Dragonback 06 Dragon and Liberator (9 page)

"Supposedly," Neverlin said. "How many of your men are on the
Foxwolf
at the moment?"

"Seventeen," Frost said. "Three shifts each at command, helm,
engineering, hyperdrive, and monitor room, plus two swing crewers. Plus
Langston."

"Do we have Brummgas who can handle those jobs?"

"Yes," Frost said, and Alison could hear a frown in his tone. "Do
we
want
Brummgas handling those jobs?"

"The question is whether I want any Brummgas aboard the
Advocatus
Diaboli
," Neverlin said tartly. "And right now, I'm thinking I
don't. As soon as we reach Point Two you'll swap them off to the
Foxwolf
for twelve of your men."

"I'd strongly recommend against that, sir," Frost said, his voice
suddenly formal. "The
Foxwolf
is the key to this whole
operation."

"Don't worry; your men will still be in command," Neverlin said.
"And we can certainly swap them back before we reach the rendezvous.
But for the moment I want the Brummgas as far away from me as possible.
And
from my InterWorld transmitter."

"As you wish," Frost said. "I still think it's a mistake. Brummgas
make good soldiers, but they're not built for thinking."

"There won't be any serious thinking to be done until the attack,"
Neverlin said. "By then, we'll have your men back aboard." He paused,
and Alison heard the sound of footsteps as he headed for the door. "I'm
going back to bed. Let me know if anything else happens."

A second set of footsteps joined the first. There was the sound of
a door opening and closing, and then silence. Alison waited a minute,
just to make sure, then pulled the receiver from her ear.

"Four days," Taneem murmured.

"What?" Alison asked.

"He said four days until his soldiers reach Bentre," the K'da
said. "He also said Jack was no longer in jail."

And Alison had left a message with Uncle Virge urging Jack to also
head directly to Bentre. "Yes, I know."

"Do you think Jack might be able to get there before they arrive?"
Taneem asked hopefully.

Alison tried to visualize the map of the Orion Arm.
"Theoretically, yes," she said. "But knowing Jack, he'll want to skulk
around a bit first. Make sure everything looks okay before he goes in."

"So he and the mercenaries will arrive at the same time."

Alison grimaced. "Probably."

For a minute neither of them spoke. Alison ran the scenario over
and over in her mind, trying to think of a way to warn him.

But she couldn't come up with one. The only way out of the lifepod
now would break the seal, which would alert everyone aboard that they
had a stowaway.

She couldn't afford for them to know that. Not yet.

"And Langston is here," Taneem murmured into the silence.

"So it would seem," Alison said, wincing. The StarForce wing
sergeant Jack had sprung from unjust imprisonment on Semaline.

Jack had thought Langston died when the Malison Ring mercenaries
raided the canyon where Jack had been imprisoned. Clearly, the other
man had lived through the experience. And not only had he survived, but
he'd apparently made a deal with Frost.

The question was, was it a genuine deal? Or was Langston playing
some game of his own?

"It'll be all right," Taneem said. "Jack has Draycos with him.
They'll be all right."

"I know," Alison said. She looked down at her hands, only now
remembering the ration bars she was holding. "Here," she said, giving
one to Taneem. "Eat up, and then we'd better get some sleep."

"Interesting," Harper said when Jack had finished his story. "And
you say there's a whole fleet of these K'da things on its way?" He
looked over at Draycos, who was lying on the dayroom floor to his
right. "No offense," he added. "I didn't mean
things
."

"No offense taken," Draycos assured him, stretching his forelegs
leisurely.

Or at least, it looked leisurely. But Jack knew better. Draycos's
posture was calculated to make him look perfectly harmless while he and
Jack tried to figure out who Harper really was.

To Jack's private annoyance, he wasn't much closer to that goal
than when they'd started.

Harper had listened closely to the story of the K'da/Shontine
refugee fleet, the betrayal of Draycos's advance team, and their
various run-ins with Neverlin and his fellow conspirators. Through it
all he'd nodded at the right spots, been intensely interested at the
right spots, and expressed amazement or outrage at the right spots.

