Dragonback 06 Dragon and Liberator (6 page)

She'd half-expected to discover that the trick had failed, that
she would find herself facing men and Brummgas with drawn weapons and
evil grins. But the corridor was deserted. Getting her bearings, she
headed forward. "Where are we going?" Taneem whispered.

"You'll see," Alison whispered back. Another corridor cut across
theirs directly ahead. She paused to check around the corner, then
turned into the cross-corridor and headed outward toward the ship's
hull.

A minute later, they had reached their destination.

"What is this?" Taneem asked, lifting her head from Alison's
shoulder to study the red-rimmed door in front of them.

"One of the ship's lifepods," Alison said, running a finger across
the thin, multicolored seal pasted across the edge of the door. "Two
weeks' worth of food and water and air for four people. Perfect place
to hide until we reach the rendezvous."

Taneem seemed to digest that. "And the catch?"

Alison lifted her eyebrows at her symbiont as she pulled a small
coil of nearly invisible but incredibly strong monofilament thread from
her shirt cuff. "The
catch
?"

Taneem shrugged, a sideways flip of her crest. "Jack says that
when something looks too good or too easy there's always a catch."

"Talk about
cynical
," Alison commented, taking the cap off
her pen and carefully setting the loops at the ends of the monofilament
into small grooves in both cap and pen.

"Is he wrong?"

"In this case, no," Alison said. Setting the pen and cap on the
deck, she pulled out a pair of thumb caps and worked them onto the tips
of her thumbs. "See this seal? It's designed to break easily so that
people can get into the lifepod in an emergency. But once it's broken,
it's broken."

"Showing that someone has been inside?"

"Exactly," Alison said. "It's supposed to discourage people from
sneaking inside and pilfering any of the goodies."

"But you have a way to repair it?"

"Not exactly." Picking up the monofilament again, Alison gripped
the pen and cap in opposite hands and set the thread against the door
by the end of the seal. Pressing the thread firmly against the metal
with her protected thumbs, she eased the thread beneath the seal. "The
plan is to get the seal off but keep it intact."

It was a technique she'd practiced many times under her father's
watchful eye. But she'd never had to do it in the field, and rather to
her surprise she discovered it actually worked. The monofilament slid
smoothly beneath the seal, cutting through its adhesive and releasing
it from the metal.

Her biggest fear was that the seal would simply fold itself back
onto the door as the thread passed beneath it. Fortunately, that didn't
happen. Instead, the seal curled slightly away from the metal as she
worked, eliminating that danger.

A minute later, she was finished. Praying that Neverlin hadn't
added any entry alarms, she touched the release.

He hadn't. The door slid open, the pod's lights came on, and she
slipped inside.

"Are we going to close the door?" Taneem prompted, peering out
Alison's shirt back into the ship.

"Patience," Alison said, pulling out her multitool and getting to
work on the control panel plate beside the door. "Closing the door
normally starts a ten-second eject countdown."

"Oh."

"Oh, indeed," Alison said. "We'd really like to keep that from
happening. Especially since I'm not sure what happens to a lifepod
ejected while the ship's still running on the ECHO stardrive."

"But you
can
keep that from happening?"

Alison grimaced. "We'll find out in a minute."

The plate came off. Nudging the bundle of wires out of the way
with her screwdriver, she located the right one and popped the end out
of its socket. "That should do it," she said, tapping the door control.

She watched the status display carefully as the door slid shut,
counting down the seconds to herself. Fifteen of them later, she
finally started breathing again. "Yes," she said, closing the
multi-tool. "That did it."

"Not quite," Taneem said. "Would you press your back against the
door a moment?"

Frowning, Alison complied. Taneem shifted around on her back,
probably checking the corridor one last time.

But no. Something else was happening, something that felt subtly
different from anything else Alison had experienced with her companion.

She squeezed her hand into a fist, a fresh wave of tension flowing
into her. If Taneem fell off into the corridor, this whole thing would
have been for nothing.

