Dragon and Judge

Alison nodded and turned back to the safe. That had been risky, she knew. But the more she could create or encourage strains between Neverlin and his allies, the better. Kneeling down in front of the safe, she stretched out her left arm along the line of indentations, resting her palm on top of numbers four and six. "I hope someone's got my money ready," she commented as she got a grip on the combination dial.

And as she did so, she felt a whisper of weight come onto her palm as Taneem lifted her forepaw from Alison's hand and slid two of her toes into the proper indentations.

Alison keyed the combination she had worked out. There was a soft snick from somewhere inside the safe. Praying that she'd gotten everything right, she took hold of the break bar and pulled.

Without any fuss or muss, or smoke or explosions, the door swung open.

Neverlin and Frost were there in an instant, Frost shoving Alison aside in his eagerness. Fortunately, Taneem was able to get her toes out of sight before Alison's hand was pushed away from the safe wall. "Hey!" Alison protested as she lost her balance and landed flat on her rear.

Both men ignored her. "Well?" the Patri rumbled from his chair.

"They're here," Neverlin said, his voice almost shaking with excitement. He pulled his cupped hands out of the safe, full of the little diamonds Taneem had described. "And not burned to ashes."

The Patri gestured to one of the Brummgas standing guard by the door. "Order that its money is to be prepared," he said. "Order, too, that a transport be made ready."

"Let's not be too hasty," Frost cautioned, peering down at the diamonds. "This is from the one that crashed, remember. I think we should make sure the data's intact before we turn her loose."

"He's right," Neverlin seconded. "I'm sure she won't mind hanging around another day or so." He sent Alison a cultured sort of smirk. "After all, she's the one who suggested we should listen to the colonel more often."

Carefully, Alison suppressed a smile. She'd been afraid she would have to find a way to make that suggestion herself. "Not a problem," she assured them. "Just remember that another job will cost another twenty thousand."

"Understood," Neverlin said. "Colonel, would you escort Ms. Kayna back to her room?"

"I'll have Dumbarton and Mrishpaw do it," Frost said. "I think I'd better stay and help you check this out."

For a long moment the two men gazed at each other. "Whatever you'd like," Neverlin said at last. "Ms. Kayna, we'll see you later."

The afternoon dragged by. Alison spent the entire time alone in her room, wondering each minute if someone was about to arrive, hand her twenty thousand, and escort her out through the gate.

Kicking her off the Chookoock estate before she and Taneem had a chance to find and open the other safe.

But no one came. Shoofteelee arrived with her dinner at the usual time, with his usual polite but somewhat distant attitude. Alison and Taneem ate, then settled in for an evening that promised to be as long and nerve-wracking as the afternoon had been.

Again, no one had arrived by the time the lights-out warning tone came over the room's intercom. Alison was already in bed by then, getting in a little pre-bedtime doze in anticipation of a sleepless night ahead. Once the house was quiet, she and Taneem would go in search of that final safe.

And they would succeed. Alison had no doubt about that. Not anymore. Taneem's quiet faith, plus the afternoon's triumph, had blown away her earlier crisis of confidence like mist in a windstorm.

It was an hour after lights-out, and the slave areas around her had gone silent, when she heard the sound of her door being quietly opened. "Kayna?" Dumbarton's voice called softly.

"Who is it?" Alison asked, slurring her words slightly as if she'd been startled out of her sleep.

"Dumbarton and Mrishpaw," Dumbarton said. "Come on— Mr. Arthur wants to see you."

Alison winced. They weren't going to throw her out now, were they? "What about?" she asked, throwing off her covers and pulling on her shoes.

"You always go to bed with all your clothes on?" Dumbarton asked suspiciously.

"Hardly ever," Alison said, standing up. "I was resting and fell asleep."

"Sure," Dumbarton said. "Quiet, now."

They headed up through the slave areas, crossed the deserted kitchen, and emerged into the starlight through the same door Alison had used on her own midnight trip a few nights previously.

But it wasn't Neverlin who was waiting for her in the darkness.

It was Frost.

"There you are," he greeted her in a low voice. "Good news: the data diamonds gave us everything we needed to know."

"Glad to hear it," Alison said, the skin on the back of her neck starting to tingle. "Where's my money?"

"Where you'll never see it." Frost jerked his head toward an open-topped car waiting a few feet away. "Take her to the slave area," he ordered the two mercenaries. "And kill her."

CHAPTER 25