Dragonback 05 Dragon and Judge (16 page)

Frost's forehead wrinkled slightly. "What do you mean?"

"I mean this little girl apparently doesn't exist," Neverlin said
coldly. "I've done a complete check of all official Internos systems.
There's no record of her anywhere."

"And this surprises you?" Alison countered calmly. "I wouldn't be
much use if anyone could just punch in my name and pull up my life
story."

"Don't be a fool," Neverlin growled. "You think your
name
means anything? I also put in your age range, your full description,
and those two scars on your left shoulder and lower rib cage."

Alison looked sharply at Frost in sudden understanding. "That's
right," he confirmed. "You didn't think Dumbarton and Mrishpaw were
just looking for cheap thrills when they made you take your clothes
off, did you?"

"So who
are
you?" Neverlin asked.

"I'm Alison Kayna," Alison said, looking back at him. "As for the
records, maybe you just didn't look hard enough."

"Or not in the right places," Frost said. "Let me guess. You were
born and raised on an non-Internos world?"

Alison shrugged. "Could be."

"Perhaps Colonel Frost didn't make the situation clear, Kayna,"
Neverlin said, his voice quiet and very snakelike. "We aren't playing
games here.
You
play games, and you don't live to see the sun
go down. Do you understand?"

"Very well," Alison assured him, her mouth suddenly dry. "I also
understand that you need my services." With a supreme effort, she
forced herself to look Neverlin straight in the eye. "And if it comes
to that, I doubt Mr. Arthur is
your
real name, either."

For a long minute no one spoke. Alison could feel Taneem sliding
restlessly across her skin, and quietly put a hand against her ribs.
Under the reassuring touch, the K'da settled back down. "You take
chances, girl," Neverlin said at last, his voice dark. "Far too many of
them."

"I wouldn't be in this business if I didn't like taking chances,"
Alison said. "So where's this safe you want me to open?"

Neverlin looked at Frost, a small smile twitching at the corners
of his mouth. "You certainly picked yourself a wildcat here, Colonel."

"I think she can pull it off, sir," Frost said.

"We'll find out." Neverlin turned back to Alison. "
After
she has a proper field test."

Briefly, Alison wondered what would happen if she mentioned that
Frost had already given her such a test. Two of them, in fact.

But she resisted the temptation. At the moment, Frost was at least
a little on her side. The satisfaction of watching Neverlin's reaction
to the news would hardly be worth making Frost want her dead.

"But that can come later," Neverlin continued. "First, we're going
to the medical suite."

"What for?" Alison asked, tensing up again.

"What do you think?" Neverlin countered. "We're going to get your
fingerprints, your retina pattern, your iris matrix, and your DNA
profile." He raised his eyebrows. "As you said, maybe we just didn't
look hard enough."

"Whatever makes you happy," Alison said, feeling her muscles relax
a little. None of those tests would require her to undress far enough
to reveal Taneem's presence. "In fact, since you're so keen on this,
how about we make it a race?"

"What do you mean?" Neverlin asked.

"Your identity check against my safecracking skills," Alison said
blandly. "We'll see which of us gets to the mother lode first."

Neverlin smiled thinly. "You're playing against my weakness,
Kayna."

"You like long-shot bets?"

"Very much," Neverlin said. "And I always win them."

Except for that one long shot of trying to blackmail Jack Morgan
into helping him murder Cornelius Braxton, Alison knew. But this was
hardly the time to bring that up. "Then we're on?"

"Absolutely," Neverlin said. "You win, I pay you an extra twenty
thousand for the job. I win, you open the safe for nothing."

Alison cocked her head as if thinking about it. "That seems fair,"
she said.

It wasn't, of course. With Neverlin's control over when Alison
would be allowed to start working the safe—only after
he
decided she was ready—he could easily manipulate the timing of the
contest to guarantee he would win. As usual, Neverlin's supposed
long-shot bets included a stacking of the deck.

Still, a records search would help keep them busy. Maybe busy
enough that neither would remember where he'd seen Alison's face before.

