Dragonback 06 Dragon and Liberator

  With its weapons turned outward, ready to shoot at possible trouble. Frost's men weren't taking any chances. Are they all staying at that end of the building?

  No—two of them are heading this way.

  Jack winced, moving his elbows briskly and visibly as he pretended to work on the plane's engine. If the mercenaries were suspicious enough to come over here and check him out . . .

  Wait, Draycos said, and Jack could sense the relief in his voice. They're turning to go around the side of the building. They're just checking the hangar's exterior.

  Jack breathed a quiet sigh of relief. At least he and Draycos weren't going to have to fight.

  But that brought up a whole different problem. If the mercenaries were suspicious enough to check out even the solid parts of the hangar's exterior, they weren't likely to leave either of the two doors unguarded. Have they finished their sweep yet?

  Almost, Draycos answered. They're moving around the corner—one last look on this side . . . there. They're gone.

  Did they seem interested in me?

  One of them looked in this direction, but there was no indication he was suspicious, Draycos answered. All is clear. We can get moving.

  Moving to where? Jack countered. They're bound to be watching the doors at both ends.

  Across the distance came a soft, low rumble. "Uncle Virge?" Jack asked. "Is that what I think it is?"

  "It's multiple engine prep," Uncle Virge confirmed. "Looks like they're in something of a hurry."

  "The manager's going to be furious if they don't fill out his paperwork," Jack said, trying hard to come up with something. So much for his original idea of hitching a ride. That left only Alison's plan of wrecking the ships and keeping Neverlin from getting them. If Jack got the Essenay moving right away—and if they were extraordinarily lucky—they might be able to take out all twelve ships before the mercenaries got their own weapons on line.

  At which point, there would be only one other chance for him and Draycos to find Neverlin's attack force. They would have to get to Driftline before Frost finished stealing those Malison Ring ships, and figure out how to hitch a ride from there.

  And if they failed there as well, Alison and Taneem would be on their own. Completely and utterly on their own.

  Go to the side wall directly across from us, Draycos instructed, an edge of determination in his tone. Perhaps he was thinking about Alison and Taneem, too. They won't be watching for an intrusion there.

  Of course they won't, Jack said, suddenly understanding what Draycos had in mind. Ducking under the engine pod panel, confirming for himself that the mercenaries were out of sight, he headed toward the hangar at a brisk jog.

  He reached the wall and pressed his back against it. How's it look? he asked.

  Very possible, Draycos said. Move to your left about ten feet. There's a wide tool cabinet near the wall which I can enter behind.

  I hope you're keeping the odds in mind, Jack warned as he moved along the wall and settled into his new position. There are at least fourteen of them, and only one of you.

  Don't worry, Draycos assured him. I'm not planning to fight even one of them, let alone all fourteen.

  Jack frowned. Then what's the plan?

  To arrange transport, of course, Draycos said. Return to the airplane you were pretending to fix, and have Uncle Virge locate and monitor their transmission frequencies. I'll join you soon.

  Jack felt a surge, and Draycos was gone.

  Draycos pushed against Jack's skin with his rear paws, and with a slightly dizzying rush he fell over the wall into the hangar.

  He dropped into a low crouch behind the tool cabinet, flicking his tongue a few times to taste the air. There were indeed only humans in this group, he concluded. Twelve of them, he estimated, which implied the entire transport crew was still in their shuttle. Easing to the edge of the cabinet, he cautiously looked around it.

  The twelve KK-29 patrol ships were set out in neat rows, four rows of three each, all of them facing south toward the hangar's main doors. Two of the mercenaries were walking slowly through the rear two rows, doing a visual check of drive nozzles and missile tubes. Occasionally one of them leaned over to peer at the underside between the landing skids.

  Four more men, including the two who'd walked along Jack's side of the hangar, were standing at the open north-end door, facing outward with weapons at the ready. The shuttle itself, Draycos noted, with its own weapons turned outward, would do an adequate job of guarding the southern end.

  Under most circumstances, the arrangement would have created a proper and logical defensive perimeter. In this case, unfortunately for them, they were all facing the wrong way.

