Dragonback 02 Dragon and Soldier (7 page)

Could he have decided to tackle the HQ building on his own?
Ridiculous. Draycos might be a first-class warrior, but he didn't know
the first thing about human-designed locks and alarms. He wouldn't have
gone there without Jack.

And then the obvious answer struck him. Of course: Draycos was
hungry. After nearly a week of the starvation diet Jack had put him on,
the dragon had finally given up and gone hunting.

Jack felt his face warm with shame. He should have tried better to
bring Draycos more food. Tried, nothing—he should have
done
better. But with all those kids bustling around, and Grisko and the
other drill instructors likely to drop in without warning—

He shook his head firmly. Those were cheap excuses. And as Uncle
Virgil would have said, yesterday's cheap excuses were tomorrow's fish
wrap. As of tomorrow, he would starting bringing a decent meal home to
his partner.

Partner
. He frowned at the word. Uncle Virge didn't want
him to have any partners. Uncle Virge especially didn't want him having
a partner with Draycos's rigid, self-sacrificing K'da warrior ethic.
Uncle Virge would be very unhappy if he knew Jack was starting to think
of Draycos in that way.

The open window was next to the low wall of the washroom's big
shower area. Carefully, trying not to make any noise, Jack pulled
himself up onto the wall. He steadied himself with a grip on the edge
of the window and looked out.

The camp was actually rather pretty by starlight. To look on it
now you wouldn't think there was so much grunting and sweating and
agony out there during the day. He looked through the trees toward the
dark windows of the headquarters building, trying to imagine what kind
of security they might have there.

And then, he caught a flicker of movement from his right.
Something that looked like a black shadow was moving swiftly and
silently along the ground toward the barracks.

It was Draycos. It had to be. And the fact that the dragon's
golden scales had turned to combat black meant there was trouble.

He slid off the wall onto the shower area's tile floor. If Draycos
was moving that fast down there, he wasn't likely to slow down much
coming through the window.

He didn't. Without any hint of warning, the dragon was suddenly
there, leaping with bull's-eye accuracy straight through the center of
the opening. His tail caught the edge of the window with a soft slap as
he passed, slowing him down and deflecting his arc just enough to drop
him soundlessly into the center of the shower area.

"What's the matter?" Jack hissed.

Draycos did a startled spin, twisting around like a cat on a hot
charcoal grill. The sudden arching of his neck crest relaxed as he saw
it was Jack. "I went out to better study the movements of the patrols,"
the dragon said, his tail twitching restlessly. "I am sorry, but I may
have been seen."

Jack glanced up at the window. "Where?"

"To the north," Draycos said. "I heard movement nearby and went up
into the trees."

"What happened then?"

"I eluded the patrols without difficulty," Draycos said. "I do not
think they really know what they are looking for. But they may still be
searching for me. I am sorry."

"Wait a second," Jack said as a sudden thought struck him. "The
patrols are off chasing each other's tails up north?"

"They have gone all directions," Draycos said. "From the movements
of lights, it would seem they are searching the entire perimeter of the
camp."

"Are they, now," Jack said, scratching his cheek. "All of them,
you think?"

The tail twitching suddenly stopped. "What are you suggesting?"
Draycos asked cautiously.

Jack nodded toward the window. "I'm thinking this might be a good
time to go crash the party."

Draycos's neck crest stiffened a little. "But the patrols are on
alert."

"Right," Jack agreed. "But they're on alert somewhere else. Give
me a second to get dressed."

Two minutes later he was back. Draycos had closed the window down
to a crack again and was crouched on top of the shower wall peering
out. With the immediate excitement over, his scales had returned to
their usual red-edged gold. "I see and hear no evidence of movement,"
he reported. "But I am not convinced this is a wise move."

"The worst that can happen is that we have to dodge the patrols,"
Jack pointed out as he pulled on the thin plastic camouflage gloves
that had come with his field kit. No point leaving fingerprints or
traces of sweat where someone could find them. "If we wait until
tomorrow, we'll have to do that anyway. At least here we start with an
open playing field."

