Mitchell looked at the meticulous stack of paper work on his desk, poured a 33 year old shipped Scotch and allowed himself a little smile. He had a good day, he talked that idiot DC detective into shelving the Dolan shooting. He got that hired killer off to Chicago and into hiding. And he got the data from Dolan before she got killed... yes, good day indeed.

Andrea Bergstrom walked up to his door and opened it. She saw the Scotch, and the feet kicked up on the ancient oak desk. She laughed, "Do I need to know?"

"Yeah, you do, got this from Dolan before the wet work was done." He flipped the data disk to her. She put it into the reader on the desk and flipped down her reading glasses. Damned annoying they were but necessary. She was one of those for whom surgery and bionics were always rejected. As she read Dolan's copy of Matteson's notes, Mitchell could see the wheels turn. Bergstrom was a trim woman of 53, about 165 and 60 kilos, blonde with ice blue eyes that seemed to shoot laser beams when she was concentrating. Attractive, brilliant and completely driven, she was the head the most active intelligence agency in the Five Worlds.

"Can I pour you one?"

"Please." Few people knew the connection between IIA and TIC's security division, and that's the way Bergstrom liked it. And Bergstrom got what she wanted every time. "Was it necessary to take Dolan off the table? She seemed to give good information."

"Unfortunately, it was. She was getting a little attached to the project and our AI projections hinted at a streak of hero worship toward the Imperial Family that could have caused a problem if allowed to continue. We couldn't take the risk."

Bergstrom nodded. As much progress as technology has made in curing the body, the mind can still have problems that science cannot resolve. Thank goodness we can model the mind in an AI to find out what can happen.

"Well, Matteson seems to be progressing along nicely. May I assume you still have someone inside?" She didn't even look up from the vidscreen.

"You may."

"How long do you project until he's ready?"

"The AI says a week, maybe less."