Dragon and Liberator

CHAPTER 13

Neverlin had told Frost to search the man calling himself Virgil Morgan before allowing him aboard the Advocatus Diaboli. Frost had apparently taken that order very seriously, because Taneem ended up crouching by the grille overlooking Neverlin's office for nearly half an hour before the man finally arrived.

When he did, he wasn't at all what Taneem had expected. For one thing, he didn't look or smell anything like Jack, as she would assume a relative should. He was a large man, slightly bigger even than Frost, who was walking closely and watchfully behind him. He had broad shoulders and a way of moving that somehow brought the best Phooka dancers to Taneem's mind.

His clothing was another surprise. Instead of Jack's casual jeans, shirt, and jacket, he was wearing a distinguished-looking white uniform.

A moment later, she realized it was the same uniform she'd seen earlier on the Advocatus Diaboli's bridge crew. Apparently, Frost had decided not to let the man even keep his own clothes but had pulled a spare uniform from the ship's stores for him to wear.

But all of this Taneem noticed only secondarily. Her main attention was focused on Neverlin.

And on Neverlin's sudden and violent reaction to the man's entrance. "What the hell?" he all but gasped, twitching back from his desk. "Frost!"

"Hold it," Frost snapped, grabbing the man's right wrist.

Or rather, he tried to grab the man's wrist. Before he could get a solid grip, the other twisted his arm smoothly out of the mercenary's grip.

Neverlin twitched again, shoving himself even farther back from his desk as if expecting an attack. But the newcomer simply stood where he was, making no attempt to do anything at all. "Hello, Mr. Neverlin," he said calmly. "Nice to see you again."

Snarling a curse, Frost got another grip on the man's wrist. "You know him?" he demanded.

"Oh yes, I know him," Neverlin bit out. "His name's Harper. He's one of Cornelius Braxton's bodyguards."

Frost's shoulder twitched, and suddenly his other hand was pressing a gun against Harper's side. "Big mistake, friend," Frost said softly.

"Actually, the mistakes are all on your side," Harper said, his voice still calm. "What Mr. Neverlin failed to mention—because Mr. Neverlin doesn't know—is that I'm not actually working for Braxton anymore."

"Meaning?" Frost asked.

"Meaning that in all your grand and detailed planning for this operation, you never once thought about putting a spy on Braxton himself," Harper said, his voice suddenly hard. "Did you actually think he was just going to go about his business and forget about you?"

"Let me guess," Neverlin said. "You're volunteering for the job?"

"Don't be absurd," Harper said contemptuously. "The time for that is long over. Fortunately for you, someone else had the foresight to approach me months ago with an offer I decided was worth the risk."

"Does this person have a name?" Frost demanded.

"Yes, a name you know quite well," Harper assured him. "The Patri Chookoock."

Frost snorted. "And you expect us to just believe that?"

"Of course not," Harper said. "By all means, call him and ask." He eyed Frost over his shoulder. "Only be sure none of his Brummgas are within eavesdropping distance of the InterWorld transmitter when you do."

"Meaning?" Frost asked.

"Meaning you've been infiltrated," Harper said bluntly. "One of the Brummgas, possibly more than one, has been suborned."

"By whom?" Neverlin asked. "Braxton?"

"Worse—the Malison Ring." Harper looked at Frost again. "Possibly General Davi himself."

A shadow seemed to cross Frost's face. "That's ridiculous," he insisted. "Davi has no idea what's going on here."

"Like he had no idea you were holed up on the Chookoock estate?" Harper asked pointedly.

"That had nothing to do with Davi," Frost growled. "It was some con Morgan stirred up. Morgan, or the Kayna girl."

"Speaking of Morgan," Neverlin said, "if you're really working for the Patri, why this Virgil Morgan masquerade?"

"With all due respect, Mr. Neverlin, kindly start using your brain," Harper said. "Our conversation out there could have been picked up by anyone in your fleet. Would you really have wanted me to simply announce my true identity and mission to the Malison Ring's spies?"

"A good point," Neverlin said. "Again, why Virgil Morgan?"

"Because everyone here knows you've been trying to find Morgan to get him to open the K'da/Shontine safes for you," Harper said patiently. "He's the one person who could show up without raising anyone's suspicions."

"So how exactly do you know about any of this?" Frost asked. "If your job was to keep tabs on Braxton, how do you know what General Davi and the Malison Ring are up to?"

"Because Davi and Braxton have had several long conversations together over the past couple of weeks," Harper said. "Sharing their various pieces of the puzzle, as it were." He raised his eyebrows. "And Davi in particular sounded like he's been getting a steady stream of new pieces."

There was a short silence. Taneem wondered if Neverlin and Frost were thinking about Mrishpaw and his supposed attempt to open the K'da safe.

Probably. If Taneem could put those pieces together, surely Neverlin and Frost could.

"All right, you're off the hook," Neverlin said at last. "For the moment. But we are going to call the Patri."

"Fine," Harper said. "As I said, just make sure the Brummgas are out of earshot."

"Easily done, since there aren't any aboard the Advocatus Diaboli anymore," Neverlin said. "They're all on the troop carrier and the Foxwolf."

"Good," Harper said. "Well, that's all I have. The Patri just wanted me to get out here and alert you to the infiltration." He cocked his head. "You have any other questions? It's been a long day, and I want to go back to the Essenay and rest a bit before dinner."

"I'm afraid you won't be going back to the Essenay any time soon," Neverlin told him. "At least, not until we've cleared your story with the Patri. But I'm sure you'll find our accommodations adequate."