"Tomorrow the patrols will be on a known schedule," Draycos
countered. But nevertheless he pushed open the window and slid through.

Climbing up onto the shower wall, Jack got his legs through the
opening and followed. The window was pretty high, and as he lowered
himself he wondered briefly about his chances of twisting an ankle as
he hit the ground.

He needn't have worried. Draycos had taken up position beneath the
window, stretching up on his hind legs with his front paws braced
against the wall. Jack's feet found spots on the dragon's shoulders,
and a second later he was safely on the ground.

"Looks clear," Jack whispered as they crouched together beside the
barracks. "Let's go."

Draycos put a paw on Jack's outstretched hand and disappeared up
the sleeve. Jack waited until he had slithered along his skin to his
usual position with his head at Jack's right shoulder. Then, with one
final look around, he headed off toward the headquarters building at a
quick trot.

He had paced off the distance two days ago on his way to the mess
hall and knew it to be about a hundred yards. Sneaking through the
trees in the dead of night, senses alert for trouble, it seemed a lot
farther.

There were no shouts of discovery as they reached the front corner
of the headquarters building. "Do we enter through the main door?"
Draycos murmured.

"Probably not," Jack puffed. "But I'll check."

One glance was all it took. "Not a chance," he told the dragon,
slipping around the side of the building. "The lock's armed six ways
from August. We're not going to pop it without a set of tools."

"What then?" Draycos asked.

"We find a likely window," Jack said, pausing at the first window
and giving its edge a quick examination. "Maybe on the second floor
where they might not be so careful."

"Or perhaps the third?" Draycos's head lifted out of Jack's
shoulder, pushing aside the shirt material. His tongue flicked out,
pointing toward the stars.

Jack looked up. Directly above them, two windows up, was a
darkened third floor window. Even in the dim light, he could see it was
open a few inches. "Looks promising," he agreed doubtfully. "Can you
jump that high?"

"Brace yourself," Draycos said in reply. "What do I do when I am
inside?"

"Find a way down here," Jack told him, pointing at the first-floor
window in front of them. "Doesn't look like there's too much of an
alarm here. I should be able to talk you through the disarming
procedure."

"Very well. Are you ready?"

Jack planted his feet firmly against the ground and loosened his
shirt at the back. "Ready."

An instant later he was nearly knocked off his feet as the dragon
leaped upward from his back, his front paws shoving down hard on Jack's
shoulders for momentum as they passed. Before Jack could even flail for
balance the dragon's rear paws thudded down in the same spots, giving
himself an extra push upward. Jack grabbed for the edge of the window
in front of him, nearly putting his hand through the plastic in the
process, and looked up.

Draycos was hanging by his front paws from the third-floor window
ledge. For a moment he peered inside, his tongue flicking through the
gap to taste the air. Then, working his snout into the opening, he
pushed upward, levering the window all the way open. A quick pull, a
lunge of golden scales, and he was inside.

Jack turned and looked at the silent woods and the darkened
buildings half-seen through them. With Draycos gone, he suddenly felt a
lot more exposed out here. He hoped the dragon would hurry.

Too late, he also hoped the Edge hadn't loaded their headquarters
with hidden security cameras. Getting Draycos recorded on videotube
would be all they needed.

The light touch that brushed across his shoulder was like a
high-voltage electric shock. He twitched violently, nearly wrenching
his back as he twisted around, half expecting to see Sergeant Grisko
grinning at him over the muzzle of a gun.

It wasn't Grisko. It wasn't a gun, either. It was, instead, the
plug end of an electrical extension cord.

He looked up. Draycos had reappeared in the window, the cord
dangling from between his front paws. "A change of plan," he whispered
down at Jack. "It may be safer to stay on this floor."

Jack took a deep breath, sternly ordering his heart to start
beating again. "Right," he muttered. Getting a grip on the cord, he
started to climb.

Between his climbing and Draycos's pulling, he made it up and
through the window in record time. "It appears to be an assembly area,"
the dragon suggested as Jack peered around at the long tables stacked
with electronics gear.

