Dragonback 06 Dragon and Liberator (28 page)

But if any of those thoughts were running through Neverlin's mind,
they didn't show in his face. "Thank you, Sergeant," he said, and
switched off the intercom.

"Well?" Alison prompted.

"We'll try it," Neverlin said. "If Morgan and the K'da take the
bait, I want a proper reception ready for them. Colonel?"

"I'll make the arrangements," Frost said, starting for the door.

"One other thing first," Neverlin said, motioning for Frost to
stop. "One other question."

"Yes?" Alison asked.

"What exactly did you steal from Braxton Universis?"

"Who says I stole anything?" Alison asked evenly.

Neverlin didn't reply, but merely continued to stare at her.
Alison stared back a few seconds, then shrugged. "Fine," she said. "It
was one of those high-tech ship tracers you used to follow the
Essenay
to Rho Scorvi. Dad had heard rumors, and decided he wanted one for
himself."

She smiled tightly. "If we'd known you'd already made off with one
of them, I wouldn't have bothered."

"They're very useful devices, aren't they?" Neverlin agreed. "At
least now we know why Harper was so interested in tracking you down."

"And why I was so interested in getting away," Alison said.

"Yes," Neverlin murmured. "I gather, then, that it was
you
who were on Rho Scorvi with Jack Morgan." His face suddenly darkened. "
You
who were shooting at Colonel Frost's men."

"Colonel Frost's men were shooting at me first," Alison countered
stiffly. "Besides, at that point they were technically deserters."
Deliberately, she turned to Frost. "As were you, Colonel. I had a
perfect right to execute any of you if the opportunity arose."

"I'm so glad we're on the same side now," Frost murmured.

"If I were you, I wouldn't be too flippant," Alison warned. "You
may have heard that the commandant of the training center I was at was
arrested right after I had that run at his computers. As far as Dad's
concerned, you're still very much on probation."

"I'll keep that in mind," Frost said.

"Good," Alison said. "Then get busy and set up that reception we
discussed."

She looked at Neverlin. "And while he attends to that," she added,
"maybe we can finally get that decent meal."

Jack had just unwrapped a ration bar when he heard a crackling
sound through the deck above the crawl space where he and Draycos had
taken up temporary residence. "Attention, Jack Morgan," a familiar
voice called, the tone muffled by the deck. "This is Arthur Neverlin."

He's not actually there
, Draycos said into Jack's mind.
He's
speaking through the ship's intercom
.

Jack nodded. He'd already figured that one out.

"Jack, I know you can hear me," Neverlin continued. "I have
something here that I believe belongs to you."

There was a short pause. "Jack?" a new voice called.

It was Alison.

Jack felt his heart seize up.
Oh no
.

"I'm sorry, Jack," Alison said. Even through the deck Jack could
hear a slight quavering in her voice. "They—I couldn't—
aah
!"

Involuntarily, Jack twitched. The pain in her voice right then—

"Don't worry, Jack," Neverlin said. "She's not seriously hurt.
Yet. But that could change."

Steady, Jack
, Draycos cautioned.
He's trying to draw us
into the open
.

Jack grimaced. He knew that. But knowing it didn't help his tight
muscles in the slightest.

And if Alison was being tortured, what had happened to Taneem?
Surely this time Neverlin and Frost couldn't possibly have missed
finding the K'da riding on her skin.

"Believe it or not, though, you're in a more serious position than
she is," Neverlin went on. "You see, now that the fleet has
reassembled, all my ships are available to me. Including the troop
carrier, with plenty of passenger space aboard. I presume you
understand the full ramifications of that."

Do we? Jack
asked.

Unfortunately, we do
, Draycos answered grimly.
He can
now take all the crew and passengers off this ship, put them in the
carrier, and open our ship to vacuum
.

Terrific
, Jack replied, glancing around the crawl space.
I
don't suppose you know where some vac suits are stashed
?

Even if there are any still aboard, it would be a futile gesture
,
Draycos said.
Vac suit oxygen supplies are limited to a few hours
at the most, while Neverlin can leave the Brummgas in the carrier
almost until the K'da/Shontine fleet is due to arrive
.