"Just one more question," Frost said. His gun. Taneem noted, was still pressed against Harper's side. "If you're working for the Patri, why did you blast out of the Ponocce City Police Station with Jack Morgan instead of just taking him back to the Chookoock estate?"

"Because I needed to find out if Morgan had also been in contact with Braxton or the Malison Ring," Harper said. "To do that, I needed to gain his trust. I also needed his ship if I was going to pull off this Virgil Morgan charade. Too many of the Brummgas had seen the Essenay and might be suspicious if I showed up flying an entirely different ship."

"And part of the trust building was to kill three of the Patri's Brummgas?" Frost demanded, digging the muzzle of his gun a little harder into Harper's side.

Harper didn't even flinch. "I told you the Chookoock family had been infiltrated," he said mildly. "I never said all the traitors were here in your fleet."

There was another short silence. "We'll be sure to ask the Patri about that when we talk to him," Neverlin said, his voice neutral. "Where's Jack now?"

"And his dragon," Frost added.

"Yes; his K'da," Harper said, shaking his head. "Damnedest thing I ever saw. Actually, I didn't do anything with either of them. I didn't have to. They went off somewhere, brought me back a roommate, then disappeared again."

"You didn't ask where they were going?"

"I didn't care where they were going," Harper said. "All I needed was his ship, and he was handing that to me on a platinum platter. I waited until he was gone, popped my cuffs, and plugged in the Point Two coordinates the Patri Chookoock had given me."

"This roommate you mentioned," Frost said. "What was his name?"

"No idea," Harper said. "We were never introduced, and the only times he opened his mouth were to be loud or insulting. Or both. I dumped him with the local cops just to get rid of him."

"What did he look like?" Frost asked, his voice gone suddenly dark. "And where exactly did Morgan pick him up?"

Harper shrugged. "Medium height, slender build, rusty brown hair, thin face, and we were in the middle of nowhere on Bentre. Why?"

Frost snarled a curse. "Chiggers."

"Who?" Harper asked, frowning.

"That's impossible," Neverlin said, ignoring the question. "He was seen boarding the—" He broke off. "Wasn't he seen boarding the Foxwolf?"

"You tell me," Frost said, stepping around Harper and heading for Neverlin's desk. He got two steps before he abruptly stopped. "Frunge it all. We can't even call over and check."

"Who's Chiggers?" Harper asked again.

"One of our pilots," Neverlin said grimly. "He got separated from the group picking up those KK-29 patrol ships you probably saw on your way in." He looked at Frost. "We thought he'd made it back safely."

"Blasted kid," Frost bit out. "Sir, we have got to get word to the Foxwolf right away."

"How?" Neverlin countered. "Besides, it's probably way too late to sound an alarm now. Morgan and the K'da have undoubtedly already made their presence known."

Frost swore viciously. "And six days before we can even get help to them."

"Six days?" Harper demanded. "Where are we going, Ghossta's End?"

"We're doing an evasive to our next rendezvous point," Neverlin told him. "We thought it would be a useful distraction for anyone who might be monitoring you."

"Terrific," Harper said heavily. "How big a force is the Foxwolf carrying?"

"Three hundred eighteen Brummgas, plus five of my men and a new recruit we're not entirely sure of," Frost said. "Plus nine Valahgua."

"Against a fourteen-year-old boy and a K'da." Harper pursed his lips. "Not too bad."

"You haven't seen the K'da in action," Frost said grimly. "I have. They'll have their work cut out for them."

"Still, they do have those nine Valahgua," Neverlin added. "One would think that after all these years they'd have some idea of how to deal with K'da."

"I guess we'll find out," Harper said.

"I guess we will," Neverlin said. "And we can always make do with a few less Brummgas if we have to."

He waved a hand. "But I'm forgetting my manners, and you did say something about wanting to rest before dinner. Colonel, would you escort Mr. Harper to his stateroom? There's an empty one forward that he can use."

"Certainly." Frost gestured back toward the office door. "Mr. Harper?"

Carefully, Taneem eased back from the grille and backed her way along the duct. This time, she waited until she was two turns away from the office before speaking. "Alison?" she whispered. "Did you hear all that?"

"Yes," the girl's voice whispered back. "Interesting."

"Did you know all of this when you made it look like Mrishpaw had broken into Neverlin's office?"

"I'd never heard a word of it," Alison told her. "It's beautifully convenient, though."

"I suppose." Taneem hesitated. "Do you think Jack and Draycos are really over in that other ship?"

"I don't know," Alison said, her voice tight. "But it sounds like the sort of crazy stunt they'd pull."

"Is there anything we can do to help them?"

"You heard Neverlin," Alison said. "As long as we're in hyperspace, we're cut off from the rest of the ships."

"Then what do we do?"

"The only thing we can," Alison said. "We keep an eye on things here and try to plan what we'll do when we reach Point Three. And we keep stirring the fire beneath Neverlin and Frost and see if we can get this alliance to implode."

"To what?"

"To fall apart," Alison explained. "To self-destruct."

"Oh," Taneem said. "What do you want me to do now?"

There was a soft, thoughtful hiss from the comm clip. "See if you can find out where Neverlin and Frost have put Harper," she said. "If he's really working for the Patri Chookoock, we'll want to see about pointing some of Neverlin's suspicions in his direction."

"You think he might not be?"

"Might not be what?"

"Working for the Patri Chookoock."

"Who knows?" Alison said. "If he's not, coming aboard like this would be a pretty crazy thing to do. On the other hand, Cornelius Braxton is famous for pulling crazy stunts."

"It sounds like he and Jack would get along very well," Taneem suggested.

"Probably," Alison agreed. "Off you go now. But be careful."

"I will." Getting her bearings, Taneem turned toward the bow and headed for the forward group of staterooms.