Dragon and Judge

She flicked her eyes toward him. But whatever it was she'd seen had instantly been buried behind an expressionless face. "With all due respect, I'm not going anywhere," Alison said. "I've got twenty thousand riding on this." She raised her eyebrows at Neverlin. "Forty if I can do it before Mr. Arthur finishes his Easter egg hunt."

Neverlin's eyes narrowed. "Look, Kayna—"

"Actually, I think we could all do with a break," Frost cut him off smoothly. "In any event, it is almost lunchtime. Kayna can eat in her room and take whatever thinking time she needs. When she's ready, we can all meet again. Is that acceptable?"

Neverlin had switched his narrowed-eyed stare to Frost. But he merely nodded. "Fine with me. Patri Chookoock?"

"If it is ever ready," the Brummga growled.

"She will be," Frost promised. "Come on, Kayna. I'll take you back to your room."

Neither of them spoke until they reached Alison's slave-level room. Alison walked inside; without waiting for an invitation, Frost followed. "Isn't it interesting how the human mind works?" he commented conversationally as he closed the door behind him. "I've been watching you for two weeks without a clue. And then, a single offhand comment from a fat, ugly lump with stuffed cabbage for brains, and suddenly it comes clear."

Alison held her breath. If he'd gotten a clean look at her in the Rho Scorvi forest . . .

"Running away." Frost leveled a finger at her face, his casual manner abruptly gone. "You're a deserter from the Malison Ring."

Alison's breath went out in a huff. Bad enough, but not as bad as she'd feared.

But definitely bad enough. "The what?" she asked. It might still pay her to play stupid.

It didn't. "Don't waste my time," Frost bit out. "Your hair's different—shorter and darker—but I remember the face from the newslist. You joined up about eight months ago, went through basic, then disappeared the week you were sent to your first post."

"All right," Alison said as calmly as she could. "I admit it. I got scared and ran."

"Oh, you didn't get scared," Frost said. "And you didn't just run. Because I also remember that your training camp CO reported there might have been a breach in his computer system during the six weeks you were there."

Alison grimaced. So she'd left a trail behind her on that job. Between the Malison Ring and the Whinyard's Edge, she wasn't running up a very good record here. "I was just trying to clear out my record," she said, letting a little tremor drift into her voice. "I knew I couldn't handle the job, and thought—"

"Spare me," Frost snarled. "I've had about as much of you as I can stomach."

"Okay, fine," Alison said, dropping the tremor. "Game's over. I'm not exactly thrilled by the company, either, if you want to know the truth. But you still need me."

"Maybe not as badly as you think," Frost said. "Like you said, the game's over. So here's what's going to happen. You're going back to that room—today—and you're going to open that safe."

Alison stared at him, her throat tightening. "I can't," she said. "I don't know how to deactivate the self-destruct bomb."

"Then you'd better figure it out, hadn't you?" Frost advised coldly. "Because if it goes off, the Patri will have you shot." He shrugged. "Either way, I'll be happy."

Across her back,Alison felt Taneem shifting position. Quickly, she put a warning hand on her shoulder. "Can I at least have an hour to think?"

"Sure," Frost said, opening the door again. "Take all afternoon if you want." He leveled his finger again. "But sometime before midnight tonight, you're going to open that safe." Stepping out into the corridor, he closed the door behind him.

CHAPTER 24

For a long minute Alison just stood there, staring at the closed door, her mind skidding like an out-of-control bobsled.

One way or another, she was going to die tonight.

Taneem bounded out of her back collar. The sudden weight threw Alison off balance, and she barely caught herself before she could slam into the wall. "I'm sorry," Taneem apologized as she turned back around. "I came off too quickly."

"No, it's okay," Alison said, looking at the K'da with a surge of guilt. Take care of Taneem, Jack had told her just before he'd disappeared on Semaline.

Instead, Alison's failure was going to get her killed, too.

"Are you worried?" Taneem asked, stepping closer and peering into Alison's face.

"Yes, I'm worried," Alison told her honestly. "In fact, I'm terrified."

The dragon twitched her tail. "How may I help?"

Alison sighed as she sat down on the edge of the bed. "I don't think you can," she said.

"You will solve the problem," Taneem said firmly. "I know you will."

Alison looked away from that earnest dragon face. "I don't think so," she said quietly. "I'm stuck, Taneem. I can't figure out what the people who designed the safe were trying to do."