at least once."

"Of course." She couldn't refuse her Bishop, and since no one had
commented on her bearing during Mass, her absorption was either normal
or not noticeable, so it shouldn't be a problem. "Then this afternoon
I can have someone help Powell get the Service formalities straightened
out--payroll, uniforms, ID, all that sort of thing." She shook her
head, even though he couldn't see the gesture. "Things are going too
fast and working out too well, Brad. I'm living in luxury, doing
valuable work I enjoy, having an incredible sex life--I ought to be
overjoyed, but I'm not. It scares me."

Looked at from her point of view, Bradford could understand that. But
since he'd helped with much of the maneuvering that had gotten her into
the first two situations--that the third had worked out so well had
been by God's mercy, not human skill--he didn't share her apprehension.
But he also couldn't reveal any more of that maneuvering than she
already knew about, so he tried to reassure her instead. "I don't see
anything to worry about, Joan. Think back--everything that's happened
to you since the attack has been perfectly reasonable, given your
talent as an Inquisitor and Their Majesties' determination to put down
the terrorists. If you weren't High King's Inquisitor, someone else
would be--someone less talented. As for the speed, well," he let his
smile show in his voice, "from what I hear, you were the one in a hurry
to qualify as an Inquisitor and get to work--and I know you didn't
waste any time getting your team together."

"I can't argue that," Cortin said. She had pushed hard to learn, and
learned faster than she'd expected even with that amount of work.
"Motivation does work wonders--but it still bothers me."

"We'll talk about it more this afternoon, then, if you're not at a
point in an interrogation where you can't take a break for an hour or
so."

"I should be able to manage; the one I'm working on seemed to be coming
along nicely when I left him last night, and I doubt it'll take me more
than a couple of hours to finish him."

Bradford was both astonished and pleased. Except for Powell, he'd
chosen these subjects himself, as being particularly resistant. Either
he'd been wrong about one, or she had an even more accurate sense for
individual weaknesses than he'd realized. "I'd have expected at least
two days of concentrated effort for any one of them--what did you do?"

"Thought aloud for h