Dragonback 06 Dragon and Liberator (29 page)

"In one of the ducts near Neverlin's office," Taneem said. "Not
close enough for him to hear us."

"How much of the conversation did you hear where Alison revealed
her true identity?"

"All of it, I think," Taneem said. "They didn't believe her at
first, but she had something hidden in her sleeve that proved it."

"I'm sure she did," Draycos said. "Question: did she ever mention
you
?"

There was a short pause. "No, she didn't," Taneem said. "She said
her father wanted you alive so they could learn the secret of how you
can go onto people's skin."

"But she never mentioned you?" Draycos persisted.

"No, not that I heard."

"So what does that prove?" Langston asked, frowning.

"It proves she's still playing games," Jack told him, some of the
weight lifting off his lungs. "And not just with us."

"What do you mean?" Taneem asked. "Is she
not
General
Davi's daughter, then?"

"I don't know who she is," Jack said. "Not that I ever did, come
to think of it. But if she'd really betrayed us, she should have
betrayed you, too."

"She
did
tell Neverlin you'd been a useful ally while your
goals weren't bumping heads," Taneem said. "Maybe they still aren't."

"Maybe," Jack said. "Draycos?"

"I'm willing to trust her a while longer," Draycos said.

"That's good enough for me," Jack said. It was almost the truth,
too. "Meanwhile, Taneem, you stay hidden. Listen in as much as you can,
but stay hidden."

"What about my six-hour limit?" Taneem asked. "Over half of that
has already passed."

And Alison was probably going to be cooped up with Neverlin and
Frost for the rest of it, Jack suspected. "That's okay—you and Draycos
can take turns on me," he said. "Just track us down after they lock us
up."

"All right," Taneem said. "Be careful. I hope you're right about
Alison."

"We will, and we hope so, too," Jack said. "We'll talk to you
later."

The transmission clicked off. "That assumes they'll put you some
place where she can get to you," Langston warned.

"
And
that we're not under constant surveillance," Jack said
grimly. "I know. But I don't know what else to do."

"Maybe I can find an excuse to go aboard later," Langston
suggested. "Do you still have that spare comm clip I lent Draycos?"

"Right here," Jack said, digging it out of his pocket and handing
it to the other. "It's still set on our frequency."

"Good," Langston said, slipping it into his own pocket. "If I can
get back in time, I'll give her a call and arrange a rendezvous."

"But don't take any unnecessary risks," Draycos warned. "At the
moment we want you alive and with as much freedom of movement as
possible."

"He's right," Jack seconded. "Don't worry about Taneem. Between
Alison and me, we should be able to cover her."

"Okay," Langston said. "You two watch yourselves. Whatever
Neverlin's got up his sleeve, I'm guessing you're not going to like it."

Another cluster of guns was waiting when Jack and Langston emerged
from the patrol ship into the
Advocatus Diaboli
. This time,
though, the guns were being held by humans instead of Brummgas.

"Hello, Jack," Frost greeted him gravely. He was, Jack noted,
standing between and slightly behind two of the other Malison Ring
mercenaries. Apparently, he didn't trust Draycos quite enough to be at
the front of the line. "You've been a busy boy."

Jack shrugged. "Idle hands are the devil's workshop, Uncle Virgil
always said."

"And he would know," Frost said. "Where
is
your elusive
uncle, by the way?"

For a moment Jack was tempted to tell him the truth. Frost's
reaction to the news that the man he'd been chasing for the past six
months had in fact died nearly a year and a half ago might be amusing.

But it was never a good idea to give away information for free.
"I'm sure he's out there somewhere," Jack said instead. "Lurking, you
know. Uncle Virgil's very good at lurking."

"Apparently so," Frost said. "Fine. Turn around and get back into
the patrol ship. You too, Langston."

"First let me see Alison," Jack said. "I want to see that she's
all right."

"She's fine," Frost said. "She's waiting for us at the troop
carrier."

Jack frowned. "The troop carrier?"

"Your new temporary home." Frost waved Jack back toward the patrol
ship. "If you please?"

Draycos
?

Do as he says
, Draycos said. But there was a dark grimness
to his tone.