But there was something about the man that still bothered Jack.
Something he couldn't quite put his finger on.

"And Kayna has been your partner in all this?" Harper asked.

"Yes, at least starting with Rho Scorvi," Jack told him. Maybe
that was what it was. Maybe it was Harper's preoccupation with Alison
that didn't quite feel right. It was almost as if, to him, the survival
of Draycos's people was only a footnote to the main story. "Though
mostly she's been a pretty unwilling ally," he added, deciding on the
spur of the moment that it might be better for Alison if he downplayed
her role.

"I don't doubt it," Harper said dryly. "I wonder what her reasons
are for sticking around."

Draycos stirred. "Alison has been a good and faithful friend," he
said. His tone was mild, but there was a familiar edge beneath it.
Apparently it hadn't occurred to him to distance Alison from them.

"I'm sure she's behaved admirably," Harper said. "I'm simply
wondering what she's looking to get out of this."

"You think she's the profiteering type?" Jack asked, probing
delicately. So far, Harper had been conspicuously silent about what he
knew about Alison.

"That's certainly been her history with Braxton Universis," Harper
said. "About ten weeks ago she broke into one of our computer systems
and made off with a highly valuable trade secret."

"You're certain it was her?" Draycos asked.

"Positive," Harper said grimly. "Because a week after that, she
walked right into one of our research labs and walked out again with
some actual hardware.
That
time we got her on camera."

"And I suppose you want the stuff back," Jack said. "Is that why
you were at the Avrans City spaceport on Bigelow a couple of months
ago?"

Harper's forehead creased slightly. "How did you know about that?"

"Because I saw you," Jack said. "Alison had just sprung me from
the Malison Ring recruiting station and we were heading back to her
ship. She spotted you hanging around and talked me into taking her for
a ride to Rho Scorvi instead."

"Really," Harper said, eyeing Jack closely. "You hadn't mentioned
that part of your story."

Jack shrugged. "It didn't seem important."

"Everything Kayna does is important," Harper said. "Including
whatever she's up to right now. You
do
know where she is, don't
you?"

"Not really," Jack said truthfully. He had no idea where exactly
the
Advocatus Diaboli
was, after all. "But enough about Draycos
and me. What's
your
story?"

"You've basically just had it," Harper said. "Kayna stole
something from Braxton Universis. I was sent to find her and retrieve
it. Along the way I discovered she'd linked up with you, who Mr.
Braxton was already interested in."

"Why?"

"Because you'd saved his life," Harper said, looking puzzled. "Mr.
Braxton notices things like that. Anyway, I was told to watch you and
see if and when Kayna showed up. When you got arrested, I decided to
get you out, so I went to the Patri Chookoock and spun him a soap
bubble. He bought it, and we're here. End of story. So where do you
think Kayna
might
be?"

"She
might
be almost anywhere." Jack looked over at the
dayroom's computer module. "Uncle Virge? What do you think?"

"I don't know, Jack lad," the computerized personality said
thoughtfully. "He's certainly taking the whole story very calmly."

"You mean like he's heard it all already?" Jack suggested,
watching Harper's face closely.

The other's expression didn't even twitch. "That's ridiculous," he
said.

"Is it?" Jack countered. "You may not have noticed—actually, I
suppose there's no way you
could
have noticed—but I kept the
story to only the stuff Neverlin and his buddies already know."

"As a matter of fact, I
did
notice some fuzziness in
places," Harper told him. "But someone in your line of work must know
that lack of reaction alone isn't a solid indicator. Of guilt, or
anything else."

Jack raised his eyebrows. "
My
line of work? Excuse me, Mr.
Harper.
My
line of work at the moment is trying to stop
genocide."

Harper inclined his head. "My apologies. As I said, Mr. Braxton is
interested in you. His backcheck of you and your uncle was most
thorough." His face softened. "You've obviously been through a lot. I
understand that."

"And
I
understand when someone's trying to change a
subject," Jack countered. "That's point number two against you. Point
number three is that even though you seem to know all this, you still
made an effort to look as if you didn't."