  All six ships in the first two rows were giving off the low rumble of spacecraft being readied to fly. Waiting until the two roving men were out of sight, Draycos crossed the empty space to the nearest of the third-row patrol ships. With a final look around to make sure he hadn't been spotted, he dropped to his belly and crawled beneath it.

  The Flying Turtle 505 transports Jack had flown in during his brief time with the Whinyard's Edge mercenaries had been designed to carry troops over battlefields. Those ships had thus been equipped with heavy armor plating on their undersides.

  The KK-29s, in contrast, were designed to chase smugglers and marauders. Since they were expected to face their enemies during battle, their armor was concentrated instead in the nose sections.

  And since weight considerations meant a fast-attack ship couldn't be invulnerable everywhere, Draycos found himself lying beneath a full collection of conduits, tubes, access ports, and vents. Protecting the whole thing was a single three-inch armor plate bolted over the maze, set off with long spacers to allow access to the equipment.

  Perfect

  He didn't know what sort of fluids, hazardous or otherwise, the various conduits might be carrying. Fortunately, he didn't need to try his luck with any of them. Extending a single claw, he slipped it between a pair of tubes and pressed it against the inner hull of the ship itself. Quickly but quietly, he started cutting through it.

  The metal was thicker than he'd expected, and he had to widen the cut twice before he finally felt his claw pierce the hull into the ship's crew compartment. He enlarged the hole a bit more, then rolled back onto his stomach and made his way to the front of the landing skids.

  The first row of ships had already disappeared, and the second row had risen on their lifters and were preparing to follow. The guards at the rear door, he noted, had also disappeared, presumably preparing their own ships for lift.

  The pilots of the three hovering ships started forward, their low-power drives kicking up a swirling cloud of dust. Taking advantage of the cover, Draycos ducked out from between the landing skids and sprinted back to the protection of his tool cabinet.

  There he watched as the rest of the patrol ships flew away into the afternoon sky. The shuttle followed, and Draycos headed for the main hangar door.

  He was nearly there when Jack appeared in the opening. "You all right?" the boy asked anxiously.

  "I'm fine," Draycos assured him. "Is Uncle Virge monitoring their conversation?"

  "Yes, he's on it," Jack said, holding out a hand. Draycos leaped toward him, catching the hand in midair and sliding up the boy's sleeve. Everything's encrypted, but it's a simple cross-stitch and he says he can break it, Jack added, switching back to telepathic communication now that Draycos was in contact with his skin. What exactly did you do in there?

  You'll see in a few minutes, Draycos said. We need to return to the ship right away.

  They reached the Essenay to find that Uncle Virge had started their own engine prep. "Where are they?" Jack asked as he headed for the cockpit.

  "About a hundred miles up," Uncle Virge said tartly. "If we're going to catch them, we need to get going right now. In fact, we might already be too late."

  Out of the corner of his eye Draycos saw Jack look down at the opening in his shirt collar. "We're okay,
" the boy said. "What are they talking about?"

  "Nothing much," Uncle Virge said, the urgency in his tone starting to blend into the annoyance Draycos knew so well. "They're doing their final running checks and systems tweaking. If our noble poet-warrior has anything to offer in the way of—hold it."

  There was a click from the board as Jack dropped into the pilot's seat. "—bit of trouble," a new voice came from the cockpit speaker. "Looks like I've got a slow air leak."

  "You told me the pre-lift diagnostic came back negative," a second voice said accusingly.

  "It did," the first voice retorted. "The leak's not in the air system. Must be in the cabin itself."

  The second voice swore. "Blast it all, Chiggers."

  "Lighten up, Sarge," Chiggers scolded. "Like I said, it's real slow. I can probably patch it with sealant and the torch from the onboard tool kit."

  "If you can find it," Sarge warned.

  "He can probably do that just with his breath," a third voice put in.

  "Stow it, Driscol," Sarge snapped. "You think Colonel Frost is going to make jokes about us having to put down again?"