And then, to her relief, she felt the K'da's weight shift again as
she came fully back onto Alison's skin. "There," Taneem said with
satisfaction. "I've smoothed the seal back into place on the door."

Alison blinked. "How in the world did you do
that
?"

"I leaned over the wall as if preparing to fall to the other
side," Taneem said. "Only instead I merely leaned one paw over and
pressed it against the seal."

"I'll be sniggled," Alison said, eyeing the K'da with new respect.
"That's a new one on me. As a matter of fact, I don't think even
Draycos has tried that one. Nicely done."

"Thank you," Taneem said. "I was afraid it would be seen."

"It might have, at that," Alison agreed. In actual fact, she knew,
the flowing air currents out there would eventually have reattached the
seal more or less where it was supposed to be.

But Taneem was so proud of her accomplishment that Alison had no
intention of popping her bubble. Besides, this way the seal was back in
place that much sooner.

"I'm glad I could help," Taneem said. "What now?"

"Now the evening is finally over." Alison yawned widely. "I don't
know about you, but I'm beat. Let's check out the food supplies and
then see about getting some sleep."

As far as Jack could tell, the Ponocce City Police Station was as
badly organized as the rest of Brummgan society.

His first stop after being hauled from the patrol car was an
office for the usual round of fingerprinting, retinal scans, and other
biometric readings. Then he was put into a small holding cell, then
sent back to the first office to redo the fingerprints, then over to a
second office for no particular reason he could figure out, and once
more back to the first office.

Eventually, he ended up in a block of group cells two levels
underground that seemed to be stocked mostly with drunks.

Disorganization, Uncle Virgil had often said, was a con man's best
friend. In this case, though, none of the chaos did Jack any good. His
forced wanderings never took him into a room or corridor with a window,
and there were always too many armed Brummgas between him and the doors
for him to make a break for it. Draycos, with his warrior's training
and eye, agreed with that assessment.

Which wasn't to say either of them liked it.

Four hours
, the words whispered through Jack's mind. The
thought felt as restless against Jack's mind as Draycos's
two-dimensional form felt against his skin.
We've been here four
hours
.

Thanks, I
can
count
, Jack thought back sourly.
I'm
still open to suggestions
.

Draycos didn't answer. Not really surprising, since well before
the first hour was up the two of them had discussed and eliminated
pretty much every possible plan.

Jack still had the backup comm clip hidden in his shoe.
Unfortunately, there was no one to call with it. The
Essenay
could hardly tackle a police station all by itself, certainly not with
Brummgan military aircraft stationed within a couple of miles.

And even if Uncle Virge caught the Brummgas napping and was able
to blow a hole in the side of the building, Jack and Draycos were
currently sitting right where the pile of rubble from that blast would
land. No future in that at all.

Alternatively, Draycos could roll off Jack's back through the
plastic doors of their cell and take out the two guards playing cards
across the room. But there were a half-dozen surveillance cameras in
the cell block, and all the Brummgan inefficiency in the galaxy
wouldn't save them once the building was aroused.

They have to eventually take us out of here
, he reminded
Draycos.
They'll take us to trial, or a more permanent prison.
Sooner or later, we'll get our chance
.

Again, the K'da didn't answer. Again, Jack didn't need a
telepathic connection to know what his symbiont was thinking.

Eventually, certainly, they'd be out. But whether they would be
out in rime to save Draycos's people was an entirely different question.

Let alone whether they'd be out in time to save Alison and Taneem.

"Human!" a deep voice called. "Human Macavity!"

"Yes, I'm here," Jack called back. He worked his way through the
milling drunks to the door, sternly warning his hopes not to get too
high. Chances were they'd simply messed up his fingerprints again and
were hauling him back up to the second floor to retake them.

"You are summoned," the guard rumbled, sliding the door open for
Jack.

A second guard joined them as they walked to the elevator. They
got in, and the first Brummga punched one of the buttons.

