Dragon and Herdsman

Too late. A shadowy figure opened the driver's door and climbed in behind the wheel, slamming the door hard enough to shake the whole vehicle. "Wait!" Jack said, his hand fumbling for the handle.

"Relax," a girl's voice came from the front seat. She pulled off a full-helmet gas mask and tossed it onto the seat beside her.

And Jack felt his mouth drop open. "Alison?"

"You were expecting the tooth fairy?" Alison Kayna countered. "Hang on."

She keyed the engine, and with a lurch they were off. "Wait a second," Jack protested, trying to get his brain working. If they left Draycos behind, the K'da would be dead in six hours. "We have to—I mean, I wasn't done in there."

"Trust me—you were done," Alison countered. "Or do you really want to be in there when their air system finishes cleaning out the sopor mist?"

"No, but—" Jack broke off as something flicked past the corner of his eye. He turned to look just as the end of a whiplike K'da tail brushed against the top of the plastic.

So that was why the car door had slammed so hard. Most of the sound and vibration had actually been that of a K'da poet-warrior landing on the roof.

Clever. Now it was time for Jack to be equally clever and get the dragon inside.

Fortunately, this one was a no-brainer. "Oh, geez," Jack said, fumbling at the window release. "Open the window—quick."

"What's the matter?" Alison asked, frowning back over her shoulder.

"I don't feel so good," he said, putting a little grunt on the last word. "Just get it open."

"Yeah, yeah, right," she said, her shoulder moving as she hit the control.

The window rolled down, and Jack leaned his head outside. As he did, he gripped the top of the door with his right hand as if steadying himself.

And felt Draycos grab the back of his hand and melt onto his skin.

They were safe again. At least for now.

He held his pose another few seconds, just for show, then pulled his head back inside. "Okay," he said, slumping onto the seat cushions. "False alarm."

"I'll leave it open anyway" Alison said pointedly.

"Fine," Jack said. "So what in blazes are you doing here?"

"That was my question," she countered. "Are you trying to make a career out of messing up my life?"

"Seems to me the last time I saw you I was helping save your life," Jack growled, annoyed in spite of himself.

"You have an interesting memory," she said. "The way I remember it, you didn't do anything for me I couldn't have done myself."

A set of K'da claws pressed in silent warning against Jack's ribs. He grimaced, but the dragon was right. This wasn't the time for an argument. "Yeah, whatever," he said. "So how exactly did I mess things up for you this time?"

"I was trying to join the Malison Ring," she said. "In fact, I was having my final interview with them yesterday when I overheard someone saying you'd been spotted in the area."

"And you didn't think about maybe warning me?"

"I would, if I'd known where to find you," she said. "The last thing I wanted was for them to catch you and start asking questions, especially about your time in the Whinyard's Edge. So I came by tonight, hoping I could stop you before you walked into their trap."

"So what happened?"

"What do you mean, what happened?" she retorted. "I was waiting for you in back, that's what happened. I never figured you'd be crazy enough to walk in the front door."

Jack grimaced. "Yeah. Well . . . sorry."

She shrugged. "I'll live," she said. "Can I drop you somewhere?"

"I've got a ship at the port," he said. "Docking slot E-7."

She nodded. "Fine."

For a few minutes they rode in silence. Jack wanted to ask Draycos if he was all right but couldn't risk Alison overhearing his mutterings. Still, from the way the K'da had moved along Jack's skin, he certainly seemed to be unhurt.

Ahead, Jack could see the elaborately carved archway marking the entrance to the spaceport. "Keep an eye out for large men with guns," he warned.

"Thank you," Alison said dryly. "That had occurred to me. If you don't mind, we'll just go to my ship—it's in D-2—and you can walk the rest of the way."

"That's fine," Jack said. "By the way, thanks for getting me out of there."

"No problem," she said. "You owe me one."

They passed beneath the archway. Jack watched carefully; but if the Malison Ring had been able to get any men to the port, they weren't being obvious about it. Certainly no one stepped out into the street in front of them and started shooting.

So he and Draycos had lost this round. But that was all right. There were a dozen more major Malison Ring offices scattered around the Orion Arm. As soon as Jack got back to the Essenay he'd get Uncle Virge looking for another good target. They would come up with another scheme for getting in, figure out a better disguise this time—

"Uh-oh," Alison muttered.

Jack snapped his attention back. "What?"

"Trouble," she said, nodding toward a rather decrepit-looking light freighter off to the left. A half-dozen men in business suits were visible nearby, walking around it or standing idly near the entry hatch.