She couldn't afford for them to know that. Not yet.
"And Langston is here," Taneem murmured into the silence.
"So it would seem," Alison said, wincing. The StarForce wing sergeant Jack had sprung from unjust imprisonment on Semaline.
Jack had thought Langston died when the Malison Ring mercenaries raided the canyon where Jack had been imprisoned. Clearly, the other man had lived through the experience. And not only had he survived, but he'd apparently made a deal with Frost.
The question was, was it a genuine deal? Or was Langston playing some game of his own?
"It'll be all right," Taneem said. "Jack has Draycos with him. They'll be all right."
"I know," Alison said. She looked down at her hands, only now remembering the ration bars she was holding. "Here," she said, giving one to Taneem. "Eat up, and then we'd better get some sleep."
CHAPTER 7
"Interesting," Harper said when Jack had finished his story. "And you say there's a whole fleet of these K'da things on its way?" He looked over at Draycos, who was lying on the dayroom floor to his right. "No offense," he added. "I didn't mean 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 calmly."
"You mean like he's heard it all already?" Jack suggested, watching Harper's face closely.
The other's expression didn't even twitch. "That's ridiculous," he said.
"Is it?" Jack countered. "You may not have noticed—actually, I suppose there's no way you could have noticed—but I kept the story to only the stuff Neverlin and his buddies already know."
"As a matter of fact, I did notice some fuzziness in places," Harper told him. "But someone in your line of work must know that lack of reaction alone isn't a solid indicator. Of guilt, or anything else."
Jack raised his eyebrows. "My line of work? Excuse me, Mr. Harper. My line of work at the moment is trying to stop genocide."
Harper inclined his head. "My apologies. As I said, Mr. Braxton is interested in you. His backcheck of you and your uncle was most thorough." His face softened. "You've obviously been through a lot. I understand that."
"And I understand when someone's trying to change a subject," Jack countered. "That's point number two against you. Point number three is that even though you seem to know all this, you still made an effort to look as if you didn't."
Harper shook his head irritably. "This is ridiculous," he bit out. "Fine. If I'm not who I say, then who am I?" He folded his arms across his chest. "Because if I'm with Neverlin—"
In a single smooth motion Draycos sprang to his feet and leaped in front of Harper, landing practically in the man's lap. His front paws caught on the other's forearms, his claws digging lightly but with clear warning into Harper's sleeves. His bared teeth were inches from Harper's face.
"I'd advise you not to try anything stupid," Jack warned, standing up. "I've seen those claws cut through solid metal."
"So have I," Harper said, keeping perfectly still.
"Really?" Jack asked, crossing over to him and patting him down. His hand touched a small flattened cylinder in Harper's coat pocket near the other's right hand. "When?"
"Don't you remember?" Harper asked. "He scratched something in the base of Mr. Braxton's rejuvenation cylinder."
"Ah. Right." Nudging Harper's hand aside, Jack dug into the pocket and pulled out the object.
It was exactly what he'd expected from the shape: a palm-grip, two-shot tangler. "What have we here?" he asked the room in general as he held it up.
"It's a tangler," Harper said. "A completely non-lethal weapon, you'll note."