Only it wasn't the second-floor button. This time, they were
taking Jack to the tenth floor, only two floors down from the top of
the building.

And that high up, where the senior officers and administrators
probably had their offices, there were bound to be windows.

Though we
will
be ten floors up
, Draycos reminded
him.

I know
, Jack agreed.
But at least it's something
.

The elevator let them out into a far nicer hallway than anything
Jack had seen in the building so far. The guards led him to a thick
door, opened it, and nudged him none too gently inside.

The room was reasonably large, clearly someone's office, with a
cluttered desk in the middle and a low table and a pair of guest chairs
in front of it. The lights were on low, probably a nighttime setting. A
man sat behind the desk, his face in shadow. Three large Brummgas stood
behind him, their handguns out and pointed at Jack.

And on the side wall to Jack's left was the most beautiful sight
he'd seen since crashing his car: a large window looking out onto the
lights of the city below.

They had their way out.

"Thank you," the man at the desk said to Jack's escort. "You may
leave."

The guards backed out, closing the door behind them. "Welcome, Mr.—
Macavity
,
was it?" the man said, gesturing to the farther of the two guest
chairs. "Please; sit down."

Jack crossed toward the chair, trying to get a better look at the
man's face. The voice seemed familiar, but he couldn't place it. "I
expect you're wondering what you're doing here," the man continued as
Jack sat down.

"I think the charges were vehicle theft and reckless driving,"
Jack said, shifting in the seat as if arranging himself. As he did so,
he brought one foot up slightly, lifting his heel an inch off the
floor.
Draycos, can you get to my comm clip
?

He felt movement across his skin, then a touch of weight as the
K'da's forepaw lifted slightly from the back of his leg just above the
ankle.
I think so
.

Get it
, Jack told him.
See if you can slide it under my
clothes up to my neck
.

"I meant what you were doing
here
, in this office," the
man said, gesturing around the room. "I gather you don't recognize me."
Leaning forward, he flicked on the desk light, bathing his face in a
soft glow.

Jack felt his muscles tighten. He did indeed know the man. His
name was Harper, and he worked as a bodyguard for Cornelius Braxton.

The head of Braxton Universis . . . and a man who might have been
involved in the murders of Jack's parents eleven years ago.

"I see now that you do," Harper said. "Good. That should save some
time."

"Time is usually worth saving," Jack agreed. Draycos had the comm
clip out of his shoe now and was working it up along the back of the
boy's leg. So far neither Harper nor the Brummgas seemed to have
noticed anything. "Do you suppose your friends back there could point
those guns somewhere else?" he added.

"Sorry" Harper said, smiling faintly. "After what happened to
Slavemaster Gazen a couple of weeks ago, they feel it would be wise to
keep you under guard at all times."

Jack looked sharply at the glowering aliens. Those were
Chookoock
family Brummgas?

"Yes, we're from the Patri Chookoock, Mr. Macavity," Harper said,
correctly interpreting Jack's sudden change of expression. He raised
his eyebrows slightly. "Correction: Mr.
Morgan
."

A shiver ran up Jack's skin.
Uh-oh
.

Steady
, Draycos calmed him.

"You've caused us a great deal of trouble, Mr. Morgan," Harper
went on. "Luckily for you, the Patri Chookoock is prepared to be
lenient."

"In exchange for what?" Jack asked, the words coming out with
difficulty. If Harper was working with the Chookoock family, it meant
he must actually be one of Neverlin's men.

Or it could be even worse. It could be that Neverlin and Braxton
had patched up their differences and Braxton was now a full partner in
the plot to kill Draycos's people.

Either way, everyone in the room right now knew about Draycos.

Calm yourself, Jack
, Draycos's cool thought whispered
through his sudden surge of panic.
They want something, or they
would have killed us already
.

Jack's heart was thudding hard enough for him to hear.
We
can't take that chance
, he thought back.