  "Who said anything about us having to put down?" Chiggers asked. "There's an outpost town right on my glide path. You go ahead and I'll drop down and get this fixed. Shouldn't be more than an hour or two behind you." He snorted. "Fact is, the way Driscol flies, I might even beat you there."

  "I don't like this," Sarge growled.

  "Would you rather go back to Frost and tell him we left one of the 29s behind because you were afraid I might get lost?"

  Sarge hissed an irritated sigh. "All right, fine. Just make it quick. Driscol, you stay with him."

  "I don't need him," Chiggers put in before Driscol could respond. "Besides, he might run into my breath and hurt himself."

  "Chiggers—"

  "See you, Sarge," Chiggers said. "When I get to Point Two I'll tell Frost you're on your way."

  There was a soft click as Chiggers shut off his transmission, and another as Uncle Virge closed down the speaker. "One of the ships is breaking formation," he reported. "He's heading back down."

  Draycos lifted his head from Jack's shoulder for a better look at the display. The patrol ship was definitely curving back toward the surface. More important, none of the others seemed to be following. "Can you locate his landing point?" Draycos asked.

  "He said there was a town on his flight path, and there are only two settlements of any real size along that vector," Uncle Virge said.

  "Make for the first one," Jack told him. He looked down at Draycos again. "We are planning to meet him, aren't we?"

  "Absolutely," Draycos confirmed, feeling a sense of relief. So far, this was working exactly the way he'd planned.

  "And once we do that?" Uncle Virge prompted.

  "He should have this Point Two already programmed into his ship's computer," Draycos said. "If we can retrieve that information, we can find them."

  "And then what?" Uncle Virge countered. "Harper seemed to think Neverlin would put a couple of midway points into his schedule."

  "And I'm sure he was right," Jack said. "Neverlin and Frost probably won't give anyone else the actual rendezvous point until the last minute."

  "So I repeat: then what?"

  "We'll figure out something," Jack assured him. "Let's just first make sure we get to Chiggers before he fixes Draycos's leak."

  CHAPTER 9

  The patrol ship was nowhere to be seen when the Essenay reached the settlement Uncle Virge had mentioned. "Wonderful," Uncle Virge growled. "Now what?"

  "Calm yourself," Draycos said. "He must have found someplace out of sight to make his repairs."

  "I only see two buildings big enough," Jack said, pointing out the canopy at the town stretching out in front of them. "Looks like both of them have doors big enough for the 29, too."

  "Odd," Uncle Virge muttered. "I wonder what they want with hangars that big out here in the middle of nowhere."

  "Don't know," Jack said. "Don't really care, either. Either of you have any preference as to which one we look at first?"

  Jack felt some weight come onto his shoulder as Draycos lifted up his head for a better look. "He's in the farther of the two," the K'da said.

  Jack frowned down at him. "How do you know?"

  "There are swirl marks in the dust on the near side of that building," Draycos said. "The other has no such marks."

  "Meaning something has just flown in there," Jack said, nodding agreement. Turning the control yoke a few degrees, he angled the Essenay toward the building Draycos had indicated.

  "I don't know," Uncle Virge said doubtfully. "If it was me, I'd have come in strictly on lifters with no drive at all."

  "That takes more time, and Chiggers is in a hurry," Jack reminded him. "Besides, he doesn't know anyone else even knows about this little patrol ship deal."

  "It's still sloppy," Uncle Virge declared. "So what's the plan?"

  Jack looked down at Draycos again. "Over to you, symby," he invited.

  "The leak is near the rear of the cabin," Draycos said. "If he's found it and is in the process of sealing it, we should be able to slip in through the forward hatchway without being seen."

  "And then we clobber him?"

  "Basically," Draycos said. "Once we have the coordinates, it may be time for another talk with Harper."

  Jack grimaced. Harper, handcuffed to the bunk in the Essenay's second cabin, had so far been behaving himself. But that didn't mean Jack was ready to trust him. Far from it. "Let's first get the coordinates," he said. "Draycos, go grab me a tangler and holster from the storage room while I put us down."

