have preferred to bathe
and have a brief rest before meeting my team, we have a compelling
reason to've asked you here. Captain Odeon assures me it will take
only seconds, then Lieutenant Powell will show you to your room."

Despite her irritation, Blackfeather was intrigued. "What reason, Your
Excellency?"

It was Odeon who answered. "Something your . . . patron . . . wanted
me to do. You don't remember that you were there when he . . . made it
possible for me, but you'll remember once it's done. It won't hurt at
all, and it'll only take a few seconds, as Colonel Cortin said. It'd
be easier on me if you make eye contact, but that isn't really
necessary."

Although Blackfeather normally had no interest in making anything easy
for an Enforcement killer, there was something in Odeon's expression
that made her waver; she stared into his pale blue eyes.

The promised seconds later, she collapsed in shock, to be caught by
strong arms. Larry was Shayan, and he'd had her under compulsions to
do things she never would have dreamed of on her own, and he'd done
things to her body that were horrible, and she'd enjoyed them and what
he'd done with his changes, and oh dear God the horror he'd done to the
man who'd helped her in spite of what had been done to him and--
"Sis!" she heard Cortin snap.

"I am here, Colonel," a soft voice said. "Miss Blackfeather?" A
pause. "Miss Blackfeather?"

"Go 'way."

"I am a medic. With your permission, I can give you something for
shock. Otherwise, I can treat you only with warmth and quiet."

Drugs were bad . . . but the horror of these sudden disclosures was
worse. "Do what you think best," she managed.

An immediate needleprick startled her; the quick blackness that
followed came as a distinct relief.

Cortin watched Pritchett carry the reporter out, Chang accompanying
them, then she turned to Odeon. He looked tired and a little shaken,
but nowhere near as bad as he had after Shayan's "lesson". "Are you
all right, Mike?"

"I will be, after a nap." Odeon rubbed his temples. "He said the
operation would be nothing compared to the lesson, and he was
right--but it was rough enough. I don't have the kind of strength he
does."

"You're a human, not a fallen angel," Cortin said drily. "I was
thinking about emotionally, though--you don't look quite as wound up as
you have been."

"Not quite," Odeon admitted. "I do feel a bit more human, now I've
made some construc