Which is, what, another ten days
?

Unless they're ahead of schedule
, Draycos said.
Call it
somewhere between four and ten days. We can't possibly hold out here
that long.

Aren't there any spare oxygen tanks
?

Only a limited supply
, Draycos said.
And most of them
are in five centralized locations. Neverlin could easily destroy them
before the crew was evacuated
.

"So it's up to you," Neverlin went on. "I'd actually prefer to
have you alive, and if you come out now and surrender peacefully I give
you my word you won't be harmed. But bear in mind that this is a
limited-time offer." With another crackle, the intercom went silent.

Okay
, Jack said, trying to think.
If we can't hold out,
what are our other options? Assuming we can find a vac suit, can we
sneak outside and float our way to one of the other ships? Or could we
even take over the
Foxwolf
itself and fly it somewhere
?

I doubt either plan would work
, Draycos said reluctantly.
The
other ships will surely be too far away for us to make a quick
transfer, and of course there's no practical way to hide either our
departure or our crossing. As for taking command of this ship, Neverlin
will surely be prepared for us to try that
.

Jack swallowed. Suddenly, the crawl space seemed a lot tighter
than it had before.
So what are we going to do
?

For a moment Draycos was silent, his background thoughts rushing
past Jack's mind like the rapids of a mountain stream.
We surrender
,
the K'da said at last.
If all he wanted was our deaths, he could
simply have removed all the Brummgas and suffocated us as he threatened
without giving us a warning
.

So if he doesn't want us dead, what
does
he want
?

I don't know
, Draycos admitted.
But if we stay here,
we'll surely die. Alive, even in Neverlin's hands, there's always hope
.

Jack took a deep breath, eleven years' worth of Uncle Virgil's
warnings and counsel flowing through his mind.
Run away. Protect
yourself. Don't stick your neck out for anyone. Run away
.

Run away
. . . .

But he couldn't run away. Not this time.

Okay
, he said with a sigh.
Let's go
.

Even with Neverlin's promise, Jack half-expected them to be gunned
down as soon as they emerged from the tween gap. Certainly there were
enough armed Brummgas waiting to have made quick work of them.

But apparently for once Neverlin had been telling the truth. "Okay
I'm here," Jack said, trying to sound as if stepping into a circle of
guns was something he did every day.

"So we see," a tall human said as he pushed his way through the
wall of glowering Brummgas. "Lieutenant Pickering, captain of the
Foxwolf
."
His eyes flicked up and down Jack's form. "I trust your friend is with
you?"

"I'm here," Draycos confirmed, lifting the top of his head from
Jack's shoulder.

Pickering didn't take a step backward, but Jack had the feeling
that he very much wanted to. "Yes, I see." He lifted a finger and
beckoned.

And to Jack's surprise, Langston stepped into view. "Hello, Jack,"
the other said darkly. "Nice to actually
see
you this time."

"Hey, it's not
my
fault you can't walk and read at the
same time," Jack countered, picking up instantly on the cue. Langston
must have played Frost the same scenario he'd pretended to play for
Jack, that he'd been too busy studying his notepad to focus on the
pilot who came out of that KK-29 patrol ship. "Come on; let's get this
over with."

Langston jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "This way."

They walked in silence to the docking bay. Brummgas lined the
whole route, most of them fidgeting with their guns. Langston stepped
to the side of the open hatchway and gestured Jack to go in.

Jack did so, and found himself in the KK-29 he'd borrowed from
Chiggers back on Bentre. "I would have thought they have moved it by
now," he commented.

"They did," Langston said, coming in and closing the hatch. "Frost
had it brought back for the occasion. Come on—you might as well sit up
front."

They headed forward to the cockpit. The ship was all powered up,
Jack saw as he sat down in the copilot's seat. So were the weapons
boards, he noted with interest. "A functional ship with functional
weapons," he pointed out as Langston took the pilot's seat. "You'd
think they
wanted
us to make a run for it."

