Simon Hawke - Hellfire Rebellion

“He’s coming out of shock.” she said. “I gave him something for the pain and I took care of his hand, but I can’t do anything about his knees. Both kneecaps were shattered by the bullets. It’s going to require major reconstructive surgery and prosthetics.”

“Can he talk?”

“Yeah. he can talk, but he’s still hurting. If I give him any more, he’ll he too doped up to be coherent.”

“All right, let’s go have a word with him,” said Lucas. “Finn. Hunter, come with me. Mike, take Rico and Ivan and check on the leaders of the Sons of Liberty. see if Macintosh has anybody keeping an eye on them yet. Scott. I want you and Geoff on Adams, just in case the Hellfire Club pays him a call. If they do, I want you to get him out of there and I don’t care how you do it. We can’t let anything happen to him.”

“Right, we’re on our way.” said Neilson.

“Okay, let’s go see what our Network man can tell us.” Lucas said. “And then we’ll have another talk with our friend Moffat.”

“He’s been very quiet in there,” Linda said.

“Yeah. He’s had a lot to think about.” said Lucas.

They went up the stairs. The Network man was lying on a bed, clearly in great pain, despite the narcotic analgesic Craven had injected him with, an opiate analog that dulled much of his agony. His breeches had been removed and his knees were bandaged and splinted, but mainly to stop the bleeding and prevent his moving them. There was little more that they could do for him under such primitive conditions except give him another injection that would put him out and Lucas planned to use that as a carrot on a stick.

The man was breathing raggedly, in short, gaspy little bursts, and clutching at the bedclothes spasmodically. Lucas pulled a chair up beside the bed.

“My name is Col. Lucas Priest.” he said. “Can you hear me?”

The man nodded jerkily.

“What’s your name?”

“Di-Dicenzo,” he said, through clenched teeth. “Ro-Robert Dicenzo. God… it hurts… Gi-Gimme another shot…”

“We’ll give you another shot and clock you out to a military hospital as soon as you answer a few questions.” Lucas said.

“Shot first. God… the pain…”

“No shot,” said Lucas. “Talk first, then we’ll give you another shot. Knock you out and make the nasty pain go away. But I want some answers first and they’d better be the right ones. otherwise I’ll get my shooter back in here and have him put a couple bullets through your ankles.”

“You bastard…” Dicenzo gasped.

“Hey, you called it,” Lucas said. “You got what you deserve. Now I don’t have much time and I’m not a patient man, so what’s it going to be?”

“Okay! Okay, damn you!”

“What have you done with Steiger?” Lucas asked. “Is he still alive?”

“Yeah… place on Short. Street… fourth house on-on the left from Pond. S-secend floor… end of hall.”

“How many men are watehing him?”

“One… maybe two… Stevens… maybe Cash…”

“You’re doing fine,” said Lucas. “How many of you are there?”

“ Eight… no, you got Carruthers.. Aaronsenan d Stiers… your shooter got Morton. too, didn’t he? Oh. Christ… “

— You mean there were only eight of you in this Network cell to begin with?”

“Y-yeah. Not-not counting cell commander… Randall… he’s not here… another-another time…”

“Okay. so the only Network men left in this scenario are yourself. Stevens. and this guy Cash, right? That’s only seven.”

“M-Murphy.” said Dicenzo, his teeth chattering. “S-supposed to… come up from… Virginia… “

“When?”

“Tonight.”

“Carruthers said you had thirty men here.” Lucas said. “You’re saying only eight.”

“Bluff…” Dicenzo said. “Not-not thirty. Only eight… Swear to God… Carruthers thought you were… onto to us. Wanted… to sidetrack you… keep you busy till-till we could clear the stuff… “

“What stuff?”

“ Merchandise… in warehouses… Boston… Philadelphia… Ch-Charleston… another shipment coming

“What sort of merchandise?”

“ Wine… silk s.. s-spices… “

“Commodities,” Delaney said, with scorn. He snorted with derision. “Do you believe it? This whole thing was about commodities. They were willing to let a disruption go down just to protect a small-time smuggling operation.”

“N-no t sm all… ti me,” Dic enz o sai d. “ Chea p h ere… big profits sell further up timeline…”

“And for that you were going to let a temporal disruption occur?” said Lucas, with disbelief.

“We were gonna help…” Dicenzo said, twisting the bedclothes in his hands, “but-but Steiger…

“What about Steiger?”

“ Damn… oh. damn… he-he got on to us… we-we got word..

“You got word? You’re saying someone informed on him?” “Yeah-yeah …”

“Who?”

“Don’t know… Honest. I swear, I’d tell ya.

“All right, go on.”

“Carruthers and Cash said-said Steiger was worth five million dead’

“Five million dollars?”

“Yeah…” said Dicenzo, gritting his teeth. “Network’s got a contract on him… the old man, too. Ten million for him..

“What a bunch of sweethearts,” said Hunter. “So you decided to stall us and try to move your goods, and then collect on Steiger,” Lucas said. “Just a little business enterprise, isn’t that right?”

“Wasn’t-wasn’t my idea.” said Dicenzo, “About Steiger. I mean. I swear..

“But you were more than willing to go along with it for a share of the money.” said Delaney. “We ought to just dump you out into the slit-et and leave you.”

“No! No, please… you gotta get me to a hospital! I’ll talk… I’ll tell you everything I know. please…”

I want you to give Cpl. Craven full details on the warehouses,” Lucas said. “Where they are, what’s in them, where your other safehouses are, everything you’ve got set up in this scenario. Then and only then will she give you another shot and clock you to a hospital. But if I find out you’ve held anything back, personally pay a visit to your hospital room, you understand?”

“I’ve told the truth. I swear…”

“You better have,” said Lucas. “And you’d better hope that Steiger’s still alive. Linda. take his statement.”

They left the room. “I’m going after Steiger,” said Delaney. “All right,” said Lucas. “Take Hunter with you. I’ll stay here and hold the fort. I still need to have another talk with our friend Moffat.”

“What do you want us to do. with those Network men?” asked Hunter. “Personally, I don’t much care,” said Lucas. ‘“Try to take them alive if you can, so they can be put through interrogation, we’ve already got Dicenzo, so don’t take any chances. The mission has to come first, If they put up any resistance, take them out.”

“You got it, pilgrim.”

Hunter said. “And one more thing.” Lucas said. “Stop calling me pilgrim.” Hunter grinned. “Sure thing, pilgrim. Anything you say. Come on. Delaney. We gotta go rescue the guy that wants to squeeze my brain out like a sponge. Think maybe he’ll be grateful?”

He chuckled and started down the stairs.

“Watch him. Finn,” said Lucas. “I could still be wrong about him. I don’t want any accidents, okay?”

“Sure.” said Delaney. “You’re taking a chance, you know?”

“You mean, sending Hunter with you? I’ve got no choice. We’re spread too thin.”

“That’s not what I mean,” Delaney said. “There’s something likable about that guy, isn’t there? Reminds us of the Hunter that we knew. You’re figuring on making Steiger fccl obligated to him, aren’t you? That many not play, partner.