@cstross@wandering.shop It's more the CIA isn't it, they stop "bad" people but they're not restricted by laws? And, wasn't it also ambiguous whether or not he's a cop? Like, he steals a "CIA" ship, disables the remote destruct, goes after his foe, and at the end his boss says something like "You were working for us all along, mwuhahaha". (My memory is iffy here) In the end, he isn't following orders, he's working alone, and he's trying to avoid getting caught. Whether the space CIA thinks he's working for them might matter if he does get caught. Then again, part of the charm of the books is that he's so clever he (almost) never gets caught.