Dragonback 04 Dragon and Herdsman Read Free

way, one a laser alarm,
the other a pressure plate hidden beneath the rug. Both were easily
avoided.
    "Okay," he muttered under his breath as he examined the lock. It
looked straightforward, but this was no time to get sloppy. "Draycos?"
    "I am ready."
    Turning around. Jack pressed his back against the door, feeling
the subtle shift across his skin as Draycos curved his two-dimensional
form to look "over"—the dragon's preferred term—the wall. Jack held his
breath as the other moved around a little, wondering if he would lose
his grip and fall off again.
    But a few seconds later the dragon returned safely to his original
position. "There are no extra locks or traps I can find," he reported.
    "Good," Jack said, pulling out his lock pick. "This'll just take a
second."
    Two minutes later, Jack settled himself into a very expensive desk
chair facing an equally expensive computer system. "Bingo," he said,
switching on the machine. "Human designed, and with a modern operating
system. This will do nicely."
    The computer finished its start-up procedure. Leaning forward,
Jack punched in the "sewer-rat" program Uncle Virgil had created for
breaking into other people's computers.
    It would be nice, he reflected, if Neverlin had been considerate
enough to load the rendezvous information into the general Malison Ring
computer network where anyone could get at it. But even if the
conspirators hadn't been that careless, there were other tricks he
could try.
    One approach would be to download a list of worlds where the
Malison Ring had troops and equipment, particularly the Djinn-90
starfighters they'd used against Draycos's advance team. With that
information, he and Draycos could travel to the most likely jump-off
points for the attack and search the local squads' computers for the
rendezvous data. Or Jack could try loading a dump-tap into the system
that would pull any messages to or from Neverlin and send copies to
another computer where Uncle Virge could access it.
    However he found the rendezvous point, he and Draycos would then
have two choices. They could either try to beat the Malison Ring there
and warn the refugee fleet or else turn everything over to StarForce
and let them handle it.
    And with thoughts and plans sifting themselves through Jack's
mind, he was caught completely by surprise when the door across the
room was abruptly slammed open.
    He leaped to his feet. But it was far too late. Men in Malison
Ring uniforms were pouring into the office, guns drawn and ready.
"Don't shoot!" Jack called, holding his hands wide open, his heart
pounding in his chest. Once before, he'd seen Draycos take out a room
full of opponents. If he'd done it once, surely he could do it again.
    But that time his opponents had been stupid enough to bunch up
where the dragon's speed and agility gave him the advantage. This
group, unfortunately, wasn't playing it that way. Instead of heading
straight toward him, they spread out in both directions along the
walls, staying well back.
    "Jack?" Draycos whispered, his voice too soft for anyone but Jack
to hear.
    "No," Jack whispered back, keeping his lips motionless. "Uncle
Virge, lock down."
    The flood of mercenaries finally ended, leaving nine of them
facing him. For a moment they stood motionless, staring at Jack in
silence as if he were some kind of museum exhibit. Then, still without
a word, the middle three men handed their weapons to those beside them
and strode forward.
    Quickly, efficiently, silently, they patted Jack down, relieving
him of his comm clip, his key, his burglar equipment, his multitool,
his belt, and his boots. One of the men, a sergeant, produced a
handheld scanner from a belt pouch and ran it systematically over
Jack's body. The second man had a set of handcuffs, and he and the
third fastened Jack's hands securely behind his back.
    The sergeant returned the scanner to its pouch and jerked his head
over his shoulder. "Let's go."
    The other two grabbed Jack's arms and marched him