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"What fuses? Why?" She saw his eyes flick toward the door behind her Before he couldup the un He backed away fro the bench with the backs of his legs He fell back, and struck the chains fastened to the wall; e to steal over her, but the h her spine, keeping her upright
"You do not mean to kill me, surely?" He tried to smile, and failed; couldn’t keep the panic from his eyes She had said she would rest easier with him dead
Freedom is hard-won, but is not the fruit of Murder She had her hard-won freedoive it back to hiun, the butt snugged solid into her shoulder "But I will by God shoot you through the knees and leave you here, if you don’t tellon!"
He shifted his weight, big body hovering, pale eyes on her, judging She blocked the door entirely, her bulk filling it from side to side She saw the doubt in his posture, the shift of his shoulders as he thought to rush her, and cocked the gun with a single loud click!
He stood six feet frorab it froer She couldn’t miss, and he knew it
His shoulders sluunpowder and fuses," he said, speaking quick and sharp, anxious to get it done "I can’t say how long, but it’s goin’ up with an al For God’s sake, let , but solid on the gun The baby stirred, a reminder that she had no tih She had to knoith John Grey’s body liood esture of frustration
"The seant and I I’d bring him in cheap contraband, he’d stamp it with the Crown’s ood price and split with hi with i questions Murchison couldn’t say if he’d told anyone, but it wasn’t wise to wait and see, not once I was taken The Sergeant moved the last of the liquor from the warehouse, substituted barrels of turpentine, and laid the fuses It all goes up, no one can say it wasn’t brandy burning--no evidence of theft That’s it, that’s all Now let ht" She lowered the musket a few inches, but didn’t yet uncock it "What about hi to snort and mumble
He stared at her blankly
"What about hi to take hi for a way past her "For Christ’s sweet sake, woo, and leave yourself! There’s twelve hundred-weight of pitch and turpentine overhead It’ll go off like a bomb!"
"But he’s still alive! We can’t leave hiave her a look of sheer exasperation, then crossed the rooeant’s belt, and drew it hard across the fat throat, just above the leather stock A thick spray of blood soaked Bonnet’s shirt, and whipped against the wall
"There," he said, straightening up "He’s not alive Leave hied out into the corridor She could hear his footsteps going away, quick and ringing on the brick
Tre all over with the shock of action and reaction, she stood still for a second, staring down at John Grey’s body Grief ripped through her, and her womb clenched hard There was no pain, but every fiber had contracted; her stoh she’d sed a basketball She felt breathless, unable to ht quite clearly, to the child inside I am not in labor, I absolutely, positively aht now
She took two steps down the black corridor, then stopped No, she had to check, at least, make sure She turned back, and knelt by John Grey’s body He had looked dead when she first saw hi there, and still did; he hadn’t moved or even twitched since she had first seen his body
She leaned forward but couldn’t reach easily over the bulge of her belly She grasped his ar to turn him over A small, fine-boned man, he was still heavy His body tilted up, rolled boneless toward her, head lolling, and her heart sank anew, seeing his half-closed eyes and slackfrantically for a pulse point
Where the hell was it? She’d seen her encies; faster to find than a wrist pulse, she’d said She couldn’t find one How long had it been, how long were the fuses set to burn?
She wiped a fold of her cloak across her cla the distance to the stairs Jesus, could she risk it, even alone? The thought of popping out into the warehouse above, just as everything went off--She cast one look upward, then bent to her work and tried again, pushing his head far back There! She could see the damn vein under his skin--that’s where the pulse should be, shouldn’t it?
For a ht be only the haertips But no, it was--a different rhythht be close to dead, but not quite
"Close," she reatly relieved; now she’d have to get hiet hold of his ar him But then she stopped, aher panic
She turned and lu her eyes from the sodden red ht it back to the corridor She held it high, casting light on the low brick ceiling Yes, she’d been right!
The bricks curved up fro both sides of the corridors Storage alcoves and cells Above the groynes, though, ran sturdy bea--and above the planks, the layer of bricks that for up like a boht? Turpentine burned, so did pitch; yes, they’d likely explode if they burned under pressure, but not like a bo fuses, plainly, and likely running to sunpowder; that was the only true explosive Murchison would have; there were no high explosives now
So the gunpoould explode in several places, and ignite the barrels nearby But the barrels would burn slowly; she’d seen Sinclair make barrels like those; the staves were half an inch thick, watertight She reh the warehouse; yes, Murchison would likely have opened the bungs of a few barrels, let the turpentine flow out, to help the fire along
So the barrels would burn, but likely they wouldn’t explode--or if they did, not all at once Her breathing eased a little,of firecrackers, maybe