Getting to Cagayan would be a challenge. Sure, there were members of the holy order there, but they were a wavering lot. Eric Ong was once a member but he left. His son, Maximilian, had also joined, although he became a member independently of his father.
Mahananda learned that the younger Ong became successful and was now in an ashram in another part of the country. The father, on the other hand, became bent on destroying the holy order and worked in collusion with the city's resident Buddhists and Daoists as well as the Catholic Church to thin the order's ranks.
Peter Cardinal Zhang Mingshi, the archbishop, was a friend of Eric Ong and committed his preaching against the holy order, denouncing it as a brainwashing cult. The Buddhists, too, didn't like the order. In their eyes, Swamiji had no right to do as he pleased because, as the city's Zen temple abbot claimed, being enlightened meant being more responsible and that true freedom didn't mean the freedom to do whatever one wanted. The Daoists despised the order and openly branded it as a money-making scam. What was most insidious was that they were even using former members against the holy order
Yes, coming to Cagayan would be a challenge. There were also the practical matters, such as the passport. Getting an EOGC passport for a person unknown in the controlled territories was impossible because every passport went through a check at every port of entry. The data in every passport was matched with the EOGC's massive database and consequently fakes could be spotted outright. A Philippine passport, then, would be required. It was easier to forge documents in the territories not under EOGC control.
A fake birth certificate was drawn up, along with other documents, as the holy order was very well-connected. The forgeries were necessary; after all, they were needed to accomplish a greater good: to eliminate the evil Eric Ong. With him out of the way, the cardinal, the Buddhists and Daoists would not be united and the order would be saved.
On the day the passport, procured through fraudulent documents, arrived, Chela Mahananda sang the praises of Swamiji, the cosmic and the masters. He now had a new identity. After picking up his luggage at the arrivals section in the airport, he handed his passport to the immigration officer. The officer opened the passport and read the name: Adaggio Pineco Conti.
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