He stared at her. “You don’t believe me!”
“You must have been dreaming.” she said. “You struck your head.”
“A dream?” said Johnny. “No, it could not have been a dream. I saw it. I tell you! I came running here. I was looking for Mr. Macintosh. I thought he could tell me where Mr. Hunter was and I could ask him where I could find you and then those men came and they were going to kill him and they were going to kill me, too. and-”
“But, Johnny, I just saw Reese Hunter.” she said. “And he didn’t say anything about two men trying to kill him.”
“He-he didn’t?”
“No.” She shook her head. “He said he spoke to you about us and then you started to run off, but you slipped and fell and struck your head. I helped him carry you over here, out of the middle of the street, and he said you would be fine in a few moments and asked me to watch over you until you came around. He had to hurry to meet with someone.”
Johnny shook his head slowly. “But-but it seemed so real! You mean it was all a dream?”
“What else could it have been?” she said. “How can someone fire a pistol several times without reloading and then make a dead body disappear?”
Johnny grimaced and rubbed his head. “I–I must admit it does sound foolish,” he said. “I don’t remember falling. But-but how did you come to be here.”
“I came looking for Ebenezer Macintosh,” she said. “I came to warn him. We’ve discovered that the horseman’s men, the ones who call themselves the Hellfire Club, are planning to kill him. It seems that they intend to kill the leaders of the Sons of Liberty, one at a time, striking in the middle of the night.”
Johnny gazed at her wide-eyed. “We must warn Mr. Macintosh!”
“He already knows. He’s gone to seek protection from his friends in the South End Gang.”
“We have to tell Mr. Adams!”
“That is already being taken care of,” she said. “The important thing for you to do right now is rest. You’ve had a nasty blow. After such a fall, rest is just the thing. Come on. I’ll help you to get home.”
She helped him up.
“I–I feel a little dizzy,” he said.
“That often happens when one’s had a nasty fall,” she said. “Can you walk’?” “Yes. I believe so.”
“Come on, then. I’ll walk with you.”
“I feel so strange,” said Johnny. “Nothing like that has ever happened to me before. I was only trying to find you and Mr. Priest and Mr. Delaney… where were you? Where did you go? I looked for you everywhere!”
“We had a great deal to do,” said Andre. “We were with the Tories, discovering their plot against the Sons of Liberty.”
“I was afraid that something may have happened to you.” Johnny said. “I feared perhaps the Tories had discovered your deception. I–I don’t know what I would have done if they had hurt you.”
She smiled. “I’m touched by your concern.”
He stopped. “It is much more than mere concern.” he said. “Andre
… I–I have never said this to a girl before…”
She quickly put her fingertips up against his lips. “Don’t say it. Johnny.” she said softly. “I know. And I am flattered more than I could say. But please try to understand. I am not free.”
“You-you are promised to another?” he said.
“Yes. Johnny, I am.” He looked down at the ground. “I see. I–I suppose I dared not hope that you would-”
“There is much about you that a girl could love. Johnny,” she said. “Someday, you will meet the one who’s right for you and then I’m sure that you will make her very proud and very happy. But I…” she stopped, listening. “Did you hear that?”
“What?”
“Sssh! Listen!”
The sound came to them on the stillness of the cool night breeze.
“Men shouting.” Johnny said. “It sounds as if it’s coming from the Common.”
“Something’s happening. Come on. Johnny, run!” she said.
They sprinted toward the Common, Andre leading the way. Johnny running hard to keep up with her. They crossed Marlborough Street and ran toward the granary, on the comer of Common Street. The sound grew louder as they approached. They pulled up short as they reached the tree-lined Mall at the edge of the Common. A large group of black-robed figures were heading toward the Liberty Tree. Several of them were dragging along a fiercely struggling man, whose hands had been bound and whose mouth was gagged.
“They’ve got Mr. Macintosh!” said Johnny. he looked at Andre with alarm. “My God, they’re going to hang him, like the others! What are we to do?”
Andre thought fast. There was nothing she could do, not with Johnny there. They had already reached the Liberty Tree and were throwing a rope over one of its stout branches.
“Run, Johnny!” she said. “Get help!”
“But they will never come in time!”
She took out her dueling pistol. “I’ll fire a shot in the air.” she said, “then reload quickly and fire again. They may think the Sons of Liberty have come to rescue him.”
“They will not be fooled!” said Johnny.
“I have to try!” she said.
“They will kill you!”
“Johnny, you’re wasting time!”
“It’s too late! I will not leave you! We have to run before they see us!” They were putting the noose around Macintosh’s neck.
“ Johnny…” In desperation, Andre hit him with a hard right cross. He crumpled to the ground, unconscious. “I’m sorry. Johnny.”
She’d run out of time. They were already hoisting Macintosh up off the ground. He was jerking on the rope like a fish. Andre slid the metal plate in front of the pistol’s trigger guard forward, exposing the hidden magazine well, then she quickly reached into her coat pocket and removed a plastic magazine holding fifteen staggered rounds of specially designed ball ammo. She slapped the magazine into the pistol and racked the slide. She fired the pistol into the air and started running, heading around the circle of hooded figures gathered beneath the Liberty Tree, firing as she ran, trying to make it seem as if them were a number of men shooting from different directions.
At the sound of the first shot, the hooded men glanced around, startled, and with the second and the third shot, they started looking all around them in confusion. They began shouting and several of them started running. Andre kept on shooting into the air as she ran. The hooded figures bolted, thinking that a group of armed men was upon them, ‘the men hoisting Macintosh up off the ground released the rope and ran. Macintosh dropped down to the ground and lay there, jerking, the noose still tight around his neck.
Andre reversed direction and ran back the other way, still firing. She had no idea how many rounds she had left, but she kept going, firing as she ran, and her deception worked. Since they were completely unfamiliar with the concept of a semiautomatic pistol, the members of the Hellfire Club naturally assumed that they were facing a force of armed men and they took off in all directions, running across the Common, some of them heading toward Frog Lane and Treamount Street, others going in the opposite direction, toward Beacon Hill, where Hancock’s mansion stood. In moments, they had all scattered in panic and the grassy Common was deserted.
She ran over to the fallen Macintosh and kneeled beside him, loosening the noose around his neck. She pulled the noose over his head and then removed his gag. He sucked in air and started coughing and retching.
“Easy, man, easy.” she said, working at his bonds. “Try to breathe slowly.”
He gasped and there was a rattle in his throat as he made a series of horrible rasping sounds, trying to draw air into his lungs. Andre freed his hands and propped him up, steadying him with an arm around his shoulders. He was breathing like a patient in a cancer ward and clinching at his throat.
“Slowly,” Andre said. “Try to breathe slowly. Take deep steady breaths.”
She helped him to his feet and propped him up with his back against the tree trunk.
“Thought I was done for,” he croaked.
