what we call 'mass movements.' Examples are the American Revolution. The Communist Revolution. The French Resistance during the Second World War. Even the Rennaissance, though that was less clearly defined. It's the result of a collection of people whose imaginations are stirred to action by a person or an event or even an idea.'
'Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin' Hood said.
'That or Upton Sinclair's The Jungle' Liz agreed. 'You get an emancipation movement or a sweeping overhaul in the meat industry. Incited by one thing or another, people come together with a common goal, their collective efforts producing seemingly impossible results.'
'The whole is greater than the sum of the parts,' Hood said.
'Exactly,' Liz replied. 'I think we're looking at something that is being positioned very much like that.'
'Let's back up a second,' Hood said to her. 'I assume this is based on a profile you worked up on Dhamballa?'
'Yes,' Liz said. 'He is definitely not a stereotypical cult leader. That's why I'm looking at this as a social phenomenon instead of an aberration.'
'You're that sure?' Hood said.
'Absolutely,' Liz told him. 'J2 and Mae were able to get into the computers at Morningside Mines Ltd. and access his personal records.'
'Morningside Mines?' Hood said. 'Where are they based?'
'Antwerp,' J2 said. 'So are about a million other diamond companies that I found.'
That information might or might not tie Burton to Henry Genet.
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'Our man Thomas Burton is thirty-three,' Liz said. 'He has no history of mental illness. To the contrary. He is remarkably focused. Over the course of nine years as a mine worker, he was promoted quickly and regularly. He went from working the hoses that wash the mine walls for drillmen to drilling to running the line itself.' 'The line?' Hood asked.
'That's where the diamonds are sorted and cleaned,' Mae said.
'So he was competent and hardworking,' Hood said. 'Where's the jump to religious leader?'
'We don't have that link yet,' Liz went on. 'It could be from someone he knows, something he read, or even a holy revelation.'
'Like God talking to Moses,' Hood said. 'It almost doesn't matter what it was,' Liz replied. 'Burton is committed to this.'
'Could it be a sham of some sort?' Hood asked. 'Unlikely,' Liz replied. 'Someone could be using him, for sure, but Burton himself is honest. His employee file contains quarterly performance reviews. They decribe him as intelligent, conscientious, and absolutely trustworthy. The mine owners routinely send out private investigators to watch people who work on the line. They want to make sure the workers are not pocketing diamonds and selling them privately. The investigators actually do things like paying clerks in shops or restaurants to give the subject too much change.' 'Just to see what they do,' Hood speculated. 'Right,' Liz said. 'Our man gave it back. Every time. There is a philosophical consistency about an honest man who eventually turns to preaching. One is a statement to a single individual. The other is a statement to a group.' She shrugged. 'But both are about truth. That doesn't mean he wasn't pushed into this or encouraged by someone else,' Liz added. 'But he, himself, believes in what he is doing. I am sure of that.'
'What about family?' Hood asked. 'Any crises oj^vendettas that might have motivated him?'
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'Burton's father is dead, and his mother lives in a nursing home in Gaborone,' Liz said.
'Paid for by her son?' Hood asked.
'Yes sir,' J2 said. 'I checked his bank records.'
'Do we know how the father died?' Hood asked.
'Malaria,' Liz replied. She added, 'The elder Burton died in a state-run hospital, not in a missionary hospital. Thomas Burton is not acting out against the Church.'
'Are there any siblings?'
'No brothers or sisters,' Liz said. 'And no wife.'
'Is that unusual in Botswana?' Hood asked.
'Being unwed? Very,' J2 said. 'I looked it up.' He leaned forward in his seat and looked at the monitor. 'Only four percent of males over eighteen are single. Those stats are pretty much spread one percent each over the military, the clergy, widowers, and miscellaneous.'
'But Vodun clergy are permitted to marry,' Mae added. 'I put together the file on the religion.'
'There are other reasons Burton might not have married,' Hood said. 'Having his mother to support could be one of them. Mae, what are the qualifications for Vodun priesthood?' Hood asked.
'A male priest is called a houngan,' Mae said, 'and in order to become one, a man must communicate with spirits in the presence of another houngan. Sort of a religious conference call. Women priests or mambos have to do the same thing with a senior mambo.'
'I suspect that's a way of proving both men are hearing the same things,' Liz suggested. 'Either that, or it's a
