Dragonback 01 Dragon and Thief (25 page)

And in that moment it occurred to Draycos that he could search far
and wide throughout the Orion Arm and not find a better host and ally
than he had in Jack Morgan.

He reached the end of the walkway. Jack and Braxton were almost
directly below him now. "So he left the cylinder for his wife to use,"
Raven said with a snort. "We'll just make sure the story reads that he
was planning to catch up with her on Parsonia."

"What about the fake cylinder?" Jack persisted. "Don't you think
they'll find it a little suspicious that there are two of them?"

One of the power wires was directly over Draycos's head. Bracing
himself, he lifted a paw and extended one of his claws.

"Who's going to know?" Raven countered. "Once we get your uncle,
we'll have the other cylinder, too."

He put a hand on Jack's shoulder and shoved him roughly toward the
airlock. "Now get
in
."

Jack's shoulders drooped in defeat. Taking a deep breath, he
turned toward the door—

And with a defiant scream of the K'da battle cry, Draycos sliced
through the power line. There was a brilliant spark, a flash-tingle of
shock through his paw, and the entire room was plunged into darkness.

He was over the railing in an instant, dropping toward the floor
below. In the faint light coming from the airlock control panel, he saw
Raven spin around. Behind him, Jack grabbed Braxton's arm and pulled
him to the floor. Vance and Myers had turned, too, their weapons
swinging back and forth as they searched for a target. Unconsciously,
perhaps, the three humans had pulled together into a semicircle, their
backs toward the wall, facing outward.

Draycos dropped to the floor directly behind them.

Vance was first. Rising up on his hind legs, Draycos slammed his
front paw hard against the side of the human's head. He dropped without
even a gurgle, his weapon clattering across the floor.

There was a brief flash of light as Myers fired reflexively toward
the noise. "Vance!" he yelped. "Raven—"

He never finished the sentence. Draycos was already behind him,
and with another slash of his paw this second enemy also went flying.

Three shots burned through the air, one of them barely missing
Draycos's left ear. He jumped aside to the right, hit the floor and
immediately dodged left, each leap zigzagging him closer to Raven. The
human was making wordless sounds, trying desperately to back away as he
fired again and again at the black shadow bearing down on him.

But he couldn't back up nearly fast enough. Draycos made one final
leap directly in front of him, batting his weapon out of his hand, then
rising up on his hind paws to gaze directly into Raven's eyes.

In the dim reflected light he saw the look of terror on the
human's face. Raven opened his mouth, to scream or shout or perhaps
even to plead.

Draycos struck.

Not the disabling blows with which he had struck Vance and Myers.
This was a much harder attack, aimed at Raven's neck instead of at the
side of his head. Beneath his paw he felt the bone snap.

And Raven, the human who had killed two innocent Wistawki in cold
blood, dropped to the floor, dead.

Across the room he could hear the sounds of commotion now, and
between the stacks of cargo came the wavering glint of handheld lights.
Leaving his vanquished enemies, he crossed to Jack's side.

The boy was lying protectively half on top of Braxton, keeping
both of them flat on the floor. His arm and hand were placed across the
side of the other human's head, positioned so that Braxton wouldn't be
able to see what was happening.

Draycos smiled, flicking his tongue in admiration. Yes, he had
indeed found a worthy partner.

The lights were getting closer, and there were anxious voices with
them now. Stepping up behind Jack, Draycos put a paw on the back of his
neck and melted back beneath his shirt onto his skin. "Jack?" he heard
Braxton ask.

Jack let out a breath in relief, stretching his shoulders as
Draycos settled into place. "It's okay," he told Braxton, patting the
older human on the back and getting to his feet. "It's all over now.

"More tea, dear?" Mrs. Braxton asked, holding the teapot poised
over Jack's cup.

"Um," Jack said, remembering just in time that it wasn't polite to
talk with your mouth full of food and possibly spray crumbs over
everything. He shook his head instead, and concentrated on chewing.
High tea, Mrs. Braxton had called this: a snack of hot tea and some
kind of biscuit things she'd called scones. A weird name, but they
tasted pretty good.

