Simon Hawke - Hellfire Rebellion

He reached into his jacket pocket for a pack of cigarettes. It was a perfectly ordinary, casual motion, but his right arm left a blurred series of afterimages as he moved, giving the effect of rapid, stop-motion photography. He removed a cigarette and lit it, inhaling deeply.

“It really is most inconvenient that your people can’t carry communicators all the time,” Darkness said. “That would have solved this entire problem, but I suppose it wouldn’t do to have voices suddenly coming out of little boxes in colonial Boston. It could tend to upset people. And miniature receivers might still have been spotted, but under the circumstances, it would have been worth taking the risk. “

“All right, so maybe I was being too cautious, but it’s too late to do anything about that now. Talking about how I screwed up isn’t going to help us. You got any ideas

“Well, part of your immediate problem can be easily solved. I can locate Steiger. Cross, and Delaney through their symbiotracers and inform them of the situation-”

“Hold it! Wait a minute!” Lucas said. You told me their symbiotracers were malfunctioning!”

“Oh. no. I solved that little problem. It turned out to be merely a minor glitch in my receiving equipment. Simply a matter of fine-tuning. I can locate them anytime I want.”

“And You didn’t tell me?”

Darkness raised his eyebrows. “Well, you didn’t ask.”

Lucas leaned back against the couch and put his hands up to his head. “ Sweet God All Mighty!” he said. “I don’t believe it! Didn’t you hear what I’ve just said? The Network’s got Steiger! And all the time, you could have told me where he was!”

“As I recall,” said Darkness, “the last time we spoke, they didn’t have him or if they did, you neglected to apprise me of the situation. Frankly, I’m not really surprised. Steiger’s knack for getting in over his head is rivaled only by your own. I suppose you’d like me to get him back for you?”

“Yes, if it wouldn’t be too much trouble.” Lucas said in an exasperated tone.

“No trouble at all,” said Darkness. ‘It’s not as if I haven’t got several dozen more important things to do. I really do wonder, Priest, how you ever managed before I came along. Every time I see you, you’re in some sort of difficulty. All things considered, it’s a miracle we haven’t got at least a dozen temporal disruptions to contend with-”

“ Doc For crying out loud!”

“Oh. I suppose you want me to leave now?”

“If you don’t mind!”

“What about my coffee?”

“Jesus, give me strength! We’ll keep the pot warm, okay’?”

“Well, all right, you don’t need to shout. You realize that I have no way of getting any sort of fix on your other people, since they’re not equipped with symbiotracers.”

“Just get Creed, Andre, and Delaney back here.” Lucas said. “Hunter’s with Delaney. Andre should be on her way hack here by now. In fact. I don’t know what’s keeping her… unless… “

“Unless what?”

“No. No. that’s crazy, she wouldn’t.”

“Can two participate in this conversation or is it a soliloquy?” said Darkness.

“Never mind,” said Lucas. “It’s not important. Just get them back here right away. Please?”

“Certainly. Don’t go away.” He disappeared.

Linda came back into the room. “Coffee’ll be ready in a min… where did he go? What’s the matter?”

Lucas was sitting hunched over, with his head in his hands. “Just once.” he said. “Just once, I’d like to catch him when he’s solid…

Steiger groaned as he tried to stand. Murphy helped him tip out of the chair and pulled his arm around his shoulder. Steiger sagged.”Come on, Steiger, you can make it.” Murphy said.

“Son of a bitch really gave me a working over.” Steiger said, through swollen and cut lips.

“I know.” said Murphy. “I’m really sorry about this, Steiger. I never signed on for anything like this, believe me. It all seemed so harmless in the beginning. Moving goods from one time period to another, supplementing the section allocation with a little temporal smuggling on the side, just a simple business enterprise where no one would get hurt. It’s practically impossible to operate a field section on our budget and they keep cutting our appropriations. I told myself the money was being raised for a good cause. And then, since we were doing so well, it seemed perfectly reasonable to divert a small portion of the profits, set a little aside for our retirement… ah, hell, the whole thing just snowballed. I never dreamed it would come to anything like this.”

“Nobody ever does, Murphy.” Steiger said, leaning against him for support “Shit. My goddamn legs are cramped from being tied down to that chair.” He shuffled one step forward. then another.

“Give me the coordinates for your base of operations.” Murphy said. “I’ll clock us out.”

Steiger turned and stared at him for a long moment.

“You don’t trust me.” Murphy said. “You think I may still be working with the others.” He nodded “Hell. I don’t blame you. But look, I gotta take you somewhere.”

“You’re not taking him anywhere.” said a voice from the door. They looked up to see a man in colonial dress standing in the doorway, a plasma pistol in his hand.

“Cash!” said Murphy

“Going somewhere. Murphy?”

“Put down the gun, Cash,” Murphy said. “Don’t be a fool.”

“Going into business for yourself, eh?” Cash said. “I thought we all had an agreement.”

“It isn’t what you think, Cash,” Murphy said.

“I was taking him out of here.”

“Were you’?”

“He needs medical attention. Stevens went crazy, he beat him half to death. Damn it, Cash, this has gone too far. I don’t give a damn about the Network anymore. I went along with the enterprise, but I’m not going to be a party to murder. You can keep my share of the profits, I don’t care, but let us go. I’ve had enough.”

“You always were a bit too soft. Murphy.” said Cash. “Too much of a guilty conscience. But like you said, you went along with it. You’re in as deeply as the rest of us.”

“I don’t care!” said Murphy. “When we scan taking con-tracts on our own people, it’s gone beyond the realm of sanity. It’s out of control, Cash. It’s got to stop! Think about what you’re doing. for God’s sake! We all took an oath-

“Oh. please. Spare me.” Cash glanced at Stevens, briefly, is he dead?”

“No,” said Murphy.

Cash shifted his aim quickly and fired. The low intensity plasma charge struck Stevens in the chest, incinerating most of his upper body. “He is now.” said Cash.

“ You crazy son of a bitch!” said Murphy.

“Morton and Dicenzo never made it back,” said Cash. “The commandos must’ve got ‘CM. I figured it was time to cut our losses and settle for what we’ve got. But now that it’s you and me and the five-million-dollar bounty on our friend. frankly. Murphy. I don’t feel like sharing.”

He raised his pistol.

“So long, Murphy,” he said.

The plasma pistol was suddenly plucked out of his hand by an unseen force.

“What the,-”

There was a loud, dull crack and Cash fell to the floor, blood streaming from the fracture in his skull. Darkness appeared out of thin air, standing over him and wiping off the heavy silver head of his walking stick with a white handkerchief.

“Who in their right mind would pay five million dollars for the likes of you?” he said to Steiger.

Murphy goggled at him. “I must be dreamin’,” he said. “I can see right through that guy!”

“Friend a yours?” said Darkness.

Steiger glanced at Murphy. “Yeah. I guess he is at that.”