"It's been quite a while, hasn't it?" It has, Harold. Twelve years almost. You were with Interpol, on loan from your city police. Birmingham, wasn't i...t?" That's right. I'd just started there and you were working with us on the human smuggling file. I wish I could say we put a stop to it, but all we managed was a finger in the dike." I was on loan to INS at the time," I recalled. "That was an interesting two years. I got pulled off when 9/11 happened." Yes, I remember. Bloody mess, that. We. I'm Renée Montaigne... Police in San Francisco yesterday saw a woman wearing a virtual polo shirt, talking to a man outside a topless bar. They arrested her for loitering. The judge asked her about it. She explained that she is the bartender and was cleaning up an overturned trash can with the help of a customer. The judge told the arresting officer, "I see nothing improper here. If anything, she's over-dressed." The accused took off the uniform jacket the officer had covered her with and went. The concubine clasped her hands in front of her, bowed her head and demurely followed the wife. When the wife sat on a chair, the concubine knelt in front of her and bowed her head to the ground. Her forehead hit the ground hard enough that the house echoed with the sound.The wife smiled. The concubine only did what was proper but it was still a joy to see she had a concubine who knew her place.?Go to kneeling position,? the wife sneered, ?and state your position in this house.?The concubine. PAM!Zax slapped the table and sneered. “Who do you lot think you are?” He had no ill intent toward Zechariah and Linor, yet they were on Giant Havreim’s and Varinka’s side, so he ended up addressing all four. “Frankly, I don’t give a damn”. He got up. Let them confront with the mysterious expert, who apparently is their Second Master.“We’ll take you”. A voice, typically poised and taciturn, declared in the heat of the argument. “We are taking you”. Linor said.“Linor...” Zechariah was taken.