Dragonback 05 Dragon and Judge (27 page)

And they would succeed. Alison had no doubt about that. Not
anymore. Taneem's quiet faith, plus the afternoon's triumph, had blown
away her earlier crisis of confidence like mist in a windstorm.

It was an hour after lights-out, and the slave areas around her
had gone silent, when she heard the sound of her door being quietly
opened. "Kayna?" Dumbarton's voice called softly.

"Who is it?" Alison asked, slurring her words slightly as if she'd
been startled out of her sleep.

"Dumbarton and Mrishpaw," Dumbarton said. "Come on— Mr. Arthur
wants to see you."

Alison winced. They weren't going to throw her out
now
,
were they? "What about?" she asked, throwing off her covers and pulling
on her shoes.

"You always go to bed with all your clothes on?" Dumbarton asked
suspiciously.

"Hardly ever," Alison said, standing up. "I was resting and fell
asleep."

"Sure," Dumbarton said. "Quiet, now."

They headed up through the slave areas, crossed the deserted
kitchen, and emerged into the starlight through the same door Alison
had used on her own midnight trip a few nights previously.

But it wasn't Neverlin who was waiting for her in the darkness.

It was Frost.

"There you are," he greeted her in a low voice. "Good news: the
data diamonds gave us everything we needed to know."

"Glad to hear it," Alison said, the skin on the back of her neck
starting to tingle. "Where's my money?"

"Where you'll never see it." Frost jerked his head toward an
open-topped car waiting a few feet away. "Take her to the slave area,"
he ordered the two mercenaries. "And kill her."

They had Alison to the car before she could untangle her tongue.
"Wait!" she said, the word coming out more like a croak. "Wait! You
can't—"

"Good-bye, deserter," Frost said. Turning with military precision,
he disappeared back into the house.

"Just relax," Dumbarton advised as Mrishpaw picked her up and
deposited her into one of the car's rear seats. "If you struggle, he'll
just make it hurt more." He turned his back and started to climb into
the driver's seat.

And in that instant, Taneem struck.

She exploded out of the back of Alison's shirt collar straight
into Mrishpaw's face, slapping her forepaw against the Brummga's head
with enough force to slam him bodily into the car's rear fender. The
reaction from the blow sent Taneem herself flying in the opposite
direction, dropping her nearly three yards away. She hit the ground and
spun around, leaping at Dumbarton just as he turned his head to see
what all the commotion was about.

His hand was diving for his gun when the K'da's second blow
slammed into his head and dropped him like a limp puppet over the
steering wheel.

"Are you all right?" Taneem asked Alison anxiously, her whole body
trembling like a leaf as she crouched on the grass beside the car.

"Yes, I'm fine," Alison said, shaking a little herself. This was
the second time she'd seen Taneem attack, and there was still something
about it that brought out all her deepest, darkest fears. The price of
having read too many books of dragon legends when she was young, she
supposed.

Meanwhile, she and Taneem had
real
problems to deal with.
"We need to get them out of here before some patrol trips over them,"
she said, looking around. Mrishpaw had slipped off the back of the car
where Taneem's slap had landed him and was now sprawled on the ground.
"Give me a hand."

Together, she and Taneem managed to hoist the big Brummga up into
the backseat. Pushing Dumbarton out of the way, Alison got into the
driver's seat and started the car. Choosing a pathway heading
northwest, aiming them midway between the main gate and the slave areas
where Frost had been sending her, she drove off. "Where are we going?"
Taneem asked, crouching low on Mrishpaw's body.

"I wish I knew," Alison said grimly. "There have to be places in
an estate this size where we can hide for a while. Unfortunately, we
don't know where any of them are."

"Can't we simply leave?"

Alison shook her head. "The gate is way too well defended," she
said. "The wall's even worse."

"Yet Jack and Draycos were able to escape," Taneem reminded her.

Alison hissed a curse at herself. "What am I thinking?" she
growled, reaching over to Dumbarton's collar and pulling off his comm
clip. "Here—you drive."

"What?" Taneem asked, sounding startled.

"Just take the wheel—I'll handle the pedals," Alison said, leaning
out of the way. "Come on, you can do it."

