Dragon and Judge

"They understand fear," Bolo said darkly. "I made it very clear to them the last time what would happen if they told anyone what had happened, or came anywhere near this mine, or made any other sort of trouble."

"I take it I fit into that third category?" Jack suggested.

"You don't even rank that high," Bolo said. "You're just a little follow-up work I should have taken care of eleven years ago. If you don't mind my asking, how exactly did I miss you?"

"I had help," Jack said. "I suppose fear's a good enough motivator. But you really should have spread it around a little more instead of just threatening the leaders. And Foeinatw, too, of course."

"Who?"

"Four-Eight-Naught-Two," Jack said. "The one who called a couple of weeks ago and told you I was here."

"Oh, right," Bolo said. "Him."

"Yes, him," Jack said, feeling a trickle of contempt. The man couldn't even remember the names of the people he'd bribed or bullied or threatened into helping him. "Too bad he wasn't the one flying the day they ran into me at the spaceport."

"Yes, it was," Bolo agreed, his voice darkening. "Mostly too bad for you."

"We'll see," Jack said. "Who ended up buying up Triost?"

"We back to that again?" Bolo said. "You're awfully nosy— you know that?"

"What do you care?" Jack countered. "I'm already dead, right?"

"You're making a recording, aren't you?" Bolo asked. "Getting all this nice confession on perm. You don't really think anything like that's going to survive the morning, do you?"

"You'll find out at your trial," Jack said. "Who bought Triost?"

Bolo chuckled. "Good one, kid. At my trial. You've got spirit—gotta give you that."

"Thanks," Jack said. "Who bought up Triost?"

"The rich get richer, kid," Bolo said. "First law of the universe. Braxton Universis."

Jack caught his breath. Braxton Universis. The megacorporation owned and operated by Cornelius Braxton.

The man whose life Jack and Draycos had saved only four months ago. If he'd hired Bolo eleven years ago to murder Jack's parents . . .

"Well, it's been nice talking to you," Bolo went on. "But I've got places to go and things to do. You got two choices here: come out of hiding and make it quick and painless, or stay where you are and make it a lot harder on yourself."

Jack frowned, trying to wrench his mind away from Braxton and Braxton Universis. "Thanks, but I kind of like it here."

"That's good," Bolo said. " 'Cause this is where you're going to spend what's left of your life. So long, kid."

From around the corner came the sound of running footsteps. Draycos whipped his tail, hurling a stone blindly around the curve.

And suddenly the whole tunnel exploded in a flash of light and an earsplitting thunderclap.

CHAPTER 21

A massive shock wave caught Jack across the face and chest like a full-body slap, hurling him backward down the tunnel.

But even as he dropped toward the rocky floor, he sensed Draycos leaping past him. A fraction of a second later, he slammed into the K'da as they both hit the floor. They rolled over a couple of times and came to a halt.

"You all right?" Jack asked, wiping dust and grit off his face as he scrambled to his feet. For a second his knees wobbled, and he had to grab the slurry pipe for support.

The K'da said something, but Jack's ears were still ringing too hard from the explosion to hear it. "What?" he asked. "No— come here." Brushing at his shirt with one hand, he held out the other toward Draycos.

Draycos put a paw on his hand and slithered up his sleeve onto his back. I am unhurt, the K'da's reassurance came into Jack's mind, bypassing his dazed hearing. You?

"I'm okay," Jack said, blinking a few times. The tunnel was filled with dust that was only slowly starting to settle. "The guy's consistent, anyway. He used a bomb on my parents, and now he tried to use one on me."

Draycos's snout rose from Jack's shoulder and his tongue flicked out twice. I do not sense any airflow, Jack. We may be trapped in here.

Jack smiled tightly. "I'll bet that's what Bolo thinks, too. Let's take a look."

His flashlight was a few feet farther down the tunnel, glowing faintly through the pile of rock chips that had partially buried it. Jack retrieved it, then backtracked to the site of the explosion.

Bolo had done a good job. The tunnel near the intersection was completely blocked by a pile of shattered rock. "Probably a shaped charge set against the ceiling," Draycos said as Jack played his light over the top of the pile.

"Had it all ready to go, too," Jack agreed. "I wonder what he would have done if I'd refused to come to the mine with him."

"Perhaps there would now be no Great Assembly Hall, either," Draycos said.

Jack grimaced. "Yeah." Taking a deep breath—and instantly regretting it as the floating dust set off a coughing fit—he turned around. "I guess we'd better get started."

"Will you need help?" Draycos asked.