperate trouble?

‘You’d be surprised how many people have rallied to our cause. They recognise that if they stand back and do nothing, it’ll be a replay of the Crusades in the past but this time played out with nuclear weapons. Those who can’t be with us for reasons of their own support us physically by means of their cheque books but if you follow history you’ll note that the knights of old volunteered their services without pay or reward. Just because people rise up because of necessity, doesn’t mean the rest of the world has to become involved.’

I sat back staring at the ceiling for a few moments to gather my thoughts. ‘Quite frankly,’ I commented, ‘I think you and your colleagues have taken on something far larger than you could ever swallow.’

She paused undaunted by my criticism.’ In answer to your first question,’ she continued, ‘you were selected for three reasons. One... you work for an international organisation specialising in weaponry and defence systems. Two... you achieved a key position there over the years even though it doesn’t provide the motivation you seek in life. And three... you play bridge at international level.’

‘I don’t understand why those features make me a suitable candidate for your cause.’

‘You will, Jason, in due course. As far as bridge is concerned, you can visit any country to play in regular international tournaments without anyone raising an eyebrow. You can cross borders with all the freedom you wish to play in them.’

‘Tosh!’ I countered sharply. ‘The leaders of Islamic countries don’t recognise any form of gambling. It’s not allowed. So what use is my ability to play bridge at high levels anywhere?’

‘You’ll need to think more laterally,’ she responded and I felt angry had the nerve to talk to me in such a fashion. Only then it occurred to me that she had arranged for the photographs of us making love to be available. It was all her doing even though she denied it in front of Primar. ‘But that’s not our immediate problem,’ she continued. ‘We have trouble within our own ranks. Primar was my section leader and we began to establish an organisation in Britain. Other offices have been developing cells in different countries throughout the world... even in one of the countries where oil will run out. Recently, someone has tried to take control of some parts of the organisation. No one knows their identity yet but it’s created serious problems. There are people who are over-zealous with too much ambition. Their plan was to dispose of the two of us by planting a bomb on board Chedda’s aircraft. That much is clear. We were very lucky to come out of it alive with few injuries. Then we found ourselves facing our doubles. That was quite a shock to say the least. Duran let me in on that one.’

‘Duran!’ I echoed with surprise. ‘But you shot him!’

‘He came over to the aircraft when you went to the highway to find out where we were. He warned me that there was another Jason Scott and said he would spare my life if I said nothing when you returned. He wanted to eliminate you near the wreckage, place you in the cockpit, and then set fire to the plane. You would simply be burned to an unrecognisable state and the police would believe that the pilot had been killed in the crash. When you returned, Duran was hiding in the trees nearby.’

‘You took one hell of a chance with my life, didn’t you?’

‘He would have killed me too. You can be certain of that. I’m not sure about Commander Spring. But when we caught up with our look-a-like doubles, it was impossible to let them roam free. I had to eliminate them.’

‘So now,’ I commented logically. ‘we can masquerade as the false Jason Scott and Penny Smith as well as being the real ones.’

‘That’s right. You’re getting the picture. We’re actually standing in for our own doubles.’

I blew out my cheeks wondering where this was going to lead us when my thoughts were interrupted by a siren sounding in the distance. A police car pulled up outside and the siren stopped. I leapt to my feet and stood by the window, hiding behind the curtain. ‘Damn!’ I growled irritably. ‘They’ve found us! Someone in your organisation must have told them about this place!’

‘The car!’ uttered Penny, screwing up her face. ‘They’ve tracked the car!’

‘Well?’ I asked miserably. ‘You’re the one with all the bright ideas. What do we do now?’

She smiled at me sweetly. ‘It makes a nice change,’ she laughed. ‘You’re the important one at Dandy Advanced Electronics but I’m the one in charge here. Follow me!’

She led me to another room and knelt down by a Persian rug. Then she pulled a small ring hidden in the pattern of the carpet, releasing a catch. A section of the floorboard covered by the rug was raised to reveal a set of steps leading downwards. We descended and Penny closed the hatch behind us.

‘They won’t find this place,’ she told me confidently, producing a torch as she led me down the steps through a long tunnel.

We climbed a further set to steps to emerge in a shed belonging to another house in the next street and left without haste to make our escape. After the police had gone, we returned to the Vokswagen and Penny drove me to a field where a small aircraft was waiting for us. This time it was not a Kfir Junior but something much smaller and less exquisite. We clambered aboard as the pilot started the engine.

‘Where are we off to?’ I asked quietly.

‘To see Commander Yasood near the Gaze Strip in Israel. At least we can trust him.’

I shook my head slowly at the need to trot around the globe in this fashion. The cause seemed to have a remarkable lack of control over its activities and personnel. But then such foolish fancies of absolute power often develops organisations which comprise no more than small groups of vigilantes. It was that way with the 11th Century Crusaders... it hadn’t changed with the 21st Century Crusaders!