  He landed the Essenay four blocks away, shielded from view by the second of the town's two large buildings. With Draycos riding his skin, he headed out.

  A few of the townspeople, all of them Compfrins, were out and about. Two or three of them gave Jack curious glances as he passed.

  But no one asked him any questions or complained about his choice of parking spaces. Probably, Jack thought, they figured he was with the other human who had unexpectedly dropped in on them.

  Hopefully, none of them would try to be helpful and tell Chiggers his friend had arrived.

  There was a small, person-sized entrance on the wall around the corner from the building's main hangar-style doors. It was locked, but Jack had his burglar tools with him and it took him less than a minute to get it open. Holding his tangler ready, he slipped inside.

  The building's walls were lined with fine-mesh panels that reached three-quarters of the way up the sides. The floor was heavy concrete, with a crosshatch of grooves that looked like wheel tracks of some kind. Several stacks of small boxes were lined up against the far wall.

  The patrol ship filled most of the remaining space. It was sitting nose-in, its entry hatch open and the ramp lowered.

  Aha, Draycos's thought came.

  Aha what? Jack, asked, looking around. There was no sign of Chiggers anywhere that he could see.

  Uncle Virge wondered earlier why a distant settlement like this would have a full-sized hangar, Draycos explained. You can see now that this is in fact a crop storage facility.

  Jack looked around. He could see no such thing. I can?

  Of course, Draycos said. Those mesh bins folded against the walls can be opened outward to create compartments for grain or vegetables.

  With their vertical supports on wheels rolling out along the tracks in the floor, Jack said, nodding as he finally saw it. Well, that's one mystery solved. Good. Clan we get back to the main subject at hand?

  He felt a bit of weight on his shoulder as Draycos lifted his jaws and flicked out his tongue. He's definitely here, the K'da said. I can taste his scent.

  Jack took a deep breath and readjusted his grip on his tangler. Okay, he said. Let's go get him.

  He crossed to the boarding ramp. As he reached the bottom, he heard a faint sound of clinking metal coming from somewhere deep inside the ship. Not only home
, but hard at work, he commented, starting up the ramp. You want to hop off now, or wait a little longer?

  I think I should wait until we're inside.

  Jack stopped just outside the hatch. There'd been something odd in the K'da's tone just then. What's wrong?

  I don't know, Draycos replied. That metallic sound seems strange.

  Strange how?

  I don't know. Too rhythmic, perhaps.

  Jack peered into the hatchway. Directly ahead of him was the open inner airlock door, which opened into a narrow corridor leading to the cockpit at the bow and the gun bays and the rest of the ship farther aft. So what do we do?

  We go in, the K'da said. Just be careful.

  Grimacing, Jack stepped into the airlock. Nothing happened. He took two more steps to the inner airlock door, pausing there to look in both directions down the corridor. No one was visible. You're sure that's Chiggers you're smelling?

  I'm positive, Draycos said. The metallic sound seems to be coming from the left.

  Carefully, Jack took a step into the corridor and started to turn that direction—

  "Move and you're dead," Chiggers said quietly from somewhere behind him.

  Jack froze. Draycos?

  He's too far back, the K'da said, his tone grim.

  Just chill it, then. "I'm not moving," Jack assured the other. "Take it easy, okay?"

  "Oh, I'll take it easy," Chiggers said. "I'll take it plenty easy. Drop the weapon and kick it down the corridor to your right."

  Jack obeyed. "Now put your hands on top of your head," Chiggers ordered. "Fingers laced together."

  "Yeah, yeah, I know the drill," Jack said, again doing as he was told. "I don't suppose we might be able to come to some agreement?"

  "The only agreement I'm interested in is you dead and me rich," Chiggers said. "Where's that frunging dragon? Dragon? Show yourself—right now—or I kill him."

  "I'm here," Draycos said, lifting the top of his head over the back of Jack's collar. "Don't shoot."

  "I would if I had any sense," Chiggers muttered. "All right. Keep going—straight ahead—face to the wall. Back on his skin, dragon. All the way on. I so much as see your nose and he's dead."