"I didn't give them my word that I wouldn't, just that I'd tell you. That's all," said Miles.

Chief Guy Allegre sat opposite Miles, tapping his light pen. They were sitting in Gregor's private office in the Residence. "Whatever effect they were planning on, my men are searching the Capital."

"I hope there won't be an, ah, internal flap over my guards," Miles said.

The chief of Imperial Security grimaced. "As far as we can tell, your guards were going by the duty rosters. Just not the ones HQ issued in the morning. In that five minute gap, your visitors were able to slip out unnoticed, without triggering any alarms."

"Do you think they were behind the attempt on Miles's life?" asked Gregor.

"The comconsole is where it gets interesting. There's no physical trace of tampering. And it was working, a half-hour before, at least during the systems check. The only possibility is that somehow an outside call caused it to self-destruct. There are two problems with that: an outside call can't access internal commands like that, and even if it could, it can't blow it up."

"But it's possible," Gregor said.

"Highly improbable, but yes, Sire, there must have been some way to do it since it happened. When we find out how," Allegre rose to leave, "I'll send a report right away."

"Allegre?" said Miles.

"Yes, my lord Auditor?"

"Make it a personal report, please. Not over the comconsole."

Allegre's lip twitched, but he only nodded.

Gregor leaned back, looking anything but casual. It had been a long interview. "You think there's something to their warning about ImpSec, Miles?" The Emperor said. "I'm beginning to think your visitors were looking to elicit an effect on you. And it's working."

Yes, something like utter stupefaction. "But I'm always paranoid anyway. Same difference. Except this time, they said quite specifically, there are only four people I have to protect. For a specified window of two weeks. They just couldn't say from whom."

"So not only are they either Our friends or Our enemies, even if we knew the difference we can't know why." Gregor sat forward. "Sounds like a logically insoluble problem. Want to take a crack at it, my Lord Auditor?"

Miles sputtered, "An audit? To audit what? Sire," he added. "They may have the power to make us paranoid or makes us dead, but I'm not sure it lies within the Imperium's jurisdiction."

"So you want to leave it to ImpSec?"

"Do you?" They eyed each other. "Gregor, my visitors aren't having an effect on you, are they?"

"It's just that… What that man said is right. Later it may be a laughing matter. Right now, the stakes are too high to contemplate." Gregor would be a father in less than a year. In some religions and Barrayaran legal circles, he was a father already. He wasn't taking chances.

"Let me put it this way, Miles. We will request that you observe matters. You'll be privy to all of ImpSec's data. If you choose to back out, We will not make it a requirement. All right?"

Miles nodded. There was no way he was backing out now.

Gregor rose to see him to the door. Miles paused before stepping out of the office. "Yes, Miles?"

Miles took the emperor's hand and shook it. "Good luck," he said softly.

A small smile lit Gregor's face. "Thank you."