Harper shook his head irritably. "This is ridiculous," he bit out.
"Fine. If I'm not who I say, then who
am
I?" He folded his arms
across his chest. "Because if I'm with Neverlin—"

In a single smooth motion Draycos sprang to his feet and leaped in
front of Harper, landing practically in the man's lap. His front paws
caught on the other's forearms, his claws digging lightly but with
clear warning into Harper's sleeves. His bared teeth were inches from
Harper's face.

"I'd advise you not to try anything stupid," Jack warned, standing
up. "I've seen those claws cut through solid metal."

"So have I," Harper said, keeping perfectly still.

"Really?" Jack asked, crossing over to him and patting him down.
His hand touched a small flattened cylinder in Harper's coat pocket
near the other's right hand. "When?"

"Don't you remember?" Harper asked. "He scratched something in the
base of Mr. Braxton's rejuvenation cylinder."

"Ah. Right." Nudging Harper's hand aside, Jack dug into the pocket
and pulled out the object.

It was exactly what he'd expected from the shape: a palm-grip,
two-shot tangler. "What have we here?" he asked the room in general as
he held it up.

"It's a tangler," Harper said. "A completely non-lethal weapon,
you'll note."

"Which just means whoever hired you wants me alive," Jack said. He
pressed the weapon against his palm, noting how neatly and invisibly it
nestled there, then dropped it into his own pocket. "At this point,
that's not all that encouraging."

"Jack, use your head," Harper said patiently. "If I was working
for Neverlin's crowd, why in Orion's armpit would I have brought you
out of that holding cell and into the upper part of the police station
where we would have a better chance at escape? Why not just leave you
behind plastic until the paperwork was done, then take you out in a car
where your ship's rather illegal collection of firepower couldn't have
done anything without killing you?"

There was a short silence. "He has a point," Draycos said.

"I agree," Jack said. "I also notice you haven't let him up from
that chair."

The K'da's tail lashed the air. "At this point, I'm not inclined
to take chances."

"I agree with that, too," Jack said. "I guess our options are to
handcuff him here in the dayroom or handcuff him to the cot in Alison's
cabin." He raised his eyebrows at Harper. "Feel free to jump in with a
vote."

"You're making a mistake. Jack," Harper said, his voice low and
earnest. "I can be of great help to you. I'll prove myself any way you
want—just tell me how."

For a long moment Jack was tempted. With Neverlin, Frost, a bunch
of Malison Ring mercenaries, and at least three hundred Brummgas
against them, he and Draycos were sorely in need of fresh allies.

But Draycos was right. It was way too late to start taking
chances. "Sorry," Jack said. "Even if I knew what side you're on, I
have the feeling that side could shift without much warning."

"I understand," Harper said. "Actually, in all honesty, I'd
probably do the same in your place. I won't make trouble."

"Not that you could," Jack said. "Draycos, watch him."

Jack left the dayroom and went to the rear of the ship's living
space, where all his theft and safecracking equipment was stored.
Digging out two sets of handcuffs, he returned to the dayroom and
cuffed Harper's left wrist and right ankle to the chair. "That should
do for now," he said as he stepped back again. "We'll try to come up
with something more permanent later that'll let you eat and sleep more
or less comfortably."

"I'll look forward to it," Harper said dryly. "Can you at least
tell me why we're going to Bentre?"

"I don't even know myself," Jack said candidly. "Uncle Virge?"

"I don't know if I should," Uncle Virge said hesitantly.

"It's fine," Jack said. "Just tell us."

"Alison called while you were in jail. She found out that Neverlin
has twelve newly purchased KK-29 system patrol ships waiting to be
picked up from the Progline Skyport on Bentre. She also gave me the
name they're registered under."

Jack frowned at Draycos. "Does that mean Frost has given up on the
idea of hijacking ships from Driftline?"

"She didn't say," Uncle Virge said. "All she said was that you
should try to get to Bentre ahead of Neverlin and sabotage the ships."

"What are these spacecraft like?" Draycos asked.

"Six-man fighters, though one can fly it in a pinch," Harper said.
"Pilot, copilot, and four blister gun stations, two on either side."