Her work helped ease the boredom for her, and she took advantage of some of her spare time to ease more by practicing her driving. She'd never been in a car before her trip to the Academy, hadn't driven one until Strike Force training. It had been frightening at first, but she'd come to like it, and Odeon encouraged her. Since she no longer had the consolations of sex, he said, she really ought to make full use of what she could enjoy--and after all, a tank of gasoline wasn't much more expensive than an evening at the Elysian Gardens. She was pleased when, midway through the second week, Degas asked to join her on one of her after-work drives. She'd known from their first meeting that something was bothering him; it was about time he got whatever it was out of his system. He was silent as she drove them through town and past the Ducal Palace, but when they got to open country, he asked her to pull over. She did so as soon as she found a shady spot, and turned to him. "What is it, Tony?" Silently, slowly, he drew his pistol and held it to her, butt-first. "You may want to use this." Cortin accepted it, stunned. "In God's Most Holy Name, Tony! Why?" "Something I've kept from everyone except the priest I confessed to." Haunted eyes looked at her from that beautiful face. "I--Captain, for almost a year I was a Brother of Freedom." Cortin's finger tightened reflexively on the trigger, but somehow she managed not to fire. "Why, Lieutenant?" she asked coldly. "And why tell me, now?" "My confessor said that when I found the person I really wanted to follow, I'd have to tell, and accept her judgement." "Go on." "I was a kid, idealistic--I believed in what they said they stood for. I still do, but what they say doesn't come anywhere close to what they really stand for." Cortin nodded, relaxing slightly. "I've never faulted the ideals they claim, or their courage--just their methods and their real morals." "I was slow--it took me a while to realize the two didn't match. Once I did, and let people know I was sorry I'd joined, my superiors arranged for me to meet Shannon, and that told me I had to get out." Degas paused, looking sick. "He's an attractive man, handsome and--from the effect he had on the people I was with--damn near irresistible. I don't know how I was able to resist, but I've thanked God every day since that I was." He shuddered. "Shannon's evil, Captain! There's no other word to describe him. He may not be Shayan himself, like Sis thinks--though I tend to agree with her--but if he's not, he's not far off. A demon, or possessed by one. Most of the Brothers, I think, are just deluded--but Shannon's evil, and as long as they're under his spell, they'll act that way too." "Did you commit any crimes while you were a Brother?"