really a priest now, far harder
than it had been to believe she was an Inquisitor when she saw the
badge in her ID folder--but of course she'd had some preparation for
that, where half an hour ago it had never occurred to her that she'd be
a priest. As she'd told Mike, though, if she had to be a priest to be
a Strike Force team's Inquisitor, so be it. What surprised her was
Bradford's acceptance of her necessity; the only explanation she could
think of was that the Strike Force needed Priest-Inquisitors badly
enough they'd ordain anyone who claimed both vocations. That was
unsettling in its own way, but since it served her purpose, she wasn't
inclined to argue.

The three entered the suite and went through the routine of getting
into coveralls. Odeon wasn't sure why he was there, except that Joanie
hadn't asked him to leave and he'd never seen a third-stage
interrogation--though he'd both seen and helped in several second-stage
ones. He said as much, then continued, "So if you need me to do
anything, you'll have to tell me."

"I will," Cortin promised. "I didn't send you away because it didn't
occur to me, but I'm certain to need help in the field from time to
time, and there's no one I'd rather have backing me. So if you're
willing, you should get used to both third-stage and my methods."

"I'm willing--especially," he opened the door to the third-stage room
where the prisoner was shackled, waiting, "when the subject's someone
like this plaguer. Renegades and Brothers deserve anything an
Inquisitor does to them."

"Keep thinkin' that, cull," the prisoner sneered. "You ain't worth the
effort it'd take to spit on you. You or that other bastard, or the
Bitch."

Cortin looked him over, cooly. He was naked, spreadeagled between
chains in the ceiling and eyebolts in the floor, and must know he was
completely at the Inquisitor's mercy--but he probably didn't know she
was the Inquisitor. With all three of them in coveralls, he had no way
of knowing who was who, just that he was faced with two men and a woman.

The Special Ops men who had beaten him had done a fairly professional
job, she decided. Not enough to eliminate his defiance, but enough to
give her quite a number of tender areas to exploit in addition to the
natural ones. She smiled, approaching him and showing him the backs of
her hands. "I'm the one you call the Enforcement bitch, rogue. I
survived the Brothers' torture, unfortunately for you a