"It does look that way, doesn't it?" Langston agreed. He checked
his displays and hit the release control, and the patrol ship floated
free. "Maybe they do. Maybe all this is just more of Frost's fine-weave
rope."

"Could be," Jack conceded. "He's probably hoping we'll try
something and he'll have an excuse to blast us to dust."

"I don't think so," Langston said as he eased in the drive, moving
them away from the
Foxwolf
. "See those Djinn-90s over there?"

Jack peered out the canopy where the other was pointing. In the
distance he could see three of the heavy fighters, drifting silently
along. "Look like they're minding their own business, don't they?"

"That's the point—they
are
minding their own business,"
Langston said. "So is everyone else. If we made a break for it now,
we'd be on ECHO before anyone could stop us."

Jack frowned, searching the sky. He didn't know nearly as much as
Langston did about military ships and tactics, but he was willing to
trust the other's judgment. "So what's the scam?" he asked. "They want
some practice with the Death?"

"What Death?" Langston countered. "The only one left is on the
Advocatus
Diaboli
, and it's way out of position to hit us back here."

"Then maybe we're booby-trapped," Jack suggested.

Langston shook his head. "I already ran a check on the air system
and did a quick visual," he said. "There's nothing aboard they could
use to gas us. And they sure aren't going to blow up one of their ships
just to take us out. They need all of them they've got."

Jack chewed at the inside of his cheek. "Draycos?" he asked. "What
do you think?"

"I agree with Sergeant Langston," the K'da said from his shoulder.
"The entire setup is strange."

"So what do we do?"

"We continue on to the
Advocatus Diaboli
," Draycos said.

"Because of Alison, I suppose?" Langston said.

"In part," Draycos said.

"Yeah," Langston muttered. "I don't know, Draycos. Something about
her seems fishy to me."

"Join the club," Jack said dryly. "But you know how stubborn K'da
poet-warriors can get when they're being noble."

"I suppose." Langston looked sideways at Jack, a crooked smile on
his lips. "Lucky for me."

"Jack?" a whispered voice came from Jack's comm clip.

Jack jerked in surprise. Had Alison gotten free?

"Who's that?" Langston asked, frowning at him.

And then Jack's brain caught up with him. "It's Taneem," he said.
"Taneem? Are you all right?"

"For now, yes," Taneem said. Even in a whisper Jack could hear the
misery in her voice. "Jack, she lied to us. She lied to all of us."

"Calm down, Taneem," Draycos said, gently but firmly "Tell us what
she lied about."

"Everything," Taneem said. "She's not a thief. She's General Aram
Davi's daughter. I heard her say so."

Jack frowned. Why did that name sound familiar?

"The Malison Ring's
commander
?" Langston demanded,
sounding stunned.

And then it clicked. "Oh, boy," Jack muttered.

"No wonder she had his voice pattern on the
Essenay
's
computer," Taneem continued. "No wonder she had such wonderful burglary
equipment."

"Okay, calm down," Jack said. "Given Frost's shenanigans with
Malison Ring men and equipment, having Davi's daughter in the game may
not be such a bad thing."

"You don't understand," Taneem said. "She's gone over to them. She
and her father both. She's not in danger—she just pretended to be to
get you and Draycos out of hiding."

Jack felt his stomach tighten. "Then Neverlin wasn't going to pull
the Brummgas off the
Foxwolf
and try to kill us?"

"He couldn't," Taneem said. "Alison wrecked the troop carrier."

"I'll be swiggled," Langston said, peering at one of his displays.
"She's right. There's a great big air-leaking dent in its side."

"Okay," Jack said. He was rather surprised at how calm his voice
sounded. "We're definitely butter side down now. What do you think,
Draycos?
Now
do we make a run for it?"

For a few seconds there was nothing but the rapid flow of
Draycos's thoughts against his mind. "No," the K'da said. "For one
thing, Sergeant Langston's observations and conclusions haven't
changed. If Neverlin truly hopes we'll try to escape, we must
definitely not do so."

"So we just walk into this other trap instead?"

"If it
is
, in fact, a trap," Draycos said. "Taneem, where
are you right now?"