A grimness Jack himself was also feeling. Because if he and Alison
were both aboard the carrier—and if they both
stayed
aboard the
carrier—Taneem was going to be in serious trouble.

"Unless you'd rather go out right now in a blaze of glory," Frost
suggested as Jack hesitated.

Jack grimaced. "Sorry," he said, backing toward the hatchway. "Got
caught up in the scenery."

A few minutes later, Jack, Langston, Frost, and half a dozen of
the mercenaries were again moving through space, this time making for
the troop carrier. "You're probably wondering what happened to it,"
Frost commented as they approached the flashing lights of a docking
station.

"A little," Jack said, gazing out at the ship's crushed side. Up
close, it didn't look as bad as it had earlier on the KK-29's display.
"Someone run a red light?"

"In a manner of speaking," Frost said. "There's a vac suit in the
rack behind you. Put it on, and rig it for long term."

Jack glanced back at the rack. "No thanks," he said. "I'm fine."

"Put it on or die right here."

Jack shivered. Frost hadn't even raised his voice, but there was
something in his tone that told him the man wasn't in the mood for
flippant remarks.

Silently, Jack got up and put on the suit. Rigging for long term
meant hooking up the food and bathroom facilities, which he did. "Now
what?" he asked, leaving the helmet attached to his belt.

There was a gentle bump as Langston docked them with the carrier.
"We go inside," Frost said, standing up. "Follow me. Langston, you stay
here."

The airlock was larger than those Jack was familiar with. Probably
designed to handle a dozen vac-suited soldiers at a time, he decided.
Frost led them through the lock, out another door into a supply and
maintenance room, then through a heavily armored door into a long,
high-ceilinged chamber.

Midway along the chamber's long inner bulkhead, leading farther
into the ship, was another airlock-style door. Nearby was an equipment
cart containing a selection of tools, including a small welding torch.
Across from the airlock, on the hull side of the chamber, there was a
long hatchway that was nearly as large as the room itself. "What's
this, a docking bay?" Jack asked.

"Yes, for one of the two scout ships," Frost confirmed. "They're
usually not well armored, so they're kept inside where the carrier's
main hull can protect them. Bucket on, then over against the wall by
the tool cart."

I think I'm going to hate this
, Jack warned Draycos as he
slipped his helmet over his head and snugged it into place.

Which part
?

The tool cart part
, Jack told him.
I take it you hadn't
noticed the welding gear
.

Draycos flicked his tail against Jack's leg.
No, I hadn't
,
he said.
You're right. I think we may soon both hate this
.

Jack crossed to the inner bulkhead as ordered. At Frost's
direction, two of the mercenaries wrapped short lengths of cable around
the wrists of Jack's suit and locked them in place. They then held the
other ends of the cables against the bay's inner bulkhead while a third
man quick-welded them to the metal. Jack's ankles were next, followed
by a larger loop around his waist.

"There," Frost said, running a critical eye over the work. "That
should hold you awhile."

"You promised I could see Alison," Jack reminded him.

"And so you will," Frost said. Right on cue, down the bulkhead
came the hiss of the airlock door opening.

Jack craned his neck to look as five vac-suited figures strode
into the bay. Three of them carried heavy rifles, which they lowered to
point at Jack as soon as they had a clear line of fire. The other two
were unarmed.

But even with the partial concealment of their helmets Jack had no
trouble identifying them.

One was Neverlin. The other was Alison.

"Hello, Jack," Neverlin's voice came through the speaker in Jack's
helmet. He sounded almost cheerful, or at least as cheerful as the man
probably ever got.

"And good-bye, Jack," Frost added. He gestured to his own group of
mercenaries, who holstered their weapons and followed Frost into the
airlock.

The door hissed closed behind them. A moment later, as he pressed
his back against the bulkhead, Jack felt the rhythm of the pumps as
they started pulling the air out of the bay.

"So nice of you to join us," Neverlin said. He gestured to Alison.
"As you can see, she's safe and sound."

"You okay, Alison?" Jack asked.

"Yes, I'm fine," Alison assured him, her voice subdued and
quavering.

