Simon Hawke - Hellfire Rebellion

“No more! No more!”

“It’s like a revival meeting,” whispered Delaney. “There is one among us who has set us all an excellent example,” said the speaker. “One who has spoken to the Sons of Violence in the only language that they can understand. Until now, the rabble has been unopposed, free to strike at night and to terrorize anyone they pleased. My friends, that time has ended! The choice is ours, my brothers! We can unite and end this reign of terror, or we can huddle, quaking in our homes, waiting fearfully and helplessly to see whom the Sons of Violence will choose for their next victim.” He suddenly pointed at one of the robed figures below him. “Will it be you?”

The man shifted uncomfortably. The finger moved on.

“Or will it be you? Or you? Or you?” He pointed at another man. “Will yours be the next home that they tear down’?” He pointed again. “Will you be the next one to be seized and dragged into the Common, stripped naked for all to see, and basted with a coat of steaming tar and feathers’?”

He pulled his hand back and clenched it into a fist. “And can we believe that the outlaws will stop there’?” he said. “With no one to oppose them, will they not grow bolder still? In the middle of the night, they will come and visit you,” he said, pointing suddenly at another member of the congregation, and in their frenzy of destruction, while they hold you helpless, they will look upon your daughter and they will find her pleasing. Two of them will hold her while she struggles, yet a third will tear her nightdress from her innocent young body; they will run their filthy, rough, and callused common hands over her sweet virgin flesh; they will bear her down and have their way with her while she weeps and screams in terror and you are forced to watch! And afterward, when you walk the streets together, which one of the carters who pass by you will smirk with secret knowledge? Which one of the drunken dock workers will call out her name after you pass?”

He looked around at the entire congregation.

“It could happen to any one of you,” he said, “And it will happen, unless we stop it now!”

The sense of outrage and indignation surged throughout the crowd.

“These common criminals must be taught a lesson!” he shouted. Who will be the next to learn?”

“ Ebenezer Macintosh!” a deep and resonant voice coed out.

“Drakov!” said Delaney, looking all around, as did many of the others, but there was no way to tell where the voice had come from. The speaker waited until the undertone died down.

“Our friend has chosen well,” he said. “The horseman has named Ebenezer Macintosh. A drunken cobbler. A common brawler, the leader of the South End Gang. It was he who led the mob against the home of our good friend “Thomas Hutchinson, thereby reducing our proudest citizen to penury. And was he punished for this crime? No sooner was he thrown into jail by our sheriff than he was released as a result of threats from the very rioters he led! And today, he swaggers through the streets and boasts of his invulnerability! Is he invulnerable’?”

No!” the crowd yelled.

“Is he beyond the law?”

“ No!”

“Is he going to pay for what he’s done?”

“Yes!” voices called out. “Yes, hang him, make him pay! Hang him!”

“The jury has reached its verdict,” said the speaker. “The accused, Ebenezer Macintosh, stands guilty, as charged. So say you all?”

“ Aye! Aye!”

“Then, Ebenezer Macintosh, for your crimes against the loyal citizens of Boston, we hereby sentence you to hang!”

“Jesus, now what do we do?” Delaney said.

“We’ll have to stop them,” Lucas said. “We’ll have to get to him before they do and warn him.”

“In ancient times,” the speaker continued, “warriors united in a common. sacred cause would gather on the eve of a great battle to celebrate their courage and to fortify their manhood. Thus do we revive this ancient custom. Thus do we celebrate our unity and fortify our cause! “Hellfire to the Sons of Liberty, my brothers!”

“ Hellfire to the Sons of Liberty!”

The organist began to play as the speaker descended from the pulpit and the white-robed women came filing out with trays of wine, ale, rum, and food. The women moved along the tables, setting down their trays and being pulled into the laps of the robed men. At the table next to theirs, a man pulled the cord holding a woman’s robe fastened around her waist and it fell open, revealing her to be completely naked underneath. He started fondling and kissing her. None of the men undressed. They merely pulled open their robes and loosened their clothing underneath, pulling the laughing women down into their laps, dragging them to the floor, laying them out on top of tables and benches. One of the women came and sat down on Delaney’s knee, smiling and reaching for the cord that tied his robe.

“Not now.” he said. “A moment. Nature calls.”

She shrugged and moved on to another man.

“Let’s get the hell out of here.” he said to Lucas.

They rose and moved to the side door. All around them, the orgy was in progress as masked men and women fumbled inside one another’s robes, laughing and indulging in the license of anonymous sex. Finn and Lucas left by the side door and stepped out into the cool night breeze.

“Stand where you are!” said a voice out of the darkness. “Raise your hands above your heads!” They froze and did as they were told. Several men stepped out of the shadows, holding muskets and pistols aimed directly at them.

“What is this’?” Lucas said, in an angry tone. “Can’t a man even relieve himself in peace? Put down those guns!”

Another man, this one dressed in a black robe and a mask, unlike the guards, stepped forward.

“Hold your arms out straight, away from your sides.” he said. They both recognized the voice of the speaker in the pulpit. They did as they were told. “Pull back their hoods and remove those masks. If one of them so much as blinks, shoot them both at once.”

They stood absolutely motionless as one of the men stepped forward, yanked back their hoods, and removed their masks.

“Do any of you know these men?” the speaker asked.

The guards all shook their heads.

“Neither do I,” the speaker said. “It appears that we have caught ourselves sonic spys. Search them.”

The man who had removed their masks suddenly jerked, then with a surprised expression, he collapsed to the ground. There were several rapid hissing noises and the remaining guards all fell, dropping their weapons. The robed man glanced around him with alarm, and then he jerked and fell as well. Chavez. Seavers, and Federoff stepped out of the shadows, holding their stinger pistols.

“Nice work,” said Lucas.

“What do you want us to do with them?”‘ asked Seavers, “Pull them back into the trees. They’ll come around. But I want that one,” he said, pointing to the robed man.

Chavez bent down and removed his mask. It was Moffat

“Know him?” he asked.

Lucas shook his head. “No. But he seemed to be the one in charge. He’s working with Drakov.”

“So Hunter was right, he is here.” Seavers said.

“Yeah, he was inside,” said Finn. “You want us to take the place?” asked Federoff.

“Are you kidding? There’s seventy or eighty people in there and about half of them are women. There’s no way I want to risk that. Besides, Drakov could easily clock out in all the confusion, if he hasn’t already. No, have everyone pull back to the safehouse. We’re taking this man with us for interrogation. I want him alone in one of the bedrooms, restrained, with the windows and drapes closed, so he won’t know where he is. We don’t know who he is, so let’s not take any chances. He sees nobody who’s not in colonial dress, understood?”