"Excellent," Neverlin said, beckoning to the group of Brummgas
standing behind her. "As soon as the medical formalities are out of the
way, Colonel Frost's men will get you settled in your room. Oh, and
I'll take that." He pointed to the shoulder bag.

Silently, Frost reached over and pulled the strap off Alison's
shoulder, warning her with his eyes to stay quiet. He crossed to
Neverlin and handed him the bag. "And then tomorrow," Neverlin went on,
fingering the bag thoughtfully, "you can start proving you're as good
as you say you are."

He gave her a smile that didn't reach all the way to his eyes.
"And," he added, "you'd better be right."

The doctor—a Compfrin, Alison noted with interest, not a
Brummga—was quick, efficient, and quiet. Fifteen minutes after
arriving, Alison was on her way out again. A tall, wiry Wistawk wearing
green and purple and a red cross-chest sash led the way, with Dumbarton
and Mrishpaw plodding along beside her.

The room Neverlin had assigned her to was in the first basement
level down, with an entrance off the main kitchen area. The slaves
working in the kitchen seemed to not even notice them, but Alison
caught enough sideways glances to know that everyone was indeed aware
of the strangers passing through their midst.

After the luxury of the shipboard stateroom, her new room was a
severe letdown. It was small and cramped, equipped with a bed, a rough
wooden dresser, a chair and small table, an intercom that doubled as a
clock, a single overhead light, and a small sink. "No shower?" she
asked, looking around.

"The bathroom is at the end of the hall," the Wistawk said. "It is
shared by all the slaves on this floor."

Alison looked at Dumbarton. "
Slaves
?" she demanded.

Dumbarton shrugged. "Had a problem a while back," he said. "The
Patri Chookoock ordered that all visitors stay down here where it's
more secure."

Jack, again. How many times, Alison wondered sourly, was she going
to trip over him while she was here? "That mean all the rest of you are
down here, too?"

Dumbarton gave her an indulgent smile. "We're not visitors, kiddo.
We're allies."

"But you will not have to eat with the other slaves," the Wistawk
offered helpfully. "Your meal will be served here in two hours."

"And I'm sure it'll be delicious," Dumbarton said as he and
Mrishpaw left the room. "Enjoy."

The Wistawk left as well, closing the door behind him. Taneem
stirred against Alison's skin, but Alison laid a warning hand on her
shoulder. Once again, it was time to check for microphones.

To her mild surprise, there weren't any. Perhaps no one thought
the slaves were worth the bother of monitoring.

Unfortunately, they were probably right. A lifetime of slavery
usually left the victims in grave-sized mental and emotional ruts, with
all the spark and fire and hope brutally crushed out of them.

The Chookoock family was especially good at that. Two months ago,
when Jack had gone to the slaves and offered them freedom, only
twenty-six had taken him up on it.

"Okay, it's safe," Alison told Taneem when she was finished.
Sitting down on the bed, she held out her arm.

The K'da missed the cue, coming out instead from the back of
Alison's collar. "I was so afraid in the hospital," she said, landing
on the floor and turning her head back and forth as she looked around.
"I thought they would discover me for certain. I thought we would have
to fight."

"Not this time," Alison soothed her.

A shiver shook Taneem's body. "I wish we were not here."

"Pretty much everyone in a slave colony feels that way," Alison
said, opening her makeup kit. "Let's see what kind of reception we can
get down here."

She got out her mascara tube and unscrewed the end. A quick
adjustment with her fingernail to shift its frequency and it was ready.
"What are you doing?" Taneem asked.

"Usually this earphone works with the rest of the tube for
listening to the inner workings of safes," Alison explained, inserting
the end into her ear. "I've changed its frequency to pick up the bug I
planted in the papers from Virgil Morgan's lockbox. Quiet now—let me
listen."

But it was quickly clear that there was nothing to listen to. She
could hear faint sounds, but they were distant and muffled. "Hasn't
even opened the bag yet, I guess," Alison said, pulling the earpiece
back out. "Probably busy debriefing Frost about the trip in."

"I wonder how much truth Frost will tell him."

