Dragon and Liberator

Without even looking at him, Frost swiveled his gun away from Draycos and pointed it at Neverlin. "As he said, sir. It's over." He looked at Jack. "Give Braxton a call," he said. "Tell him I want to make a deal with him. And only with him."

"Sure, no problem," Jack said. Picking his way through the sprawled Malison Ring bodies, he stopped in front of Frost and held out his hand. The other hesitated, then turned the gun around and handed it to Jack. "The keys to Alison's cuffs would be nice, too," Jack suggested as Alison got awkwardly back to her feet.

Frost shook his head. "I don't have them. Not sure who does."

"Allow me," Draycos said. Inserting one claw into the handcuff chain, he sliced through it.

"Thanks," Alison said, wincing as she brought her hands back around again. "That's hard on the shoulders," she commented. "You all right?"

"I'm fine," Jack assured her.

"Yes, I can see that," Alison said dryly. "I was talking to Taneem."

"I'm also fine," Taneem said. Somewhat hesitantly, she moved forward. "I know you told me to hide, but I couldn't leave you alone. I hope I did all right."

"You did more than all right, Taneem," Alison assured her, reaching over to stroke her head. "I'm sure Jack and Draycos agree."

"And then some," Jack agreed. "Thanks for saving my life."

"You did the same for me on Rho Scorvi," Taneem said simply. "I'm glad I was able to repay you."

Jack cleared his throat. "Speaking of payments and paybacks, we'd better get Braxton on the radio." He eyed Alison. "Did you know he came all the way out here personally to find you?"

Alison shrugged. "I thought he might."

"I hope he hangs you," Neverlin said bitterly. "Whoever you really stole that tracer for, I hope he well and truly hangs you."

"He does seem to want you pretty badly," Jack warned.

"Yes, I suppose he does," Alison agreed. She smiled at Neverlin. "But then, grandfathers are like that."

CHAPTER 31

"That's it," Alison announced, dropping one last folded shirt into the carry bag laid out on her bunk in the Essenay's second cabin. "You know, I'm really going to miss this place."

"Not that you ever spent much time in here," Jack pointed out.

"Oh, I don't mean the room," she said, looking around the cabin. "Not even the ship, really."

"The company, then?" Draycos asked from the corner where he and Taneem had stretched out on the deck to watch Alison's packing.

"Yes," Alison said. She gave Jack a wry look. "Strange though that may sound."

"That's okay—it's been a day for strangeness," Jack assured her. Oddly enough, he thought, he was going to miss her, too. "You're really Mr. Braxton's granddaughter?"

She nodded. "On my mother's side," she said. "My dad, on the other hand, is an Internos Intelligence agent."

"Must have made for an interesting childhood," Jack said. "So you're an Internos agent. And I thought the Whinyard's Edge recruited them young."

A shadow seemed to pass across Alison's face. "I'm a special case," she said quietly. "Do you remember, after you got back from Semaline, when you asked if I knew what it felt like to have people die because of me?"

"Yes," Jack said, wincing at the memory of that day. He'd been full of anger and pain and guilt, and had lashed out completely unfairly at her.

"I was nine at the time," Alison went on, her eyes staring into infinity. "My best friend's brother told me in secret that he was going to run away from home and join a mercenary group."

"How old was he?" Draycos asked.

"He'd just turned twelve," Alison said. "Two years too young to legally join. But he was tall for his age, and he really wanted to go." She closed her eyes briefly. "Three months later, he was dead. Killed in combat."

"I'm sorry," Jack said quietly. "But it was his decision, not yours. What happened wasn't your fault."

"Yes, it was," Alison said. Her voice was calm, but Jack could hear old pain still lurking beneath it. "I could have told someone. I should have told someone. But I thought the whole thing was terribly grown-up and too glamorous for words."

Jack nodded as he suddenly understood. "So that's what you were doing in the Whinyard's Edge. You were looking for evidence of underage recruitment."

She gave him a wry half smile. "You are pretty good at this, aren't you? Yes, that was my mission in life. I'd already infiltrated Weber's Hellions and the Malison Ring and pulled data on them. This time, it was the Whinyard's Edge's turn."

"The whole thing your dad's idea, I suppose?"

"Actually, Dad was dead-set against it," she said, her smile vanishing into memory again. "As were Mom, Grandfather, Grandmother, and pretty much everyone else. But I had righteousness on my side. And guilt."

"And you wore them down."

"More or less," Alison said. "Dad finally agreed, on the condition that I go through a full five years of training first. He probably figured I'd get tired of it and drop out."

"Only you didn't," Jack said.