Simon Hawke - Hellfire Rebellion

“They took out Carruthers and the others,” Stevens said harshly. “What do you call that?”

“Carruthers must’ve forced their hand. He went too far. When I heard what he was planning, I thought he had gone crazy. We’re supposed to be helping these people, for God’s sake! There’s a temporal disruption going down! We’re supposed to be on the same damn side!”

“Is that so?” said Stevens. He jerked his head toward Steiger. “Is that why this son of a bitch is trying to nail us? Because we’re on the same side? Don’t make me laugh. He sold out, the bastard. He was a field agent, just like us, and he sold out!”

“To whom?”

“To the goddamned bureaucrats and politicians, that’s to whom! Jesus, will you wake the hell up? This isn’t some game we’re playing here! This isn’t the goddamned Boy Scouts! Forester sent this guy to take us out. He’s out to bust the whole damn Network! We’ve gotta take them out before they get us first!”

“Them?” said the newcomer. “Wait a minute, let me get this straight. Are we talking about assassinating the director of the T.I. A.?”

“You’re damn straight!” said Stevens. “And the bounty on the old man’s been set at ten million! Where the hell you been? Me. I’m not crazy enough to try for Forrester. but Steiger here fell right into our laps. You don’t want a share, just say so. You can go back to Virginia and plant tobacco for all I fucking care. Go anywhere the hell you want, but I’m telling you right now, you get in my way. I’m gonna roll right over you.”

“That’s the way it is. huh?”

“That’s the way it is.”

“And what about the disruption?”

“Who gives a fuck about the damn disruption? We send this jerk to the cell commander in a bag and we can all retire. Especially now that Carruthers and the others have been taken out. We don’t have to cut the pie as thin.”

“I see, I guess that does make for an incentive.”

“You better believe it.” Stevens said.

The newcomer walked over to where Steiger sat, firmly tied down to a stout chair. He took him by the hair and pulled his head back so that he could look down into his eyes. Steiger squinted up at him. The man’s face was expressionless.

“He’d really take us out, wouldn’t he’?” the man said.

“In a minute.”

“I suppose that would make it self-defense, then.”

Stevens grinned. “Yeah, I guess it would.”

“Five million dollars is a lot of money,” said the man in front of Steiger. “And I suppose if a temporal disruption did go down, we could always clock back further, where we wouldn’t have to worry about it. Go underground. kick back and take it easy… “

“Now you’re talkin’.” Stevens said.

“I mean, between the rest of us in this section, we’ve already got a tidy sum salted away. Then there’re the goods in the warehouses in Boston, Philadelphia, and Charleston, we could easily liquidate those at a fat profit. wouldn’t have to cut that pie as thin, either… “

“Now you’re getting the idea.” Stevens said.

“You know, when you look at it that way. I suppose it does make a lot of sense-the man said, still looking down at Steiger with no expression on his face. He let his head drop and turned around to face Stevens. “Personally, I never cared much for Carruthers anyway.”

“Well, you don’t have to worry about Carruthers now,” said Stevens.

“So tell me. what are we still doing here? We’ve got Steiger, why don’t we just blow? Why take chances?”

“Because we don’t know if Carruthers talked. Cash wants to make sure. He thinks they’re onto us and he wants to cover our tracks before we risk moving the stuff. And there’s still that shipment coming in.”

“That’s stupid. Why worry about that? If Steiger’s worth five million dead…

“Cash said-”

“Yeah, well, I never cared much for Cash, either.” The man turned around and walked over to the window. He pulled open the drapes and looked out. “If you ask mc. Cash is too damn greedy. So what if Carruthers talked? Who cares about the shipment’? The way things arc, hanging around here’s way too risky.”

“We stand to lose a lot if we leave now.” said Stevens. “Cash says long as we’ve got Steiger-

“Long as we’ve got Steiger, who needs Cash?” the other man said, still looking out the window. “Who needs any of them? We’ve got five million sitting right there in that chair. Split two ways… I mean, we could always tell the cell commander that the commandos got Cash and the others, couldn’t we?”

“Yeah… said Stevens. slowly. “Yeah, I suppose we could at that.”

The man at the window turned around. There was a small stinger pistol in his hand. He fired and the needle dart struck Stevens in the chest. Stevens stared at him with astonishment, then collapsed to the floor.

“You stupid asshole.” the man said, looking down at Stevens with contempt. “You’d kill your own mother for a buck.”

He walked over to where Steiger sat. “So you’re worth five million dollars. huh?” he said, still holding the pistol.

Steiger said nothing.

He put away the pistol. “I just saved your life, Colonel. I sure hope you’re the grateful sort.” He walked around behind the chair, took out a knife, and sliced through Steiger’s bonds. He came around in front of him again.

“Can you stand?”

Steiger stared up at him uncertainly. “I’ll manage.” he said thickly. His lips were cut and swollen and several teeth had been loosened. He lurched to his feet unsteadily. “I don’t get it. How come you’re doing this?”

“Cause I want out.” the man said. “I’ve had it. I draw the line at murder.”

“What do you call that’!” said Steiger, nodding toward the man on the floor.

“That wasn’t a lethal dart, he’ll only be out for about an hour. Name’s Murphy. by the way. Tom Murphy.”

“Thanks. Murphy.”

“Save your thanks. Just remember me at my court martial. Now come on, lean on me. We’d better get you out of here before the others get back.”

They laid Johnny out on the couch downstairs_ He was still unconscious. Andre knelt down beside him.

“What happened?” she said. “Is he all right?”

“He’s okay, he only fainted.” Hunter said. “The shock plus the effects of transistion. Always takes a lot out of you the first time.”

“You shouldn’t have brought him here,” said Lucas.

“He saw too much,” said Neilson. “It couldn’t be helped.”

“Who would have believed him?” Lucas said. You should have left him. Scott. Bringing him here was stupid.”

“I’m sorry, but I thought-”

“That’s just the trouble, you didn’t think.”

“Hey, lighten up. Priest.” said Hunter. “He saved my bacon and brought you a prisoner to interrogate. The kid did all right.”

Lucas sighed. “You’re right. I’m sorry. Scott. I didn’t mean to come down on you so hard. I guess it’s just the strain, that’s all. But the boy can’t stay here. We’ve got enough to worry about as it is. We’ve got to get him out of here while he’s still unconscious. Anybody know when: the kid lives’?”

“He’s Revere’s apprentice,” Hunter said. “Stays in the back of his silversmith shop over by North Square.”

“Andre. maybe you should take him there.” said Lucas. “Since you seem to have established a… uh, rapport with the kid, convince him he was seeing things or something. But get him out of our hair. We have to interrogate the prisoners and I don’t want him around for that.”

“Okay. I’ll take care of him.” said Andre. She started to adjust her warp disc.

Linda Craven came downstairs. “How is he?” Lucas asked her, referring to the wounded Network man.