"Probably maintenance," Jack said, his nose wrinkling at the faint
stench of burned insulation. The smell was probably why whoever worked
here had decided to leave the window open overnight. "I don't see any
computers, though," he added, closing the window back down to its
original crack.

The dragon's ears twitched toward the closed door. "I hear no
movement outside."

"Good," Jack said, heading toward the door. A gray plastic bag
caught his eye as he passed, and he scooped it up. "Hold it a second,"
he added as Draycos reached for the door handle. "They may have cameras
out there."

He slid his hands into the bag, stretching the heavy plastic taut.
"Here—you've got the claws in the family," he said. "Cut me a couple of
eye holes, will you?"

Draycos's neck arched and he extended a claw. A couple of quick
slashes, and he had a neat slit visor carved into the plastic. "Will
that do?"

"Let's see," Jack said, wincing a little as he slid the bag over
his head. He'd seen those claws slice grooves in solid metal, and
they'd come a little too close to his hands just now. The positioning
was perfect. The bag settled onto the top of his head with the slit
directly in front of his eyes. And unlike the eye holes he'd asked for,
the slit even allowed him some peripheral vision. "Perfect," he told
the dragon. "Get aboard and let's go."

The hallway outside was dark and silent. Jack stayed close to the
wall, trying to ignore the rustling of the plastic bag in his ears. The
main offices would probably be on the first and second floors, but with
luck one of the rooms up here would have the computer link he needed.

He struck gold with the second room he tried. Not only were there
three terminals in the center of the room, but two of the walls were
lined with file cabinets.

"Bingo," Jack murmured as he closed the door behind him. "Looks
like we've found the main file room."

Draycos's head rose from Jack's shoulder, his green eyes
glittering in the dim starlight filtering in through the window. "We
have found old records," he corrected. "The labels on the cabinets
indicate the information is over five years old."

Jack felt his lip twist. So much for hunting down the right tube
and studying it later in the safety and convenience of the barracks.
"Well, we can't expect them to just hand it to us," he said
philosophically, closing the door and heading for the computers. "You
want to keep watch?"

Draycos dropped to the floor from his sleeve. He opened the door a
crack and pressed his ear to the opening. "Do not take too long," he
warned.

"Thanks," Jack said dryly, turning on the computer. "I wouldn't
have thought of that."

"Will there not be code-locks?" the dragon asked, ignoring the
sarcasm.

"Like cold on ice." "Pardon?"

"They'll be all over the place," Jack translated. "But Uncle
Virgil taught me a few tricks."

For a few minutes he worked in silence. The sewer-rat approach, as
Uncle Virgil had called this technique, was nearly always effective
with human-designed computers.

Trouble was, it was also pretty slow. Jack could feel sweat
gathering on his forehead beneath his mask as he punched the keys.
Sooner or later, he knew, the patrols out there were going to get tired
of their search and come home. The computer chugged on, the sewer-rat
code words chewing away at the defenses.

And then, abruptly, Draycos stiffened. "Footsteps," he hissed.
"Someone is coming."

For a second Jack hesitated. To give up now, when they were so
close . . . "Where?" he hissed back.

"On the stairway at the near end of the corridor," Dray-cos said.
"Moving slowly upward."

"Which floor?" Jack asked. "I mean, are they coming from first to
second or second to third?"

Draycos's other ear twitched toward the cracked door. "First to
second," he said. "And there is only one person."

Jack chewed at his lip. A single person implied a night watchman
making his rounds. If he went through the second floor before coming up
here to the third, there might still be time to find and pull the
records he needed.

And then Draycos's tongue flicked out. "There is an odd odor," he
said. "It tastes . . . unpleasant."

Frowning, Jack crossed to his side. "Let me smell," he whispered.
The dragon moved away, and Jack took a careful sniff.

One was enough. "We're out of here," he muttered, closing the door
all the way and heading for the window at the far side of the room. As
he passed the computer, he shut it off. "Come on."