She had no trouble at all seeing the snub-nosed laser rifle pointed at her stomach.
"Oh, yes, I know who you are," the man repeated. "My name's Gazen."
Alison tensed, Jack's stories about Gazen flooding over her like a wave of arctic water. Gazen was the Chookoock family's slavemaster, a vicious, brutal man who had made Jack's brief time here a living hell. "I've heard of you," she managed.
"From Jack Morgan?"
"Who? No, from some of the other slaves," Alison said, feeling a cold sweat break out on her forehead. Too late, she realized she should instead have denied all knowledge of the man. If he bothered to check with the slaves, he could expose her lie within half an hour. "But I see you came out here for some solitude," she went on, taking a careful sideways step back toward the house. "Sorry to have bothered you."
"I didn't come here for solitude," Gazen corrected mildly. "I came here to kill people."
Alison's mouth felt dry. "Anyone in particular?"
"Yes." Gazen lifted the laser to his shoulder. "You."
For an eternity Alison just stood there, her knees locked, her feet rooted to the ground, her mind sorting desperately through her options.
But there weren't any. She was in the middle of open ground, with no access to weapons or cover or escape. Gazen's weapon was already up and aimed, and he was too far away for her to try jumping him.
Her luck had finally run out. She was going to die.
Or was she?
She frowned. There was something odd about Gazen as he stood there. Something in his eyes or stance that she couldn't quite put her finger on.
And then, against her skin, she felt Taneem preparing to leap.
"No," she muttered urgently, putting a hand on her shoulder. The gap was too wide even for a K'da to cover. Gazen would shoot Taneem, then he would shoot Alison—
And then, abruptly, Alison's conscious mind caught up to what her subconscious had already noticed.
Gazen wasn't looking at her. He was still facing her, and his laser was still pointed at her chest. But his eyes were darting around, probing the starlit yard and the darker shadows of bushes and trees and flower beds around them.
He was waiting for something to happen. In fact, from the expression on his face, he was hoping for something to happen.
But nothing did. Alison stood as still as she could, holding her hand against Taneem's head and praying that the K'da would stay put.
And then, finally, Gazen lowered the muzzle of his weapon. "So he really isn't here," he muttered, looking around openly now.
"Who isn't here?" Alison asked.
Reluctantly, it seemed, Gazen dragged his attention back to her. "Jack Morgan, of course," he said, his voice going even darker. "He's coming back to free the rest of the slaves. Didn't you know?"
Alison felt her lip twitch. Jack had never mentioned that part of his plan. "He is?"
Gazen nodded toward the north end of the grounds. "That's what they say out there," he told her. "They say Morgan's coming back someday. Him and that—" His voice cracked, and even in the faint light Alison could see the sudden intensity in his eyes. "Crampatch and the Patri Chookoock don't believe it," he said, dragging his voice back under control. "But I know better. Morgan is coming back. And when he does—" He hefted the laser. "Some of us, at least, will be ready."
Alison swallowed. "I'm sure you will," she said. "Well, then. If you don't mind—"
"Go back to the house, little girl," Gazen said. Backing up a step, he settled himself again on a low bench between the two bushes, laying his laser across his knees. "Go back to sleep."
"Yes, sir," Alison said. Keeping an eye on him as long as she could, she made her escape.
Neither she nor Taneem spoke again until they were safely back in bed. "Draycos told me stories about this Gazen human," Taneem said softly.
"So did Jack," Alison said, shivering. In some ways, she knew, Gazen was no more evil or vicious than men like Frost and Neverlin. Neverlin, after all, had ordered the destruction of Draycos's advance team. Gazen, as far as she knew, hadn't even been present during that attack.
But Frost and Neverlin were also smart and calculating. They were in this for profit and power. Men like that Alison could understand, and could deal with.
Gazen, in contrast, was just plain crazy. She could see it in his eyes, and hear it in his voice. And she wasn't used to dealing with men like that. They scared her, right down to her core.
Distantly, she wished Draycos were here.
"Is there anything I can do?" Taneem asked anxiously, lifting her head a little from Alison's shoulder.
With a smile, Alison reached up to stroke her companion's smooth gray scales. No, Taneem was no poet-warrior of the K'da. But she was loyal, and she was willing, and she was doing the best she could. "No, that's all right," Alison assured her. "I'm fine."
She took a deep breath and tried to push Gazen from her mind. "Better get some sleep," she said, pulling the blankets a little tighter around her chin. "Tomorrow's going to be a busy day."
CHAPTER 20
Two days after his trip to the mine, Jack emerged from his apartment for the morning's schedule to find that Bolo had returned.
"Good morning, Judge-Paladin," the other said politely from the foot of the stone bridge. "I see you're an early riser."
"Comes with the job," Jack told him, looking over Bolo's shoulder to where Thonsifi and the two escorts were waiting. None of them looked very happy. "Speaking of jobs, how's yours going?"
"Almost finished," Bolo said. "A few more hours of actual surveying, and I'll be ready to start working up my report." He waved a hand, the gesture taking in the entire canyon. "So I thought I'd drop by and see if that dinner invitation was still open."
"I'm sure something can be arranged," Jack said as he reached the ground. "Is any of this last bit of work going to be in the area?"
"Actually, all of it is," Bolo said. "In fact—and you might find this interesting—the first thing I'm going to do is take a look in that abandoned mine out there."
Jack suppressed a grimace. Why, he wondered, wasn't he surprised?
Be careful, Jack, Draycos's warning whispered through his mind.
Bet on it, symby, Jack assured him. "You think there might still be something worthwhile in there?" he asked.
"No idea," Bolo said. "But according to the records, Triost still owns the rights to it."
"Really," Jack said. "I understood the ownership was still in dispute."
A flicker of something crossed Bolo's face, gone again almost too fast to see.
But Jack saw it. More to the point, he recognized it.
Jack had already known that Bolo wasn't who he pretended to be. Now, Bolo knew that Jack wasn't, either.
"Interesting," Bolo said, his voice under easy control. Definitely a professional. "Could be my information's out-of-date. Still, as long as I'm here anyway I might as well check it out."
He cocked an eyebrow. "I don't suppose you'd like to come with me? Just in case the rights aren't completely ours?"
"You mean to make sure you don't stuff your pockets with rocks on the way out?"
Bolo smiled faintly. "Something like that." He looked at Thonsifi. "You think you can spare your Judge-Paladin for a couple of hours?"
"Yes, they can spare me," Jack said before Thonsifi could answer. "Let me go back and change and I'll be right with you."
Bolo was sitting in his aircar when Jack emerged from the apartment again, this time in shirt and jeans. "I hope you know what you're doing," Draycos murmured from his shoulder.
"I don't like it, either," Jack conceded. Getting in a vehicle with a known enemy was not usually considered a smart thing to do. "But we need answers, and he's probably the best source we're going to find anywhere around here."