Free Dragonback 06 Dragon and Liberator by Timothy Zahn Page B

things ."
    "No offense taken," Draycos assured him, stretching his forelegs
leisurely.
    Or at least, it looked leisurely. But Jack knew better. Draycos's
posture was calculated to make him look perfectly harmless while he and
Jack tried to figure out who Harper really was.
    To Jack's private annoyance, he wasn't much closer to that goal
than when they'd started.
    Harper had listened closely to the story of the K'da/Shontine
refugee fleet, the betrayal of Draycos's advance team, and their
various run-ins with Neverlin and his fellow conspirators. Through it
all he'd nodded at the right spots, been intensely interested at the
right spots, and expressed amazement or outrage at the right spots.
    But there was something about the man that still bothered Jack.
Something he couldn't quite put his finger on.
    "And Kayna has been your partner in all this?" Harper asked.
    "Yes, at least starting with Rho Scorvi," Jack told him. Maybe
that was what it was. Maybe it was Harper's preoccupation with Alison
that didn't quite feel right. It was almost as if, to him, the survival
of Draycos's people was only a footnote to the main story. "Though
mostly she's been a pretty unwilling ally," he added, deciding on the
spur of the moment that it might be better for Alison if he downplayed
her role.
    "I don't doubt it," Harper said dryly. "I wonder what her reasons
are for sticking around."
    Draycos stirred. "Alison has been a good and faithful friend," he
said. His tone was mild, but there was a familiar edge beneath it.
Apparently it hadn't occurred to him to distance Alison from them.
    "I'm sure she's behaved admirably," Harper said. "I'm simply
wondering what she's looking to get out of this."
    "You think she's the profiteering type?" Jack asked, probing
delicately. So far, Harper had been conspicuously silent about what he
knew about Alison.
    "That's certainly been her history with Braxton Universis," Harper
said. "About ten weeks ago she broke into one of our computer systems
and made off with a highly valuable trade secret."
    "You're certain it was her?" Draycos asked.
    "Positive," Harper said grimly. "Because a week after that, she
walked right into one of our research labs and walked out again with
some actual hardware. That time we got her on camera."
    "And I suppose you want the stuff back," Jack said. "Is that why
you were at the Avrans City spaceport on Bigelow a couple of months
ago?"
    Harper's forehead creased slightly. "How did you know about that?"
    "Because I saw you," Jack said. "Alison had just sprung me from
the Malison Ring recruiting station and we were heading back to her
ship. She spotted you hanging around and talked me into taking her for
a ride to Rho Scorvi instead."
    "Really," Harper said, eyeing Jack closely. "You hadn't mentioned
that part of your story."
    Jack shrugged. "It didn't seem important."
    "Everything Kayna does is important," Harper said. "Including
whatever she's up to right now. You do know where she is, don't
you?"
    "Not really," Jack said truthfully. He had no idea where exactly
the Advocatus Diaboli was, after all. "But enough about Draycos
and me. What's your story?"
    "You've basically just had it," Harper said. "Kayna stole
something from Braxton Universis. I was sent to find her and retrieve
it. Along the way I discovered she'd linked up with you, who Mr.
Braxton was already interested in."
    "Why?"
    "Because you'd saved his life," Harper said, looking puzzled. "Mr.
Braxton notices things like that. Anyway, I was told to watch you and
see if and when Kayna showed up. When you got arrested, I decided to
get you out, so I went to the Patri Chookoock and spun him a soap
bubble. He bought it, and we're here. End of story. So where do you
think Kayna might be?"
    "She might be almost anywhere." Jack looked over at the
dayroom's computer module. "Uncle Virge? What do you think?"
    "I don't know, Jack lad," the computerized personality said
thoughtfully. "He's certainly taking the whole story very