Dragonback 06 Dragon and Liberator Read Online Free PDF Page B

some idea of how many men and Brummgas were aboard,
she would have a better idea of where the two of them might be able to
hide for a few days.
    Unfortunately, both parts of the plan required her to leave the
office. With a pair of Malison Ring mercenaries standing guard a foot
outside the door, that was going to be a little tricky.
    "I see no place where we may hide for long," Taneem said into her
thoughts. "Unless your breath mask can be restored?"
    "It can be recharged somewhat, yes," Alison said. "But not
entirely. Certainly not enough to get us through a whole day or more in
the safe."
    "Then we must find a new place," the K'da concluded. "Shall I
begin a search?"
    Alison frowned. Then, suddenly, she understood. The last time they
were aboard, Taneem had taken herself on a brief tour of the ship's
ventilation system. "It could be dangerous," she warned. "And not just
from the ducts themselves. If anyone spots you, we're both dead."
    The K'da twitched her tail. "So will we be if we stay here."
    "I can't argue with that," Alison conceded. She looked around,
spotted the vent in the wall just below the ceiling. "Let's get the
grille off."
    Three minutes later, Taneem climbed up on Alison's shoulders and
cased her head and forepaws into the open vent. "It looks clear," she
said, pulling her head briefly back out again to look at Alison. "I'll
be back as soon as I can."
    Alison nodded. "Good luck."
    Taneem put her head back into the opening. Pulling with her
forepaws, she slid the rest of the way in, and with a flick of her tail
she was gone.
    Pulling out her flashlight, Alison turned it to its lowest setting
and put it into the duct to give Taneem something to look for when she
headed back. She then put the grille back into position, fastening the
bolts just tightly enough to keep it in place.
    And once she'd done that, there was nothing for her to do but wait.

CHAPTER 4

    She waited for a grand total of maybe two minutes. Then, being
careful not to make any noise, she set out to explore the office.
    The last time she'd been in here, when Frost had had her break
into Neverlin's desk safe, he'd kept her in the main room. Her first
task, therefore, was to see what was beyond the side door.
    There were, as it turned out, two other rooms in the suite. One
was a private washroom, the other a secure communications nook with a
direct link to the ship's radio and InterWorld transmitters.
    There were, unfortunately, no exits from either room.
    She got a drink of water from the washroom and then returned to
the main office, a fresh idea occurring to her. It was right after
she'd opened this particular safe that Frost had fulfilled his part of
their bargain and given her the satchel she'd gotten from Virgil
Morgan's Semaline lockbox.
    More important, that was the point where Frost's interest in the Advocatus
Diaboli 's various safes had suddenly stopped.
    Something in that safe had apparently been very interesting to
Neverlin's ally. It might be worthwhile to see what that something was.
    She'd already opened the safe once, which theoretically meant she
already had the combination. But there was always the chance that
Neverlin had changed it since then.
    Anyway, it wasn't as if she didn't have a few minutes to spare.
Pulling out her burglar's tools, she got to work.
    It was just as well she'd checked. Neverlin had indeed changed the
combination. Using her MixStar computer to track down the new sequence,
she got the safe open.
    Inside was a two-inch-thick stack of papers, plus half a dozen
data tubes. Setting the data tubes aside, knowing they were probably
encrypted, Alison pulled out the papers and set them on her lap. With
her light clipped to her shirt collar, she started going through them,
wondering which one had caught Frost's attention.
    Five pages from the top, she found it.
    She had finished looking at the papers, and was going through the
desk's drawers, when Taneem returned.
    "The ship is very quiet," the K'da said after