"Another scone, then?" she asked.

Again he shook his head. "Thanks, but I really ought to get
going," he told her as he cleared his mouth enough to talk. "I've still
got to pack, and we're due into Shotti Station pretty soon."

Actually, he had nothing to pack except the clothing he'd bought
when he first came aboard the
Star of Wonder
. But he felt
terribly uncomfortable here in Braxton's suite, and was anxious to get
away.

Not that Braxton and his wife weren't being nice to him. The
problem was, they were being too nice. Jack wasn't used to this kind of
treatment, and three hours of it were just about all he could stand.

"I don't like leaving you here all alone like this," Mrs. Braxton
said, setting the teapot down again. "Your uncle could be delayed,
after all."

"No, it's okay," Jack said. "Really. If Uncle Virge said he'll
meet me here, he will."

"Perhaps," Mrs. Braxton said, sounding doubtful. "Still, you've
hardly even let us thank you for what you did. And now here you are
running off again."

"The fuel credits Mr. Braxton gave me are all I need," Jack
assured her, taking a sip of his tea. With enough sugar in it, this
stuff was pretty good, too. "Anyway, I didn't do all that much."

"Come now," Mrs. Braxton said, lifting her eyebrows politely.
"Don't be modest. You saved our lives and exposed a dangerous
conspiracy within our company. Either of those alone would be worth far
more than a few paltry fueling credits. Are you sure there isn't
anything else we can do for you?"

You want to take a K'da warrior off my hands
? Jack thought.
But he just shook his head. "No, thanks," he said instead. "If Mr.
Braxton can get that murder charge cleared away, we'll call it even."

"Then even it is," Braxton announced, coming in through one of the
archways. "I've just spoken with the Vagran Police. It turns out that
they came up with a witness to the murders. They showed him your
reconstruction of how everyone was standing, and he confirmed that
Raven was the one who fired the shots."

"That's good," Jack said, frowning. "What about Raven's photo? You
did
send a photo, didn't you?"

Braxton shrugged. "The witness was a Compfrin," he said. "They're
not very good at picking out one human face from another. But the
police say his testimony will be good enough."

Jack nodded. It wouldn't have been good enough for most of the
police he and Uncle Virgil had locked horns with in the past, he knew.
But on the other hand, if no one could identify Raven as the murderer,
they couldn't very well finger him, either. It probably balanced out.

Especially with someone like Cornelius Braxton leaning on his end
of the balance.

"We have an alert out for the
Advocatus Diaboli
, too,"
Braxton went on. "So far, no word."

"Do you suppose he's made a run for it?" Mrs. Braxton asked.

"I don't see him panicking this quickly," Braxton said. "Unless
Raven failed to make a regular report, anyway. No, he's probably
sitting off somewhere, rubbing his hands in anticipation of my death."

"Neverlin always did like to rub his hands together," Mrs. Braxton
commented thoughtfully. "I never cared much for that."

"I've had a check made of our personnel files," Braxton said,
pulling out one of the other chairs at the table and sitting down.
"You're sure it was a Brummga you saw with Raven?"

"They're a little hard to miss," Jack reminded him.

"You're right about that," Braxton said, nodding. "Problem is, we
don't have any Brummgas on our payroll, except for those working the
plant on their home world. Certainly no one in a guard or security or
executive assistant position.

"Perhaps Mr. Neverlin has picked up some allies," Mrs. Braxton
suggested.

Jack thought back to the Brummga he'd run into aboard the wrecked
Havenseeker
.
"Or else someone's picked
him
up as an ally," he murmured.

"What was that, dear?" Mrs. Braxton asked.

Jack shook his head. Sitting here like old friends or not, he
still wasn't about to tell Braxton what he knew about the Iota Klestis
ambush. Not yet, anyway. "Nothing," he said. "Just rambling."

Braxton reached over to the serving tray and picked up the
cylinder Jack had set down there. "So this is the original?" he said,
hefting it in his hand.