"Not nearly as much truth as there actually is," Alison said,
hiding a smile. Alison's grasp of English was remarkably good,
especially given how little time she'd had to work on it. But some of
her phrases and sentence constructions were still rather entertaining.
"For starters, you can bet money that he won't say word one about me
opening those safes."

"It's so very strange," Taneem murmured, her tail tip curving in
an arch. "They are friends, like you and Jack. Yet they keep secrets
from each other."

Alison felt a twinge of conscience. "That's because Frost and
Neverlin aren't really friends," she said. "They're working together,
but only because neither can get what he wants alone. But I doubt
either trusts the other any farther than he can throw him."

"What do you mean?" Taneem asked, her tail curving into an even
tighter arch. "They
throw
each other?"

"No, that's just a figure of speech," Alison said. "A sort of word
picture. The point is that they don't trust each other, not like Jack
and Draycos do."

"Or like you and Jack?"

"And that probably goes double for the Patri Chookoock or
whoever's calling the shots for the Brummgas," Alison said, passing
over the K'da's question. "Probably why we're here, in fact. After
Draycos ran roughshod over the Patri's people, I'm guessing he insisted
the safes be put under his control to make sure Neverlin and Frost
didn't just throw him to the wolves. That's another word picture," she
added.

"I understand," Taneem said, her glowing silver eyes steady on
Alison's face. "You do not answer my question."

Alison sighed to herself. Taneem was definitely the persistent
type. "What question?"

"The question about trust," Taneem said. "You
do
trust
Jack, don't you?"

Alison thought about it. With the question going only that
direction, she could actually give an honest answer. "Yes, I think I
can trust him," she said. "Well, mostly trust him, anyway. We don't
know each other well enough yet to
really
trust each other."

"And he trusts you, as well?"

"You'd have to ask him about that," Alison said evasively.
Actually, she was pretty sure Jack
didn't
trust her. Not that
she could blame him. "My point is that a group like Neverlin, Frost,
and the Chookoocks is inherently unstable," she went on. "That means a
fairly small push can make it fall apart."

"Because they don't trust each other?"

"And because they're in it purely for the profit," Alison
explained. "The minute any of them sees an advantage to himself in
betraying the others, he'll do it. Part of our job here is to play
along and watch for a chance to give it that push."

Taneem seemed to ponder that. "Is that why you agreed to open the
vault and safe aboard the ship?"

"Partially," Alison said. "Besides proving to Frost that I could
do it."

Taneem seemed to straighten up. "I cannot help very much with your
work," she said. Her voice was trembling a little, but there was a
firmness of will beneath it. "But if the time for battle should come, I
will be there for you. You may trust me, just as you would trust Jack
and Draycos."

Something stirred deep within Alison. It had been a long time
since she'd had someone close at hand who she could genuinely trust. So
very long a time. "I know," she managed. "Thank you." She took a deep
breath. "But first things first. Dinner, sleep, and then I need to
prove to Neverlin that I can open his safes."

"Yes," Taneem said, her voice thoughtful. "I wonder why the K'da
safes are so difficult."

"No idea," Alison said soberly. "I wish I'd asked Draycos about it
when I'd had the chance. It never even occurred to me."

"You will figure it out," Taneem assured her. "I have faith in
you."

"Thanks," Alison said. "In the meantime, I'm going to go see if
this bathroom has a tub and some hot water. Will you be okay here alone
for a few minutes?"

"There is room to hide beneath the bed if necessary," Taneem said.
"Go and enjoy."

The bathroom had a tub, plenty of hot water, and—best of all—a
little privacy. Alison enjoyed the bath as long as she dared, then
dried and dressed. She returned to her room, to find that in her
absence her dinner had been delivered.

And that the waiter was still there.

"You are the human Alison Kayna?" he asked politely. He was a
Wistawk, tall and spindly and rather young.

"I am," Alison said, glancing around. There was no sign of Taneem.
She must have made it under the bed in time. "Thank you for the dinner."

She sat down at the table and picked up the fork. The tray was
military style, molded metal with five compartments for food. All five
were filled with the proper nutritional range of meat, vegetables,
bread, fruit, and even what appeared to be a sort of pudding.