A pair of K'da paws reached over her shoulder and gingerly wrapped
themselves around the wheel. Keeping half an eye on the road, Alison
tuned Dumbarton's comm clip to the
Essenay
's frequency.
"Thanks," she said to Taneem, taking back the wheel. "Cross your toes."
Fastening the comm clip to her collar, she clicked it on. "Jack?"

"This is Uncle Virge," the computerized personality came back
instantly. "Are you all right?"

"Not really, no," Alison told him. "We just had to clobber two of
Frost's men and we're on the run."

"You don't know the half of it," Uncle Virge said grimly. "I've
been monitoring their transmissions for the past half hour. Frost is
organizing a group to go back to Semaline. They've figured out that
Jack is there."

"He's still
there
?" Alison echoed, frowning. "Then what in
blazes are
you
doing here?"

"I'm here because once those two goofs picked you up, I knew they
hadn't
gotten Jack, and I knew then where he had to be," Uncle Virge said. "I
figured he'd be safe there for a while."

"Yes, but—"

"And he'd ordered me to watch out for you and Taneem," Uncle Virge
snapped. "All
right
?"

"Sure," Alison said hastily. "Sure. Calm down."

"I
am
calm."

"I can tell," Alison said. She and Taneem were still in trouble,
but with the
Essenay
here, at least she now had the beginnings
of a plan. Maybe. "Okay—first things first," she said. "Do
they
know where Jack is?"

"Probably," Uncle Virge said.

"How?"

There was just the briefest pause. "I don't know."

"No more games," Alison said coldly. "Jack's in danger,
I'm
in danger, and if we don't do something about it real quick you're
going to find yourself all alone in a very big universe. Understand?"

"Yes," Uncle Virge said, his voice subdued. "What do you want to
know?"

"Let's start with Jack," Alison said. "Who is he?"

Uncle Virge sighed. "The son of the late Stuart and Ariel Palmer,"
he said. "Both of them Judge-Paladins."

Alison felt her mouth drop open a fraction of an inch. She'd
already pegged the
Essenay
as some kind of diplomatic or
governmental ship. She'd proved it, in fact, by activating the
computer's built-in privacy lock system on the trip back from Rho
Scorvi.

But she'd assumed Virgil Morgan had conned or stolen the ship from
some minor official or else bought it on the black market from a
corrupt diplomat. For it to have been stolen from a Judge-Paladin, let
alone
two
of them—

"I know what you're thinking," Uncle Virge cut into her thoughts.
"But it wasn't like that."

"Whatever it was like, it can wait," Alison said. "How do they
know where Jack is right now?"

"Because he's probably at the scene of his parents' murder—"

"Their
murder
?" Alison cut him off. "I thought Jack said
they were killed in an accident."

"Because he wasn't ready for the truth yet," Uncle Virge said.
"Besides, there was still the little matter of assembling evidence to
identify their killers."

Alison felt cold all over. Was
that
the little problem on
Semaline Neverlin had mentioned earlier?

And if so, did he know who Jack really was?

"Anyway, I think some of the residents of the area must have
recognized him as the Palmers' son and taken him back there," Uncle
Virge went on.

"Why?"

"Probably to judge their disputes for them," Uncle Virge said.
"They're all alone out in the middle of nowhere—"

"Okay, okay—not important," Alison interrupted. "What's important
is that we get Jack and Draycos out of there, and fast. How soon can
you get back to Semaline?"

"I can do it in four days if I really run the fuel tanks," Uncle
Virge said. "That'll get me there about the same time as Frost's ships.
Maybe a couple of hours sooner."

"Sooner would be nice," Alison said.

"Tell me about it," Uncle Virge said with a grunt. "Problem is,
pushing it that hard will drain our credit balance. We might end up
stranded there."

"Don't worry about that," Alison assured him. "There are a bunch
of fuel credits in my cabin. You and Jack can use those when you come
back to pick me up."

"Wait a second," Uncle Virge warned. "If you're counting on Jack
to get you out of there—"

"Don't worry, I'm not," Alison assured him. "But I'll need you to
send an InterWorld message for me before you take off."