"Yes, sir," Jack said. "It's the one I got out of the purser's
safe, anyway."

"You should probably mark it somehow, Neely," Mrs. Braxton said.
"We wouldn't want to mix it up with the other one."

"I already did that," Jack told them. "That mark on the bottom.
See?"

"Oh, yes," Braxton said, turning it over and peering at the
bottom. "Yes. Very good. And you said you'll send that EvGa fingerprint
data to me?"

"As soon as Uncle Virge gets here with the ship," Jack promised.
"Those prints we got off the Vagran storage locker should help you pick
out the rest of Neverlin's gang."

"Or at least some of them," Mrs. Braxton said.

"Either way, it will be useful," Braxton agreed. "Thank you again."

"No problem," Jack said, pushing back his chair and standing up.
Just in time, he remembered to wipe his hands and mouth on the napkin
beside his plate. "Well, unless there's something else, I'd better be
going. Thanks for the hospitality."

"Thank you for our lives," Braxton said quietly, standing up
beside him. Before Jack could realize what he was doing, the man
reached out and shook his hand. "And we still owe you, Jack, whether
you acknowledge that or not. If and when we can balance the scales,
just let us know."

"I will," Jack promised. "Thanks for the tea and scones."

He was past the bodyguards and slogging his way through the luxury
corridor's thick carpeting before he spoke again. "So tell me
something," he said. "Was there any special reason why you knocked out
Vance and Myers but broke Raven's neck?"

"Of course," Draycos answered from his shoulder. "Raven committed
two intentional murders on Vagran. The punishment for such a crime is
death. As a K'da warrior, it was both my right and my duty to pass
judgment."

"Yeah, well, in the future try to sit on your sense of justice,
okay?" Jack said. "You're in the Orion Arm now, and the cops here don't
like people taking the law into their own hands."

"I understand," Draycos said. "It is clear that I still have a
great deal to learn about your society. What will we do now?"

Jack shrugged. Uncle Virge wasn't going to be happy with this. But
fair was fair. "We made a deal," he reminded the dragon. "You helped me
with my problem. Now it's my turn to help you with yours. Let's go find
out who hit your people."

"You are certain you are willing?" Draycos asked. "It may be a
difficult path we will walk. Even if Braxton himself is not involved in
the plot against my people, we are still facing one of his strongest
lieutenants."

"Maybe," Jack said. "But I think Neverlin will have his hands
pretty full for awhile keeping his head down. That ought to give us a
little breathing space."

"Perhaps," Draycos said. "It is interesting, is it not, that
people so often turn out to be different than we expect."

Jack snorted. "Don't fool yourself, kiddo. Braxton is still a
hard-nosed businessman who'll do whatever it takes to get what he
wants. We're just lucky that he happens to be on our side at the
moment."

"That may indeed prove helpful," Draycos conceded. "Yet there will
still be many other dangers facing us along the way."

Jack smiled. "What, me and my pet dragon? Bring 'em on."

The top of Draycos's head rose up from his shoulder to press
against his shirt. "I am a poet-warrior of the K'da," he said, sounding
offended. "I am
not
a pet dragon."

"Sure, sure," Jack soothed, patting him on his crest. "I know. Now
keep your head down."

"I've sent word to all Braxton Universis plants and facilities,
sir," Harper said, consulting his computer. "Ditto to the Internes
Police, and I'm working on the various alien law enforcement bureaus.
We should have the whole Orion Arm alerted within a few more days."

"Good," Braxton said, turning the cylinder over again in his hand
and gazing at the curious design that had been scratched in the bottom.
"When you're finished with that, call Anderson and have him start a
full rundown on Jack Morgan. I want his history, his current
occupation, family, friends—everything. Same goes for this Uncle Virge
he mentioned."

"Yes, sir," Harper said, making a note.

"And after that, contact Chu and have him send a team to meet us
on Parsonia," Braxton said. "I want to know what this symbol is that
Jack carved here."

He handed the cylinder to his wife. "And," he added, "exactly what
kind of tool he used to make it."