" And that is supposing the guard could be convinced to heed my orders,"Julius concluded. "At the moment, I do not appear much like myself." We are b...tween Scylla and Charybdis," Cornelius moaned. "If weconvince the Praetorian Guard that you are Julia, we have given away thesecret; if we don't convince them, we have no escort. Hiringmercenaries that we can trust takes time. If we traveled with a largecaravan of merchants--" That also takes time," Julius said flatly. "Face facts, my. There were jaws that hit the floor -- their visitor was Eve McClellan, but dressed more or less like the Denis Riley they remembered she had once been! Jason didn't recognize her at first, and only put two and two together from the circumstances before the recognition snapped into place. Yes, there was more than a mild hint of Denis in that beautiful young woman."Thank you, sir," Eve -- well, just at this instant, Denis -- replied with a smile, and a voice that was a little lower than those at. "Both men looked at her, although only Manu seemed surprised at her choice.She followed him to the basement. The Sheik would join them in a few minutes."Why?"Aisha smiled, "You are a good man Manu, I couldn't ask for a better master." But the price..." Quite a few of the girls from the horn of Africa have had this done to them, when they come of age," she shuddered, "It is not such a big deal, really."The Sheik sat on a chair, near the table that would hold Aisha. At her request, she herself. The regulars began to talk. I was falling behind with the rent. Now this is where I pause when I'm telling my story to the other girls in the early morning. This was a turning point in my life. I pause and let it sink in that I could have made a better decision."Laura's voice became scratchy. I held her close and kissed her shoulder, having discovered something new about the female shoulder the night before."One night this guy wanted to take me home. When I told him I could walk he said it was.