"Who to?"

"The nearest Malison Ring Class One base," Alison said. "I think
the one on Tristram Four is the closest, but you can check."

There was a brief silence. "The Malison Ring," Uncle Virge said,
his voice gone flat. "Frost's friends."

"Not exactly," Alison said. "You're going to send the message
using the voice of General Aram Davi, the Malison Ring's commander in
chief."

"
What
?" Uncle Virge demanded. "Who do you think I
am
,
girl?"

"I think you're a computer," Alison said. "And the voice-print and
tonal patterns you'll need are already installed in one of the files
Jack set up for me to use."

There was another brief pause as Uncle Virge accessed the file.
"You must be out of your apple-buttered mind," he said, sounding as
flabbergasted as Alison had ever heard him. "Where in space did you
get
all these?"

"My dad's a collector, okay?" Alison said briefly. "You never know
when someone else's voice might come in handy. So can you do it, or
can't you?"

"I can do it," Uncle Virge said, still sounding a little floored.
"What's the message?"

Alison grinned in the darkness. Frost was going to love this.
"Tell them that Colonel Frost is being held prisoner at the Chookoock
family estate on Brum-a-dum," she said. "Order them to scramble a force
to rescue him."

"I was right the first time," Uncle Virge said. "You
are
insane."

"Not at all," Alison said. "They won't question an order coming
from General Davi. Especially since you'll also be giving them one of
his authorization codes."

"Where am I—oh," Uncle Virge said. "I will be dipped in butter.
You have his
security codes
, too?"

"I had access to a Malison Ring computer system a •while back,"
Alison said. "I got in a little deeper than anyone thought."

"And then what?" Uncle Virge asked. "All Frost has to do is tell
them he wasn't kidnapped and they'll go home."

"He can't, and that's the real beauty of this," Alison said,
smiling again. "They won't accept any response while he's still inside
the house—he could be talking with a gun to his head."

"Then he comes out and shows them he's all right."

"He can't do that, either," Alison said. "He's been using Malison
Ring troops and equipment for his own private scheme, remember? For all
he knows, this kidnapping story could be nothing but a ruse to lure him
out into the open so that they can nab him."

"I like it," Uncle Virge said approvingly. "Anyone ever tell you
you had the makings of a very devious person?"

"That's high praise, coming from you," Alison said dryly. "Send
the message, do what you can to make sure they've bought it, then
hightail it back to Semaline."

"All right," Uncle Virge said. "But look, even if they buy it,
Tristram Four is a good three to four days away from here. Are you
going to be all right that long?"

"If I say no, what are you going to do about it?" Alison
countered. "Right; that's what I thought. Don't worry, I think I know a
place where we can hide for a while. You just concentrate on Jack and
Draycos."

"I'll get them out," Uncle Virge promised grimly. "You watch
yourself, lass."

"I will," Alison promised. "Oh, one other thing. How did you even
know I was here?"

"Through your comm clip, of course," Uncle Virge said. "Your
kidnappers practically gave me the Chookoocks' address."

Alison thought back. "But the clip was off."

"Well . . . not exactly," Uncle Virge said, sounding a little
embarrassed. "Jack rigged that clip to be permanently on. You know, as
a precaution?"

Alison felt her lip twist. So much for Taneem's question about
whether Jack trusted her. Just as well that he didn't. "Remind me to be
mad about that later," she told Uncle Virge. "In the meantime, go get
him out of there."

She clicked off the comm clip and slipped it into her pocket. "Do
you really know a place where we can hide?" Taneem asked.

Alison shrugged. "Let's find out."

The landscape around them changed from grassy lawn to sculpted
trees, and the path split three times before they reached Alison's
objective.

The wall.

"I don't know," Taneem asked as they sat in the car looking up at
the wall's wave-shaped overhang. "This seems very uncertain."

"In theory, it should work just fine," Alison said, studying the
white ceramic gleaming in the starlight. The shadowed underside of the
wave was much harder to see, but she was almost positive that the
inward-curling edge of the wave curved upward a little right at the
end. The big question was whether it curved up enough to form a trough
where she and Taneem could lie hidden from view.