Dragonback 03 Dragon and Slave Read Free

to try a different
plan?"
    "What about the employees?" Jack asked, ignoring the question.
"They don't all live in the mansion, do they?"
    Uncle Virge sighed. "No, I'm sure there are some with homes in the
city."
    "Good," Jack said briskly. "Get busy and find one."

CHAPTER 2

    The Ponocce Regional Spaceport was confusingly laid out,
overloaded with paperwork-pushers, and just plain badly run. It was
also staffed entirely by Brummgas, which, in Jack's opinion, was
another way of saying the same thing. The big, wide aliens had a
reputation across the Orion Arm for being as strong as giant oaks and
just about as smart.
    But for all that, he found himself breezing through the entry
procedure in remarkably quick time. Even more surprising, his hiker's
backpack with its load of disguised burglar tools didn't even rate a
second look. Perhaps, he thought, a spaceport located near a major
slave dealer had learned not to look too closely at visitors or their
luggage.
    Night had already wrapped the sky in stars as he pushed through
the double doors—which were supposed to open automatically but
didn't—and stepped out onto Brum-a-dum soil. "Another day, another
dustball," he quoted the old saying, taking a careful sniff of the air.
Every world, he'd discovered over the years, had its own unique set of
aromas. Most of the combinations, in his humble opinion, stunk.
    Brum-a-dum was no different. But he'd smelled worse.
    Just outside the spaceport building was a small parking lot.
Beyond that was a street with a luminescent walkway running along its
edge. The road itself was humming with vehicles, and there were enough
pedestrians that Jack didn't feel too conspicuous.
    He walked another ten minutes before deciding he was alone enough
to risk checking in. "Uncle Virge?" he murmured toward his left
shoulder. "You there?"
    "Where else would I be?" the computer's voice grumbled from the
comm clip fastened to his jacket collar.
    "Have you got a mark, or haven't you?" Jack asked, ignoring the
sarcasm. Uncle Virge always got crabby when Jack was about to do
something he didn't like. "Come on—I don't want to stay on this rock
any longer than I have to."
    "The chief gatekeeper has a house facing the main gate," Uncle
Virge said reluctantly. "Two stories, lime green with purple trim. A
popular color combination here, unfortunately."
    "Don't be snobbish," Jack said. "Any other possibilities?"
    "A few, but he's definitely your best bet," Uncle Virge said.
"Certainly he's the most likely to have access codes stashed away at
home."
    And because of that, he would also probably have the best security
system in town. A definite challenge, even for someone with Jack's
training and experience. "Sounds good," he said, trying to hide his own
misgivings about this whole thing. "What about a high-level family
official?"
    "We've got two possibilities on that one," Uncle Virge said.
"First is a Brummga named Crampatch. He's Chief Steward, in charge of
most of the household operations. Second choice is Gazen, the man in
charge of the slaves themselves."
    "The man?" Draycos spoke up from his usual place on Jack's right
shoulder. "Do you mean a human male?"
    "Isn't he clever?" Uncle Virge said with a sniff. "Those language
lessons are really paying off."
    Draycos's head rose off of Jack's skin, his snout bulging against
the shirt and jacket as he shifted from his two-dimensional form to
full 3-D. His tongue flicked out toward the comm clip—"Knock it off,
Uncle Virge," Jack said quickly. The K'da was under enough pressure
without Uncle Virge going out of his way to irritate him. "How was he
supposed to know the Chookoock family had non-Brummgan employees?"
    "Even Brummgas are smart enough to know they need help with a
business this big," Uncle Virge muttered.
    "Good thing, too," Jack said. The sewer-rat tricks Uncle Virgil
had taught him for sneaking into other people's computers probably
wouldn't work on Brummgan-designed systems. But with a human in charge
of