Free TW10 The Hellfire Rebellion NEW by Simon Hawke Page A

right in the eyes and doesn't make him want to look away. Because he tolerates a slob like you under his command. Because he's out to break up the Network when he could just as easily go along with it and take his cut or simply sit back and do nothing, because the Network isn't really endangering the timeline. They're only out to make some dirty bucks. But mostly because I saw his face when you mentioned Drakov."
    Hunter paused a moment and they were all silent.
    "There was a lot of pain there," Hunter continued. 'And a man who knows that kind of pain doesn't go around inflicting it.”
    Delaney gave him a long look. "You don't miss much, do you?"
    "Just part of being a survivor, pilgrim." Hunter said. 'How do you take your tea?"
     
     
    Just as The Bunch of Grapes was the favorite gathering place of the Sons of Liberty, so the Peacock Tavern was a Tory bar. Boston was becoming polarized. Its citizens preferred the company of like-minded thinkers and although no one was very happy with the actions of the ministry and Parliament, there were still many who considered themselves loyal Englishmen and sought a rapprochement with Britain. Among them were men who held offices as tax commissioners and customs officials, merchants who were alarmed over the increasing talk of a boycott of British goods, and citizens who were outraged by the actions of the mobs of rioters who roamed the streets and gathered in the Common and in the taverns on the waterfront.
    "They speak of liberty and property." said Thomas Brown. sarcastically. "The mob always shouts those words when they're about to tear down a house. And they are allowed to do so with impunity. You know, the governor heard that Macintosh was the leader of the mob that wrecked Hutchinson's home, so he sent Greenleaf out to bring him in. The sheriff arrested the blackguard, but the Sons of Liberty gave him an ultimatum. They sent a group of men to tell him that unless Macintosh was immediately released, not one man would volunteer to join the patrols the Town Meeting had voted to send out in order to prevent the rioting. I was at the council meeting when Greenleaf made his report to Hutchinson. The result? The man was released. And now he crows about it to anyone who'll listen! I ask you, of what use are the patrols if the rioters can so easily intimidate them?"
    "I heard that Governor Bernard has offered a reward of three hundred pounds to any man who will identify the leader of the rioters," said Hewitt. "Needless to say, it isn't Macintosh they're after. They realize the cobbler is nothing but a tool. Bernard and Hutchinson both know that Adams is behind it all, yet not one man can be found to come forward and give evidence against him, not even for three hundred pounds!"
    "Having seen what they did to Hutchinson, not to mention Oliver. Hallowell, and Story, would you come forward to give evidence?" said Moffat. "To be sure, three hundred pounds is quite a large sum to the average man, but what good are three hundred pounds when they come to tear your house down in the middle of the night?"
    "There is no law in Boston anymore," said Brown, bitterly. "The mobs grow bolder by the day."
    "I must admit that appears true," said Drakov. "Why, the very day that I arrived, I saw them put a party of Royal Navy men to flight with rocks and bricks."
    "A press gang," said Hewitt, sourly. "I can feel little sympathy for such its they. Nor can any here, I'll warrant."
    "I will not dispute the point," said Drakov. "I was merely commenting upon the boldness of the mob, to go up against armed men of the King's Navy. And it took but a nod from Samuel Adams."
    "You mean you actually heard Adams give the order?" Hewitt said.
    "Well, not in so many words." said Drakov. "I was present in the tavern when that man, Furlong, was impressed. Adams was them, too, with a group of his companions. I saw him give a nod to them and they quietly left the tavern. Moments later, a mob had been assembled upon