ah ... opposition. They
got nowhere."

"In other words, you may have spies in your own organization who are
working with the Viking group. Very interesting. That means they know
I'm working for you, which will effectively seal me up, too. You might
as well have kept Brock on the job."

He smiled in a smug, superior sort of way that some men might have
resented. I did. Even though I'd fed him the line so that he could
feel superior, knowing that a smart operator like Ravenhurst would
already have covered his tracks. I couldn't help wishing I'd told him
simply to trot out his cover story instead of letting him think I
believed it had never occurred to either of us before.

"As far as my staff knows, Mr. Oak, you are here to escort my
daughter, Jaqueline, to Braunsville, Luna. You will, naturally, have
to take her to Ceres in your flitterboat, where you will wait for a
specially chartered ship to take you both to Luna. That will be a week
after you arrive. Since the McGuire 7 is to be tested within three
days, that should give you ample time."

"If it doesn't?"

"We will consider that possibility if and when it becomes probable. I
have a great deal of faith in you."

"Thanks. One more thing: why do you think anybody will swallow the
idea that your daughter needs a private bodyguard to escort her to
Braunsville?"

His smile broadened a little. "You have not met my daughter, Mr. Oak.
Jaqueline takes after me in a great many respects, not the least of
which is her desire to have things her own way and submit to no man's
yoke, as the saying goes. I have had a difficult time with her, sir; a
difficult time. It is and has been a matter of steering a narrow
course between the Scylla of breaking her spirit with too much
discipline and the Charybdis of allowing her to ruin her life by
letting her go hog wild. She is seventeen now, and the time has come
to send her to a school where she will receive an education suitable
to her potentialities and abilities, and discipline which will be
suitable to her spirit.

"Your job, Mr. Oak, will be to make sure she gets there. You are not a
bodyguard in the sense that you must protect her from the people
around her. Quite the contrary, _they_ may need protection from _her_.
You are to make sure she arrives in Braunsville on schedule. She is
perfectly capable of taking it in her head to go scooting off to Earth
if you turn your back on her."

Still smiling, he refilled his glass. "