The Hellfire Rebellion (TimeWars 10)

“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?”