It was, Jack thought, the very image of a scared, helpless little
girl.
Quite the little actress, isn't she
? he commented sourly.
I just hope it
is
an act
.

Remember Taneem
, Draycos reminded him.

Right
. "Nice little box, this," Jack commented, looking
back at Neverlin. "I was just wondering a few days ago how you would go
about keeping a K'da poet-warrior neutralized."

"Now you know," Neverlin said. "Actually, to be fair, it was Ms.
Kayna's idea."

Play dumb
, Draycos warned.

Relax—I'm on it
. "What was her idea?" Jack asked, frowning.

"Putting you in here," Neverlin said. "Now that we've evacuated
the air, the K'da can't use his claws or teeth without opening your
suit to vacuum, thereby killing you both. Very clever."

"You're too kind," Alison said. She straightened up.

And suddenly the helpless little girl was gone. "But then, I
have
spent the last couple of months thinking about it."

"What are you talking about?" Jack asked, letting his puzzlement
move toward disbelief on its way to outrage.

"Sorry, Jack," Alison said. "I'm sure your uncle Virgil warned you
against trusting people. Now you know why."

"Allow me to present Ms. Alison Davi," Neverlin said, gesturing to
her. "Daughter of the Malison Ring's supreme commander."

Jack looked at Alison, tightening the muscles in his throat and
cheeks. Most of the dramatic acting was wasted, he knew, with his
helmet's faceplate obscuring a lot of Neverlin's view. But some of it
would be visible, and he had to play this exactly right. "Of course,"
he said. "I knew something was wrong with her. I should have guessed it
was because she's a killer's daughter."

Alison started to take a step toward him, broke off the movement.
"That's rich, coming from the son of thieves," she bit out.

"Uncle Virgil is a thief," Jack said stiffly. "My real parents
were Judge-Paladins."

"Right. Like I said." Deliberately, Alison turned to face
Neverlin. "So what's the plan, now that you're down to one Death
weapon?" she asked. "Take the
Advocatus Diaboli
in with the
Foxwolf
and do what you can with the one you have aboard?"

"Certainly we'll be going in together," Neverlin said, a nasty
sort of slyness creeping into his voice. "But whoever said we were down
to
one
weapon?"

Alison glanced at Jack, a frown creasing her forehead. "I thought
the K'da shredded all the others."

"He shredded all those aboard the
Foxwolf
, yes," Neverlin
confirmed. "Unfortunately for him, I'd already taken two of them out
and loaded them aboard a pair of our Djinn-90s prior to Sergeant
Chapman's raid on the Malison Ring depot at Driftline."

"Sounds a little risky," Alison said.

"Sounds very much necessary," Neverlin corrected. "Your doing, as
it happens."

"Mine?" Alison asked, frowning a bit harder.

"Thanks to that trouble you stirred up with your father's people
last month on Brum-a-dum," Neverlin explained. "With the entire Malison
Ring now presumably on alert, I thought Chapman might have trouble
picking up the Rhino-10s we wanted. I thought giving him two of the
Death weapons might be useful in case they needed to shoot their way
out."

"I see," Alison said, her voice just a little too casual. "And did
they?"

"As it happens, they did," he said, his voice a bit odd. "But not
from any Malison Ring ships. At least, nothing carrying a Malison Ring
insignia."

"Just like your ships," Jack put in. "Maybe it was another
renegade like Frost."

"Maybe," Neverlin said. "But whoever they were, they were foolish
enough to challenge Chapman as he and his new ships headed for deep
space. The last thing they ever did."

Jack winced. Who had they been? he wondered. Local law
enforcement? Pirates? "Better be careful," he warned. "You don't want
to run down the clock on your new toys. Be embarrassing to have them
burn out just when things with the K'da and Shontine start getting
interesting."

"I appreciate your concern," Neverlin said, smiling through his
faceplate. "But our friends have assured us we'll have plenty of time
to complete our mission."

"Good of them," Jack said. "You really think they'll still be your
friends once the K'da and Shontine are dead?"

"At any rate, we'll be leaving you now," Neverlin said, ignoring
the question. "I have a pair of Death weapons to transfer back aboard
the
Foxwolf
, and—"