“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?”
“Got it.” Seavers said.
“Good. Move out.” Within moments, they were all back in the safehouse, where Hunter was waiting for them with Linda and Andre. They had not risked leaving him alone. Hunter raised his eyebrows when he saw Federoff and Seavers carrying the unconscious robed man into the back bedroom on the upper floor.
“What the hell did you do, kidnap a monk’?” he said.
“One of the leaders of the Hellfire Club,” said Lucas.
“You were right, Hunter. Drakov is here.”
“You saw him?”
“No, but we heard his voice. I’d know that voice anywhere. It seems we owe you an apology. You were right all along.”
“Don’t mention it,” Hunter said. “How well do you know Ebenezer Macintosh?” asked Lucas.
“Mac? We’re old drinkin’ buddies, him and I. Why, what’s up?”
“They’ve targeted him for assassination,” said Delaney. “They’re going to hang him. We’ve got to get to him first and warn him.”
“I’m on my way,” said Hunter.
“Neilson, you go with him;” Lucas said.
“Still don’t trust me, huh?” said Hunter.
“No I just don’t want to lose you.” Lucas said. “You’re the only one of us Macintosh knows, so you’ll have to be the one to warn him, but by now, the Network’s got to know something’s gone wrong. They won’t find any trace of
Carruthers or the other two and you’ve dropped out of sight, so they’ll be looking for you. I want you covered and Neilson’s lightning with a gun and a crack shot. Sean, take a stinger with you, but I’d rather you carried something with a bit more authority, as well. I see Hunter’s got silencers for some of those pieces and I’d rather not risk using a laser or a plasma weapon on the streets of Boston.” “Help yourself, kid.” Hunter said to Neilson.
Neilson walked over to the table and unhesitantly chose the. 45 Colt Combat Commander. He started to attach the silencer.
“Wouldn’t you like a bit more firepower?” Hunter said. “That only holds a seven-shot clip with room for one more in the chamber.”
“If I can’t get the job done with eight rounds. I probably won’t get it done at all,” said Neilson.
“But I’ll take some spare clips, just in case.”
“Go ahead and make your choice,” Lucas said to Hunter.
Hunter glanced at him.
“Be my guest.” said Lucas. He smiled. “Call it a gesture of good faith.”
Hunter chose the Beretta 9 mm. He screwed a silencer onto the weapon and pocketed several spare clips. He slapped in a magazine, racked the slide and jacked a round into the chamber, and stuck it in his waistband, cocked and locked, in the “Mexican carry” mode. He picked up several spare magazines and slipped them in his pockets.
‘“What do you think they’ll do with Steiger?” he asked. ‘“I’m hoping they’ll keep him alive so they’ve got something to deal with if they’re backed into a corner.” Lucas said tensely, ‘but I can’t afford to worry about him now. The mission comes first. He’d have done the same in my place. But if you run into any Network people, try to take at least one of them alive.” ‘“You mind if they’re wounded just a little?” Neilson asked. “Not in the least,” said Lucas.
‘“Good.” said Neilson. “What about if we run into these Hellfire characters?”
“Try not to.” Lucas said. “But if you do… He took a deep breath “If they get to Macintosh before you do, don’t interfere if it means shooting anybody.”
“You mean let them hang him.”
“Yeah. That’s what I mean.”
The room was silent for a moment.”
“Okay.” said Neilson, after a pause. ‘If that’s the way you want it.”
“It’s not the way I want it, but it’s the way it’s got to be.” said Lucas. “We’re here to stop a temporal disruption, not create one,” He hesitated. “Hunter. I know that as a C. 1. S. agent-”
“You don’t have to say it, pilgrim.” Hunter said. “We’ve got a deal.”
“Yeah. I hope so.”
“What do you want us to do once we’ve warned Macintosh?” asked Neilson.
“Warn Macintosh and tell him what the Hellfire Club is planning,” Lucas said. “It looks like they’re going after individual leaders of the Suns of Liberty in which case Adams is the most logical target. We’ll have to keep an eye on him, but we can’t keep track of all of them. If we can get the Sons of Liberty to do part of our job for us, so much the better. Tell Macintosh to assign some of his South End boys to watch the leaders. Have several people on each of them if possible. Hancock, Otis, Edes, Revere, all of them. Then get right back here. We’re going to have to play this by ear and I don’t want to have to worry about where anybody is. Drakov knows we’re here and that may force his hand. If our friend in the other room can’t help us, we could be in a world of trouble.”