man who ruined her in Elizabethan England, begins his estrangement from the organization he has served since prehistory. He finally decodes the information given to him by his own father, Budu, which reveals to him the hidden Company graveyards where damaged and inconvenient immortals sleep. The novel ends with him turned into a demon of sorts, a malevolent free spirit determined to bring doom on those who have abused him and his loved ones for so long. Literature Specialist Lewis was introduced in Sky Coyote as a mild mannered Company flunky with no skeletons in his closet. In this novel his tragic background, both as a victim of the mysterious little men and as a man doomed to love an unattainable woman, come to the fore. Unfortunately he is soon out of his depth. As a Preserver, his ability to carry out clandestine operations is practically nonexistent. Even Joseph, normally the lead man in any deception, cannot help him when the party being deceived is the all-knowing Dr. Zeus. Security Tech Porfirio is, in some ways, a more extreme version of Joseph. Like Joseph, he has formed a deep attachment to others, in his case the descendants of his brother. His distaste for Company work is suppressed by his need to stay in touch with his family. It is a Devil's bargain that the Company is quite happy with. Executive Facilitator Suleyman is, at the very least, a few thousand years old, and one of the major players in the Company itself. He has the power to help Joseph, but at the same time he is suspicious of the motives of anyone outside his own sphere of influence, but especially Joseph himself. Suleyman suspects that Joseph's father Budu is behind the plagues that appear from time to time, decimating the mortals. Facilitator Victor is a cipher, a man who knows more than he is willing to admit, and who is deeply troubled by his work for the Company. His story is told in the shorter works in the Company stories. His connection with Lewis is more important than either suspects. The Botanist Mendoza and her lover, in his different incarnations, are the offstage, unseen characters in the story. Joseph seeks Mendoza through the Company's secret vaults, while Lewis seeks her through his investigations of Edward Alton Bell-Fairfax, who may or may not be also Nicholas Harpole, the Elizabethan religious zealot