Dragon and Liberator

But only the top two screws were fastened, and those only loosely. Harper pulled up the bottom of the grille, angling it up far enough to get a hand in. Taneem touched the hand and slid onto his skin.

And then right back off onto the deck. "They said the word," she reported. "Frost said, 'Hammerfall One, deploy' Then he said for Hammerfall Two to get ready to deploy when he told them to, and that Hammerfall Three was to hold position."

"I see," Harper said, sitting down on the edge of the bed. His manner had gone suddenly quiet and dark. "Did you take the long way around and go by Neverlin's office like I asked you to?"

"Yes," Taneem confirmed. "There were three men standing guard outside the door."

"Were they bunched up?" he asked. "Standing in a close group, I mean?"

"Not really," Taneem said. "There were two right by the door and one a few steps away from them."

Harper hissed between his teeth. "Frost shows his ability to learn," he murmured.

"I don't understand," Taneem said, swishing her tail back and forth as she gazed into his face. There was something about this new Harper that frightened her.

"Either he doesn't completely trust Alison or he isn't convinced that I'm as far out of circulation as he'd like," Harper explained. "Either way, he doesn't want anyone skulking around and using his InterWorld transmitter without permission. The two access points are the bridge, where he's got lots of people to watch for trouble, and his office, where he doesn't. Only now he does."

"You want to call someone?" Taneem asked, grabbing onto the part of that she understood.

"I need to call someone, yes," Harper said grimly. "Unfortunately . . . well, there's always another way, isn't there?"

"Do you want me to help you?" Taneem asked hesitantly. "I can fight, a little."

He smiled. "I have no doubt you can," he said. "But even with your help, there are too many of them."

"I also have the special needles you put into the duct when you first came aboard," Taneem reminded him. "Alison gave them to me to hide."

"That would work if I didn't have to cross half the ship to get there," Harper said. "From here, though, I'd never make it that far without someone spotting me."

"Then maybe I could do it for you," Taneem offered. "I could get to the office through the ducts. If you could teach me how to work the controls, maybe I could make the call for you."

For a moment Harper gazed into space, his expression tight and thoughtful. But then he shook his head. "No good," he said. "It's too complicated for me to explain, and any fumbling would tip off the people on the bridge that someone was in there. Then they'd shut down the system, maybe even dismantle it."

He forced another smile. "Besides, you could hardly get in and out alone without leaving a trail. A lot of sliced ductwork, if nothing else."

And once Neverlin knew about her, Taneem knew, he and Frost would hunt her down and kill her. "I don't care," she said, trying hard to be brave. "If it's that important, I'm willing to risk my life."

"I know you are," Harper said gently. Reaching over, he stroked the top of her head, scratching his fingertips briefly against the scales behind her ears. "But I do care, and I'm not willing to risk you. Not just yet."

"Then when?"

"I don't know," he said. "But the longer you stay hidden—the longer they don't know about you—the better the chance that you can help Alison later on. Perhaps for something even more important than this."

Standing up, he held out his hand to her. "You'd better get back to the bridge and see what they're up to," he said, his tone suddenly brisk and businesslike.

"What about you?" Taneem asked, ignoring the hand.

"I'm going to do what has to be done," he said. "I've enjoyed our time together, Taneem. I wish it could have been longer. But in life you take what you can get."

"Are you going to attack those men by yourself?" Taneem persisted.

"And thank you especially for trusting me," he added. Come on, now—up and at 'em. We've got work to do."

Reluctantly, Taneem touched his hand and slid up onto his skin. He stepped back to the grille and slipped his hand into the duct, and Taneem slid off again into the narrow space. "Thank You for protecting me," Taneem said.

"My pleasure," Harper said quietly. "And my honor." He wiggled his fingertips at her. "Now scoot." Pulling his hand out, he closed the grille.

For another minute Taneem stayed where she was, watching as he sat back down on the bed and began scratching at the inside of his upper right thigh. Exactly the same way, she remembered that he'd scratched at his forearms just before he pulled away those pieces of pretend skin.

And sure enough, as she watched he pulled away an identical flap from his leg.

She waited until he'd pulled a similar flap from his other leg. Then, as he gathered his clothing and began to get dressed, she finally moved away down the duct, her heart heavy.

Something bad was about to happen. Something very bad.